Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Covid test came back negative, but whatever I have has completely wiped me out.

False negatives are, apparently an issue - but I can't quote figures.

Good luck!

Gee, I was gonna say "good deal" and along comes Debbie Downer leaving Op wondering. If false negatives are an unknown quantity did you have to be such a killjoy about it? If I were in his shoes now I'd go get tested AGAIN and risk another false negative.   

Edit....or even a false POSITIVE. 

I'm an engineer, so I consider plausible worst cases. I don't own rose-tinted spectacles.

A false negative could lead to infecting others. Or newly-recruited healthcare call centre employees reading their script and saying "no matter how bad it has become in the past day, this bit of paper says you can't have covid".

Exactly this. Act like you have it is the only safe outcome.

[Robert763]

Classic ebay description:
"not sure what it is used for but fully working" 

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datum-Electronic-Meter/293834456606
(load cell force meter missing it's load cell)

[Cerebus]

[1]as a "Father of the 90s", which is unlikely to mean much to those overseas, even though the ALSPAC results will have changed overseas behaviour

So, you're one of those radical separatist Avonites are you? 

[Saskia]

just heard that the latest strain of the avian flu has landed on our northwestern shores. Like, 30 km from here.

Not happy.

[med6753]

On a lighter note. The credit card that I use for TEA purchases always gets paid off in full. So I never pay any interest. But somehow this past month I missed their cut off date so they smacked me with an interest charge. A budget busting $1.50.  So I get a bill for a $1.50. 

How much interest have I paid YTD? You guess it. $1.50.   

[bd139]

I've done that before. Got 8 months left on mine still. Phew

[mnementh]

Classic ebay description:   "not sure what it is used for but fully working"     www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datum-Electronic-Meter/293834456606   (load cell force meter missing it's load cell)

It's not exactly like that... the load cell is a generic item and usually made to fit application; similar concept to specialty socket wrenches that fit a standard 3/8" or 1/2" drive ratchet, no matter what the brand or country of origin. This meter would have been sold new without one.

Obviously, as there is no load cell with, the claims of it being fully functional are highly suspect... however, the unit provides the power out to the load cell, so odds are pretty good that if it lights up and the display looks good, it will work properly. It most likely just got separated from some jig or bit of equipment on which the load cell was installed, and some enterprising soul has "found" it, and is trying to flip it for a quick bit of beer money. 

If it were here in the GWN I'd probably bid on it; a useful tool going much too cheaply. And right now, only aboot 45 minutes remaining.

mnem

[med6753]

I'm an engineer, so I consider plausible worst cases. I don't own rose-tinted spectacles.

A false negative could lead to infecting others. Or newly-recruited healthcare call centre employees reading their script and saying "no matter how bad it has become in the past day, this bit of paper says you can't have covid".

I'm a technician, and I've seen what your engineers can do so I always consider the absolute worst outcome. 

Seriously, I don't own rose colored glasses either. Any human endeavor or activity is subject to failure or the law  of averages.   

[tggzzz]

[1]as a "Father of the 90s", which is unlikely to mean much to those overseas, even though the ALSPAC results will have changed overseas behaviour

So, you're one of those radical separatist Avonites are you? 

From birth to 6 weeks old, then later by choice.

There are many things to recommend it, including excellent food/restauarants (currently moot), contours, trees, etc.

Not sure about "radical separatist", unless you mean the continuing tradition of rioting once a decade or so.

[tggzzz]

I'm an engineer, so I consider plausible worst cases. I don't own rose-tinted spectacles.

A false negative could lead to infecting others. Or newly-recruited healthcare call centre employees reading their script and saying "no matter how bad it has become in the past day, this bit of paper says you can't have covid".

I'm a technician, and I've seen what your engineers can do so I always consider the absolute worst outcome. 

Seriously, I don't own rose colored glasses either. Any human endeavor or activity is subject to failure or the law  of averages.   

And s/engineers/technicians/ of course.

The keys are to be honest about your incompetencies (most things), and to know what the average is in the specific case under consideration.

But you know that!

[tggzzz]

just heard that the latest strain of the avian flu has landed on our northwestern shores. Like, 30 km from here.

Not happy.

Ditto, including distance. Bloody migrating birds

It happens, regularly.

[mnementh]

That picture was originally posted on some Facebook group then shared in the Tek Facebook group. Some of the comments from the original posting were interesting. Along the lines of "it is just old junk anyway, what is the big deal?" Unfortunate but that's how most folks view our beloved boat anchors.     And there's no guarantee when we finally take a dirt nap that our boat anchors won't suffer the same fate. 

Ugggh. 

That said... what you're describing sounds much more likely a "forum diver" trolling yer ass. Well, some similar douchepuppet trolling their asses in the Tek Fuckbook group. A quick Gurrgle image search returned no valid hits (not surprising on a Sunday morning), however the image metadata has "cardboard recycling" somewhere in it; that's what Googs returned.

But now that pic has infected our little corner of the intardnet, and caused the desired stir. I'm sure it will make the rounds, then circle back to us again in 2-6 years, as such trolling always does. 

mnem
Trolls: n=n+1 | Actual Human beings: IQ=IQ-1       

[tonyalbus]

About the Review of the FNIRSI 5012H i realy thought at first Dave was maybe a bit harsh(sorry Dave) so i thought ,i buy the improved 1C15 and be softer on in.
Just test and see where it goes, low expectations..... OMG it is crap! 
and i am being nice...
even on 10MHz... it is going allover the place... this 1C15 is not a buy... maybe the 5012H is better, at least it looks better.



i am sorry... i really wanted to be good and more positive.... i could not... it is just not..

[mnementh]

Yep. You were missed. Both of you

Gee, thanks, it’s nice to be missed, must try harder nest week. I was engrossed in attempting to sift through my stash of growing pile of technology that most of you tossed over the hedge, spinning hard drives. A lot of people here are upgrading their old Virgin and Sky recorder boxes for the latest models with 1TB drives. So when I can get the old boxes, remove the 500GB drives, format them and use them as storage drives for the huge amount of photos I have taken over the years. These can plugged into the “hot swappable” caddy I have in the front of my tower PC.

I have a 1TB drive that I took out of an older NAS which for some reason works perfectly in the NAS but will not format in Windows, anyone have any ideas?

Probably partition table or metadata corrupt. If you use diskpart (command line tool with windows):

1. list disk
2. sel disk N (where N is the disk you have just plugged in - be careful  )
3. clean
4. create par pri
5. assign

Then format it. Should work. If it doesn't you'll need a linux boot CD and use dd to write over the first 1Mb of the disk with zeroes.

Pick the flavor you like best and dig in:

https://gparted.org/

https://neosmart.net/wiki/diskpart/

That said... I spent a long, sleep-deprived weekend a couple years ago scouring for important data and then decommissioning nearly 100 such spinning rust units. I assessed that I had reached such a point where if I didn't do it then (for the big move) and there, it would become part of the legacy passed on to my offspring. Still pretty sure that was the truth.     Anyhoo... the results of my sleep-derpived state were amusing...

The hard drives are done; a couple dozen going off to the Goodwill, and I pared the keeper pile down to an even dozen. The rest were rent asunder for their valuable metals and my own peace of mind. As you can imagine, the last few days have put me in a strange humour, and evidently also released some pent-up creative energy.

Here you can see a contented MagnaDragon as he contemplates his hoard before curling up for a nap...

mnem
David Attenborough, eat your heart out.

mnem

[Robert763]

Classic ebay description:   "not sure what it is used for but fully working"     www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datum-Electronic-Meter/293834456606   (load cell force meter missing it's load cell)

It's not exactly like that... the load cell is a generic item and usually made to fit application; similar concept to specialty socket wrenches that fit a standard 3/8" or 1/2" drive ratchet, no matter what the brand or country of origin. This meter would have been sold new without one.

Obviously, as there is no load cell with, the claims of it being fully functional are highly suspect... however, the unit provides the power out to the load cell, so odds are pretty good that if it lights up and the display looks good, it will work properly. It most likely just got separated from some jig or bit of equipment on which the load cell was installed, and some enterprising soul has "found" it, and is trying to flip it for a quick bit of beer money. 

If it were here in the GWN I'd probably bid on it; a useful tool going much too cheaply. And right now, only aboot 45 minutes remaining.

mnem

Do you read what you write? the statement "the load cell is a generic item and usually made to fit application" is a contradition of itself. the an item can't be generic and made to fit an application 

Yes, load cells are generally a DC bridge but even the electrical specification e.g. excitation voltage and output can vary widely.
Unusually this meter is designed to work with a range of cells but the seller could not have easily checked the meter without a load cell, even if he knew what it was. Just checking the excitiation is not enough to prove it works.
The actual item for sale is irrelevent to point of the post which is how can you say anything is fully working if you don't know what it is?

[mnementh]

[1]as a "Father of the 90s", which is unlikely to mean much to those overseas, even though the ALSPAC results will have changed overseas behaviour

So, you're one of those radical separatist Avonites are you? 

From birth to 6 weeks old, then later by choice. There are many things to recommend it, including excellent food/restaurants (currently moot), contours, trees, etc.

Not sure about "radical separatist", unless you mean the continuing tradition of rioting once a decade or so.

Could you please enlighten us poor sods on the wrong side of the pond...?

Gurrrgling "Avonite" only returns a million hits advertising some competitor of Corian countertop schlock over here. 

mnem
"Avon" is a 4-letter word.

[Cerebus]

[1]as a "Father of the 90s", which is unlikely to mean much to those overseas, even though the ALSPAC results will have changed overseas behaviour

So, you're one of those radical separatist Avonites are you? 

From birth to 6 weeks old, then later by choice.

There are many things to recommend it, including excellent food/restauarants (currently moot), contours, trees, etc.

Not sure about "radical separatist", unless you mean the continuing tradition of rioting once a decade or so.

Well, the ALSPAC study is unlikely to be known outside the Avon area by anyone except specialists interested in the field. So, lumping all the ignorant together as 'overseas' sounds like a more radical agenda than, say, Cornish separatists, who at least acknowledge the land border with England.   So, us non-avonite English aren't merely "foreigners" but have been deemed so removed that we've been virtually floated off onto a different island. 

[cyclin_al]

However, the ratings plate states the output is variable from 500-1500W.     This is the first time I've ever seen this. Only thing I can think is there must be some sort of PID output control to maximize efficiency vs temperature vs demand.

mnem

The rating is just a silly electrical code thing in the GWN.  The maximum load you are supposed to put on a household circuit is 1500 W.  So, the heater maximum rating is matched at 1500 W.  However, if you look at the actual rating of a household circuit, it is 1800 W, which actually matches 120 V * 15 A.  What you end up with in theory is a heater with a fan that consumes approximately 500 W, plus a heater element of 1000 W to arrive at the maximum 1500 W.  What you actually have is anybody's guess.....

[Cerebus]

Could you please enlighten us poor sods on the wrong side of the pond...?

Gurrrgling "Avonite" only returns a million hits advertising some competitor of Corian countertop schlock over here. 

mnem
"Avon" is a 4-letter word.

Avon = [now traditional] county of England.

*-ite = A denizen of *

ALSPAC = Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

[mnementh]

Classic ebay description:   "not sure what it is used for but fully working"     www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datum-Electronic-Meter/293834456606   (load cell force meter missing it's load cell)

It's not exactly like that... the load cell is a generic item and usually made to fit application; similar concept to specialty socket wrenches that fit a standard 3/8" or 1/2" drive ratchet, no matter what the brand or country of origin. This meter would have been sold new without one.

Obviously, as there is no load cell with, the claims of it being fully functional are highly suspect... however, the unit provides the power out to the load cell, so odds are pretty good that if it lights up and the display looks good, it will work properly. It most likely just got separated from some jig or bit of equipment on which the load cell was installed, and some enterprising soul has "found" it, and is trying to flip it for a quick bit of beer money. 

If it were here in the GWN I'd probably bid on it; a useful tool going much too cheaply. And right now, only aboot 45 minutes remaining.

mnem

Do you read what you write? the statement "the load cell is a generic item and usually made to fit application" is a contradition of itself. the an item can't be generic and made to fit an application 

Yes, load cells are generally a DC bridge but even the electrical specification e.g. excitation voltage and output can vary widely. Unusually this meter is designed to work with a range of cells but the seller could not have easily checked the meter without a load cell, even if he knew what it was. Just checking the excitiation is not enough to prove it works.
The actual item for sale is irrelevent to point of the post which is how can you say anything is fully working if you don't know what it is?

Dude... hackles down. I was agreeing with you, not attacking. In this context, a load cell is a generic thing. These things have been around for decades made exactly like this, and the load cell itself is interchangeable, no matter what the application-specific packaging. Just like a type-J thermocouple is a type-J thermocouple, no matter what customized package it is made into. I explained that very carefully; I guess you were too busy taking offense to consider that part. 

And to take that interchangeability analogy further, industrial load cells are made to work with meters like this... they will be made in specific sensitivity ranges with a specific output curve, just like the difference between a Type J and a type K thermocouple.

In that respect, like those above thermocouples, these are a generic part.

And I agreed with you that the claims of it being fully functional are highly suspect... but at that price, I'd def take a punt on it.

mnem

[cyclin_al]

A Makita variable speed Sawzall (and in VG used condition) for 25 Canadian Pesos (~$US19) is obviously a no-brainer; this one is supposedly 18V, so probably has a 24V or 36V rated speed controller. I'll have to take it apart to make sure, but if so, it will definitely be the Guinea pig to 3DP an adapter plate for my Kobalt 6-cell 24VMax packs. The Makita uses a dumb pack; we'll see if the Kobalt packs will yield full output without comms to the tool. 

Hold on there!  If that is in good working condition, the Makita saw could sell on kijiji or similar for more than what you got it for.  I would not tear it apart.  My experience is Makita tools at Home Depot, Rona, etc. are cheap consumer grade.  However, going to a real tool store gets you Makita models that are very good for the money.  For comparison, in my opinion the tools are a bit lighter weight and not quite the same level as Rigid tools, but the price is far less than Rigid; makes a good choice for a pro-hobbyist.

If it does need parts or servicing, Makita has service centres, which I have found to have helpful knowledgeable people:
https://www.makita.ca/index2.php?event=displayservicecenter

Yes, that tool can be used with the dumb packs, like all Makitas sold in the usual stores.  Depending on the model, it will also take the intelligent Makita battery packs; these packs often have a "B" on the end of the battery model number.

[mnementh]

Could you please enlighten us poor sods on the wrong side of the pond...?

Gurrrgling "Avonite" only returns a million hits advertising some competitor of Corian countertop schlock over here. 

mnem
"Avon" is a 4-letter word.

Avon = [now traditional] county of England. *-ite = A denizen of *   ALSPAC = Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

Thank you for the clarity. Now, in that context, my PS above does seem a bit churlish; sorry aboot that. 

I grew up in a family with a history of antiquing and collectibles; one of the things that horrified all generations in my household was the ridiculous money Avon containers bring and how much energy people expend arguing and grading those horrible bits of by-the-boatload chaff glassware. We looked upon that whole trade like normal people do the insanity of Beanie Baby collectibles.    So to me and my immediate forebears, Avon is a 4-letter word.

mnem
D'oh!

[Saskia]

just heard that the latest strain of the avian flu has landed on our northwestern shores. Like, 30 km from here.

Not happy.

Ditto, including distance. Bloody migrating birds

It happens, regularly.

daughter is working in the lab where they isolate those virus strains  and do the testing.
They are swamped with work as they also have to do the covid mass testing plus salmonella plus anything veterinary that pops up.

[Saskia]

@bd139 sorry he sent back the 5900x. He got 2 by mistake. Plus a GTX 3090 because he was somewhat pissed that big navi was not faster than the 3090 ...

[mnementh]

A Makita variable speed Sawzall (and in VG used condition) for 25 Canadian Pesos (~$US19) is obviously a no-brainer; this one is supposedly 18V, so probably has a 24V or 36V rated speed controller. I'll have to take it apart to make sure, but if so, it will definitely be the Guinea pig to 3DP an adapter plate for my Kobalt 6-cell 24VMax packs. The Makita uses a dumb pack; we'll see if the Kobalt packs will yield full output without comms to the tool. 

Hold on there!  If that is in good working condition, the Makita saw could sell on kijiji or similar for more than what you got it for.  I would not tear it apart.  My experience is Makita tools at Home Depot, Rona, etc. are cheap consumer grade.  However, going to a real tool store gets you Makita models that are very good for the money.  For comparison, in my opinion the tools are a bit lighter weight and not quite the same level as Rigid tools, but the price is far less than Rigid; makes a good choice for a pro-hobbyist.

If it does need parts or servicing, Makita has service centres, which I have found to have helpful knowledgeable people:
https://www.makita.ca/index2.php?event=displayservicecenter

Yes, that tool can be used with the dumb packs, like all Makitas sold in the usual stores.  Depending on the model, it will also take the intelligent Makita battery packs; these packs often have a "B" on the end of the battery model number.

Yeah, all entirely too expensive a proposition for the amount of use I'll get out of it. I'm not going to spend the money and storage space on a whole different battery ecology for this one tool I'll use maybe a dozen times a year. I could have had the Makita charger too for another $15; I wasn't interested, as the batteries are ~$130 a pop and even the POS Chinesium clones are $50 each. If I can't make it work with my existing Kobalt batteries, I'll sell it down the road and put the money towards the Kobalt equivalent.  But for $US19 outlay, I'll gladly design & build a replacement insert that allows me to use my Kobalt packs with it; that seems like a good use of my talent and my creativity. You know, now that I have a working 3DP or two.

The question of whether the packs will work with it is not the saw, but rather my packs. The current Kobalt line uses smart packs, with a smart controller that provides dynamic OLP and LVCO and a bunch of other features depending on what tool the pack is plugged into. It'll slow the motor and blink the illumination LED on my drill just before it goes into shutdown, for example. Disconnect the Data pin and that goes away. *

The question is whether my pack will current-limit to an unusable level because it's not connected to a Kobalt 24VMax tool; this is something I won't know until I actually try to use the thing in real-world conditions.

mnem
 

*edited for clarification