Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Zucca]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

It is just the Brexit 100% signal. Good luck.

[sb42]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

Dwagon on the wing ?

Can confirm the sonic boom but no dwagon sighting. Certainly spooked his winged relatives well enough if it was him.

[Ice-Tea]

The leaking battery Megger MIT420 story continues. Opened her up and sure enough: crystals on the board? Where, well on an analog multiplexer. All makes sense. Soaked it in IPA, letting it dry, to be continued on Thursday.

[McBryce]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

Bit late in the year for Hedgehogs, they'll be hibernating by now.

McBryce.

[mnementh]

factory: I must admit I'm enjoying watching your HP porn rather than owning it and arguing with it myself 

Well that's the thing about what you see in porn, it looks exciting but if you try it yourself you sprain something, bruise something else, dislocate another part and end up exhausted, disappointed and covered in goop.

Elegantly described! 

I am never disappointed when it ends up like that.

mnem

[mnementh]

Nah, you need a big pneumatic impact wrench for that. The PTO guard gives some sense of scale. Ae we going to get teardown photos? 

1/2" rattle gun with a 30mm socket wouldn't budge the impeller nut but that was just a quick try before we had to finish for the day and go help a school buddy with 200 bales of hay.....and the  that came after. 

Pitch black now in NZ so pics tomorrow......and by then hopefully the full teardown.
This is the beast if specs interest you:
https://www.condorpumps.co.nz/Rovatti-TL3-80GA-horizontal-single-stage-centrifugal-pumps-with-overgear-2000-lpm
With a nearly 6:1 step up the impeller does 3200 rpm ! 

Did you remember to try running it backwards; ie - forwards to loosen...? Pump impellers sometimes have LH thread.

mnem

[25 CPS]

Yesterday in Quebec, Canada, GWN

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-couple-hit-with-curfew-violation-fine-after-wife-walks-husband-on-a-leash-1.5262178





    

I can only hope this nonsense doesn't spread into Ontario.

[syau]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

https://news.sky.com/story/sonic-boom-after-raf-jets-sent-to-intercept-private-plane-12185918

[mnementh]

...@mnementh @tautech I have the TL460s Plus here, got it for 25 quid on ebay. It does not always show the Post codes, but I can still see the Voltages, plus the breakout points are also nice.

For me this one is sufficient, I am currently not working on Laptops. Even though those adapters would have come handy when working on the Fujitsu industrial boards (which now all run, btw.) Pity that tautech is so far away. Otherwise he could have just sent the board over and I would have had a look.

Understood. Does the TL460S actually read out the rail voltages sequentially on the LED, or just have idiot lights letting you know there's a voltage on the rail?

   https://usa.banggood.com/Digital-LCD-Power-Supply-Tester-for-PC-ATX-or-BTX-or-ITX-4Pin-SATA-HDD-p-938085.html

I know it doesn't tell you what the voltages on the CPU, RAM and data bus are, but I have one of these; I use it with a Y-cable so I can actually see the ATX socket voltages under load:  You can't buy the correct Y-cable; you have to make it yourself from a 2-psu-into-one MB Y-cable.

What's important is to have that Power Good gauge on it; you want the time to be 200-300mS range UNLOADED. This indicates a healthy PSU that isn't struggling to charge capacitors. Loaded, it often takes more than 320mS and the tester has a shit-fit, but if the voltages read good, you're usually good.

      

This crypto-mining PSU, however, comes up in 220mS unloaded or with my full VR-rig Ryzen7/2080 Super plugged in:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/tech-teardown-amazon-$33-1kw-modular-cryptomining-psu-how-bad-can-it-be/msg2203305/#msg2203305

Effin' scary, that thing is.   You see that big tin-plated brass bar across the bottom? That is an actual bus-bar for the 12-volt rail.   The 5V & 3.3V both have 12-ga copper wire feeds. I bought a second one as a backup after I load-tested it to 950 watts output on just the 12V rail.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Yesterday in Quebec, Canada, GWN         

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-couple-hit-with-curfew-violation-fine-after-wife-walks-husband-on-a-leash-1.5262178

Sounds like a little good ol' fashioned civil disobedience... See? Even when they do that up here it has class and style. 

mnem
Reminds me of one Halloween where I went out on all fours wearing a leash with my girlfriend... things were a blast until, a bit drunk and far too much "in character", I bit Sheriff Morty on the leg.

[factory]

Well the 5325B crystal oven heater resistance is lower than what the manual states (60Ω to 80Ω, I suspect it may have shorted turns.   

David

Are you working in a semi-frigid shop like I usually prefer...? My cold-blooded nature does sometimes cause me similar confusion. I'd suggest that the more important indicator is of course how much current it draws; if it doesn't exceed spec then probably okay. If you could easily separate the oven from the crystal section (I know, not bloody likely), I'd try tapping on it while it's heating and look for current spikes.

Cheers,

mnem
Percussive maintenance is a time-honored diagnostic tool.

The shed temperature was about 17°C to 18°C, it was a bit lower at the weekend & last week at 15°C, I struggle to keep my hands from shaking if it gets too cold, no good if I want to solder or avoid shorting things with test probes.


As I have both the 5325A & B, some comparison measurements were taken for both the resistance & current draw of the crystal oven (I got too tired last night to post the results).
The oven heater resistance (at room temperature) was 49.6Ω for the 5325B & 80.6Ω in the older 5325A.
Current draw for the heater when powered up was approx 0.5A for the 5325B, it dropped & stabilised at 16mA after a while. The 5325A was approx 375mA at power up & stabilised at 45mA. I had to switch to a different meter as the Yokogawa doesn't have a mA range.


As I got distracted by the burnt components* & Gorilla bodges (thanks Med) in the 5325A I haven't yet opened the faulty crystal oven assembly to see if the heater can be repaired or not, or if it's intermittent or burnt to a crisp, the manual does actually give a part number for the heater element (0410-0161).


*Hope I'm not putting BD off from wanting an older hp counter, even if it's keeping him entertained. 

David

[mnementh]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

Dwagon on the wing ?

Can confirm the sonic boom but no dwagon sighting. Certainly spooked his winged relatives well enough if it was him.

Sorry; I tooted.

mnem
In my defense; I was visiting cousin Imogene and she took us all out for Chalupas and Frito Pie...

[med6753]

From the time I moved here 10 years ago the right bi-fold door on the closet which eventually was to become the TEA closet would not open and was fixed closed. Naturally this made access to the right side of the closet difficult. The reason was due to unevenness of the floor which did not allow clearance for the opening hardware. Dwellings built in the 1860's were rarely plumb and my bedroom floor reflects that. Anyway, 2 weeks ago decided to see if there was some way I could make that door open. And I was successful. It now opens and closes with no issues.

So because of that door issue the TEA closet became an unsorted and total mess. Until yesterday. Spent all afternoon straightening and organizing. This is the result. Yep, it's full but neat. At last. 




No more Fibber McGee Closet. 

[mnementh]

Just like the Sinclairs' refrigerator... 

mnem

[AVGresponding]

I do enjoy a picture of Med's component tubs, specifically the Classic Roast Capacitors one, which is presumably where he keeps all his RIFAs and tants.

[mansaxel]

... this is actually fucking important.  No, I'm serious.

An attempted coup d'état in the largest economy of the planet is something significant. For all of us. I concur.

[Specmaster]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

Yep, you're correct, it was two Typhoons on QRA being scrambled and cleared to fly at 1.6Mach to intercept a private jet on route from Germany to Birmingham that was taking a strange flight path over London and was not responding to radio messages, the plane and the flight path are shown below, and it was escorted as normal in these incidents into Stanstead Airport.

[Specmaster]

From the time I moved here 10 years ago the right bi-fold door on the closet which eventually was to become the TEA closet would not open and was fixed closed. Naturally this made access to the right side of the closet difficult. The reason was due to unevenness of the floor which did not allow clearance for the opening hardware. Dwellings built in the 1860's were rarely plumb and my bedroom floor reflects that. Anyway, 2 weeks ago decided to see if there was some way I could make that door open. And I was successful. It now opens and closes with no issues.

So because of that door issue the TEA closet became an unsorted and total mess. Until yesterday. Spent all afternoon straightening and organizing. This is the result. Yep, it's full but neat. At last. 




No more Fibber McGee Closet. 

Haha, can tell that you're a single man these days from the fact that it took 10 years to get around to fixing it, no nagging SWMBO to kick your arse into gear and sort it out 

[med6753]

Just had a sonic boom over cambrige UK. That's unusual here.

Yep, you're correct, it was two Typhoons on QRA being scrambled and cleared to fly at 1.6Mach to intercept a private jet on route from Germany to Birmingham that was taking a strange flight path over London and was not responding to radio messages, the plane and the flight path are shown below, and it was escorted as normal in these incidents into Stanstead Airport.

1940 deja vu. 

[med6753]

Haha, can tell that you're a single man these days from the fact that it took 10 years to get around to fixing it, no nagging SWMBO to kick your arse into gear and sort it out 

That's damn straight. Wasn't on my list of priorities. 

[med6753]

I do enjoy a picture of Med's component tubs, specifically the Classic Roast Capacitors one, which is presumably where he keeps all his RIFAs and tants.

That one is electrolytics only. The tants are in a separate container. 

[Cerebus]

The reason was due to unevenness of the floor which did not allow clearance for the opening hardware. Dwellings built in the 1860's were rarely plumb and my bedroom floor reflects that.

We've got a Victorian end-of-terrace and nothing in the house is square, plumb or level, not helped by the fact that the wall that represents the end of the row of houses deliberately slopes from the back to the front of the house to follow the angle that our road meets the adjoining road.

A few years back we decided to redecorate the living room. Stripping off the wallpaper revealed plasterwork that was well past its sell-by date. Patched in some places, crumbling in others. Biting the bullet, we stripped it off and muggins got the job of dry lining* the room single handed. Normally dry lining is the quick and easy method of doing things. Not so when the walls aren't plumb, corners are everything from 80 to 100 degrees and your ceiling height isn't a comfortable multiple of standard sheet sizes. At least now the resultant walls are plumb and there's a bunch of UTP cabling and speaker wiring hidden under the result. Not a job I'm in a hurry to repeat.

*Aware that building terminology does travel well: 'dry lining' is using plasterboard instead of wet plastering to get a flat smooth surface over brickwork/stonework. Affixed using timber studding or, as I did it, by 'dot and dabbing' a mortar based adhesive on the walls.

[Cerebus]

Correct, retrofitting hot water tempering valves is not mandatory in NZ.
For some 30 years our wetback has boiled water if you let it however over the winter when we have the firebox running 24/7 for ~150 days we also have the mains element turned OFF for it not to keep boiling the water.
Never fitted a tempering valve but do manage the water heating to some degree....pun intended ! 

When you say "wetback" are you referring to something like a wood stove that has a water jacket to heat water for domestic use? 

I'm guessing that tautech is talking about what we call a 'back boiler' here in the UK, where there's a boiler fitted into the back (and sometimes sides) of an open fireplace.

[med6753]

The reason was due to unevenness of the floor which did not allow clearance for the opening hardware. Dwellings built in the 1860's were rarely plumb and my bedroom floor reflects that.

We've got a Victorian end-of-terrace and nothing in the house is square, plumb or level, not helped by the fact that the wall that represents the end of the row of houses deliberately slopes from the back to the front of the house to follow the angle that our road meets the adjoining road.

A few years back we decided to redecorate the living room. Stripping off the wallpaper revealed plasterwork that was well past its sell-by date. Patched in some places, crumbling in others. Biting the bullet, we stripped it off and muggins got the job of dry lining* the room single handed. Normally dry lining is the quick and easy method of doing things. Not so when the walls aren't plumb, corners are everything from 80 to 100 degrees and your ceiling height isn't a comfortable multiple of standard sheet sizes. At least now the resultant walls are plumb and there's a bunch of UTP cabling and speaker wiring hidden under the result. Not a job I'm in a hurry to repeat.

*Aware that building terminology does travel well: 'dry lining' is using plasterboard instead of wet plastering to get a flat smooth surface over brickwork/stonework. Affixed using timber studding or, as I did it, by 'dot and dabbing' a mortar based adhesive on the walls.

Yep, same stuff we call dry wall or Sheetrock which is actually a brand name for a dry wall company but came into common use.

[med6753]

Holy crap....you Brits can't handle a dusting of snow.