Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Was mostly after it for the core memory stack TBH. The RMS voltmeter has two tube sockets with no tubes in. I assume that was for the choppers so I'm not looking to repair or bring it up. Will evaluate what I'm going to use it for. The chassis is interesting with the controls and panel meter more than the original purpose!

Good start to the day. My battery charger just blew up 

Can anyone recommend something that will charge 12x AA NiMh cells independently?

Edit: might actually just charge them off a power supply at C/10 

Providing they are close to matched a series string will be ok at low current even with AA's. All of our old 8 cell Tx packs were typically fast charged at 5-600mAH or even harder if you were in a rush. Recent purchase has been rolling well for me if you need a replacement https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/what-did-you-buy-today-post-your-latest-purchase/msg3443750/#msg3443750

Thanks will look into this today 


On to the FT818, and of course someone has been "at it" at first sight! Wouldn't transmit. Couldn't see anything obvious. The CW filter was an interesting find so I downloaded the manual and found the TX is in CW practice mode so it won't actually TX when you key down. I did a full hard reset on it and it works fine. Will kick out full 6w by the looks.

Have been listening to Heathrow approach on it for the last hour

That one looks like a car radio.  If you tune around 118 to 136 you should get all of the airports transmissions apart from some tower, ground and fire who sometimes 455 band

[McBryce]

Got a new toy for the stack of soldering equipment: It's the cheapest of the whole stack, anyway a few tests showed it does the job. As it's rather seldom used, I'm happy with it for now.

I've one of those too, labelled ZD-915. Been using it for years without a problem. Just be careful to make sure the nozzle is solder-free before it cools down and clean the glass chamber regularly.

McBryce.

[Robert763]

Hmm, this is certainly causing some discussion, and I have to admit I can see both sides of the equation here, and I too have been at rock bottom, upto my neck in debt, 3 babies to care for and basically almost just the clothes I had on my back, no PC and no mobile phone, and I was working in 3 jobs to try and keep my head just above the water line, so I could continue to supporting my family and my Mum at the same time. So I fully understand the position that some of these sellers on Gumtree, Shpock, Craigs List etc might feel that they are being denied the chance of providing for their family by perhaps selling off some of their most treasured items. Well, quite frankly this is a load of BS, they are not, they are asked to consider giving their buyers the option of a delivery service at zero cost to them, as in eBay, it is at the buyers cost.

So nothing untoward there. All that the government is doing here is acting on the science (and about time too IMO)

If the buyer still wants to drive long distances and collect their goods, thats fine, but they have to fully shoulder the fact that they do in fact face being stopped by police and possibly fined a not insignificant sum of money, they have to pay for their fuel and time etc, and also live with the guilt if they then subsequently become diagnosed as having the virus and then having to disclose their movements, and if they managed to avoid being stopped in the first instance, they might then be fined afterwards because of their disclosure. They would also have with the guilt if it subsequently proves they also passed on the virus to the seller and thus exposed their family needlessly to it as well.

Personally, I do not wish to be in that position.

Proper business people will be registered and have company logos, headed paper and maybe sign written vehicles and are still encouraged to go about their business but take social distancing etc seriously, and hence where the couriers come in. Those genuine business people have nothing to worry from being stopped as they can prove what they are doing. As Robert stated, his company had to provide him with a proper paperwork in case he was stopped to prove that he was on official company business in an essential service capacity.

If we had done what NZ did from very early days, shut the borders to all but purely essential people, the current Draconian measures might not have been required and thousands of lives saved as well.

I rest my case.

So perhaps then... this is an example of noblesse oblige for the modern age...? We have the means, we have the discretionary funds to buy these for-pickup-only items, it is therefore also our obligation to take the risk of being fined but still pursue those items (within reason), as doing so stimulates the borked economy?

And even if we do take one for the team, we can console ourselves with the hope that we kept some poor unfortunate from getting a ticket for desperately far from home for desperately needed income...?

Another concern... I do not consider having things delivered by courier to be any bit safer than doing a properly-arranged curbside pickup; I've seen some downright skeevy individuals delivering my Amazon goods, and those people still have to go to every skeevoid and his brother's drippy-all-winter house before they bring me my goods.

mnem
that reminds me; I need to make a pilgrimage to the one semi-nearby pharmacy that has both my Sudafed and bottled IPA sometime soon...

Is that any different really to going shopping, and you have to handle items there that others have touched but when you get home, wash your hands with soap and water or hand cleanser or indeed have a bottle similar in your car? Over this side of the pond, couriers, postman etc usually ring the doorbell, pop their parcels on the door step, step back a few steps and wait for you to answer the door, and then they take a photo of you picking up your parcels. The far greater risk is from inhaling other peoples breath containing water drop lets, very minimal risk from handling the parcels.

Which reminds me, has anyone noticed how Bang em Good are trying to reassure people that its safe to buy from them as they claim to sterilize your packages before dispatching them?

I'm off to my bed, till next time.

The other thng to remember is the postperson or courier is already out on the road delivering (and may be getting regular tests)  picking up anything personally puts another potenial virus carrier on the road. 
My personal bugbear is people who go to Tescos etc as couples or even whole families.

By the way, last time I made a road trip for work it taking this: https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/exovent-ventilator-set-mass-production to the EMC test house.

[Robert763]

Got a new toy for the stack of soldering equipment: It's the cheapest of the whole stack, anyway a few tests showed it does the job. As it's rather seldom used, I'm happy with it for now.

Hey, I have the exact same tool myself, under the brand name of Duratool. I've had now about 4 years and it works really well, very pleased with it. Its so much better the using wick all the time and so much quicker to use.

Work bought one of those DurXtool (as it got called) desoldering station to replace a Weller one where the element disintegrated, they wouldn't pay for something more industrial, such as the Pace* I used.
I recommend getting some spare tips as they will damage traces when worn and some extra filters.
The unit we had had a nasty habit of jamming FM radio when the heater was energised too.

*When the motor for the pump in the Pace died I ended up cannibalising the Weller station for it's pump.

David

Many years ago I made myself a de-solder station using a weller iron and my own PSU / pump unit. It used  a car air horn compressor modified as a vacuum pump - basically tapping the inlet port and screwing a fitting in. The air horn compressor is a vane pump about twice the diameter of the one in the Weller unit so lots of power. A mate saw and liked it so I made him one and he ended up making them and selling in small quantities. I got a small payment for each one he sold. He stopped when the cheap ones started coming in from the far east.

[bd139]

Was mostly after it for the core memory stack TBH. The RMS voltmeter has two tube sockets with no tubes in. I assume that was for the choppers so I'm not looking to repair or bring it up. Will evaluate what I'm going to use it for. The chassis is interesting with the controls and panel meter more than the original purpose!

Good start to the day. My battery charger just blew up 

Can anyone recommend something that will charge 12x AA NiMh cells independently?

Edit: might actually just charge them off a power supply at C/10 

Providing they are close to matched a series string will be ok at low current even with AA's. All of our old 8 cell Tx packs were typically fast charged at 5-600mAH or even harder if you were in a rush. Recent purchase has been rolling well for me if you need a replacement https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/what-did-you-buy-today-post-your-latest-purchase/msg3443750/#msg3443750

Thanks will look into this today 


On to the FT818, and of course someone has been "at it" at first sight! Wouldn't transmit. Couldn't see anything obvious. The CW filter was an interesting find so I downloaded the manual and found the TX is in CW practice mode so it won't actually TX when you key down. I did a full hard reset on it and it works fine. Will kick out full 6w by the looks.

Have been listening to Heathrow approach on it for the last hour

That one looks like a car radio.  If you tune around 118 to 136 you should get all of the airports transmissions apart from some tower, ground and fire who sometimes 455 band

It’s a bit of a Swiss Army knife of a radio to be honest. Does all HF amateur bands, broadcast FM, airband, 2m VHF, 70cm UHF. TX on all apart from airband. Does FM, AM, USB, LSB, CW, AFSK. £625 new so what I paid was pretty good.

Got tower here on 118.505 AM 

[med6753]

Curly. NSFW. 





All parts/boards/hardware removed and not used on both scopes has been placed in a box and into the TEA closet. Nothing has been thrown out. When Larry is complete this Curly carcass will be installed into the beat up case and also put in the TEA closet.

[Specmaster]

Was mostly after it for the core memory stack TBH. The RMS voltmeter has two tube sockets with no tubes in. I assume that was for the choppers so I'm not looking to repair or bring it up. Will evaluate what I'm going to use it for. The chassis is interesting with the controls and panel meter more than the original purpose!

Good start to the day. My battery charger just blew up 

Can anyone recommend something that will charge 12x AA NiMh cells independently?

Edit: might actually just charge them off a power supply at C/10 

Providing they are close to matched a series string will be ok at low current even with AA's. All of our old 8 cell Tx packs were typically fast charged at 5-600mAH or even harder if you were in a rush. Recent purchase has been rolling well for me if you need a replacement https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/what-did-you-buy-today-post-your-latest-purchase/msg3443750/#msg3443750

Thanks will look into this today 


On to the FT818, and of course someone has been "at it" at first sight! Wouldn't transmit. Couldn't see anything obvious. The CW filter was an interesting find so I downloaded the manual and found the TX is in CW practice mode so it won't actually TX when you key down. I did a full hard reset on it and it works fine. Will kick out full 6w by the looks.

Have been listening to Heathrow approach on it for the last hour

That one looks like a car radio.  If you tune around 118 to 136 you should get all of the airports transmissions apart from some tower, ground and fire who sometimes 455 band

It’s a bit of a Swiss Army knife of a radio to be honest. Does all HF amateur bands, broadcast FM, airband, 2m VHF, 70cm UHF. TX on all apart from airband. Does FM, AM, USB, LSB, CW, AFSK. £625 new so what I paid was pretty good.

Got tower here on 118.505 AM 

That is correct, there is 118.705 AM and also 124.475 AM

[nixiefreqq]

In case your wondering how to remove bloodstains from vintage grey faux-leather HP gear: Acetone.

End of message.

i would advise you not to say anything incriminating.........but we really could use some background on the circumstances that lead to this discovery.

maybe you should consult an attorney before replying?

[Cerebus]

Good start to the day. My battery charger just blew up 

Can anyone recommend something that will charge 12x AA NiMh cells independently?

Edit: might actually just charge them off a power supply at C/10 

You've just reminded me that I need to get some AA battery holders. Well done.

[Saskia]

There is of course the other side that by making that TEA trip you are putting your family at risk of Covid  or loosing the breadwinner from it. I've known hard times too but health is more important than property.

Certainly. But if you are starving, your health will be deteriorating, too.

And this lockdown is detrimental to our health, physical and psychological. And there is no real factual evidence that one of the main principals of healers, doctors , ... is being preserved (primum non nocere). Naturally there are assholes partying. On the other hand there are small business owners whose financial existance is being ruined.

It is difficult to find the right balance.

I doubt that people involved in accidents etc that require an autopsy would be recorded as having Covid as cause of death because history will show those governments up in a very bad light indeed, and they would be more likely to try to disguise many Covid deaths as something else entirely, I don't see having a high number deaths from it as a badge of honour. The world was warned about such an event years ago and they chose to do nothing about it.

In Germany this is exactly the case. Also there was a report in the mainstream media (Welt am Sonntag) that the ministry of the interior wanted our university hospitals, the Robert Koch Institute and the Academy of Sciences to write studies that would justify repressive policies against the people. Which the institutions delivered within 4 days.

This makes it impossible for me to believe our politicians even a single word.

[Saskia]

@capt bullshot make sure your ZD915 has the glass chamber and not the plastic one. If it has the plastic one replace immediately, spares are readily available on ebay. It's definitely work it and a huge improvement.

[mansaxel]

The RMS voltmeter has two tube sockets with no tubes in. I assume that was for the choppers so I'm not looking to repair or bring it up. Will evaluate what I'm going to use it for. The chassis is interesting with the controls and panel meter more than the original purpose!

I think it screams for a LED old-school bulb on top. Do test if it looks happier upside down before you take out the glue gun and the drill. 

[Cerebus]

Yeah I have a 12 slot but it’s one I don’t intend to buy again as I only bought it before xmas 

These are mostly used in sets of 3 so I’m thinking that I may just number them up in groups and just do C/10 for 12 hours. Ikea Ladda cells do not bothered if I fuck ‘em particularly just as long as they don’t go on fire 

I've got a 4 cell universal charger from Nitecore (Digicharger D4) that does everything from 18650s in any Li chemistry down to NiMH/NiCd in AAA - even takes C cells. Autodetects what it's charging and manages every cell independently (needs manually telling that it's dealing with LiFePO₄ cells). You can manually set it to a low charge rate (300mA) on a cell by cell basis too.  Takes mains on a 2 pin IEC C7/C8 or 12V DC on a barrel jack. Displays individual charge state, voltage, charging current, and time on charge. Does CV, CC and dV/dt as appropriate for the chemistry in use.

I've been using it for years with some GP low self discharge NiHM, some of which have been heavily abused as far as over-discharging is concerned and it has performed faultlessly. "It just works^TM." I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the D4 and based on my experience I reckon you'd be safe with anything from this brand. They only go up to 4 slots with the fancy displays, but they have an 8 slot charger sans fancy display with just LED charging/charged indicators.

The one I have:


The 8 cell one:

[Cerebus]

In case your wondering how to remove bloodstains from vintage grey faux-leather HP gear: Acetone.

End of message.

How often do we have to tell people? If you're going to bludgeon someone, use the Fluke 25! The "safe for explosive atmosphere" seals means that you can just dump it in the sink and scrub it. Bonus: no matter how hard you bludgeon you can still use the meter to take readings immediately afterward.

[Cerebus]

Work bought one of those DurXtool (as it got called) ...

DurXtool? Where do you work, a knocking shop? 

[mnementh]

Linus way too excited:   

Don't turn it on; take it apart:   

Signal Path just recently did a detailed analysis of the thing:   

Holy fucking asscrackers, that's a lotta junk:   https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo

mnem

[Cerebus]

Many years ago I made myself a de-solder station using a weller iron and my own PSU / pump unit. It used  a car air horn compressor modified as a vacuum pump - basically tapping the inlet port and screwing a fitting in. The air horn compressor is a vane pump about twice the diameter of the one in the Weller unit so lots of power. A mate saw and liked it so I made him one and he ended up making them and selling in small quantities. I got a small payment for each one he sold. He stopped when the cheap ones started coming in from the far east.

Ooh, good idea. I have need of a small so-so vacuum pump and every time I've had a look I've either found things that are cheap, but too wimpy, or full blown vac pumps that are bigger than I need (cheap HVAC pumps come in around the £50 quid mark nowadays, so I can't claim them as expensive). I've considered small compressors that I could modify, but one for an air horn never occurred to me. Will have to ponder.

[Zucca]

Holy fucking asscrackers, that's a lotta junk:   https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo

FUUUUUUU

[capt bullshot]

@capt bullshot make sure your ZD915 has the glass chamber and not the plastic one. If it has the plastic one replace immediately, spares are readily available on ebay. It's definitely work it and a huge improvement.

Checked that, it's glass.

[capt bullshot]

Work bought one of those DurXtool (as it got called) desoldering station to replace a Weller one where the element disintegrated, they wouldn't pay for something more industrial, such as the Pace* I used.
I recommend getting some spare tips as they will damage traces when worn and some extra filters.
The unit we had had a nasty habit of jamming FM radio when the heater was energised too.

*When the motor for the pump in the Pace died I ended up cannibalising the Weller station for it's pump.

We've got a new Weller @work (old one had vacuum problems), but it's used by many people and most don't care about proper maintenance. So most of the time it's not instantly usable, one has to clean it before usage. Additionally, for some strange reasons,  most people just leave it turned on burning the tips at 450°C when they did their work

Alas, someone else was faster and "rescued" the old one, otherwise I would have taken it and tried to repair.

[Saskia]

Work bought one of those DurXtool (as it got called) ...

DurXtool? Where do you work, a knocking shop? 

Can't recommend. The battery dies prematurely and the silicon stuff gets brittle and disintegrates.
The outer layer is not really pleasant, even though it  is easy to clean.

[Cerebus]

Work bought one of those DurXtool (as it got called) ...

DurXtool? Where do you work, a knocking shop? 

Can't recommend. The battery dies prematurely and the silicon stuff gets brittle and disintegrates.
The outer layer is not really pleasant, even though it  is easy to clean.

Not a recommendation, I just needed a 'tool' with the Durex name on otherwise our antipodean friends would have thought that the implication of "Durex tool" was something like this:



The one Durex brand vibrator I've seen up close was very hard and had a thin coating of thermoplastic rubber, I don't think their manufacturing budget runs to addition cure silicone.

[drussell]

In case your wondering how to remove bloodstains from vintage grey faux-leather HP gear: Acetone.

End of message.

i would advise you not to say anything incriminating.........but we really could use some background on the circumstances that lead to this discovery.

maybe you should consult an attorney before replying?

I know some specimens of test gear are rare, but if you guys are gonna start killing for gear, I think that's beyond TEA and you're, uhh, probably gonna need to start a new thread.   

[mnementh]

Holy fucking asscrackers, that's a lotta junk:   https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo

FUUUUUUU

Yeah... now toggle on the "debris" object type in the control panel (upper left corner).

mnem

[Specmaster]

Printers, grrr bloody laser printer printed out 6 pages perfectly, had a paper jam, now printing thick black horizontal lines 10mm thick every 30 mm down the page so an A4 sheet gets 8 of these bloody lines per sheet. Give me an ink jet every time