Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

Mouser met their commitment and shipped yesterday. UPS fail due to weather however the tracking does say it's in Poughkeepsie. 

USPS is a lost cause. Don't even have an updated delivery date. 


 

[Specmaster]

Uggghhh... yeah. "Salaried position" is the new age way to rape employees.   

mnem
and they usually make you give up the benefits package for that "promotion"...

I reluctantly took that in exchange for another vacation week in negotiating my current position. Then, I've got a nominal 39.5 hour work week and no overtime beyond time for time compensation, 6 weeks paid vacation, on top of the normal mostly free (a visit to the GP costs ~40USD, fixed fee) medical care there's "just hand in your receipts" for that last 40 bucks.  It works well for me, despite the overtime absence. Mostly because employer actively insists that we take time off when we've had long days.

My last position before that was public employer, so roughly as above (but overtime and less basic pay) and 7 weeks vacation. Because I'm 40+ years old.

The fascists in the "Sweden Democrats" are like the idiots in AfD or the Farage crowd, they say that this country is a war zone.

A few years ago I had the good fortune of being employed by the Hager Group, (German company) and I was really looked after there, they had a similar policy, of treating their staff well, despite being salaried. I think I would still be working for them (assuming that they would keep me past retiring age).

I only left there because the national sales manager became the London regional manager as well for a while, and he had a bee in his bonnet about technical engineers being treated like Prima Donna's, being given cars, phone, laptops, offices etc compared to his sales force. While he was a regional manager for a while, he made life unbearable. Should have stuck it out really because a couple of months after I left, a new MD took over the UK operation, ousted that guy and things went back to normal, if only I had a crystal ball 

[BU508A]

Most of my electro installation parts are made by Hager. 

[Zucca]

Which reminds me I have to buy lots of 220VAC European main elektro toys before I leave Europe,
yes I want to install an Unterverteiler in USA... 

[BU508A]

A Proof Wood installation in the USA?   

[Specmaster]

Most of my electro installation parts are made by Hager. 

Yeah, they are pretty good gear

[Saskia]

@Zucca I could still tease you with a Hifi set or similar stuff, but you would not want to awaken the wooolves or dwagons or other critters that might pick on you 

[Cerebus]

Is that some form of religious headwear? 

Only if you're Swedish:



The same religion seems to prescribe wearing some sort of religious chastity garment too:

[Specmaster]

Which reminds me I have to buy lots of 220VAC European main elektro toys before I leave Europe,
yes I want to install an Unterverteiler in USA... 

For those who don't know an Unterverteiler is a Sub-distributor

[Specmaster]

Is that some form of religious headwear? 

Only if you're Swedish:



The same religion seems to prescribe wearing some sort of religious chastity garment too:

If they are made from same stuff as their bags are, the under zones are going to get pretty fucking sore wearing them 

[Cerebus]

Is that some form of religious headwear? 

Only if you're Swedish:



The same religion seems to prescribe wearing some sort of religious chastity garment too:

If they are made from same stuff as their bags are, the under zones are going to get pretty fucking sore wearing them 

Hacking Ikea bags into clothing has become a "thing". I don't think the point is make practical, comfortable to wear clothing - it's enough just to have made it. 

Some efforts are quite impressive:

[Robert763]

For you guys who ordered that "A Torch" electronic load:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/cheezeball-dc-load-dl24p-pump-or-dump/new/

https://www.sevarg.net/2018/06/24/the-atorch-purple-fan-mosfet-destroyer/

The MOSFET destroyer is the same design as my current one apart from the downdraft fan to my inline one.

I set my lab supply to 40V/5A

Push it beyond 'Chinese' power spec for a start and it blew up the FET Even the specs for the current one at 200V and 20A maximum just because that is the peak specs of the FET which is clearly  Characterizing the device with increasing loads and how it behaves toward the stated 150W would be much more appropriate than just chucking a 40V input at it.

Some of the high frequency hash shown is maybe from his nameless power supply or poor scope technique. 

But he reached HIS conclusion based what he wanted to find was the fault not looking elsewhere to what may have contributed. There is nothing written on what in his opinion is at fault with the design just that it must be 'because reasons'.

EDIT - Power Supply in question - wonder where the spikes came from 

Err, If you read his comments about the test, as he had the power supply set to 5A and the load to >5A the PSU was in current limiting mode and only producing around 1V output so only 5W dissipation in the load. Even then 5A 40V is within the MOSFET's ratings as long as its cool so any transient dissipation would still be within limits. I think he is corrrect in the diagnosis of gate ringing.
Anything like this with an unknown load on the MOSFET drain needs a 47R resistor in series with the gate an 15V zenner from resistor to source connected close to the gate.

About 30 years ago I was playing with a large MOSFET load for capacity testing aircraft batteries (28V 100Ah D1) and had not learnt about gate isolatin resistors. I didn't blow up the MOSFETs but the guys in the workshop complained that their radio stopped working when it was on. 
While it seemed to be working fine it was actually putting out several watts of RF in the middle of the FM broadcast band. Thai was radiated by the battery leads We were on an airfield so it could have been much worse if the frequency had been a bit higher.......

[mnementh]

Awsesome! Looks like end-users have already done the alpha testing and we're now well into the beta testing phase! 

I might get by with just adding a fusible link to the test jig and and a better FET! And that diode... and zener on the gate... and... and... 

@Robert - Thanks for the pointers. I'll try that along with the recommended zener. In a month or two.

mnem
*tinker-ily*

[Specmaster]

Is that some form of religious headwear? 

Only if you're Swedish:



The same religion seems to prescribe wearing some sort of religious chastity garment too:

If they are made from same stuff as their bags are, the under zones are going to get pretty fucking sore wearing them 

Hacking Ikea bags into clothing has become a "thing". I don't think the point is make practical, comfortable to wear clothing - it's enough just to have made it. 

Some efforts are quite impressive:

The first 3 are pretty good, not so sure about the 4th though

[mnementh]

mnem
A line has been crossed. The bar has been lowered. Others will be blamed.

[Kosmic]

Thanks! wait... WHAT...? Those encoders aren't for menu navigation...?       Okies... I'll look for the ones that are available here at a sane price; IIRC, there's one that uses the cheap little 2.4" touchscreen like tinySA, etc.

mnem
 

Ok so a bit of time wasting over a coffee got me this option Random AliExpress Seller

Add your own PC cooler and likely get a better result than the stock. PC, Phone apps makes this a serious one for me to add to the collection for the few pesos it costs.

Watch out, apparently there's some rigging on the gate of the mosfet and it apparently blow quite often.

https://www.sevarg.net/2018/06/24/the-atorch-purple-fan-mosfet-destroyer/

Some people fixed the problem by adding a 20v zener on the gate.

Edit: I should read all the posts before replying. capt bullshot mentioned that blog already.

[Cerebus]

The first 3 are pretty good, not so sure about the 4th though

In terms of manipulating fabric I think that it's actually more impressive. Getting flat, stiff, fabric to conform to curves in 3D is the core skill of the fabric patternmaker's art. Anyone can get a bit of stretch jersey to fit, getting something as unyielding as that strange 'woven flat ribbons' type polypropylene that the Ikea bags are made out of to fit someone's nose, cheeks and chin is worthy of applause. Note that where the other ones have to fit something curvy the makers have resorted to a lot of gathering and scrunching up fabric.

[mnementh]

That is exactly the one I was thinking of only BETTER, cuz I have like oodles of Intel CPU coolerz lying around. 

mnem
*toddles off to abuse myself on AliEx*

Ordered - because it was discounted 

Same.


I hate you guys.....

Hate/Love same same in TEA    If it helps I have started sketching up on paper an idea for a custom enclosure. Laser cut I think - see you NEED one of those too 

You should probably wait until you have it in hand and have successfully completed the mods in the alpha/beta testing thread and tested to some level of confidence. I get the feeling that a customized cooling solution (probably multiple pass transistors offboard) will be needed to get anywhere near a reasonable 150-400W dissipation with any safety.

Fortunately, this is exactly the sort of tinkery I was expecting to have to do, only the end-user community is a lot further along on fixxoring the OEM fuxxoring than I originally thought.

I wonder how much of the problems they're having with the OEM design come from use of fake FETs with specs that are actually as close to the datasheet as milking a duck...?

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

The first 3 are pretty good, not so sure about the 4th though

In terms of manipulating fabric I think that it's actually more impressive. Getting flat, stiff, fabric to conform to curves in 3D is the core skill of the fabric patternmaker's art. Anyone can get a bit of stretch jersey to fit, getting something as unyielding as that strange 'woven flat ribbons' type polypropylene that the Ikea bags are made out of to fit someone's nose, cheeks and chin is worthy of applause. Note that where the other ones have to fit something curvy the makers have resorted to a lot of gathering and scrunching up fabric.

You have a point, but it still is not as "appealing" as the others if you get my drift, no matter how technically superior the craftsmanship is.

[mnementh]

I hope they actually do make it worth the misery. You'll be the one-in-a-million.

Spider man crunch ? Is that the equivalent to a spider shrivelling up when treating it with the acetylene torch ?

It's evil. You get down on all fours, on toe and fingertips, like Spider-Man walking up a wall. Then you bring your knee up to the back of you your elbow without falling over, alternating legs. Then you do another set left knee to right elbow, and alternate.

It's also literally one of the best exercises you can do for a thick gut and/or to tighten up stomach muscles to reinforce a injured back. As many as you can bear to do.

mnem
you are the burn...

Ah, similar to doing the plank with the mountain climbing option.  Definitely a good workout.  Do your best to keep balance by exercising the opposing muscles as well.  Crunches (hate 'em), push-ups and chin-ups are all good for you.

Don't go 100% the first time either.  Leave a bit of room to build up to more.  I think it is very important to make building up into a habit... 

Yeah, now imagine doing that when there's literally 2 of you in the same body. Just the part of getting into position and holding up your own weight for 60 seconds is an achievement; in all honesty, I can barely manage to  get up on toes and fingertips for a few seconds, then do a halfway attempt on fingertips and knees. But as you say... start with what you can do and work your way up.

My son, quite surprisingly, has learned quite a bit more than I expected from his vids. He picked from the rare few that included actual instruction instead of just a upbeat soundtrack.

His form is good in most of the exercises; and he took my advice to heart aboot slow, controlled movements with smaller bells rather than taking bigger ones and hoofing the weight up. It's actually nice to be able to work with him, spotting him and making sure he does them right. And the flip side, I have him to help me make sure I make a habit of working out and don't use the pain as an excuse not to work it.

As important to the weight loss I absolutely must make happen as the workout itself is to make sure you do some form of aerobic workout regularly; this raises your overall metabolism from the sedentary lifestyle I've fallen into since we got stuck here in COVID limbo.

It might actually be the best thing either of us ever do together.

mnem
*w00t-w00t!*

[mnementh]

@mnem ugly typo. It's 5 figures (bloody thick fingers) which is still excellent over here.
@tautech
@Brumby I suffered major spine injury when a VW Tuareg driver decided to rear end me. He said that he was not to blame, as I did not get out of his way  fast enough.
Yeah, right.
So this got me a very severe whiplash thingie that led to neurological damage to my left arm and my neck, left my legs paralyzed for a week, my arm paralyzed for a couple of years, and since this happened on the way from work, the state accident insurance kicked in and is currently paying me some disability pension.

However this incident left my neck extremely susceptible for any kind of blerk. So when I have the flu or some similar nasty bug that decided to give me sore muscles, my neck stiffens up in a way that makes any slight movement a 10 out of 10.

It's gotten better now, I can move my head again (which I could not on Friday)
So no need to shoot me yet.

*puts a very shiny bullet up on the shelf... along with all the others*   

mnem
ooooh... inventory day...!!!

[mnementh]

Mouser met their commitment and shipped yesterday. UPS fail due to weather however the tracking does say it's in Poughkeepsie. 

USPS is a lost cause. Don't even have an updated delivery date. 

At least they bothered to admit there's a problem... usually I get something like:

December 18th, 2020

STATUS: Package in transit, scheduled for delivery December 14th, 2020.

 

mnem
    punters.

[mnementh]

nice bonnet for our Tek-Smurf. And it is blue!        https://www.ebay.com/itm/254492671252

$22 USD to ship a plastic bag from Spain. 

Well, now we know what the Unknown Comic has been doing for the last 30 years...

mnem

[Cerebus]

The first 3 are pretty good, not so sure about the 4th though

In terms of manipulating fabric I think that it's actually more impressive. Getting flat, stiff, fabric to conform to curves in 3D is the core skill of the fabric patternmaker's art. Anyone can get a bit of stretch jersey to fit, getting something as unyielding as that strange 'woven flat ribbons' type polypropylene that the Ikea bags are made out of to fit someone's nose, cheeks and chin is worthy of applause. Note that where the other ones have to fit something curvy the makers have resorted to a lot of gathering and scrunching up fabric.

You have a point, but it still is not as "appealing" as the others if you get my drift, no matter how technically superior the craftsmanship is.

Are you looking to deprive Med of his "Dirty old man of TEA" award? 

[Kosmic]

Awsesome! Looks like end-users have already done the alpha testing and we're now well into the beta testing phase! 

I might get by with just adding a fusible link to the test jig and and a better FET! And that diode... and zener on the gate... and... and... 

@Robert - Thanks for the pointers. I'll try that along with the recommended zener. In a month or two.

mnem
*tinker-ily*

Keep us posted. I ordered one too