Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up with the latest goings on here. This is the first time in over 24 hours that I've been able to sit in a chair comfortably and type. I've never had back problems and I now have extreme sympathy for those who do. You are literally bed ridden and that's the only time you can achieve some comfort. But I'm finally coming out of it with just an occasional muscle spasm to remind me that I ain't a kid no more. I've had absolutely no appetite and haven't eaten since yesterday but I am keeping myself hydrated with just plain water.

So...where does that leave things? My first priority is that I have to do something about that damn tire. The spike is right at the edge of the thread and I'm not sure it can be safely patched. I'm thinking of just ordering a new tire and be done with it. If they can patch the old one I'll keep it as spare. As far as the item in the CR-V? In my current condition no way can I risk jackassing it up here. I'm thinking of calling my son to come help me but I hate to do that since he's a busy boy with 3 kids, wife, and a very busy job. We'll see. Figure something out.

Anyway, I feel like I've come back from the dead.     

Currently doing battle with my Back too @med it sucks. Ibuprofen works better than most for reducing any swelling or even that mixed with a little Codeine in the same tablet if you can get them gives them some more poke. No good if you have ulcer issues and always take them with food regardless. And if you go Codeine get your Bran intake up because taking a solid load off isn't fun with a bad back

[tautech]

Speaking from decades of bad back experience Codeine is the only thing that will deal to sciatica if you're ever unlucky enough to get it while for the odd uncomfortable tweaks Ibuprofen/Paracetamol mixture tablets will give some good relief and these are generally kinder on the gut. 
Knee hugs when you can manage them without too much pain are a good stretching exercise and can tweak the back into shape at times.

'er indoors says did I hear that clack, no but I felt some little click and now the back is good again and I'm gone....
Hanging bar set up in the garage too and just 30s can offer good relief for a while but you must be careful how you come back to ground and certainly don't drop from them....tippy toes and softly softly is best.

Take it easy for another day of so Med.

[vk6zgo]

After pondering it for a few minutes:

I've found the smaller the connector/conductor the more likely it is that a soldered joint will fail in service where a crimped connection would survive. I don't mind soldering things that would be better crimped if they are big enough to get one of those neoprene strain relief sleeves over the pin and wire. When I used to make professional sound gear that got a hammering on the road I used to religiously strain relieve each soldered connector joint with one of the Hellerman sleeves (applied with the terrifying tool illustrated below). I have never knowingly had a soldered connection treated that way fail. It's possible someone may have fixed one and not told me, but all the stuff I kept and used myself never needed a repair for a failed soldered connector.

About fifteen years after I had left, I went back to University and actually paid* to get into a gig there. At the mixing desk was the same multicore 'snake' cable (An EDAC connector to a gazillion XLRs) that I had made fifteen years before. It had got the Hellerman treatment and got dragged out, used, and put away several times every week by spotty know-nothing students over those intervening years. I went and introduced myself to the guy at the mixing desk, told him that cable was fifteen years old and asked how many times it had been repaired. "None as far as I know." I walked away happy and ever so slightly smug.



Bris anyone? 

* Walking around the 'venue' bit of the Student Union like I owned it was such a habit that I almost walked in without paying. I actually had to double back to the box office and pay.

Those strain relief sleeves really take me back.
I first knew them as "Maisha" sleeves, but over time, our supplier changed, so the "noobs" all knew them as
"Hellerman" sleeves.

They are pretty good, but the application tool is clumsy, & in Oz, they have pretty much been supplanted by
heatshrink tubing------I don't think I have seen them used in 30 odd years.
I still have the tool hanging around, somewhere, though.

[syau]

This is why you see me avoiding the hell out of crimped stuff. I’ll spent £4 for a clamp on BNC instead of £0.50 and a crimp tool just so I don’t have to deal with that crap.

Also any nasty little SIL and spade connectors get soldered.  I don’t care if you’re not supposed to 

I bought a large batch of clamp BNC connectors from a UK surplus seller, probably was in a Clansman Spares Kit originally, and as such those RG58 BNC's were clearly unsuitable for Bowman RG58.  (Defence materials people, especially in maintenance, are a strange lot.. There sometimes is a quaint method to their madness, but the process of learning that has strong Stockholm Syndrome tendencies)

Anyway, he sent me Amphenol 90° BNCs instead of straight ones. I don't mind; I simply asked him if he could send me a bag of straight ones too, at the same price. Consequently, I'm set. Haven't crimped a BNC in a long time, but I have bought a proper crimper (Crimpex/Elpress, made in Sweden) for 58/59 cable.

At work, OTOH, no-one has soldered one for ages -- it's all those fancy 3G-SDI ones, 75Ω, no dielectric, lots of gold plating, et c.

This has spread so that I'm more and more soldering coax. The antenna farm long runs is .400" cable of various makes, Messi & Paoloni, SSB Technic and the patch bay is ex-IBM Amphenol BNC bulkhead jack-jack connectors. All soldered/clamped. Antennas are N, if I have a choice.

The connector that defines what is bad with ham radio, the PL259, is forbidden at my place, except on radios.

Not sure why aviation still using center pin soldered N connector manufactured by Amphenol for most of the antenna. Still remember that at one night shift, I was on top a the tail fin trying to replace a broken connector for the VOR antenna. 

[mnementh]

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up with the latest goings on here. This is the first time in over 24 hours that I've been able to sit in a chair comfortably and type. I've never had back problems and I now have extreme sympathy for those who do. You are literally bed ridden and that's the only time you can achieve some comfort. But I'm finally coming out of it with just an occasional muscle spasm to remind me that I ain't a kid no more. I've had absolutely no appetite and haven't eaten since yesterday but I am keeping myself hydrated with just plain water.

So...where does that leave things? My first priority is that I have to do something about that damn tire. The spike is right at the edge of the thread and I'm not sure it can be safely patched. I'm thinking of just ordering a new tire and be done with it. If they can patch the old one I'll keep it as spare. As far as the item in the CR-V? In my current condition no way can I risk jackassing it up here. I'm thinking of calling my son to come help me but I hate to do that since he's a busy boy with 3 kids, wife, and a very busy job. We'll see. Figure something out.

Anyway, I feel like I've come back from the dead.     

Currently doing battle with my Back too @med it sucks. Ibuprofen works better than most for reducing any swelling or even that mixed with a little Codeine in the same tablet if you can get them gives them some more poke. No good if you have ulcer issues and always take them with food regardless. And if you go Codeine get your Bran intake up because taking a solid load off isn't fun with a bad back

Everyday pain cocktail is 800mg Ibuprofen + 1 regular or ES Acetaminophen; taken this way they have synergistic effect. Try to avoid too many such cocktails for any long period of time; they'll beat up your kidneys. Only when it gets really bad and I can't get to sleep do I dip into my precious stash of leftover dental misery pills.

Also good to make sure you get plenty of fiber even if not taking narcotics (which can slow or even stop peristalsis, as bean warned) if you are playing the "keep very still because you found a position that doesn't hurt as bad" game; such a sudden decrease in activity can also cause a backup in the ol' plumbing.

Good luck buddy; take care of yourself. 

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[capt bullshot]

Some news from the Voltech PM3300:

I've found the culprits

#1 is that (high grade 1000uF/16V) electrolytic capacitor used to AC couple a half bridge MOSFET stage to drive all the small transformers used to supply the input modules. I found it getting warm and tested its series resistance to about 600mOhm at 40kHz, quite a bit too high. Replaced that one, but the fluctuations weren't gone and isolated supply voltages were somewhat better, but still far from good.



#2 is this pin of the power supply connector. It's the +12V supply line, carrying 1.5 ... 2.0A. Note the slight discoloration of the connector housing, and the pin itself lost most of its plating when I removed it from the housing. There's been about 0.5V ... 1V drop across this contact. After an intermediate fix, the supply voltages with OK with little to no margin, and the fluctuations are gone.





The better fix for this (crap) kind of connector would be to cut it off and solder the wires directly to the pins - maybe I'll apply this later.

Here's a view of the main circuit board (the onboard battery is still good, reading 3.6V quite as new):



Right now, I've connected 10V DC and 1A DC sources to watch the stability. The meter is specified to 0.1% (from reading) accuracy @DC (0.05% AC). Judging from the first results, these specs look quite optimistic. From my own experience I know it's quite brave to specify this kind of wide band power meter developed in the 1990s to this accuracy.

[bd139]

Ah a shitty SIL connector as mentioned in one of my previous posts yesterday  . I hate the things.

Good find 

[Robert763]

SIL is not the problem, It's a crap insulation displacement contact.
Replacing that with a decent quality crimp one (like the white one next to it) should sort it out.
Weird that they used both types. I wonder if they subcontrcted the power supply build.

[capt bullshot]

SIL is not the problem, It's a crap insulation displacement contact.
Replacing that with a decent quality crimp one (like the white one next to it) should sort it out.
Weird that they used both types. I wonder if they subcontrcted the power supply build.

From my experience, it's the type of contact material that makes the difference. These contacts are (were) available in different materials and plating. Once there's a bit elevated contact resistance due to whatever, the contact heats up and the material degrades more over time. I've seen these type of connectors getting brown and finally molten. Happened not only to these Molex style, but to supposedly better Phoenix too. They were operated well within their max. current specs. Apparently the contacts have gotten better today, since I haven't seen this failure mode any more today.

The power supplies look like common off the shelf units, and use the same type of connector at the other end of the wires.

[Specmaster]

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up with the latest goings on here. This is the first time in over 24 hours that I've been able to sit in a chair comfortably and type. I've never had back problems and I now have extreme sympathy for those who do. You are literally bed ridden and that's the only time you can achieve some comfort. But I'm finally coming out of it with just an occasional muscle spasm to remind me that I ain't a kid no more. I've had absolutely no appetite and haven't eaten since yesterday but I am keeping myself hydrated with just plain water.

So...where does that leave things? My first priority is that I have to do something about that damn tire. The spike is right at the edge of the thread and I'm not sure it can be safely patched. I'm thinking of just ordering a new tire and be done with it. If they can patch the old one I'll keep it as spare. As far as the item in the CR-V? In my current condition no way can I risk jackassing it up here. I'm thinking of calling my son to come help me but I hate to do that since he's a busy boy with 3 kids, wife, and a very busy job. We'll see. Figure something out.

Anyway, I feel like I've come back from the dead.       

Good to hear from you again buddy, just you keep taking easy, its natures way of reminding you that are not the force to be reckoned with that you was when you were younger. The tire is beyond repair, at least as far British law goes it is and that is always the issue and major drawback about boat anchors. Its not just getting out the CRV but also moving it in general that needs to factored in.

[med6753]

Good to hear from you again buddy, just you keep taking easy, its natures way of reminding you that are not the force to be reckoned with that you was when you were younger. The tire is beyond repair, at least as far British law goes it is and that is always the issue and major drawback about boat anchors. Its not just getting out the CRV but also moving it in general that needs to factored in.

Thanks. Feeling much better this morning but I'm going to take it easy and keep taking the ibuprofen for a while. As far as tire repair is concerned I'm not aware of any laws regulating it but standard practice is if the hole is within the thread area it can be repaired. But if it's near or on the sidewall forget it. This puncture is right at the edge so I think it's junk. I'm ordering a new tire today and should be here Monday. I'll bring that and the old one to my local garage and let them determine if it can be repaired. If it can be I'm going to have them unmount anyway and install the new one. I'll keep the repaired tire as a spare.

[capt bullshot]

Gave the PM3300 a fresh calibration, it's quite easy if you have suitable sources.

The Fluke 5100 does all the AC voltage ranges, and AC current up to 2A. As the meter has current ranges up to 30Arms, its calibration requires sources up to 30Arms. I've got a DIY transwhatever amp that does up to 8Arms, good enough for the 10Arms range. A 1mOhm shunt (measured to 1.0049mOhm @DC) connected to the 34401 gives the current reading here. I've intended to use the 30A secondary transformer with my AC source for the largest ranges, but as the AC source is a voltage (not current) source, it's not stable enough, so I skipped this.



The result (100V and 1A @100Hz generated by two Fluke 5100 with ext. source from the Tek AFG) is at least is within the spec now:

[Specmaster]

Good to hear from you again buddy, just you keep taking easy, its natures way of reminding you that are not the force to be reckoned with that you was when you were younger. The tire is beyond repair, at least as far British law goes it is and that is always the issue and major drawback about boat anchors. Its not just getting out the CRV but also moving it in general that needs to factored in.

Thanks. Feeling much better this morning but I'm going to take it easy and keep taking the ibuprofen for a while. As far as tire repair is concerned I'm not aware of any laws regulating it but standard practice is if the hole is within the thread area it can be repaired. But if it's near or on the sidewall forget it. This puncture is right at the edge so I think it's junk. I'm ordering a new tire today and should be here Monday. I'll bring that and the old one to my local garage and let them determine if it can be repaired. If it can be I'm going to have them unmount anyway and install the new one. I'll keep the repaired tire as a spare.

Over here we have a tyre company called National Tyres, and they do a scheme that costs a fraction of the total price of a tyre, approx 8% of the cost. So if a new tyre costs £100, for an extra £8, they will give you unlimited puncture repairs and lets say your tyre still has 80% of the original tread depth left, but because of where the puncture is located, near the side wall thus needing a new tyre, they will sell you a new tyre for just 20% of the true cost. But that does mean that you need to pay the £8 again to protect the new tyre. I have used that scheme a few times now, well worth it, plus of course they also have a website where you order your new tyre at lower cost, have it delivered to your local depot for fitting and still pay the £8 extra to give you the extra piece of mind. So in that fashion, you end up with a new tyre, plus the fitting and the protection for less than you would have paid if you went direct to your local depot and paid for the tyre and protection, there. It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

[BU508A]

[...] It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

That's true. Tyres have no brain.

 

*duck and run*

[Specmaster]

Just lobbed a soggy old wellington boot in your direction 

[nixiefreqq]

tango INDIA romeo echo.

no wonder we threw your tea in the harbor.

[BU508A]

tango INDIA romeo echo.

no wonder we threw your tea in the harbor.

Hmmm....

Not that big difference to:  tango YANKEE romeo echo ...

 

[Specmaster]

tango INDIA romeo echo.

no wonder we threw your tea in the harbor.

Hmmm....

Not that big difference to:  tango YANKEE romeo echo ...

 

Except that we know how to spell. 

[nixiefreqq]

ok.

so you are saying that adding a yankee to the mix improves it.

sure.....why not?

[BU508A]

tango INDIA romeo echo.

no wonder we threw your tea in the harbor.

Hmmm....

Not that big difference to:  tango YANKEE romeo echo ...

 

Except that we know how to spell. 

When I was a student back in the days, I worked for one semester at the E.S.R.F. in Grenoble/France.
My supervisor was a programmer from Wales/UK and one day I've quoted Star Trek: "to boldly go ..."
when he interrupted me with a harsh "You can't split the infinitive!"

 

Me: "Beg your pardon?"
He: "It is bad english. You can't split the infinitive. You have to say 'to go boldly...'"
Me: "But it is American English...?"
He: "Exactly what I said."

 

[Specmaster]

ok.

so you are saying that adding a yankee to the mix improves it.

sure.....why not?

Whatever  but this is how it should be spelt, definitive, its not our fault if weren't paying attention when we taught you English is it, guessing you lot were just to darned busy tossing out tea into the harbour 

[BU508A]

Hmmmmm

@Specmaster:
You mean, the tyre of med6753 is going to be retyred, then?

 

[mansaxel]

tango INDIA romeo echo.

no wonder we threw your tea in the harbor.

DAVID ÄRLIG CAESAR KALLE

RICHARD EMIL IDA FRIEDRICH EMIL NORDPOL

PIERRE NICHOLAS EUGENE URSULE

Edit:

TOMMY INK ROBERT EDWARD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_alphabet#During_WWI)

[beanflying]

Hmmmmm

@Specmaster:
You mean, the tyre of med6753 is going to be retyred, then?

 

My Semi Retired self cant afford Tyres - because TEA. And my Drugged Brain wonders why non 'English' speakers are confused when confronted by the language 

[Cerebus]

ok.

so you are saying that adding a yankee to the mix improves it.

sure.....why not?

Whatever  but this is how it should be spelt, definitive, its not our fault if weren't paying attention when we taught you English is it, guessing you lot were just to darned busy tossing out tea into the harbour 

I went looking up adult literacy league tables with the intent of making some sort of joke about it being Noah Webster's fault that the USA had higher illiteracy rates that Azerbaijan or some such similar place.

I got a shock. I know that US literacy rates have traditionally fallen a bit lower than the rest of the English speaking world, but only traditionally by a little bit and one could attribute that to a number of not too damning factors (like assessing literacy in only English rather than English or Spanish when it came to counting people up). Ye gods, not any more. The literacy rates in Aus, Canada, the UK and NZ are 99%. The rate for adult functional literacy in the US is 88%. Yes, that's eighty-eight percent. Not believing my eyes I cross checked several sources and while they may vary a little bit according to criteria used and so on they broadly agree on some figure in the 80% decile. And don't be fooled by thinking it's due to a high immigrant population, the other English speaking countries are slightly or very much higher in terms of immigrants as a proportion of population nowadays - Aus (29.9%), Canada(21%) and NZ(26.8%) actually have a higher immigrant population than the UK(13.7%) and the US(13.6%). What? I mean, just what!?! I'm gobsmacked.

Oh, and Azerbaijan? 99%, as are Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Tukmenistan, and we'll spare Pakistan's blushes - let's just say that at the '-stans country reunion they're the dumb cousin sitting in the corner pushing a pencil up their nose.