Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tautech]

I do like my mini tower Cooler Master case ....given to me by a buddy that worked in a PC repair business. 
Can't complain about the price. 

[McBryce]

re computer cases:
I hate blinkenlights that are only there for *bling* and serve no additional purpose.
A light should carry information. In the christmas trees of computer cases the stuff distracts from actual information carrying lights. Which is a no go and tiresome if you actually have to "work" with that stuff (see cockpit blinking lights on boats, airplanes, etc ...)

I try to grab high quality cases. I only grab cooler master cases if they are less than 20€ new. Normally I go for Fractal Design, Corsair, Bequiet, but only if I can grab them for a reasonable amount of money (i.e. less than 50% of MSRP). Unfortunately due to this unholy permanent lockdown madness my source has dried up (which means that I am currently not buying cases or other stuff)

So your Christmas tree? Does it have no lights, or have you set them up to inform you of something (other than the fact that it's Christmas)?

McBryce.

[beanflying]

I am quite attached to my Blue/Purple tone in my Cooler Master Case on my Shack bench. Full Blown RGB nope as it interferes seriously with the eye line for 'work' Game Play 

Brandwise seems MOST manufacturers have produced some hot boxes so it should be more a model thing than a brand to use/avoid. My CM 500P has handled anything up to 40+C in the shack with ease and I avoided its horror cousin bearing near the same name/part# but having a Perspex cover over the front fans 

[mansaxel]

So your Christmas tree? Does it have no lights, or have you set them up to inform you of something (other than the fact that it's Christmas)?

McBryce.

I've tried to ignore the demand for a christmas tree, but that's been down-voted. Family want a beacon under which they'll find gifts. I fitted insulated touch-proof banana connectors to the light loom this year so I can split it and route it easier.

The Royal Institute of Technology used to have morse-signalling christmas lights on their big exterior trees.

[Saskia]

re computer cases:
I hate blinkenlights that are only there for *bling* and serve no additional purpose.
A light should carry information. In the christmas trees of computer cases the stuff distracts from actual information carrying lights. Which is a no go and tiresome if you actually have to "work" with that stuff (see cockpit blinking lights on boats, airplanes, etc ...)

I try to grab high quality cases. I only grab cooler master cases if they are less than 20€ new. Normally I go for Fractal Design, Corsair, Bequiet, but only if I can grab them for a reasonable amount of money (i.e. less than 50% of MSRP). Unfortunately due to this unholy permanent lockdown madness my source has dried up (which means that I am currently not buying cases or other stuff)

So your Christmas tree? Does it have no lights, or have you set them up to inform you of something (other than the fact that it's Christmas)?

McBryce.

Don't have a christmas tree. I celebrate solstice, the beginning of the Runic year, Equinox, Yggdrasil Day ...

[BU508A]

This one's for bean 

[Specmaster]

Not salvage them from other stuff destined for landfill, nor use "kettle" leads?

My main source!!!

In fact, in the last 10 (or is it 20) years, I've only bought two IEC leads - and that was because I needed a right-angled plug (equipment end) going in a particular direction and as low profile as possible ... and a spare    Such specific requirements means that a successful natural encounter would be rather unlikely over the next 10 or 20 years, so I parted with the cash.

I just leave a few in a box somewhere warm and dry and let them breed. I'd swear that I've more IEC C13 cables in the house than have ever come in through the door.

I suffer from a big problem in the IEC lead department. Firstly due to the high throughput of items I tend to ship them with an IEC outgoing. But of course no one gives me an IEC lead on the incoming. I have actually had to buy 5 or so at a time from CPC before to keep stocks up.

Similarly with plugs they’re either moulded onto the IEC leads or are captive leads and the plug is buggered in some way. Buggerage here is defined as “mushed”, an unfortunately regular problem with our delivery imps, or “dangerous as hell” as most of the kit is really old. The D755 comes into both categories as the plug is cracked and has full metal pins for live and neutral so isn’t finger safe.

I also share the same problem with you, I buy the right angle IEC leads and the mains plugs from CPC and when I ship anything, it always with one of the old straight IEC leads and the item that is incoming gets a right angle, just to give me an extra 1 to 2" desk space back.

[beanflying]

This one's for bean 

I fail to see how that helps me  my beans come in 60kg baggies 

[BU508A]

Take it as an inspiration. 

[Zucca]

I hate blinkenlights that are only there for *bling* and serve no additional purpose.
A light should carry information.

Stop the RGB no sense! AMEN AMEN!

[AVGresponding]

Heads up for UK people. Screwfix's line of cheap mains plugs has turned to shit. I've just thrown two away. Screw clamps are drilled slightly offset so it's impossible to clamp the conductor without it slipping out of the hole 

Did you double the conductor over?

If so and it still doesn't clamp securely, it doesn't meet BS1363 and is either faulty or below the required standard and is illegal to sell. Might also be worth checking if the included 13A fuse has sand in it, as I posted in the 121GW discussion thread, I'm seeing an increasing number that don't, and in the application (3kVA isolation transformers hired from a big national chain) they have a tendency to explode.

[Saskia]

woe is me, I am out a fairly high number of pesos for an AIM I-Prober 520 ...

[BU508A]

Hei Saskia,

any recommendations about a good card reader for a 3.5" slot?

Something like this:

[beanflying]

Nothing to do with TEA but something I have never Lasered before  40% power and 300mm/second - needs less power and better jigging.

[Saskia]

Hei Saskia,

any recommendations about a good card reader for a 3.5" slot?

Something like this:

I can send you one, PM please.

[bd139]

Heads up for UK people. Screwfix's line of cheap mains plugs has turned to shit. I've just thrown two away. Screw clamps are drilled slightly offset so it's impossible to clamp the conductor without it slipping out of the hole 

Did you double the conductor over?

If so and it still doesn't clamp securely, it doesn't meet BS1363 and is either faulty or below the required standard and is illegal to sell. Might also be worth checking if the included 13A fuse has sand in it, as I posted in the 121GW discussion thread, I'm seeing an increasing number that don't, and in the application (3kVA isolation transformers hired from a big national chain) they have a tendency to explode.

I did double it over and nope it wouldn’t hold it. I didn’t check the fuse to be honest. The whole thing is in the bin which has just been collected.

Not surprised. I wouldn’t want to plug your oven in with one of those plugs 

[Robert763]

I have the Corsair Obsidian 750D full tower case, its a beautiful case to look at and to work on, but is huge and heavy, but there is a ton of space inside for whatever cooling, size of power supply and graphic cards you want to use, no restrictions whatsoever, I got mine in 2013, and it is still available today.

https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/corsair-obsidian-series-750d-full-tower-case/cc-9011035-ww.html?utm_source=affiliatewindow&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Kelkoo

   

Ewwww..... that's a server case. No tempered glass side/front, no PSU basement/channel... all those exposed 5.25 in bays...

And the airflow is all wrong for a dual-radiator build. You can't do a reverse-flow build so both rads get fresh air.

I mean sure, it's fine for a server. That you're going to stick in the back of a closet, or under a desk. It is NOT a gamer case, or designed for the bits a gamer (in my case, VR) uses.

mnem
 

So with a glass sided case how do you comply with ICES-003 and not contravene section 4(3) of the Radiocommunication Act? 

[bd139]

That’s fairly easy that one. No one gives a shit 

[Robert763]

The people being interfered with do

[Robert763]

I pulled the trigger on the Farnell order with the electrolytics & decoder chips for the Tek 492 SA and some other bits yesterday. Got order confirmation email with note "your order may be spilt and delivered from one of our european warehouses" Sure enough package arrived today with half the capacitors and a P channel MOSFET. That project will have to wait until the N channel makes it through the brexit mess. 

[bd139]

Oh joy. Starting to worry about my farnell basket now. 

Still waiting for the 3478A to turn up to top it off on RIFAs and battery.

[mansaxel]

The people being interfered with do

Sometimes they have weapons.

Several solar panel installs in Sweden have been -- post facto -- declared non-compliant and forbidden to use. By the military, who can veto this.

It mostly comes from the use of "optimisers" close to the panels, where the control electronics are distributed among the panels. These are rarely even remotely compliant as installed, mostly due to chinese vendors not giving a shit, and the installations being made by barely literate sparkies. If there's a test protocol for EMC it's been done with one unit and short cables, not with a flock of units and long non-twisted cables.

Another case was autonomous lawn mowers, the kind that have a buried demarcation cable. It being installed in a loop, and being fed with 8KHz square wave, was a pretty efficient implementation of a wide-band jamming transmitter.  That model was slapped with a total sales ban, and the vendor had to recall and retro-fit proper filtering to the units sold.

Like the discussion I and mnem had on buck converters the other day, it's down to systems engineering and implementation. And doing things right. I'm all for the burden being placed on the emitter, not the victim, here.

[bd139]

Just a point on EMC and OEM PC builds. The general assumption is if all the components are independently tested then the final assembly is as well. Under EMC Directive at least if all components are CE marked then job done. If your device is found not to be compliant then push the problem upstream.

[mnementh]

Just trust me... if you showed up at a Linus event or PAX Con widdat, they'd snicker you to death.

I find the bling case concept completely and utterly uninteresting, and a detraction from the work at hand. If you want blinkenlichten, get an IBM1401.

15 years ago I did some work (actually! a research project!) at the largest LAN gaming festival then known, Dreamhack, and learned a few things:

• ~13000 bling computers generate a fascinating drone, and some heat
• Their owners, on day three of the event or so, generate a less fascinating smell. Like hobo hams, just younger, and more neon colours. I had a hotel room. Value of which is not to be underestimated
• The most rad thing to carry there would have been a Real Computer, like a Sun E450 or so, and a VT510 terminal.
• An Extreme Networks large-format switch/router, which has a purple front panel, will glow if lit with neon case-modding lights in the rack cabinet.

Edit: To add onion to the salmon, I also worked at the biggest Volvo-blingers event in Sweden a few times. The only part of it I did not find repulsive was the quiet corner where old gentlemen displayed their 1950s and 1960s Volvos, in as-new showroom condition. The rest was just puerile crapola. No, the Bertone work on the 262C will not be improved by a fool with an angle grinder and some plush dice..

I quite loved my 80-something 242DL; burnt-orange paint, styled steel wheels, hideous houndstooth interior accents and all. Fukkin' indestructible, and would start every morning with just a bump of the key as long as you A) kept a battery less than 3 years old in it and 2) kept a lambda sensor less than 3 years old in it. They were quite finicky aboot the voltage delivered to the ECU, and any real voltage drop during cranking would get you a great big from the thing. I think the lambda sensor thing was due to the fact of cheap crappy Chinese parts being all that was available at the time.

mnem

[BU508A]

I have my doubts, that a Tesla Coil is EMC compliant, even though all parts of it are.