Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Zucca]

Look where our packages from China are stuck....

[Robert763]

Yeah i watched the “powered up” replacements and wondered if they actually thought about it first 

I will have a drink or two first for sure 

Think UPS have managed to lose another fucking package. They’re fired.

Also farnell screwed up. Three separate consignments have been generated from 16 line items. Two dispatched one still processing  . Same day dispatch my fucking arse.

Also bought a ream of paper from Amazon. Turns out it’s shipping from Koln. Landed at castle donnington earlier today. Surely there’s an easier way for a £6 lump of paper?!?!?

Everything so damn stressful at the moment.

I got my second of 3 from Farnell today even though it was scheduled for tomorrow. Contents include 1 SN74LS04. packing
2x 2" square conductive foam.
1x 2" square anti-static cardboard box.
2x 3"x 4" metalised anti-static bag.
The packing must have cost more than the chip (83p). I've got some NOS LS04s but I could not be bothered digging one out when I was placing an order anyway.

[AVGresponding]

In the interest of not cocking up this 3478A cal like the first one, I have built a better quality "heart bypass" for it. Probably overkill but I'm avoiding making the same mistake again. 78L05 + caps + series diode in this case. But there's some careful design thoughts going into this one. The voltage is higher than the battery backup which means you can measure and validate whether it's connected or not before removing the original battery. Also it is shrink wrapped meaning less short possibility (what I did wrong last time I think).

Note to self:  I still need to check out the 3468A I picked up at the end of last summer    Seven months already without looking at it.

Which battery did you choose for it?

The one I picked up last/this week measured a few tens of mV over 3V, so I have some time... I predict mine will end up with a relatively simple rechargeable battery mod, using LSD NiMH cells. May be a good idea to leave a permanent flylead to facilitate future battery maintenance also.
Obviously there isn't space under the shield for this, so I'll have to move the battery off-board, to the weird well at the back of the case most probably.

Speaking of the shape of the case, I took an instant dislike to it as soon as I saw the taper, rendering it incapable of stacking.

[AVGresponding]

Thanks all for the offers to lend me USB GPIB adapters. I’d love to take up the offer but I expect that they’d probably get eaten by brexit customs at the moment.

Have lost two packages now which is not good.

As for the Arduino route that might work.

I am currently eyeing up an NI USB GPIB I can get for £112 at the moment with eBay offer which can be a permanent solution for both the counter and DMM and future acquisitions.

You can borrow one of mine if you like, that would remove (in theory) any chance of border problems (I don't think we've managed to get the border in place south of Sheffield yet).

pm me if you're interested.

EDIT: The Keysight 82357B should be the best bet for compatibility out of my two, though as I understand it that's mostly down to software? (I don't like the NI software, the Keithley software for my KUSB-488A is way nicer)
Someone on here no doubt has a good suggestion.

[Specmaster]

Gah don’t even go there. I’ve said this before but “right to repair” is a not very elaborate con supported by manufacturers to shift their responsibility onto the end user for poor engineering as soon as possible.

They will laugh all the way to the bank while shouting “it’s out of warranty - here’s the schematics” when you knock that poorly chosen USB-C connector on the motherboard and damage it. Hint: they mostly aren’t replaceable or repairable these days. You’re then at the mercy of a network of idiots and morons to do your repairs.

We need better than a right to repair. We need the manufacturers to support the device for the full lifecycle with all costs covered including ones from crappy engineering decisions like mounting wear items like connectors on the motherboard of laptops etc.

Right to repair allows the manufacturers to abandon their support and push the responsibility onto people who are mostly incapable of repairing them. In fact even most of the people on this forum and professional engineers are incapable of repairing them as well.

And quite frankly who wants to use a 10 year old laptop?

Also Mr Rossman is there selling this ideology because he’s a salesman selling his repair product. He wants you to come to his business and wants the manufacturers to keep on with this crap because it fills his pockets. And some of his repairs are quite frankly shit. I’ve actually had a discussion with him about this on the forum 

In an ideal world:

1. When you buy anything it has a 72 hour replacement or service policy that lasts 5 years.
2. If they can’t replace it or service it in that time then the have to pay you the price of the item adjusted by use (linear value depreciation over time) and collect it from you at their cost.
3. Your contact is with the manufacturer directly and legally who have to set up a service system and contact centre before they can sell.
4. Manufacturer has to buy the item back from you at least 15% of the value for materials recycling at the end of the life.

Now that would make sense but I doubt that you'll get such service from them. I wouldn't write Mr Rossman off like that just yet, yes some of his MB repairs do seem to be a bit dodgy but as he himself will openly admit that things could be so much different if only he and others like him could obtain genuine parts and information from Apple directly.

[AVGresponding]

Gah don’t even go there. I’ve said this before but “right to repair” is a not very elaborate con supported by manufacturers to shift their responsibility onto the end user for poor engineering as soon as possible.

They will laugh all the way to the bank while shouting “it’s out of warranty - here’s the schematics” when you knock that poorly chosen USB-C connector on the motherboard and damage it. Hint: they mostly aren’t replaceable or repairable these days. You’re then at the mercy of a network of idiots and morons to do your repairs.

We need better than a right to repair. We need the manufacturers to support the device for the full lifecycle with all costs covered including ones from crappy engineering decisions like mounting wear items like connectors on the motherboard of laptops etc.

Right to repair allows the manufacturers to abandon their support and push the responsibility onto people who are mostly incapable of repairing them. In fact even most of the people on this forum and professional engineers are incapable of repairing them as well.

And quite frankly who wants to use a 10 year old laptop?

Also Mr Rossman is there selling this ideology because he’s a salesman selling his repair product. He wants you to come to his business and wants the manufacturers to keep on with this crap because it fills his pockets. And some of his repairs are quite frankly shit. I’ve actually had a discussion with him about this on the forum 

In an ideal world:

1. When you buy anything it has a 72 hour replacement or service policy that lasts 5 years.
2. If they can’t replace it or service it in that time then the have to pay you the price of the item adjusted by use (linear value depreciation over time) and collect it from you at their cost.
3. Your contact is with the manufacturer directly and legally who have to set up a service system and contact centre before they can sell.
4. Manufacturer has to buy the item back from you at least 15% of the value for materials recycling at the end of the life.

Now that would make sense but I doubt that you'll get such service from them. I wouldn't write Mr Rossman off like that just yet, yes some of his MB repairs do seem to be a bit dodgy but as he himself will openly admit that things could be so much different if only he and others like him could obtain genuine parts and information from Apple directly.

And as he also points out, that kind of repair is only ever intended as a temporary fix to allow the customer to retrieve their data.

[Specmaster]

In the interest of not cocking up this 3478A cal like the first one, I have built a better quality "heart bypass" for it. Probably overkill but I'm avoiding making the same mistake again. 78L05 + caps + series diode in this case. But there's some careful design thoughts going into this one. The voltage is higher than the battery backup which means you can measure and validate whether it's connected or not before removing the original battery. Also it is shrink wrapped meaning less short possibility (what I did wrong last time I think).

Note to self:  I still need to check out the 3468A I picked up at the end of last summer    Seven months already without looking at it.

Which battery did you choose for it?

The one I picked up last/this week measured a few tens of mV over 3V, so I have some time... I predict mine will end up with a relatively simple rechargeable battery mod, using LSD NiMH cells. May be a good idea to leave a permanent flylead to facilitate future battery maintenance also.
Obviously there isn't space under the shield for this, so I'll have to move the battery off-board, to the weird well at the back of the case most probably.

Speaking of the shape of the case, I took an instant dislike to it as soon as I saw the taper, rendering it incapable of stacking.

The 3468A shares the same case as the 3466A does and I used to have both, now only the 3466A is with me, both of them are perfectly stackable, my 3466A is currently in a stack.

[Specmaster]

See my edits to the post - I expanded on a few things.

None of the manufacturers want to go first unless it backfires. That’s the only problem.

I have a 8 and 9 year old laptop here. They are horrid to use. No thanks! They’re only around  because they barely scrape the job of running some school stuff. But they had to have an SSD chucked in to make them even do that. And they were both £1500+ Mid range business grade units.

Ask people who are running a £300 disposable landfill laptop that’s ten years with eMMC shit in it. Oh there aren’t any. Race to the bottom.

Genuinely humans have a problem of garbage generation through short sightedness. This is a bigger problem than right to repair which isn’t going to turn our planet into a cyberpunk utopia instantly.

Edit: also system76 is just rebranded Sager crap which is rock bottom shite. They’re fine electrically but the usual design flaws persist as do the mechanical problems. And there are no large volumes of them to get parts on the grey market like Lenovo or HP for example.

Right to repair = buy an old thinkpad and parts off eBay still.

No No, I still have an old Acer TravelMate 2492WLMi laptop here, running XP and is still a perfectly capable machine providing you don't need to access the internet and the programs your running will work on XP OK.

[Specmaster]

I have no argument about your opinion on 8 and 9 year old machines.  I have the same opinion about an old laptop I have.  It's just that our opinion is just that - our opinion.

As for the claim of Louis Rossmann "selling his repair product" - how is he any different to a manufacturer?
 He is, at least, trying to offer customers more alternatives - and in that respect, I'm happy for him to do his best and let the market judge the value.  If the market is limited or non-existent then he's not going to get far - but if there is one (and his track record would indicate there is) then I'm happy to let someone service it.

My problem with Rossman is he’s doing these things at once and promoting it as a regular option when it should be the exceptional case. Firstly he passes MacGuyver repairs off as production. They should be used for data recovery and the hardware disposed of afterwards otherwise his customers risk more data loss. Bodge wiring around PCI express and RAM bus lines is a no! Secondly he is literally a predatory repair market ie the aforementioned short sighted humans who didn’t have insurance or extended warranties on expensive purchases. 

I can’t support that market as I know what goes on in it. Rossman is probably in the top 5% of reputable people in the market. But it’s a bell curve and the best are scary bad still.

He’s selling the repair industry as a lie which is getting a lot of attention.

I disagree with you here, I have never witnessed any of his repairs where he passes them off as production. His customers are surely only to aware that what he does is unofficial as they have already been turned away from Apple, and they turn to him in pure desperation, many of whom are primarily concerned with being able to extract their data before sourcing a new replacement. Apple will not perform any form of data recovery claiming it cannot be done  which is a blatant lie, Rossman and many others have successfully been doing that for years. But they can't guarantee that is always going to be totally successful and they do tell the customer that.   

[Specmaster]

Thanks all for the offers to lend me USB GPIB adapters. I’d love to take up the offer but I expect that they’d probably get eaten by brexit customs at the moment.

Have lost two packages now which is not good.

As for the Arduino route that might work.

I am currently eyeing up an NI USB GPIB I can get for £112 at the moment with eBay offer which can be a permanent solution for both the counter and DMM and future acquisitions.

Shouldn't need the GPIB adapter with the battery pack you made once its soldered in, well away from you need to solder the new battery so you don't accidentally disconnect the safety battery, and you avoid my mistake of using solder still attached to roll, instead of breaking a little off and using that. With it still on the roll, there is always the possibility of the "tail" drooping onto the bloody frame and shorting out the safety battery  like I did  I know I'm a muppet for doing that but at least I was able to rebuild the data and return it back to specification again.

[AVGresponding]

In the interest of not cocking up this 3478A cal like the first one, I have built a better quality "heart bypass" for it. Probably overkill but I'm avoiding making the same mistake again. 78L05 + caps + series diode in this case. But there's some careful design thoughts going into this one. The voltage is higher than the battery backup which means you can measure and validate whether it's connected or not before removing the original battery. Also it is shrink wrapped meaning less short possibility (what I did wrong last time I think).

Note to self:  I still need to check out the 3468A I picked up at the end of last summer    Seven months already without looking at it.

Which battery did you choose for it?

The one I picked up last/this week measured a few tens of mV over 3V, so I have some time... I predict mine will end up with a relatively simple rechargeable battery mod, using LSD NiMH cells. May be a good idea to leave a permanent flylead to facilitate future battery maintenance also.
Obviously there isn't space under the shield for this, so I'll have to move the battery off-board, to the weird well at the back of the case most probably.

Speaking of the shape of the case, I took an instant dislike to it as soon as I saw the taper, rendering it incapable of stacking.

The 3468A shares the same case as the 3466A does and I used to have both, now only the 3466A is with me, both of them are perfectly stackable, my 3466A is currently in a stack.

This one tapers towards the back; it's 98mm at the front, 85mm at the back:



It's also a curved rather than a flat taper, so a cup of tea/coffee on top would be an extremely bad idea.

[beanflying]

Thanks all for the offers to lend me USB GPIB adapters. I’d love to take up the offer but I expect that they’d probably get eaten by brexit customs at the moment.

Have lost two packages now which is not good.

As for the Arduino route that might work.

I am currently eyeing up an NI USB GPIB I can get for £112 at the moment with eBay offer which can be a permanent solution for both the counter and DMM and future acquisitions.

Shouldn't need the GPIB adapter with the battery pack you made once its soldered in, well away from you need to solder the new battery so you don't accidentally disconnect the safety battery, and you avoid my mistake of using solder still attached to roll, instead of breaking a little off and using that. With it still on the roll, there is always the possibility of the "tail" drooping onto the bloody frame and shorting out the safety battery  like I did  I know I'm a muppet for doing that but at least I was able to rebuild the data and return it back to specification again.

Do an 'Advanced Search' for 'smoke' and 'fire' for user bd139 and see why we are suggesting 'backup' is a good option

[AVGresponding]

Some eBay picks while I'm at home sick:



Somebody please rescue this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cambridge-Instruments-A-C-Test-Set-Vintage-Display-Steampunk-Lamp-Project/324533556897



This will probably go for a maiden bid if you're close enough to collect it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIGIMESS-CONCEPT-SERIES-DC-POWER-SUPPLY-HY3003-2-SEE-PHOTOS/224393450680



This could be a cheap project, seller has a few interesting items:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wayne-Kerr-Automatic-Component-Bridge-B605/324533567845



Shame this is the wrong side of the Channel:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Russisches-Messgerat-C2-23-S2-23-vermutlich-Modulationsmesser-Nixie-Display/353419502032



As is this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROHDE-SCHWARZ-R-S-NGPS-PROGRAMMABLE-VOLTAGE-SOURCE-2x40V-L744/313416827888



Lastly, surely the most elaborate description for a monitor ever:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BENQ-KEYSIGHT-AGILENT-HP-TEKTRONIX-VGA-DISPLAY-VISU-OSCILLOSCOPE-ANALYZER-M621/284220976556

[Saskia]

speaking of smoke and fire, the replacement SSD from Adata arrived today. Took them a couple of months to replace it.

[bd139]

Will reply to other stuff later but just posting a rant here:

Farnell fucked up a few items in my order  . Got BNC crimp connectors instead of T pieces 

Edit: scrap that. They didn't fuck it up. There's one package missing (still in flight) and I got someone else's RF bits as well as my own  . All the 3478A bits turned up.

[Specmaster]

In the interest of not cocking up this 3478A cal like the first one, I have built a better quality "heart bypass" for it. Probably overkill but I'm avoiding making the same mistake again. 78L05 + caps + series diode in this case. But there's some careful design thoughts going into this one. The voltage is higher than the battery backup which means you can measure and validate whether it's connected or not before removing the original battery. Also it is shrink wrapped meaning less short possibility (what I did wrong last time I think).

Note to self:  I still need to check out the 3468A I picked up at the end of last summer    Seven months already without looking at it.

Which battery did you choose for it?

The one I picked up last/this week measured a few tens of mV over 3V, so I have some time... I predict mine will end up with a relatively simple rechargeable battery mod, using LSD NiMH cells. May be a good idea to leave a permanent flylead to facilitate future battery maintenance also.
Obviously there isn't space under the shield for this, so I'll have to move the battery off-board, to the weird well at the back of the case most probably.

Speaking of the shape of the case, I took an instant dislike to it as soon as I saw the taper, rendering it incapable of stacking.

The 3468A shares the same case as the 3466A does and I used to have both, now only the 3466A is with me, both of them are perfectly stackable, my 3466A is currently in a stack.

This one tapers towards the back; it's 98mm at the front, 85mm at the back:



It's also a curved rather than a flat taper, so a cup of tea/coffee on top would be an extremely bad idea.

As mentioned Saturday on discord, thats only because you removed the handle which world normally be tucked up by the back foot adding to its height and brings the slope to almost level, I had my 3466 and 3468 stacked on top of each other, on top of 8840 and 8842, all with their handles 

[AVGresponding]

In the interest of not cocking up this 3478A cal like the first one, I have built a better quality "heart bypass" for it. Probably overkill but I'm avoiding making the same mistake again. 78L05 + caps + series diode in this case. But there's some careful design thoughts going into this one. The voltage is higher than the battery backup which means you can measure and validate whether it's connected or not before removing the original battery. Also it is shrink wrapped meaning less short possibility (what I did wrong last time I think).

Note to self:  I still need to check out the 3468A I picked up at the end of last summer    Seven months already without looking at it.

Which battery did you choose for it?

The one I picked up last/this week measured a few tens of mV over 3V, so I have some time... I predict mine will end up with a relatively simple rechargeable battery mod, using LSD NiMH cells. May be a good idea to leave a permanent flylead to facilitate future battery maintenance also.
Obviously there isn't space under the shield for this, so I'll have to move the battery off-board, to the weird well at the back of the case most probably.

Speaking of the shape of the case, I took an instant dislike to it as soon as I saw the taper, rendering it incapable of stacking.

The 3468A shares the same case as the 3466A does and I used to have both, now only the 3466A is with me, both of them are perfectly stackable, my 3466A is currently in a stack.

This one tapers towards the back; it's 98mm at the front, 85mm at the back:



It's also a curved rather than a flat taper, so a cup of tea/coffee on top would be an extremely bad idea.

As mentioned Saturday on discord, thats only because you removed the handle which world normally be tucked up by the back foot adding to its height and brings the slope to almost level, I had my 3466 and 3468 stacked on top of each other, on top of 8840 and 8842, all with their handles 

Nope, the handle tucks in completely and has no effect on the height of the rear of the unit.

[bd139]

This is why I buy the flat instruments. Nowhere to put my coffee and spill it otherwise.

[BU508A]

This is why I buy the flat instruments. Nowhere to put my coffee and spill it otherwise.

Choose your colour.   

[Specmaster]

Here is mine, in a stack.

Oh and incidently, in case anyone is interested Big Jet TV is currently live from Lakenheath on YT.

[cyclin_al]

In the interest of not cocking up this 3478A cal like the first one, I have built a better quality "heart bypass" for it. Probably overkill but I'm avoiding making the same mistake again. 78L05 + caps + series diode in this case. But there's some careful design thoughts going into this one. The voltage is higher than the battery backup which means you can measure and validate whether it's connected or not before removing the original battery. Also it is shrink wrapped meaning less short possibility (what I did wrong last time I think).

Note to self:  I still need to check out the 3468A I picked up at the end of last summer    Seven months already without looking at it.

Which battery did you choose for it?

The one I picked up last/this week measured a few tens of mV over 3V, so I have some time... I predict mine will end up with a relatively simple rechargeable battery mod, using LSD NiMH cells. May be a good idea to leave a permanent flylead to facilitate future battery maintenance also.
Obviously there isn't space under the shield for this, so I'll have to move the battery off-board, to the weird well at the back of the case most probably.

Speaking of the shape of the case, I took an instant dislike to it as soon as I saw the taper, rendering it incapable of stacking.

Thanks.

I dislike the case for the exact same reason.  However, in my future lab space, the ceiling height is 51", so it will be going on a custom sized shelf over the bench.  There will be no chance for stacking anyways.  The choice I have will be putting two 19" rack/shelves on one side of the bench, or one on either side of the bench.
I know you all well enough that your advice will be two racks on BOTH sides .... enablers! 

EDIT:  Mine does not have the handle.  At the time, I had no concern with that.  I will have to look for a handle when I have some spare cash.  (Maybe never, as more TE will take priority until some far future workbench.)

[psykok]

Some eBay picks while I'm at home sick:



Somebody please rescue this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cambridge-Instruments-A-C-Test-Set-Vintage-Display-Steampunk-Lamp-Project/324533556897



This will probably go for a maiden bid if you're close enough to collect it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIGIMESS-CONCEPT-SERIES-DC-POWER-SUPPLY-HY3003-2-SEE-PHOTOS/224393450680



This could be a cheap project, seller has a few interesting items:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wayne-Kerr-Automatic-Component-Bridge-B605/324533567845



Shame this is the wrong side of the Channel:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Russisches-Messgerat-C2-23-S2-23-vermutlich-Modulationsmesser-Nixie-Display/353419502032



As is this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROHDE-SCHWARZ-R-S-NGPS-PROGRAMMABLE-VOLTAGE-SOURCE-2x40V-L744/313416827888



Lastly, surely the most elaborate description for a monitor ever:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BENQ-KEYSIGHT-AGILENT-HP-TEKTRONIX-VGA-DISPLAY-VISU-OSCILLOSCOPE-ANALYZER-M621/284220976556

f1power is a strange vendor but ok. He's clearly only interested in selling but sometimes  he's offering good deals.
I bought several items from him.

Packaging is always good, shipping  fees are generally too expensive.

[PA0PBZ]

Speaking of the shape of the case, I took an instant dislike to it as soon as I saw the taper, rendering it incapable of stacking.

I have a 5315A counter in what looks to be the same wedge-shaped case. I can confirm that the top side is level because the back feet are longer than the front feet.

[bd139]

This is why I buy the flat instruments. Nowhere to put my coffee and spill it otherwise.

Choose your colour.   

Hahahaha not a bad idea actually. 

[mnementh]

Gah don’t even go there. I’ve said this before but “right to repair” is a not very elaborate con supported by manufacturers to shift their responsibility onto the end user for poor engineering as soon as possible.

They will laugh all the way to the bank while shouting “it’s out of warranty - here’s the schematics” when you knock that poorly chosen USB-C connector on the motherboard and damage it. Hint: they mostly aren’t replaceable or repairable these days. You’re then at the mercy of a network of idiots and morons to do your repairs.

We need better than a right to repair. We need the manufacturers to support the device for the full lifecycle with all costs covered including ones from crappy engineering decisions like mounting wear items like connectors on the motherboard of laptops etc.

Right to repair allows the manufacturers to abandon their support and push the responsibility onto people who are mostly incapable of repairing them. In fact even most of the people on this forum and professional engineers are incapable of repairing them as well.

And quite frankly who wants to use a 10 year old laptop?

Also Mr Rossman is there selling this ideology because he’s a salesman selling his repair product. He wants you to come to his business and wants the manufacturers to keep on with this crap because it fills his pockets. And some of his repairs are quite frankly shit. I’ve actually had a discussion with him about this on the forum 

In an ideal world:

1. When you buy anything it has a 72 hour replacement or service policy that lasts 5 years.
2. If they can’t replace it or service it in that time then the have to pay you the price of the item adjusted by use (linear value depreciation over time) and collect it from you at their cost.
3. Your contact is with the manufacturer directly and legally who have to set up a service system and contact centre before they can sell.
4. Manufacturer has to buy the item back from you at least 15% of the value for materials recycling at the end of the life.

  MODE:

You had me at "Right to Repair is a fucking scam". Can I have your robot babies...?  I'll buy them, from your authorized supply chain, of course.

This is no less insidious than the "Recyclable Plastics" scam that has plagued all of humanity since the 70s; which, shockingly, was instigated by the Plastics Manufacturing cabal... the only difference is how many layers of  obfuscate the guilty parties from public view.

If only there were some grassroots movement to combat all the  ... oh, right. there was. The Hippie movement, which literally derived from "Hip to your BS", and tried to fight the global Military Industrial Complex Ike warned us aboot hand-to-hand.

Yeah, okay... they held onto the peace ideal a little too long, and let TPTB steamroller them in the press... but they were right. The machine we have to worry aboot is not the robot on the assembly line; it is the political-industrial machine that we have created by allowing private, for-profit business owners the same protections from the consequences of their actions that we used to reserve only to the crown and our duly-elected government.

"The man" isn't the government... it is the mega-corporation engaged in a hostile corporate takeover of the once duly-elected governments of the entire planet.

mnem
/ MODE