Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

But hey, med!!! I finally have a use case for that extra Minimus-7!!!

mnem

Hey, you want it back? Seriously, I'm not using it. Let me know.

I smell another customs form. 

[Brumby]

As Perth is a State Capital, car companies always carried spares for popular vehicles, but for years, now, there has been a disturbing trend of  the majority of business & Federal govt enterprises retreating to the "South East corner" of Australia.

It's not a whole lot better in Sydney.  More than once I've been greeted with "It has to be shipped up from Melbourne" - which is the south-eastern most corner of Australia.

[bitseeker]

Spilling the beans......

After some unexpected PM's from our OP doing his due diligence on certain products it seems he has weakened and come to our side  however I'll let him do the show and tell when he gets his 2nd hand acquisition. 

Yer gonna get folks worked up, Rob.

Reportedly arriving next week...

Folks ? 
It's me that gets worked up and after all these years of supplying equipment the thrill of new or new to you stuff never dies.
Must be just some warped trait I inherited from pop from when he did SW radio in his teens before I was even a twinkle in his eye.

Once TEA bites you are lost to it forever which is the reason I hang out here to watch all the goodies that get acquired.
Enjoy that new to you Siglent ******** when it arrives Peter. 

Thanks. Looking forward to a new (to me) toy.

Current Device Standings
Siglent: 1
Rigol: 2
Tek: 4
Keithley: 5
HPAK: Landslide victory! (i.e., lost count & don't feel like a recount)

[bitseeker]

Aaaand, I have a USPS tracking number for my HP 53132A.

My life at the moment seems to revolve around checking the tracking status of all the things I'm expecting, but that aren't here yet!!!!

Not that I'm like a small kid waiting for Christmas. Oh no. Not me.

OK, I am.

Feels like Christmas in July with all this waiting for goodies (self included).

[capt bullshot]

@mnem and others who like their PC's to have a lighting show going, I just watched this video these fans are really quite clever as well as being pretty, enjoy.

My computer has no fans 

I like my computer to be somewhat inconspicuous.
Not glaring all over the place. It's bad enuff that the fan noise of the GPUs make it hard to sleep ...

Two of my computers. Not excactly fanless, but quiet. Both of them have two monitors connected, so usually nothing interesting on the laptop display.

[BU508A]

Recently, somewhere in the middle of someplace....

[Robert763]

Talking of tracking numbers, I ordered some matching paint and clear lacquer for my car in rattle cans and last Sunday I was given a tracking number for the paint by the paint company and only today has the tracking number been updated by the courier (Hermes) so it has now gone from "We're expecting it" to, "We have it" and "Its on its way", but where and what has it been doing from Sunday to today? It is supposed to be a 48Hr service 

At last when it arrives, I'll be able to spray the replacement trim piece that the stupid American style car wash rotating brushes managed to rip off and mangle up 3 years ago, it has taken that long to find another suitable trim piece (not that many cars like mine in the breakers yet) and to get a new one was over 3 times what wash company paid me as compensation, without painting and fitting, which the stealer er I mean dealer almost matched in cost. So I paid £24 for the trim and £36 for the paint and clear lacquer and to have it done by the dealer was almost £600   

"We're expecting it" means that they have issued a tracking number to the sender to print a label, but the sender hasn't actually send it yet. So that wait since Sunday has been the supplier sitting on their hands.

Yes, Seeing a lot of that with ebays new payment scheme. As soon as the item sells the seller pays for postage and gets a tracking number. Ebay starts the payment process. The seller then waits until the funds are in their account before dropping the package off.

[capt bullshot]

About nothing interesting on the laptop display:

Testing with my frequency difference measurement device thingy sometimes produces interesting patterns on the screen:



It's no useful information, except that one of the Rubidium references apparently needs fixing, but an nice pattern ...

[Robert763]

Recently, somewhere in the middle of someplace....

Being inside a metal bodied car is one of the safest places in a thunderstorm. Mos of the current goes around the outside. Never been close to a real strike but have witnessed tests on aircraft parts. There are two basic types, high voltage (MV) and high energy. The HV ones are visually impressive and a loud crack. The high energy ones are a big bang  and the armoured shields (typically polycarbonate and steel mesh) are often tested by debris. Wave form is typically 3 or 4 "parts" starting with about 200,000 Amps from capacitor discharge for microseconds and ending with hundreds of amps for up to a couple of seconds, often from a huge bank of commercial vehicle lead acid batteries.

[vk6zgo]

As Perth is a State Capital, car companies always carried spares for popular vehicles, but for years, now, there has been a disturbing trend of  the majority of business & Federal govt enterprises retreating to the "South East corner" of Australia.

It's not a whole lot better in Sydney.  More than once I've been greeted with "It has to be shipped up from Melbourne" - which is the south-eastern most corner of Australia.

Crazy, isn't it?.
What do you bet whatever you want arrived in Oz through Sydney, & was transported by road to Melbourne in the first place?

It's not like we live in "outback towns"for Pete's sake!
Hell, back in the day, you could buy just about anything in common use in places like Kalgoorlie or Port Pirie.

Even delivery to Wyndham or Derby in WA  which are "outback towns", wouldn't have been 5 days, unless it was "the Wet", with the roads washed out.

[med6753]

Being inside a metal bodied car is one of the safest places in a thunderstorm. Mos of the current goes around the outside. Never been close to a real strike but have witnessed tests on aircraft parts. There are two basic types, high voltage (MV) and high energy. The HV ones are visually impressive and a loud crack. The high energy ones are a big bang  and the armoured shields (typically polycarbonate and steel mesh) are often tested by debris. Wave form is typically 3 or 4 "parts" starting with about 200,000 Amps from capacitor discharge for microseconds and ending with hundreds of amps for up to a couple of seconds, often from a huge bank of commercial vehicle lead acid batteries.

The nearest I've been to a lightning strike is in my car stopped at a traffic light and lightning hit the overhead lines about 50 feet away. A shower of sparks and a loud boom but apparently the lightning arrestor on the line did it's job and directed most of the strike to ground. As near as I could tell from the businesses near the pole that got struck that power stayed on but you can bet a lot of plugged in devices didn't survive 
 
That car that got hit was here mostly likely in the midwest judging from the flat terrain. How do I know that? The voice in the background is the computer generated voice of the National Weather Service which broadcasts weather info on 162.550MHz and in certain areas 162.475MHz. And I think it's safe bet that the electrical system in that car is toast beyond repair.   

[bd139]

@mnem and others who like their PC's to have a lighting show going, I just watched this video these fans are really quite clever as well as being pretty, enjoy.

My computer has no fans 

I like my computer to be somewhat inconspicuous.
Not glaring all over the place. It's bad enuff that the fan noise of the GPUs make it hard to sleep ...

Two of my computers. Not excactly fanless, but quiet. Both of them have two monitors connected, so usually nothing interesting on the laptop display.

Those little ThinkCentres are quite nice. I have a couple of (currently unused) M600's which are fanless silent varieties but terrible little slow Celeron N3010 CPUs. Ideal for small servers though.

I've got my mother's larger M800 here I still need to sort out all the data on. Digital archaeology isn't something I can face yet. It's an i5-6500 with 8Gb of RAM and 256Gb SSD. Still an acceptably good machine - it's really quite fast, has a proper serial port (!) and can drive a 4k display perfectly well.

[tggzzz]

Recently, somewhere in the middle of someplace....

Being inside a metal bodied car is one of the safest places in a thunderstorm. Mos of the current goes around the outside. Never been close to a real strike but have witnessed tests on aircraft parts. There are two basic types, high voltage (MV) and high energy. The HV ones are visually impressive and a loud crack. The high energy ones are a big bang  and the armoured shields (typically polycarbonate and steel mesh) are often tested by debris. Wave form is typically 3 or 4 "parts" starting with about 200,000 Amps from capacitor discharge for microseconds and ending with hundreds of amps for up to a couple of seconds, often from a huge bank of commercial vehicle lead acid batteries.

In 1999 a clear sky lightning strike on a glider resulted in the design standards for composite aircraft being made more stringent.

The main point of interest is that an Al rod (16mm diameter 1mm wall thickness) was crushed by the magnetic field associated with the current flowing along it.

Entertaining pictures on p9 of that "tube":
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0aGViaWc0MHJlYWNoZm9ydGhlc2tpZXNhZ2FpbnxneDo1NzMyZmZkOTVkOTcwZDFj

TV reconstruction, not badly done - but looks like a poor screencapture!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=491&v=dDhl5dOd4_0

[BU508A]

There are two differential probes from LeCroy in the bay. NAWTS.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/402981242770



https://www.ebay.de/itm/133812958360

[mansaxel]

I've finally gone through with my "Big Recap" project that's been going on for about a year now. Last night I pulled channel 7 on the mixing desk and sucked out (I go on and on about my desoldering station, it is a fantastic force multiplier, even if it is a cheap knockoff, et c.) the 14 caps that are part of my replacement scheme.

For the input module, they are grouped in two values, 100µF and 220 µF, and the 220µF ones originally come in several voltage ratings, whereas the 100µF all are 16V. I'm replacing all 220s with the highest required rating of 35V. Modern caps, as we all know, are a lot smaller, so stock-wise it makes no sense to differentiate. Especially since it would be more expensive to buy smaller amounts of the different ratings.

Most removed caps actually test really good.

But some are really, really horrible.

Tonight, the desk goes out on its first job this year, a jazz guitar/organ/drums trio with some well known performers from the Swedish jazz/session player scene.

[capt bullshot]

There are two differential probes from LeCroy in the bay. NAWTS.

These are as usual the re-branded Sapphire ones. We've got some of these (other brand but presumably same stuff inside) @work, heavily used on motor phase outputs of "inverters" (up to 900V @ 5 ... 20kV/us). Over time, the input components (resistors and capacitors) drift under that load, so depending on their former life, frequency response and / or common mode rejection might be not as good as one expects. They can be internally adjusted for best response. Usually they're still OK for e.g. debugging primary side of SMPS or similar. I'd be the LeCroy connector just can be removed to discover a simple ordinary RG58 or similar output cable.
Don't expect anything like a flat 100MHz frequency response anyway. Yes, they'll pass through 100MHz but at +/- severe dBs above ca. 20MHz.

[Andrew_Debbie]

Any weightlifters live near Rugeley?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294260029961

I quite enjoy bringing Tek 54x and 555's back to life.   Rugley is just inside the reasonable distance from Anglesey.   

I sold my TV-7 B/U for what seemed like a huge amount of money when we moved to the UK.  Looking at current prices, I should have waited.   
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114865916101?hash=item1abe8ac8c5:g:qq0AAOSw0mdg1Hs3

Not that I need it to get a 546 or 547 working. 

A few problems remain:

• Tunnel Diodes
• Not enough space on my workbench
• One hernia is enough, thank you
• I would need to buy a bigger house.
• Debbie would leave me

Someone has bid on them.  Anyone here?

[Robert763]

<SNIP>
In 1999 a clear sky lightning strike on a glider resulted in the design standards for composite aircraft being made more stringent.

The main point of interest is that an Al rod (16mm diameter 1mm wall thickness) was crushed by the magnetic field associated with the current flowing along it.

Entertaining pictures on p9 of that "tube":
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0aGViaWc0MHJlYWNoZm9ydGhlc2tpZXNhZ2FpbnxneDo1NzMyZmZkOTVkOTcwZDFj

TV reconstruction, not badly done - but looks like a poor screencapture!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=491&v=dDhl5dOd4_0

Indeed, Anything U shped carrying direct lightning currents will try to straighten itself out with the mignetic fields. Used to do a demonstration with two flat alloy extrusions hinged together. One slightly longer with the end resting on a contact that also kept the the two strips slightly apart. Apply 24V DC from a old 60AH wet NiCad aircraft battery and they fly apart at high speed. Similar physics on a macro scale is used in some very high speed "slapper" detonators @saskia.

[med6753]

I quite enjoy bringing Tek 54x and 555's back to life.   Rugley is just inside the reasonable distance from Anglesey.   


Not that I need it to get a 546 or 547 working. 

A few problems remain:

• Tunnel Diodes
• Not enough space on my workbench
• One hernia is enough, thank you
• I would need to buy a bigger house.
• Debbie would leave me

Someone has bid on them.  Anyone here?

As near as I can tell the tunnel diodes in the A & B Trigger are apparently OK. Same with HV transformer. Obviously I can better confirm this once I get the vertical and sweep fully operational.

Bench 2 can barely accommodate and I have to remove most of the other equipment.

Agreed. One hernia is one too many.

Yes, for all practical purposes I am out of room. But by impractical means I have plenty of room. 

Jo Ann does not live here and has no say in the matter but she does think I'm nuts. 

And this morning it tried different tactics. I won't work. But damn she is cute and she's got the batshit look. 

[Robert763]

Another classic lightning strike accident was the Kato Do228
https://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/329.pdf
https://havarikommisjonen.no/Aviation/Published-reports/2007-23 (source report but may have download issue)

Short version is broken bonding leads on th tail caused the lightning current to flow through the elevator control rod and high resistance where the fitting screwed into the tube blew it out. Damm good work by the crew to get it on the runway in a storm with no elevator.

[Robert763]

Back on TEA,
My mystery yellow pelicase analyser turned up. Seems it is a dual gas analyser O₂ and CO₂ (with N by calculation). Oxygen sensor is zerconia type in an oven. The CO₂ appears to be IR. Unit runs a check calibration on air at power up and this fails 98% of the time. Doing a re-calibration somtimes fixes it and then it gives sensible figures. Seems to be a CO₂ sensor failure. The sensor is an alloy block with 4 2 lead devices epoxied into it. Not much I can do but check for dry jounts and maybe clean the gas path. It will have to wait though, too many open projects. I must get back on the FRK Rubidium build first....

[Specmaster]

I quite enjoy bringing Tek 54x and 555's back to life.   Rugley is just inside the reasonable distance from Anglesey.   


Not that I need it to get a 546 or 547 working. 

A few problems remain:

• Tunnel Diodes
• Not enough space on my workbench
• One hernia is enough, thank you
• I would need to buy a bigger house.
• Debbie would leave me

Someone has bid on them.  Anyone here?

As near as I can tell the tunnel diodes in the A & B Trigger are apparently OK. Same with HV transformer. Obviously I can better confirm this once I get the vertical and sweep fully operational.

Bench 2 can barely accommodate and I have to remove most of the other equipment.

Agreed. One hernia is one too many.

Yes, for all practical purposes I am out of room. But by impractical means I have plenty of room. 

Jo Ann does not live here and has no say in the matter but she does think I'm nuts. 

And this morning it tried different tactics. I won't work. But damn she is cute and she's got the batshit look. 

I thought that she was supposed to be horizontal and naked  , mocking you, she won't mock you much like she is 

[Specmaster]

My car paint should with me very soon, fingers crossed, then after a bit of work, I can rid my car of that ugly warped piece of trim

[Andrew_Debbie]

I must get back on the FRK Rubidium build first....

Now that is something I haven't heard in a very long time.   I worked for Efratom when I was undergraduate at UCI.  Maybe 1979?? They hired me because I was cheap labor.   I wrote the program and built some of the hardware that tested them during the ageing process.     As I recall there were ~10 of the cubes on test connected to a Racal Dana switch.   The output of the switch went to a traceable frequency counter.  My program logged the results and printed a report.     Commodore PET, Basic and assembly,  IEEE-488.

As I remember it was testing the crystal oven output  and not the finished device.   

There was a lot of hand labor that  went into the final product.     Assembly was by hand, of course.   There was a lot of technician time in testing,  tweaking and troubleshooting to get them in spec.

[Saskia]

I quite enjoy bringing Tek 54x and 555's back to life.   Rugley is just inside the reasonable distance from Anglesey.   


Not that I need it to get a 546 or 547 working. 

A few problems remain:

• Tunnel Diodes
• Not enough space on my workbench
• One hernia is enough, thank you
• I would need to buy a bigger house.
• Debbie would leave me

Someone has bid on them.  Anyone here?

As near as I can tell the tunnel diodes in the A & B Trigger are apparently OK. Same with HV transformer. Obviously I can better confirm this once I get the vertical and sweep fully operational.

Bench 2 can barely accommodate and I have to remove most of the other equipment.

Agreed. One hernia is one too many.

Yes, for all practical purposes I am out of room. But by impractical means I have plenty of room. 

Jo Ann does not live here and has no say in the matter but she does think I'm nuts. 

And this morning it tried different tactics. I won't work. But damn she is cute and she's got the batshit look. 

Ok, Dude, you provoked.
Getting dye now, training the batshit look