Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Saskia]

I think you refer to the Hague Conventions on Land Warfare.

Just smartassing

[bd139]

Since one hour I'm looking for a website where I can check serial numbers for HP/Agilent/Keysight gear.
Anybody here, which can help me providing an URL? Thanks.

https://support.keysight.com/KeysightdCX/s/service-and-warranty-status?language=en_US

[bd139]

Bwuhahaha yes indeed. I managed to frig it to work with DC fans in the end. This is an Asus Intel board (B560M) so I'm one damn fan header short as well and CPU_OPT has no fan control. Need to dig around to see if I have a splitter cable now 

Quick, someone pass me the smelling salts, I keep thinking that I read that bd139 is installing fans, lemme check again, nope, its real he is installing the thing he hates the most, ............ fans 

Yeah tell me about it.

Unfortunately I need an x86-64 based host as a virtualisation platform to run Linux VMs on 

However what I do is stick 4 of the things in it (2x 140mm, 2x 120mm) and run them really slow. You can’t hear it when it’s idling at all. When it’s flat out there’s a very light wooshing and that’s it.

[Specmaster]

@bd139
I just saw footage of cars in Isleworth, underwater in the streets yesterday, how did you fair?

[AVGresponding]

That Shitroen of his is so light it'll float...

[BU508A]

That Shitroen of his is so light it'll float...

Which makes it superior to a Landy, Bentley or Rolls. 

Edit: Typo

[Specmaster]

That Shitroen of his is so light it'll float...

Which makes it superios to a Landy, Bentley or Rolls. 

True, but when we get a gale, which we get more than floods, it'll blow away when the others will stay where you parked them 

[bd139]

@bd139
I just saw footage of cars in Isleworth, underwater in the streets yesterday, how did you fair?

That’s normal around here. I’m far enough up the hill for it not to be an issue 

Saying that my garden was flooded and the car park was flooded.

[wolfy007]

After seeing something about the cobalt blue mug posted a while back, I added 'Tektronix mug' to my search on our favorite wallet-sucking site.  One showed up last week and I jumped on it; it arrived today.  It looks brand new, and was sent by someone who actually knows how to pack - it was overkill if anything - wrapped in soft foam surrounded by a custom cut roughly mug-shaped cardboard surround, then packed in bubble wrap and pillows in a roughly 9 x 11 x 6" (23 x 28 x 16 cm for you metric types) cardboard box.  The moron who shipped those poor HP mugs that were destroyed in transit because they were sent in their tiny individual cartons sans any kind of padding should have THIS box shoved up their ass as punishment/a lesson.



-Pat

I would kill for one of those. Still havent found one, obviously my search skills suck.

[tggzzz]

@bd139
I just saw footage of cars in Isleworth, underwater in the streets yesterday, how did you fair?

That’s normal around here. I’m far enough up the hill for it not to be an issue 

Saying that my garden was flooded and the car park was flooded.

So your water meadow has been naturally fertilised?

https://modernfarmer.com/2014/07/stink-human-poop-fertilizer/

[med6753]

Front panel reassembled.



Wiring of the front panel next up.

[McBryce]

Not quite TEA, but this weeks project was to repair my TEAC CR-H-100 CD/Amp unit. It had multiple problems and each repair needed unobtanium parts. Problems: VFD barely readable, Volume encoder faulty (you could turn the volume up but not down), very hit and miss CD reading and the CD tray would come out any more - Yes I waited till almost everything had failed before I fixed it. Luckily I found a donor unit where those parts could be taken from and I now have one fully working unit. The device is very modular and I have bits left over, so I thought I'd offer one or two of them here.

This is the amplifier board, based on the STK4132II. It works perfectly and has some nice output jacks for 4mm or loose strands. It can output 20W into 6 ohms per channel. The board is approx. 10x10cm. If anyone can make use of this, then send me a PM, you can have it for €10 + postage. Probably only worth it for local members.

McBryce.

 

[AVGresponding]

@tggzzz does your glider need a new coat of paint, by any chance..?   

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334075131905

[bd139]

@bd139
I just saw footage of cars in Isleworth, underwater in the streets yesterday, how did you fair?

That’s normal around here. I’m far enough up the hill for it not to be an issue 

Saying that my garden was flooded and the car park was flooded.

Well fuck I went in the back garden and it flooded all the ants out. They spent the entire morning building hills all over the lawn. I just kicked them all over and powdered the buggers until they were choking with it. Looks like someone has been snorting coke on it now 

My Fluke 87 has been dispatched apparently. Fingers crossed

[mnementh]

Anarchy for breakfast... yummmm.

mnem
This morning's waste of bandwidth brought to you by the letters G, E, T,   B, E, N, and T.

[Cerebus]

You'll probably have to ransom them at the border. If somebody bothers to notify you.

mnem
 

Italy -> Germany = EU single market, no need to involve customs or any other border shenanigans.

[med6753]

You'll probably have to ransom them at the border. If somebody bothers to notify you.

mnem
 

Italy -> Germany = EU single market, no need to involve customs or any other border shenanigans.

On the other hand....Anywhere -> UK, Customs, mucho shenanigans, and Woody Woodpecker. 

edit...

[Cerebus]

Since one hour I'm looking for a website where I can check serial numbers for HP/Agilent/Keysight gear.
Anybody here, which can help me providing an URL? Thanks.

https://support.keysight.com/KeysightdCX/s/service-and-warranty-status?language=en_US

Only recent stuff however. My, made in 2013, 34461A is in there complete with expired warranties and dates, it doesn't even recognise the part numbers on older stuff.

HPAK serial numbers follow several schemes. The 'classic' HP scheme is YYWWC12345, like serial 2033A01234, a slightly disguised version of the serial number for my 6022A, which was made week 33 in 1960+20 = 1980, in America, and has a sequential serial of 01234.

Later serial numbers (post 2000? or Agilent and Keysight?) start with a country code US, MY (Malaysia), and I don't know the breakdown beyond that.

[Cubdriver]

Since one hour I'm looking for a website where I can check serial numbers for HP/Agilent/Keysight gear.
Anybody here, which can help me providing an URL? Thanks.

https://support.keysight.com/KeysightdCX/s/service-and-warranty-status?language=en_US

Only recent stuff however. My, made in 2013, 34461A is in there complete with expired warranties and dates, it doesn't even recognise the part numbers on older stuff.

HPAK serial numbers follow several schemes. The 'classic' HP scheme is YYWWC12345, like serial 2033A01234, a slightly disguised version of the serial number for my 6022A, which was made week 33 in 1960+20 = 1980, in America, and has a sequential serial of 01234.

Later serial numbers (post 2000? or Agilent and Keysight?) start with a country code US, MY (Malaysia), and I don't know the breakdown beyond that.

Your assessment of the 'classic' period S/Ns is close, but the first four (or 3 for 60s instruments) digits indicate the year and week of the revision the instrument is built to.  The actual build date could be much later and is best determined by looking at date codes on stuff in the innards.

This should take you to a post I made a while back based on an explanation from someone on the HPAK mailing list that used to work for HP: 
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2550204/#msg2550204

As for the new stuff, I've no clue either - it's way too new for me to have any of it.

-Pat

[mnementh]

https://xkcd.com/889/

mnem
To know one's place in the universe is something to which we should all aspire.

[Robert763]

So despite what I said earlier, I had a look at the MapTEST 4050. This is a portable ggas analyser in a pelicase 1450 that cost less than £20 shipped.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114854903985
It powered on but failled self-calibration about 90% of the time. It's an O₂ and CO₂ meter.
The O₂ sensor is a heated Zirconia and CO₂ appears to be IR. The IR sensor is a alloy block wih components epoxied into it. No obvious bad connections of dry joints. So with little to loose I disconnected it from the rest of the pipework and flushed it through with some 99.99% IPA using a syringe and then pushed a load of (0.45um filtered) air through it to dry it out.
That seems to have done the trick. It now passes auto calibration and gives sensible figures. I put some degreased and then wetted steel wool in a jar overnight. That read reduced O₂ and no CO₂ as expected. I then cleaned it out and bunt some IPA on a bit of cotton in it. That gave reduced  O₂ and increased CO₂. So all OK.
Not sure what I'm going to do with it though. I can't bring myself to break it for parts when it's working.

[bd139]

Since one hour I'm looking for a website where I can check serial numbers for HP/Agilent/Keysight gear.
Anybody here, which can help me providing an URL? Thanks.

https://support.keysight.com/KeysightdCX/s/service-and-warranty-status?language=en_US

Only recent stuff however. My, made in 2013, 34461A is in there complete with expired warranties and dates, it doesn't even recognise the part numbers on older stuff.

HPAK serial numbers follow several schemes. The 'classic' HP scheme is YYWWC12345, like serial 2033A01234, a slightly disguised version of the serial number for my 6022A, which was made week 33 in 1960+20 = 1980, in America, and has a sequential serial of 01234.

Later serial numbers (post 2000? or Agilent and Keysight?) start with a country code US, MY (Malaysia), and I don't know the breakdown beyond that.

It’s since 1999 approx. It notably excludes a whole bunch of stuff from defence sector and things which have been stolen or officially disposed of.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Here we have a regional pump appreciation day or something like that. Anything with 4 wheels and a light on top is out there emptying cellars, basement dwellings, underpasses, etc.

Just when I thought that I had seen anything Tek:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/402498425618?hash=item5db6c69312:g:du0AAOSwTVtfiq43

WTF?

Oh, and if you ever wanted to know why the railroads aren't running properly anymore: it's the badgers.
Sorry, only in German:

https://www.rheinpfalz.de/politik/rheinland-pfalz_artikel,-dachse-verursachen-mit-bauten-sperrung-einer-bahnstrecke-_arid,5226879.html

I always suspected as much.

[25 CPS]

I think you refer to the Hague Conventions on Land Warfare.

Just smartassing

I haven't signed anything so she'd better watch out!

On the test equipment theme, I have several strings of Christmas lights run down the fence to light up my back yard whenever I have guests over after dark and this nutcase cut the wire last year.  This year, she unplugged them all.  I've been thinking about unscrewing the bulbs a little bit so they don't make contact in their sockets and then getting out one of my vacuum tube power supplies to energize the wires so there's B+ sitting, just waiting for the next time she decides to lean over the fence and go to work on my lights.

[Neomys Sapiens]

I think you refer to the Hague Conventions on Land Warfare.

Just smartassing

I haven't signed anything so she'd better watch out!

On the test equipment theme, I have several strings of Christmas lights run down the fence to light up my back yard whenever I have guests over after dark and this nutcase cut the wire last year.  This year, she unplugged them all.  I've been thinking about unscrewing the bulbs a little bit so they don't make contact in their sockets and then getting out one of my vacuum tube power supplies to energize the wires so there's B+ sitting, just waiting for the next time she decides to lean over the fence and go to work on my lights.

Load detector and a large klaxon might be enough. Whether cut, unplugged or otherwise disconnected - AHOOOGA AHOOOGA AHOOOGA