Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Oh bugger, I got so wrapped in this thread about safety glass that I forgot to put my bid on a nice Fluke 85 and it went for just £25.70 delivered 

The winning bidder may still have bid more than you wanted to pay so you either saved the buyer money or cost the seller profit depending on you frame of mind.

Yes, this is true, but I'd have put a far higher bid in which might well have beaten the other bidders top. I was prepared to bi upto £36 for this meter, but we will never know now, but I suspect the low price is a direct reflection of the UK's Freedom Day with many people having to return to work and thus not at home sitting the eBay site all day.

Yes, it works in the uk.

mnem
 

You have forgotten that I already use Gixen and indeed am a subscriber to it as well? I had that Fluke in my watch list and was waiting to see how the bidding was going before doing anything because the last few occasions my bid never got placed because the prices have been so crazy that my max bid was blown away minutes before the auctions finished. I was just about going to jump onto eBay and see what was going on with it, and because my head was full of facts and figures to do with the glass issue, I decided to rush a reply out to McBryce and then my internet went down for a few seconds and by the time it came back, it had gone. Never mind, maybe prices will be more sensible now and I can grab another sometime or other.

LOL... touche'... I did forget.

But your situation does make another teachable moment here for those playing along at home... 

If you're interested in something, it costs you nothing but a moment to put in a crazy lowball offer on Gixen, and sometimes you get it with that bid. Also increasing your max bid from the Gixen dashboard is easier than fucking aboot with eBay in the last few minutes.

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

Oh bugger, I got so wrapped in this thread about safety glass that I forgot to put my bid on a nice Fluke 85 and it went for just £25.70 delivered 

The winning bidder may still have bid more than you wanted to pay so you either saved the buyer money or cost the seller profit depending on you frame of mind.

Yes, this is true, but I'd have put a far higher bid in which might well have beaten the other bidders top. I was prepared to bi upto £36 for this meter, but we will never know now, but I suspect the low price is a direct reflection of the UK's Freedom Day with many people having to return to work and thus not at home sitting the eBay site all day.

Yes, it works in the uk.

mnem
 

You have forgotten that I already use Gixen and indeed am a subscriber to it as well? I had that Fluke in my watch list and was waiting to see how the bidding was going before doing anything because the last few occasions my bid never got placed because the prices have been so crazy that my max bid was blown away minutes before the auctions finished. I was just about going to jump onto eBay and see what was going on with it, and because my head was full of facts and figures to do with the glass issue, I decided to rush a reply out to McBryce and then my internet went down for a few seconds and by the time it came back, it had gone. Never mind, maybe prices will be more sensible now and I can grab another sometime or other.

LOL... touche'... I did forget.

But your situation does make another teachable moment here for those playing along at home... 

If you're interested in something, it costs you nothing but a moment to put in a crazy lowball offer on Gixen, and sometimes you get it with that bid. Also increasing your max bid from the Gixen dashboard is easier than fucking aboot with eBay in the last few minutes.

mnem
 

I'm not so sure about that last bit, you have to sign in and then wait seconds for it to transfer you to the site, then you have to pull down the item you want increase your bid on, click Ok etc and then wait for it to accept the increased amount etc. In fact I think they even warn you that they may not be able to place your increased bids in the closing seconds of the auction.

[mnementh]

I said last minutes (or hours), the way you said you usually do, not seconds.

Gixen dashboard is the easy way to keep track of auctions you have a Gix on; they keep track of current bid and will alert you if you use the app or keep a tab open.

I've never had Gix fail to up a bid, and I've done it more times than I can count in the last 30 seconds of an auction. Of course, I was in the US so YMMV, DQMOT, etc...

And of course, you can always still bid against your own Gix from the eBay dashboard... it doesn't have any feelings to get bent out of shape, so  still a good idea to put in a crazy lowball Gixen bid any time you're actually interested in something.

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Yes, we have some large development sites here in my city where new dwellings are being built which has at times in my lifetime been the site of some pretty savage flooding

Our house is on a hill, and around 12m above the regulated level of Lake Mälaren. It stands on stilts. We'll be OK with 10 cm water on the ground, too, then. We're on an island, but since it is in a lake that's upstream of central Stockholm, any flood hitting us will hit the rich people in town times ten, so I'm counting on that for protection.

Hmm. Are you sure that's not chicken legs?

[mnementh]

Oh, why, oh why the flying fuck is the input-ground-output pin sequence on LM7815 and LM7915 not the same?

That catches everybody out, hopefully only once.

Today I've blown my first capacitor across the Styx. Complete brainfart while perfboarding a dual-rail supply. With above stabilisers in. I feel strange. Annoyed at it happening, but happy that it was on the other side of the PCB so the BANG was the only problem.

mnem
Welcome to Cap Club.   

[mnementh]

Yes, we have some large development sites here in my city where new dwellings are being built which has at times in my lifetime been the site of some pretty savage flooding

Our house is on a hill, and around 12m above the regulated level of Lake Mälaren. It stands on stilts. We'll be OK with 10 cm water on the ground, too, then. We're on an island, but since it is in a lake that's upstream of central Stockholm, any flood hitting us will hit the rich people in town times ten, so I'm counting on that for protection.

Hmm. Are you sure that's not chicken legs?

Oh, Heyall NO!!!

My grandmomma wouldn't teach us Yiddish or Polish ("You're Americans; you speak American..."), but that didn't stop her from terrorizing us with the nursery rhymes and bedtime stories from the old country. Tales of the Baba Yaga and her crazy hut on giant clawed chicken legs, stalking the countryside searching for a midnight snack of flayed children gave me fucking nightmares for months...

mnem
You think it's a accident I found my spirit animal in a giant, hyper-intelligent fire-breathing winged reptile...?

[AVGresponding]

Fun job of the week is replacing a burned-up 16mm² 4-core armoured that connects the CHP unit to the main panel board at one of our swimming pools.

It burned up because the designer specced 16mm² despite the system being 100kVA. Now we (being myself and one other, as almost everyone else is off with covid this week) have to pull a 4-core 35mm² XPLE armoured in a 45m run through a swimming pool plant room and upstairs into the CHP room which is on the roof. In 30 degrees science heat. I mention the fact it's XPLE (the insulation type) because that makes it stiffer, heavier, and more difficult to strip and terminate.

Still, it's good to know that the designer, who gets paid half again as much as we do, is safe, working from home. There's a fair possibility that I'll call him a useless cunt, the next time I see him.



@BD139 is this the scope you're looking for..?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294284334261




Can't remember if I posted this yet:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184940041919




I'm tempted to bid on this, but probably won't:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373654345390




Mildly interesting nixie DVM:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144118340442




Nice nixie counter, somewhat salty BIN but not horrifically so:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154533142901




Very nice boat-anchor RLC on the wrong side of the pond, looks super clean:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294284337570

[bd139]

Thanks for the heads up but no not that scope  .  It’s a PC with a scope attached to the side.

TBH I’d grab an equivalent picoscope 3000 for 3x the amount and be better off  .

Actually one of them is tempting - they don’t take up a lot of room and the software gets updated regularly unlike most full hardware scopes.

[mnementh]

@BD139 is this the scope you're looking for..?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294284334261

Missing knobs and screws on that thing just screams out loud to me:
"Scabbed together out of all the borked bits we took off other units to fix them, then put up here to catch the unsuspecting noob."

Also, some part of bd is still keening over his long-lost 54645A... I fully expect to see another in his stable soon. 

mnem
Run, don't walk to the nearest exit...

[bd139]

Ahh fuck I didn’t even notice all the knobs. Windows was enough to kill it for me.

[mnementh]

Ahh fuck I didn’t even notice all the knobs. Windows was enough to kill it for me.

LOL... but... think of all the    joy you could have porting it over to *NIX...!!! 



Also.. take a lookit the back of the thing...

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Fun job of the week...
Still, it's good to know that the designer, who gets paid half again as much as we do, is safe, working from home. There's a fair possibility that I'll call him a useless cunt, the next time I see him.

LOL... I'd be surprised if you didn't roshambo the mutherfucker... 

mnem
 

[bd139]

Ahh fuck I didn’t even notice all the knobs. Windows was enough to kill it for me.

LOL... but... think of all the    joy you could have porting it over to *NIX...!!! 



Also.. take a lookit the back of the thing...

mnem
 

Yeah what the hell was the person drinking who was driving AutoCAD when they did that back panel 

[Specmaster]

Fun job of the week...
Still, it's good to know that the designer, who gets paid half again as much as we do, is safe, working from home. There's a fair possibility that I'll call him a useless cunt, the next time I see him.

LOL... I'd be surprised if you didn't roshambo the mutherfucker... 

mnem
 

You mean in the style of Ricky Stocks?

[Saskia]

Eff my life. Emigration to Austria cancelled due to another family emergency/catastrophe.

So sorry to hear that, but surely there must be a window of opportunity opening shortly, you can't have to many family emergencies surely?

daughter has serious health issues, found out yesterday, the issue was misdiagnosed and she may need my help for the next couple of years (or even beyond). No window of opportunity, I am cancelling ALL my plans for moving out and I am looking for a house near to her ...

[bd139]

Ah fuck. Sorry to hear that . All I can say is we're here if you need us.

[Cerebus]

Fuck! That's bad news.

[Specmaster]

Eff my life. Emigration to Austria cancelled due to another family emergency/catastrophe.

So sorry to hear that, but surely there must be a window of opportunity opening shortly, you can't have to many family emergencies surely?

daughter has serious health issues, found out yesterday, the issue was misdiagnosed and she may need my help for the next couple of years (or even beyond). No window of opportunity, I am cancelling ALL my plans for moving out and I am looking for a house near to her ...

Oh shit, that is not what you want to hear is it, its a good job you found out now rather than after you escaped and then had to come back again. Lets wish her a speedy recovery and you all the very best of luck, you're going to need it by the sound of it, moving is never an easy task especially on top of everything else.

[Cubdriver]

Eff my life. Emigration to Austria cancelled due to another family emergency/catastrophe.

So sorry to hear that, but surely there must be a window of opportunity opening shortly, you can't have to many family emergencies surely?

daughter has serious health issues, found out yesterday, the issue was misdiagnosed and she may need my help for the next couple of years (or even beyond). No window of opportunity, I am cancelling ALL my plans for moving out and I am looking for a house near to her ...

Good thoughts and prayers inbound.  It really sucks for the patient when doctors make mistakes - very sorry to hear of the bad news for your daughter.

-Pat

[tggzzz]

daughter has serious health issues, found out yesterday, the issue was misdiagnosed and she may need my help for the next couple of years (or even beyond). No window of opportunity, I am cancelling ALL my plans for moving out and I am looking for a house near to her ...

That kind of thing is every parent's nightmare. My daughter has faced serious problems twice, and may do again, so I have a little understanding of what you must be going through.

We tend to have a view of life that it will go according to our plan. It starts off that way, but then on some random day a fragmentation bomb explodes, and everything changes.

Sometimes life just sucks, and there's nothing you can do about it.

I wish I could offer more help than giving my best wishes.

[Cubdriver]

Was this anybody here?  I was tempted, but the price was pretty steep, and it went away while I vacillated.  Probably for the best, I suppose...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154534385275?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649



-Pat

[tggzzz]

Yes, this is true, but I'd have put a far higher bid in which might well have beaten the other bidders top. I was prepared to bi upto £36 for this meter, but we will never know now, but I suspect the low price is a direct reflection of the UK's Freedom Day with many people having to return to work and thus not at home sitting the eBay site all day.

You misspelled FreeDumb Day, when the government is free to blame feckless people for what happens next, and free to dismantle the overstretched NHS because it wasn't fit for purpose.  Cough.

[med6753]

The wiring is done. I did a quick power up and I can move the meter off zero but that's about it. Ohms is dead. Tried measuring a DC voltage and no joy. So obviously next step is troubleshooting. Tomorrow's activity.

[mansaxel]

daughter has serious health issues, found out yesterday, the issue was misdiagnosed and she may need my help for the next couple of years (or even beyond). No window of opportunity, I am cancelling ALL my plans for moving out and I am looking for a house near to her ...

Aw, crap. Hold on to her. And hubby. We'll be holding thumbs.

[mnementh]

Eff my life. Emigration to Austria cancelled due to another family emergency/catastrophe.

So sorry to hear that, but surely there must be a window of opportunity opening shortly, you can't have to many family emergencies surely?

daughter has serious health issues, found out yesterday, the issue was misdiagnosed and she may need my help for the next couple of years (or even beyond). No window of opportunity, I am cancelling ALL my plans for moving out and I am looking for a house near to her ...

Well fuck. Murphy is playing hell with the ranks of TEA lately...

Everything I was thinking to say has already been said several times over; just let me add my own best wishes.

mnem
It really does suck when Murphy piles it on...