Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Dad joke of the week:

Okey very Dutch... want my honest opinon? ... f**k Clock, double F*ck alarmclock. 
never had anything good goming from them..LOL

And Fu** cat videos too... just to know where we are here at TEA.

Oi, I like cat videos 

[factory]

My car meter is a Brymen! 

Got pictures back of the 34401A. It's a nope

Front looks ok:



Back does not!



It's missing the rear case frame, screws and the current fuse socket is mangled.

Running in opposite direction 

Mine was missing the fuse & fuse cap and had a test lead jammed in instead. 
Luckily the fuse cap can be bought from Farnell with a holder that may or may not be the correct one (I only needed the cap), they are made by Schurter: https://uk.farnell.com/schurter/0031-3558/fuseholder-20x5mm-tht-horizontal/dp/1453524

David

[bd139]

Oi, I like cat videos 

There's only one cat video I like

[tonyalbus]

Dad joke of the week:

Okey very Dutch... want my honest opinon? ... f**k Clock, double F*ck alarmclock. 
never had anything good goming from them..LOL

And Fu** cat videos too... just to know where we are here at TEA.

Oi, I like cat videos 

I just say a lot o thinks that were blocked.... so yes i agree. did not know the power of the wife............. how she wound this..

[bd139]

Mine was missing the fuse & fuse cap and had a test lead jammed in instead. 
Luckily the fuse cap can be bought from Farnell with a holder that may or may not be the correct one (I only needed the cap), they are made by Schurter: https://uk.farnell.com/schurter/0031-3558/fuseholder-20x5mm-tht-horizontal/dp/1453524

David

Oh nice. Am aware of the propensity for the fuse holder to go missing with them. The worrying thing is the lack of the rear frame and the screws. That means someone has been "at it". The missing nature of the fuse holder plus someone having gone at it suggests that it's either had the bits nicked off it for another one or a bad repair attempt. I haven't got the energy to even think about that 

[factory]

Mine was missing the fuse & fuse cap and had a test lead jammed in instead. 
Luckily the fuse cap can be bought from Farnell with a holder that may or may not be the correct one (I only needed the cap), they are made by Schurter: https://uk.farnell.com/schurter/0031-3558/fuseholder-20x5mm-tht-horizontal/dp/1453524

David

David
Oh nice. Am aware of the propensity for the fuse holder to go missing with them. The worrying thing is the lack of the rear frame and the screws. That means someone has been "at it". The missing nature of the fuse holder plus someone having gone at it suggests that it's either had the bits nicked off it for another one or a bad repair attempt. I haven't got the energy to even think about that 

It's possible that they blew the higher value internal fuse, that is in series with the rear one as well. 
I think the fuse cap was a different size for that one, but less likely to be missing. 


David

P.S. could really use one of them exploding cats, to install in this computer  , had lots of problems with it the last few days, it froze shortly after an error appeared and then refused to boot afterwards (not even a beep from the motherboard), it's done this twice now, I suspect a hardware problem. 

[med6753]

I found the source of the "ghost voltage" on the DCV. For some reason the ohms battery and it's resistance divider is in circuit when +DC and -DC is selected. Obviously that's NG. And the issue appears right where I suspected. In the lower and inaccessible deck of the function switch. In order to gain access I would have to unsolder all the wiring on the upper deck and then pull it. A real PITA. Not today. Nor tomorrow. Putting this project aside for now and come back to it another day. I have bigger fish to fry. 

[bd139]

Mine was missing the fuse & fuse cap and had a test lead jammed in instead. 
Luckily the fuse cap can be bought from Farnell with a holder that may or may not be the correct one (I only needed the cap), they are made by Schurter: https://uk.farnell.com/schurter/0031-3558/fuseholder-20x5mm-tht-horizontal/dp/1453524

David

David
Oh nice. Am aware of the propensity for the fuse holder to go missing with them. The worrying thing is the lack of the rear frame and the screws. That means someone has been "at it". The missing nature of the fuse holder plus someone having gone at it suggests that it's either had the bits nicked off it for another one or a bad repair attempt. I haven't got the energy to even think about that 

It's possible that they blew the higher value internal fuse, that is in series with the rear one as well. 
I think the fuse cap was a different size for that one, but less likely to be missing. 


David

P.S. could really use one of them exploding cats, to install in this computer  , had lots of problems with it the last few days, it froze shortly after an error appeared and then refused to boot afterwards (not even a beep from the motherboard), it's done this twice now, I suspect a hardware problem. 

Possibly. If it was 70 quid cheaper I’d go for it as it has a parts resale break even then.  Seller won’t bend that low 

Regarding computers, yes blowing it up might be easier than debugging intermittent problems!

[BU508A]

@med6753:
You mean, the mocking pieces of paper will be smaller, then? 

[med6753]

@med6753:
You mean, the mocking pieces of paper will be smaller, then? 

The mocking pieces of paper will be much smaller but the instrument MUCH larger. 

[mansaxel]

but my last working pocketable/EveryDayCarry flashlight died on me yesterday, so I decided it was time to get after my little harem as nobody within a week's delivery had anything I actually like at a price I liked.

Nice collection! I'm carrying a Led Lenser T2 which was given to me by a previous employer. It sits in a holster adjacent to a Leatherman Charge Ti which is also a tool from a (much more) previous employer. I also end up carrying a Petzl headlamp now and then, and as backup I've got a 3-cell D-type Maglite, which has been converted to LED with a 3rd party lamp replacement. I started carrying a flashlight 30+ years ago, but then it of course was a Mini Maglite with a glowing resistor and it sat next to a Victorinox Officier. Now I've got a Victorinox Cybertool, silly name, good tool, but it lives in the backpack with my cables and adapters kit.

[Robert763]

My everyday carry is a Innova X5, at least 16 years old and just keeps on going. I use Tenergy rechargable CR123 replacments. Not the cheapest but correct voltage and they fit properly. A have a small selection of Innova lights including single colour and a couple of 24/7 beacons in the car and grab bag. With a proper CR123 ptimary lithium they are always ready to go.

[factory]

Thought I should post this, as there have been a few old LED displays posted today.


Tempted to leave this in the house now.

David

[DH7DN]

How does one attach an inline image? The "attach=1" tag never works for me...   

[mnementh]

but my last working pocketable/EveryDayCarry flashlight died on me yesterday, so I decided it was time to get after my little harem as nobody within a week's delivery had anything I actually like at a price I liked.

Nice collection! I'm carrying a Led Lenser T2 which was given to me by a previous employer. It sits in a holster adjacent to a Leatherman Charge Ti which is also a tool from a (much more) previous employer. I also end up carrying a Petzl headlamp now and then, and as backup I've got a 3-cell D-type Maglite, which has been converted to LED with a 3rd party lamp replacement. I started carrying a flashlight 30+ years ago, but then it of course was a Mini Maglite with a glowing resistor and it sat next to a Victorinox Officier. Now I've got a Victorinox Cybertool, silly name, good tool, but it lives in the backpack with my cables and adapters kit.

THEY LIVE!!!   

Yup... similar story here, only first a Xenon MiniMag nestled between Gerber Gator & MP600 multipliers for probably a decade or so... then I started doing more civilized work and moved to my grand-dad's preferred knife, a Victorinox or Wenger Camper/Woodsman. A proper "gentleman's pocket sword". When that happened, so did the move to small EDCs; something that fit comfoirtably with my pocket sword.

I splurged on a Innova X5 but it was one of the first generation that all turned purple and burned out quickly; they just didn't put out much useful light anyways. I soon learned I simply could not bear the feel of that big hunk of anodized aluminum between my teeth so started with this collection, the oldest of which is circa 2004-2006 or so IIRC. Even the little 10440-powered one puts out more useful light than that Innova did by the time I chunked it.

I have the headlight thing... but I'm clumsy and have given myself a good clobbering more than trying to get "just a wee bit closer" to my work due to poor vision, so have abandoned it except for a few scenarios.



I found my packet of lenses and was able to hammer the dents out of both my UltraFire C3s enough that they seal properly; not the prettiest result, but 100% functional and watertight. When you get into these kinds of lights, most of servicing them is janitorial work; scrubbing stuff clean with alcohol, cleaning glass, etc. Everything that makes light is all off-the-shelf bits you can buy by the fistful from LightMalls or similar sources.



Here's all the casualties from the two C3s; the upper one is first gen which put out a honest 180 lumens on high, but were older Cree emitters which really sucked some current (850-900mA) to do it. Also not nearly as good to the little 14500 cylindrical batteries these use; the LEDROAD controllers have a newer battery protection firmware which takes much better care of them. With the newer XML module, this thing will put out 220 lumens while drawing only 650-700mA.



Here I'm rebuilding the pill... first a new controller soldered into the heatsink body...



...then trim the leads to length and solder them in place on the Cree module. The loose Cree module went in the second C3; it got a new insulator because I'm changing die type and need to match the different package to the reflector, which has already been done on this one.

Now time to go shop for new 14500 cells; the ones I have are def not putting out the best, and I don't even know if my current fave VāpCell ICR14500 is even available up here... 

mnem
*lit AF*

[Cerebus]

How does one attach an inline image? The "attach=1" tag never works for me...   

(Attachment Link)

Post the whole thing with the attachment(s) as "End-of-post expandable thumbnail". Perhaps leave markers for where you want the images - just to make the later editing step easier.

Then, click on the posted thumbnail to expand it. Do whatever your particular browser needs to get a link to the expanded, full size image. Edit your post, insert the URL in [ img ] [ /img ] tags.

[mnementh]

Also, please, for the love of little kids & kitty-kats please, learn to use the img size modifiers so your inline image isn't dragon-sized and clobbering us over the head.

Quote my post above to see how I did it to keep images nice & tidy & not too large; you can modify either [ img height=nnn] or [ img width=nnn] ... then when people want to, they can click on that smaller image for full-size.

mnem
 

[DH7DN]

Also, please, for the love of little kids & kitty-kats please, learn to use the img size modifiers so your inline image isn't dragon-sized and clobbering us over the head.

Quote my post above to see how I did it to keep images nice & tidy & not too large; you can modify either [ img height=nnn] or [ img width=nnn] ... then when people want to, they can click on that smaller image for full-size.

mnem
 

Hey, there is nothing wrong with dragon-sized images 

[mnementh]

*Dwagon-sized groaaaaannnnnn...*



Oh... and when you're attaching images... don't forget to do the "skip the first" workaround for the attachment-eating singularity bug; to my knowledge, it still has not been eradicated.

When you're adding attachments, skip the first slot or that and many other of your previous images may go into a random black hole, never to be seen again... and the ones that survive wind up moved to other posts.

mnem
I knew I was asking for it... 

PPS: Thanks for having mercy and editing that.

[Vgkid]

Just collected this one:
but in better condition and around the corner for 40 pesos 
...snip...

That is a pretty good price for one of these earlier units. If you want it to be a useable bridge, then hope it has the shorting plugs. Good luck, and hope that nothing is fried.

[med6753]

Also, please, for the love of little kids & kitty-kats please, learn to use the img size modifiers so your inline image isn't dragon-sized and clobbering us over the head.

Quote my post above to see how I did it to keep images nice & tidy & not too large; you can modify either [ img height=nnn] or [ img width=nnn] ... then when people want to, they can click on that smaller image for full-size.

mnem
 

Yea, don't be a dick...like me. 

[Brumby]

Ah, yes .... we remember that fan.

[cyclin_al]

There is a solution for that.  Come join us in the great white north. 
The cost of shipping will give you cause for second sober thought before ordering anything.  Then again, have a drink and a third think over the excuse for economy of scale for why base prices are so much higher than down south... 

... or you can embark on the Antipodean Adventure for an even more sobering experience.

... and now I have more reading material to distract me from doing what I should be doing! 

As a matter of fact opinion, I am overdue for such an adventure.
However, SWMBO would be very uncomfortable with being uncomfortable, so not sure about future adventures.
Past adventures involved traversing Canada on a bicycle, probably at similar expense to my TEA hobby so far.
Also, nordic skiing as an occupation in Europe and a few other locales was at much greater expense than my TEA hobby so far.
I cannot imagine doing something like that with a Landy.  I suppose I will be able to imagine it after reading... 

[cyclin_al]

Looks horrible, far too much going on with that IMO 

I can't resist Aneng meters.   It is like watching a horror movie that is so bad it is funny.  I bought an AN-888s for sheer entertainment value.    It turned out to be a half way decent meter.   I've been using it during lock down because it was the only one at home.

Oh dear, gentlemen (and lady) I do believe we have an unbeliever in our ranks. Only one meter at home? There must be more, even if you're forced to count your pocket, everyday carry, meter as "at home".

Well not any more.   I've got three DMMs within arms reach.   

Phew, that's a relief. I though we were going to have to burn you at the stake, or extract all your electrons, or something like that. We haven't had to deal with any heretics, false believers or backsliders yet, that's why I'm uncertain as to what the ritual would be but I know we wouldn't enjoy it - well except for one or two of us.

Okay, okay ... I promise to get more meters.  So far, each meter has had one more digit than the previously acquired meter.  When will I be done? 

[cyclin_al]

Today arrival and tinkering time: ten DIS1417 (replacements for the TI TIL311)   I've found them in the UK bay and thought, I'll give them a try.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281835528940

   So I cobbled together a small circuit board to see how the displays were doing.         Well, I like them.     

*sigh*   They are delicious... but getting them to me doubles the cost. I just can't make myself pay ~US$70 for 'em.

mnem

Well, the same seller has other ads for them with different lot sizes from 4 to 100.
Hey, if you go for 4, then the shipping far surpasses doubling the cost. 

-- Misery loves company