Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[cyclin_al]

...it takes 1.5kWh per half turn, the same as to boil 8 cups of water!

That sounded wrong given that my 3kW kettle boils ~1.5 litres in under 3 minutes, so 1 ran the numbers. 1 cup = 220ml = 220gm, x8 -> 1.76 kg. Specific heat capacity of water 4.2 kJ/kgK, heating from 20ºC->100ºC -> ~590 kJ -> 0.165 kWh. Some one's off by a factor of 10.

Obviously, that means the ambient temperature is not 20 deg C!

I can only conclude that you do not work at the Tourism Commission for the UK.
Thanks for the warning, I will pack something much warmer than a winter parka and toque.
 

[mansaxel]

Obviously, that means the ambient temperature is not 20 deg C!

Or the water is colder. Tap water here is around 10° C when you've let it run for some time.

[Robert763]

Saskia, so sorry to hear of the travails of you and hubby.  My prayers are with both of you.  I have had more than my fair share of challenges the last couple of years but nothing compared to you both.

Here is a Covid PSA for US members.  If you are considering getting the shot and are married with appropriate life insurance policies, please don't get the shot until you talk to said insurance agencies.  At the private practice that Mrs. GreyWoolfe works, they have had 2 patients that have died of Covid after getting the Covid shot and the insurance companies in both cases refuse to pay out as it is not FDA approved and is listed as experimental.  That is one of the major reasons we both refuse to get the shot.  If Covid claims either one of us, we know the insurance company will pay out.

Please keep the anti vaccine  off here at least.
1/ If they had the vaccine it's highly unlikely they would die. Two in one practice highly unlikely unless it is a very big private practice.
2/ lots of reptutable sources say it's not true. e.g. https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-life-insurance-vaccine-idUSL2N2NJ2FP
3/ Checked my insurance Co and they say not affected even if you took part in a pre-approval trial.
4/ Insurance companies have been saved millions by the vaccine. In future not having the vaccine may increase premiums. One company in SA is doing this already https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-refusal-could-drive-up-your-life-insurance-premium-in-south-africa-11627658482
5/ How do you know insurance was not paid? In UK/EU that would be personal information and it would be illegal to reveal to others.
6/ last and not least IF YOU HAVE THE VACCINE YOU ARE HIGHLY UNLIKELY TO NEED TO CLAIM because of a covid death. Even if you did get Covid 19 the effects are likely to be much less and your medical bills co-pay etc much lower as a result. Would Mrs Greywollf really say " I'm so glad he didn't get the shot so there was no risk of life insurance not paying out. Shame he died and the medical bills were so high though"
I know you said to check, but people don't read that detail.

[Andrew_Debbie]

Did you take the heatshrink off Q3/Q5? according to the drawing they should be in a sleeve an in contact with that white ceramic washer (which is BeO so don't break it). If they are not in good therml contact you may have issues.

The heat shrink was already off and nowhere to be found. No idea why. I've got a 5100 manual on the way from America.  Will be interesting to see if there is a difference on Detail "B"


The isolator output is a reasonable value.  It may be drifting a little but it is close enough that it shouldn't stop the meter from displaying value.


I will reattach Q3/Q5 before sending the meter off for adjustment.   That assuming I can find someone who will adjust a Dana 5100.

5100AF Isolator schematic attached.  The 5100 is close but not identical. 

[tggzzz]

Hermes just delivered what must be the Acterna Cell Site tester / Spectrum analyser.
Need to walk the dog before playing though.

"Walking the dog" sounds euphemistic. What were you really doing? 

My phone corrects that to wanking the dog 

Not sure whether I should be more concerned if the phone's auto-corrupt system does or doesn't tailor suggestions based on past history.

[tggzzz]

It is not a good sign if you have to choose the place you want to live at with vicinity to emergency services as the main criteria ...

I grew up next to a big hospital, nipping over the fence to walk through the grounds to the bus stop on the way to school. It was useful once, when my mother swallowed a wasp: she simply walked to A&E.

Best wishes and good luck.

My daughter picked up the standard package of "end of life medicine" for my mother on Saturday; it hasn't been used, yet.

[Andrew_Debbie]

Please keep the anti vaccine  off here at least.
1/ If they had the vaccine it's highly unlikely they would die. Two in one practice highly unlikely unless it is a very big private practice.
2/ lots of reptutable sources say it's not true. e.g. https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-life-insurance-vaccine-idUSL2N2NJ2FP

The UK keeps track of all adverse reactions through the 'yellow card' system.    After 86 million doses there have been  73 deaths from blood clots - all with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which is not used in the USA.





129,072 people in the UK have died from Covid.  You are far far more likely to die from Covid than the Vaccine.  Doubly so in the US where the Oxford-AZ vaccine is not in use. 


https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting

[Specmaster]

Hermes just delivered what must be the Acterna Cell Site tester / Spectrum analyser.
Need to walk the dog before playing though.

"Walking the dog" sounds euphemistic. What were you really doing? 

My phone corrects that to wanking the dog 

Not sure whether I should be more concerned if the phone's auto-corrupt system does or doesn't tailor suggestions based on past history.

Haha, you know I was thinking the same thing but was struggling to find the right way to say it, you nailed it though 

[Specmaster]

It is not a good sign if you have to choose the place you want to live at with vicinity to emergency services as the main criteria ...

I grew up next to a big hospital, nipping over the fence to walk through the grounds to the bus stop on the way to school. It was useful once, when my mother swallowed a wasp: she simply walked to A&E.

Best wishes and good luck.

My daughter picked up the standard package of "end of life medicine" for my mother on Saturday; it hasn't been used, yet.

[tggzzz]

It is not a good sign if you have to choose the place you want to live at with vicinity to emergency services as the main criteria ...

I grew up next to a big hospital, nipping over the fence to walk through the grounds to the bus stop on the way to school. It was useful once, when my mother swallowed a wasp: she simply walked to A&E.

Best wishes and good luck.

My daughter picked up the standard package of "end of life medicine" for my mother on Saturday; it hasn't been used, yet.

I'm not entirely clear on all the contents, since they are at the nursing home. However there is morphine sulphate and something to make breathing/swallowing easier. The kind of thing that makes people comfortable without having to be in hospital, which is what my mother wants.

[bd139]

My aunt got given that 10 years ago. She's still alive 

As for living close to hospitals it's a good idea. I'm on the same road as the local A&E and the ambulance station is round the corner. When I fell over and broke my ankle on this road about 15 years ago, it took the ambulance 90 seconds to arrive (!).

[bd139]

Quick E3630A teardown. Went looking to see which variety of RIFA it has in it.

Overhead view



Looking towards front panel board. All analogue apart from the TC14433 ADCs.



Made of very nice quality bits. Bourns, Dale etc...



To be evicted!



My only complaint with these supplies is their tendency to try and both electrocute you and blow you up during calibration firstly with the switch with live terminals right near the meter pots and secondly with the RIFA right under them too. Nothing a bit of electrical tape and evisceration can't fix though.

[Specmaster]

It is not a good sign if you have to choose the place you want to live at with vicinity to emergency services as the main criteria ...

I grew up next to a big hospital, nipping over the fence to walk through the grounds to the bus stop on the way to school. It was useful once, when my mother swallowed a wasp: she simply walked to A&E.

Best wishes and good luck.

My daughter picked up the standard package of "end of life medicine" for my mother on Saturday; it hasn't been used, yet.

I'm not entirely clear on all the contents, since they are at the nursing home. However there is morphine sulphate and something to make breathing/swallowing easier. The kind of thing that makes people comfortable without having to be in hospital, which is what my mother wants.

My thoughts are with you, I know that although my Mother had been very ill for a number of years, and in and out of hospital on a number of occasions, it still came as a hard thing to accept when during my daily visits to her in hospital, I was called in to see the consultant, and he uttered those words that really choked me up, that he was sending her back home into the hands of her carers for her end of life, it chilled me to the very core of my body. Once she was at home, the end came very quickly indeed. She got her last wish   

[Specmaster]

Quick E3630A teardown. Went looking to see which variety of RIFA it has in it.

Overhead view



Looking towards front panel board. All analogue apart from the TC14433 ADCs.



Made of very nice quality bits. Bourns, Dale etc...



To be evicted!



My only complaint with these supplies is their tendency to try and both electrocute you and blow you up during calibration firstly with the switch with live terminals right near the meter pots and secondly with the RIFA right under them too. Nothing a bit of electrical tape and evisceration can't fix though.

That really is a thing of beauty inside, everything all neatly lined up like solders on parade, nice snatch that one.

[bd139]

My thoughts are with you, I know that although my Mother had been very ill for a number of years, and in and out of hospital on a number of occasions, it still came as a hard thing to accept when during my daily visits to her in hospital, I was called in to see the consultant, and he uttered those words that really choked me up, that he was sending her back home into the hands of her carers for her end of life, it chilled me to the very core of my body. Once she was at home, the end came very quickly indeed. She got her last wish   

Mine went out how she wanted to. She was drinking a G&T and chilling in the arm chair with a book. Went to sleep and didn't wake up.

Book in question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian

[Specmaster]

Woot, I just checked on Yodel tracking site and was greeted with this news, shame its shopping day today so might not get a lot of time to investigate much today 

[Specmaster]

My thoughts are with you, I know that although my Mother had been very ill for a number of years, and in and out of hospital on a number of occasions, it still came as a hard thing to accept when during my daily visits to her in hospital, I was called in to see the consultant, and he uttered those words that really choked me up, that he was sending her back home into the hands of her carers for her end of life, it chilled me to the very core of my body. Once she was at home, the end came very quickly indeed. She got her last wish   

Mine went out how she wanted to. She was drinking a G&T and chilling in the arm chair with a book. Went to sleep and didn't wake up.

Book in question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian

That was a strange choice of book to read, have you read it?

[bd139]

Not yet. One day. Pretty gruesome apparently!

[Specmaster]

Not yet. One day. Pretty gruesome apparently!

It is I looked it up....

[med6753]

And so, last night checking out the Time Base B no trigger and was adjusting the B Trigger Sensitivity pot and I could get it lock for a second or two and then would free run again. All of sudden I smelled something burning and looked down and see the 6080 regulator tube for the +100V red plating. Quickly shut it down. And the cathode resistors for the regulator tube burned up. AGAIN.    This puts me right back at square one with this 547.  I was too pissed last night to work on it further and even after sleeping on it my attitude right now is the same. I'm going to button it up and put back in the corner of bench 2 until next week sometime. I've got too many other things to do here today and tomorrow plus Lady Cop is coming up this weekend. A boy do I need some female companionship right now. 

Good thing I don't drink. Maybe I should.     

[Andrew_Debbie]

Quick E3630A teardown.

Made of very nice quality bits. Bourns, Dale etc...

can't stop drooling 

[Cerebus]

what had happened ?
In the morning Hubby went to a cardiologist to take a stress ECG which was cancelled due to his physical condition. He needs to have a stress ECG to get his stomach surgery to fix internal bleeding, and he needs to be off blood thinners to go ahead with the surgery ... It's only been a year since his 3rd heart attack, so he is still on blood thinners, and surgery is a problem. As is covid vaccination btw ...

Anyway, the stress ECG was cancelled, a blood sample was drawn and forwarded to the lab. He did a normal ECG and was sent home.
at about 3:45 pm the cardiologist called to tell him that they found troponin in the blood sample which is an indicator of heart muscle tissue death, which in turn is an indicator of an ongoing heart attack and that he called the rescue services, Hubby should grab his stuff as the Chest Pain Unit in the next larger hospital was already informed.

Which he did. I informed by boss about a family emergency and told him that I was off for the rest of the day, the ambulance came by, as did the emergency physician and they lugged him into the Mayence university hospital CPU. (which does not allow relatives due to Covid ...)
There they continuously monitored Troponin levels plus the other markers and did their ECG. Fortunately they could not confirm the initial diagnosis, found problems with his potassium levels (which would explain his blood pressure problems) and told him that he really needed to get his stomach and esophagus fixed.

He is back home, and it seems that the decision to move to a place about 10 km away from the next large hospital complex was foresighted and prudent ...

It is not a good sign if you have to choose the place you want to live at with vicinity to emergency services as the main criteria ...

 

That's interesting. So Hubby was off for a stress ECG? Has he been exercising in anticipation of this? The reason I ask is that Troponin is a cardiac specific marker for cardiac muscle damage, not necessarily cardiac muscle cell death and you can find raised levels in people who've been getting cardiovascular exercise that is vigorous enough to promote cardiac muscle remodelling*. So its possible to get a false positive suggesting heart damage when in fact it's in the process of getting stronger.

I'm not suggesting that this is what has happened here but it's worth being aware of and drawing the medic's attention to the possibility if Hubby has a "type A" personality and has been doing the physical equivalent of swotting up before an exam.

They used to use a less specific test for Creatine Phosphokinase for the same purpose and you can find elevated CPK levels from skeletal muscle as well as from cardiac muscle. That's lead to some panics where athletes have been having routine tests and someone just saw the test numbers and didn't take all the circumstances into account. It happened to me in my fifties when I'd been hospitalised because of an asthma attack. They'd run a large panel of blood tests, more than were necessary because of why I was there (I suspect they do that in patients "of a certain age" in case they can catch something before it becomes a problem while they've got ahold of you), and found raised CPK levels. Lucky I was clued up enough to divert them from unnecessarily referring me to cardiology on top of having thoracic consultants buzz around me. They tend just to see the patient in front of them who is currently as weak as a kitten  and forget that the same patient the day before may have been perfectly capable of indulging in exercise tough enough to floor a thirty year old (in my case some heavyweight interval training on the bike) before an allergic response dumped them in a hospital bed.

* 
Rifai N, Douglas PS, O'Toole M, Rimm E, Ginsburg GS (April 1999). "Cardiac troponin T and I, echocardiographic [correction of electrocardiographic] wall motion analyses, and ejection fractions in athletes participating in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon". Am. J. Cardiol. 83 (7): 1085–9. doi:10.1016/S0002-9149(99)00020-X. PMID 10190525.

Neumayr G, Gaenzer H, Pfister R, et al. (February 2001). "Plasma levels of cardiac troponin I after prolonged strenuous endurance exercise". Am. J. Cardiol. 87 (3): 369–71, A10. doi:10.1016/S0002-9149(00)01382-5. PMID 11165984.

Urhausen A, Scharhag J, Herrmann M, Kindermann W (September 2004). "Clinical significance of increased cardiac troponins T and I in participants of ultra-endurance events". Am. J. Cardiol. 94 (5): 696–8. doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2004.05.050. PMID 15342317.

[Cerebus]

...it takes 1.5kWh per half turn, the same as to boil 8 cups of water!

That sounded wrong given that my 3kW kettle boils ~1.5 litres in under 3 minutes, so 1 ran the numbers. 1 cup = 220ml = 220gm, x8 -> 1.76 kg. Specific heat capacity of water 4.2 kJ/kgK, heating from 20ºC->100ºC -> ~590 kJ -> 0.165 kWh. Some one's off by a factor of 10.

Obviously, that means the ambient temperature is not 20 deg C!

I can only conclude that you do not work at the Tourism Commission for the UK.
Thanks for the warning, I will pack something much warmer than a winter parka and toque.
 

You'll need something more than a winter parka and toque, you'll need something to cope with exotic matter.

1.5 kWh = 5.4 MJ, 1.76kg of water has a heat capacity of 1.76kg x 4200 J/kgK -> 7392 J/K. Heat of fusion of 1.76kg water is 587,840 J so that leaves us 4.81 MJ. 4.8 MJ / 7392 J -> \$ \Delta t \$ of 651 K.

Boiling point of water is 373 K so with that \$ \Delta t \$ we end up at -278ºK, which leaves us in a different universe where negative thermodynamic temperatures are possible.

[Kosmic]

Anyone looking for a logic analyzer ?

Found a nice one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/183117275761



Look like it was part of a crime scene, but hey, it's cheap!

[Andrew_Debbie]

Did you take the heatshrink off Q3/Q5? according to the drawing they should be in a sleeve an in contact with that white ceramic washer (which is BeO so don't break it). If they are not in good therml contact you may have issues.

I pulled all the cards and took photos  so I could do a visual inspection.     Looks to me like Q3/Q5 were glued together!    I've never seen silicon grease harden like this but I don't often see 40 year old heat sink compound.