Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tautech]

GreyWoolfe a suggestion if I may.
Edit post and get items in a vertical list so further edits can easily add Sold or whatever.

Later if you need to bump it just Quote the post to bring it to latest post#.

[med6753]

I really don't understand why people don't clean their stuff a little before trying to sell them.

You'd think so wouldn't you? The thing is, I suspect, that some people have what many of us might regard as low standards of cleanliness and think that the rest of the world don't care too. To whit, one member on here posted this photo at the top of a thread he started:



That, to my mind, is gross. Moreover, even if I was prepared to use it in that condition (I wouldn't be) I'd clean it before showing the world what I was like by posting a photo of it. Not to mention who the hell would probe high voltage with that much muck making a tracking path straight from the tip to their fingers?

I don't mind tools of any kind looking like they are put to use, that they've seen some action, but I also think that if you can't take care of your tools what goddam mess are you going to make of anything you work on with them?

Yuck, if that meter was mine and on my bench looking like that I'd hang my head in shame, but you're right, I see many meters in similar state, and it only takes a few minutes to keep them nice clean.

I called him out on the sorry state of that Fluke and his response was rather lame.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/valve-amps-are-dangerous/msg3750853/#msg3750853

[med6753]

Not sure if I'll be on Discord later today.

Ya missed catching up with BD.
He doing good it seems, just busy.

Good to know Chris is doing OK. Miss him. Hopefully he can get back on soon.

I was real busy. Took Lady Cop to grocery warehouse so she could stock up on provisions. Then I was the big hero and fixed a recurring problem with her Amazon Kindle Tablet. And I was rewarded with a nice home cooked meal of secret recipe baked chicken, delicious and diet busting mac and cheese, and fresh string beans with sliced mushrooms.       

[med6753]

My Fluke meters looked as dirty as that one above after just one job on-site when I was an electrician.
Ain't nobody got time to spit polish a work tool 5 times a day, just like no-one details their car after every drive.
Clients aren't gonna pay me to sit there and wash and wax my test gear...

I cleaned my gear at the end of the week, but workshops be dusty and sites be dirty so mucky meters are inevitable.

I can understand that. But the Fluke mentioned above is far beyond one day / one dirty job site filthy. 

[vk6zgo]

My Fluke meters looked as dirty as that one above after just one job on-site when I was an electrician.
Ain't nobody got time to spit polish a work tool 5 times a day, just like no-one details their car after every drive.
Clients aren't gonna pay me to sit there and wash and wax my test gear...

I cleaned my gear at the end of the week, but workshops be dusty and sites be dirty so mucky meters are inevitable.

I can understand that. But the Fluke mentioned above is far beyond one day / one dirty job site filthy. 

Meh! It's a working DMM, not the "Holy Grail!"

[med6753]

Some 8060A porn. I don't think this DMM has been opened since the day it left the factory. Definitely will be doing a re-cap.

[med6753]

My Fluke meters looked as dirty as that one above after just one job on-site when I was an electrician.
Ain't nobody got time to spit polish a work tool 5 times a day, just like no-one details their car after every drive.
Clients aren't gonna pay me to sit there and wash and wax my test gear...

I cleaned my gear at the end of the week, but workshops be dusty and sites be dirty so mucky meters are inevitable.

I can understand that. But the Fluke mentioned above is far beyond one day / one dirty job site filthy. 

Meh! It's a working DMM, not the "Holy Grail!"

And a device designed to keep dangerous voltages and careless operators from killing themselves. I think it deserves a little more respect and care than to let it get to that state of filth. But that's just me.

[vk6zgo]

My Fluke meters looked as dirty as that one above after just one job on-site when I was an electrician.
Ain't nobody got time to spit polish a work tool 5 times a day, just like no-one details their car after every drive.
Clients aren't gonna pay me to sit there and wash and wax my test gear...

I cleaned my gear at the end of the week, but workshops be dusty and sites be dirty so mucky meters are inevitable.

I can understand that. But the Fluke mentioned above is far beyond one day / one dirty job site filthy. 

Meh! It's a working DMM, not the "Holy Grail!"

And a device designed to keep dangerous voltages and careless operators from killing themselves. I think it deserves a little more respect and care than to let it get to that state of filth. But that's just me.

Dirt on the outside is both not very conductive, & not exposed to the dangerous voltages---broken bits are more of a hazard.
Careless use of cleaning materials could also cause problems if they reached the inside.

I know nobody here is careless with such materials!

[TERRA Operative]

My Fluke meters looked as dirty as that one above after just one job on-site when I was an electrician.
Ain't nobody got time to spit polish a work tool 5 times a day, just like no-one details their car after every drive.
Clients aren't gonna pay me to sit there and wash and wax my test gear...

I cleaned my gear at the end of the week, but workshops be dusty and sites be dirty so mucky meters are inevitable.

I can understand that. But the Fluke mentioned above is far beyond one day / one dirty job site filthy. 

Depends on the jobsite. I've had my meter almost black after one job, other times it's pristine clean for a week.

But yeah, the meter could do with a chance encounter with an alcohol swab.

[VK5RC]

A bit of time-pulse nuttery (the beginning) 😁

[tautech]

A bit of time-pulse nuttery (the beginning) 😁

LOL, mine arrived a couple of weeks ago and good to see yours is sub 30ps too. 

[VK5RC]

A bit of time-pulse nuttery (the beginning) 😁

LOL, mine arrived a couple of weeks ago and good to see yours is sub 30ps too. 

👍, now I realise that I have nothing within 3 orders of magnitude to display the results 😂

[tautech]

A bit of time-pulse nuttery (the beginning) 😁

LOL, mine arrived a couple of weeks ago and good to see yours is sub 30ps too. 

👍, now I realise that I have nothing within 3 orders of magnitude to display the results 😂

Yep although only 1 order of mag for me until a 2GHz scope arrives next year.
See screenshot:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg3759266/#msg3759266

[beanflying]

Makes my HP 1105A pulse generator still fairly handy then at 60pS


EDIT Bonus enabling  Just happens to be one available eBay auction: #304067651261

[mnementh]

Ugggghhh... fucking Roomba woke me up at 3am bumbling aboot the kitchen and banging into cupboard doors.  Had to have been going for over a hour, as it ran dead aboot 2 feet from the charger dock after I told it to piss off to bed.   

No idea where it got this cleaning event in its pee-weenie little brain from; I nuked its memory several times when I was working on it. 

mnem
and of course, now I can't get back to sleep.

[Vince]

Makes my HP 1105A pulse generator still fairly handy then at 60pS

Uh sorry I beg to differ. 60pS is extremely shite ! 

That's 16+ Gohms, I wonder how it can drive anything with that kind of output impedance !

I hope at least it's got startling fast rise time to make up for such a deficiency ! 

I thought units actually meant something to engineers ?! 

 

[AVGresponding]

My Fluke meters looked as dirty as that one above after just one job on-site when I was an electrician.
Ain't nobody got time to spit polish a work tool 5 times a day, just like no-one details their car after every drive.
Clients aren't gonna pay me to sit there and wash and wax my test gear...

I cleaned my gear at the end of the week, but workshops be dusty and sites be dirty so mucky meters are inevitable.

I can understand that. But the Fluke mentioned above is far beyond one day / one dirty job site filthy. 

Not sure why you think his response is "lame", he clearly explains it to my mind:

"The Fluke is used all day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks per year, and is about 6 or 7 years old.
I get grubby amps and PA speakers and the like in every day, so yes, it does become grubby too.

If I thought it would improve its performance by constantly cleaning it, I might consider doing that.  As it is, it has a job to do and it does it very well."

My personal choice would be to glove up to avoid the muck, but even doing that if you handle the meter with the gloves still on you're getting it mucky.

[beanflying]

Makes my HP 1105A pulse generator still fairly handy then at 60pS

Uh sorry I beg to differ. 60pS is extremely shite ! 

That's 16+ Gohms, I wonder how it can drive anything with that kind of output impedance !

I hope at least it's got startling fast rise time to make up for such a deficiency ! 

I thought units actually meant something to engineers ?! 

 

I was in metal mode not capitalization checking mode  so 

[Vince]

Nah you have just been the unfortunate victim of my dismay : a few years ago when I started collecting/fixing old gear and looking at service manuals and datasheets and stuff, it didn't take long before I read pS instead ps somewhere. It shocked me at first, especially coming from official documents from leading TE brands... then I realized many brands did that, for a reason that still escapes me. Don't units mean anything even for engineering companies ?! 
How hard can it be to use the proper unit, seconds instead of Siemens ? If anything it's more work on the keyboard to type pS rather than ps. So I don't get it.

I can sorta understand it when you want to DISPLAY "ps" on a 7segment display, because well you have technical limitations of course, so a capital S is better than nothing at all... but when printing it on paper, I don't understand....

Even more hard to understand is that a given manufacturer is not consistent and will sometimes write ps and sometimes pS. It just blows my mind. Why don't they do that with just about any and every other unit in all their TE for all of their documents ? Either you respect units or you don't, but special casing this poor unit of time is.. .well it still boggles my mind.

Maybe the grey bears on here will have some insight...


EDIT : maybe in the '50s and '60s the spelling was not standardized just yet ? Maybe the Siemens was not really being used back then and therefore nobody would feel there was any ambiguity and people would just write 's' or 'S' depending on the mood and nobody would even see anything wrong or odd about it ?! I don't know...

[capt bullshot]

EDIT : maybe in the '50s and '60s the spelling was not standardized just yet ? Maybe the Siemens was not really being used back then and therefore nobody would feel there was any ambiguity and people would just write 's' or 'S' depending on the mood and nobody would even see anything wrong or odd about it ?! I don't know...

Siemens is an European thing. Across the pond they've used Mho (Ohm reversed) as the unit for conductivity.

[Vince]

Good point !

The Americans soon used the Siemens though, seeing as the old Fluke 8060/8020 DMM measure conductance and labelled it 'S' .

[capt bullshot]

Yes, it's on the Fluke 8010A, too. Reading 2mS, 20µS, 200nS always makes me think "how does this thing measure time, and why doesn't it show frequency (Hz) then?". After a second or so I realize it's Siemens.

[tggzzz]

Makes my HP 1105A pulse generator still fairly handy then at 60pS

Uh sorry I beg to differ. 60pS is extremely shite ! 

That's 16+ Gohms, I wonder how it can drive anything with that kind of output impedance !

I hope at least it's got startling fast rise time to make up for such a deficiency ! 

I thought units actually meant something to engineers ?! 

 

+10 That's a pet peeve of mine too.

[beanflying]

Some of this is also the time countries adopted the SI system so it is going to vary.

I remember the SI system being specifically taught in late secondary school in Oz (so early 80's) and our metrication (likely ties into this) and unit changes happened over an extended period of time from the mid/late 60's so while I am not sure we were still likely using MKS until about that time or a mix. So even now we still talk and use a mix of units depending on industry and are far from fully metricated, the next generation will see that likely phased out totally with us old buggers leaving the workforce.

[Neomys Sapiens]

For AC/DC clamp meter bargains it's hard to beat the HEME 1000 in the UK.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294024178306
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154671558437

There is also a 100A version, HEME 100.
They have peak or reading hold, Two analog outputs (on mini XLR) one is the actual waveform the other DC representation of RMS. Also automatic AC/DC selection. AC is true RMS. The only real downside is they are a bit chunky. It also has a built in puzzle, where does the battery go? Don't take all the screws out (some should be sealed). The 9V battery is under the clamp opening lever. Just take out the pivot screw. Don't buy the explosion proof version, it has a potted 9V rechargable and no analog output.
These were expensive when new, £330 in 1990. A lot on ebay are ex military.
Edit I have 3 1000s and a 100 

ITT Mx1200S over here. It is of the same size, but has somewhat different functions. Output is only active for current measurements and switchable between waveform and DC RMS value. The analogue output is accessible by 2mm connectors which lie coaxially behind the voltage input connectors, so you need very special plugs for them (shown on the third picture). I also have the 3-phase adaptor for it, which plugs into the voltage input jacks for 3-phase power measurements.  It does also peak current and cosPhi. Was sold also by Siemens and HCK, at least.