Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[factory]

I have to say I didn't check the caps on that board, only three two to check. The IC has been removed, I might try it in the HP logic comparator thingy tomorrow.

David

[dl6lr]

Oh course it had to be something I haven't got any spares of, a 9312 IC (1820-0615), will have to wait to find one a sensible price.

Use a 74151 with some adapter? AFAIS this should be only a different pinout.

[factory]

Oh course it had to be something I haven't got any spares of, a 9312 IC (1820-0615), will have to wait to find one a sensible price.

Use a 74151 with some adapter? AFAIS this should be only a different pinout.

Thanks, they are much easier to find*, Langrex have them at £1.95 for two, I've ordered them and some 74LS160 from another selller, as they might be needed for one of the other faulty boards.

*Littlediode claim to have 9312DC at £4.99 + p&p, but I just don't believe them reading their bad feedback, too many complaints about items they advertise but don't deliver, really don't want to waste my time with this kind of seller.

David

[Cerebus]

*Littlediode claim to have 9312DC at £4.99 + p&p, but I just don't believe them reading their bad feedback, too many complaints about items they advertise but don't deliver, really don't want to waste my time with this kind of seller.

David

Many years ago there used to be a highly reputable distributor called Little Diode, at least as far back as the 80s. The Littlediode that trades on eBay was incorporated in 2006. I don't know whether that's mere coincidence or a cynical attempt to trade on the good name of a company that's long gone, but I do find my natural cynicism somewhat provoked.

[0culus]

Naturally my journey to acquire my VNA couldn't go without also getting something Tektronix. Brand new, never used 178 linear IC test fixture for my 577D1 curve tracer. Manuals and original packaging too (not pictured).

[xrunner]

Made some progress on the Boonton replacement button design. All the exterior dimensions are correct at this time.

Nothing done about the inside yet which is going to have to fit tight but not too tight on the button shaft. The inside design may or may not not be the same way the original is. Really makes no difference as long as it fits well, doesn't pop off, but can be pulled off if needed.

 

[Zucca]

Planning my EU 220VAC (60Hz ops....  ) distribution in my new US home.

This is the mains US panel (Mex-english  )



The last two on the left side will be my EU mains starts.
In the image are both 20A but I will switch one of them in with a 35A.

so:

35A --> - for garage (a lot of Festool jazz under a GW94207 C16 plus vacuum cleaner 1200W and other power tool)
             - Pantry EU kitchen devices (Ninja 1500W, meat slicer 220W and other little things)
             - general 220V EE lab plugs (not the bench!)

20A -->  220VAC ONLY for my lab bench!
             - 2,5mm2 cables
             - connector blue 3P CEE socket plus plug.
             - a dedicated Hager FI/LS-Schalter ADS916D B16 dedicated for my bench for now (maybe B20 in the future  )
             - CT 15959 2P realis for emergency/panic button

I like the idea to keep the bench separated on a isolated branch.

I will use Hager VE112PN in the garage and the little baby VE103PN  for the bench.
Three Hager FI/LS-Schalter ADS916D B16 and one GW94207 C16, tons of WAGO klemme, some nice Hager Brüstungskanal (with ETH cables in it  )

Some random pics about the equipment now...











PS: it will be a YT video!

[Zucca]

and stupid me I was thinking I (will) have a decent lab in my home

electronics starts at 33min



there is always a bigger fish....

PS: already posted in the show your bench thread.

[cyclin_al]

Planning my EU 220VAC (60Hz ops....  ) distribution in my new US home.

This is the mains US panel (Mex-english  )



The last two on the left side will be my EU mains starts.
In the image are both 20A but I will switch one of them in with a 35A.

so:

35A --> - for garage (a lot of Festool jazz under a GW94207 C16 plus vacuum cleaner 1200W and other power tool)
             - Pantry EU kitchen devices (Ninja 1500W, meat slicer 220W and other little things)
             - general 220V EE lab plugs (not the bench!)

20A -->  220VAC ONLY for my lab bench!
             - 2,5mm2 cables
             - connector blue 3P CEE socket plus plug.
             - a dedicated Hager FI/LS-Schalter ADS916D B16 dedicated for my bench for now (maybe B20 in the future  )
             - CT 15959 2P realis for emergency/panic button

I like the idea to keep the bench separated on a isolated branch.

I will use Hager VE112PN in the garage and the little baby VE103PN  for the bench.
Three Hager FI/LS-Schalter ADS916D B16 and one GW94207 C16, tons of WAGO klemme, some nice Hager Brüstungskanal (with ETH cables in it  )

Some random pics about the equipment now...

[pics snipped]

PS: it will be a YT video!

I have pretty much the same panel in my house, using the Siemens Q series and the pre-Siemens (ie. I.T.E.) BR series breakers.

My garage has a 60A feed with sub-panel in the garage, but that accommodates an air compressor, heater (garage is a separate building), extra refridgerators and freezers (harvest from the garden) and woodworking tools.  By north american norms, 35A seems small.

I suggest you run a 3 conductor cable (L1, L2, N) for both of your circuits (the bare ground is not counted).  You can get greater flexibility of having both 120 V ( L1-N or share the load with L2-N) and 240V (L1-L2) available.

For the following, I realize that my needs are quite different from yours.

For my (hopefully soon) future lab, I am thinking of running a 120 V circuit from a 15A DFCI (dual arc and 5mA ground fault protection) breaker for any DUT.
Along with that would be a 240V circuit from a 15A EFCI (equipment protection: arc fault but only 10mA ground fault) for lots of lab equipment (15A L1-N plus 15A L2-N = 30A total at 120V), and the possibility of having 240V available for future use. 

Note, that a 240V DFCI breaker is not available, otherwise I would have chosen that.

Note2, in the current supply chain circumstances, a DFCI is much cheaper than a GFCI (5mA ground fault protection)... at least locally in the GWN.

From all that, you can choose what suits you best!

EDIT:  forgot to mention it.  A bunch of your breakers are labelled GFI (GFCI in the GWN), but those are just regular breakers.  A GFCI breaker would have a white coloured test button.  I assume that it means there are GFCI protected receptacles on the circuit.  With a new-to-you place, it might be worth checking whether or not that is the case.

[cyclin_al]

Not much accomplished today.

To start, does anyone have a recommendation for a decent RG45 crimper and punchdown tool?  I know I had a cheapie set.  Maybe more, since I did find two cutting/stripper tools for Ethernet/phone cable.
The budget says no to professional grade in this case, but I do need something that is not going to cause grief later.  Of course, I discover that I have no tool when I needed it yesterday 

My bit of success is more in the dwagon tinkering category.  This is a photo of the internals of a space heater.  It is getting used in my future lab space until I can install a proper baseboard heater, as well as unfreezing (thawing would be correct, but mis-use of the language makes an exclamation point when it is COLD outside) the spa mentioned in an earlier post.  In the photo, it is possible to see that the end bell is wearing into the rotor, causing enough friction to stop the fan from rotating.  The copper bushing in the end bell has worn down too far, allowing the contact.  It is only on this one side, due to the direction that the fan is pushing the air.  The solution was to ream out a steel #6 washer to fit on the rotor.  A #8 washer would be too sloppy a fit.  I did lubricate it with a slight bit of bicycle grease.  The question is how long it will be until something else wears down...  It works for now!
[ Specified attachment is not available ]

[mansaxel]

Not much accomplished today.

To start, does anyone have a recommendation for a decent RG45 crimper and punchdown tool?  I know I had a cheapie set.  Maybe more, since I did find two cutting/stripper tools for Ethernet/phone cable.
The budget says no to professional grade in this case, but I do need something that is not going to cause grief later.  Of course, I discover that I have no tool when I needed it yesterday 

Punchdown recommendation in my case is Krone original. But that is subject to fit with your punchdown fields; I know that it won't do a good job with say 110-style terminals.

I have two RJ crimpers, one being a more or less me-too tool; like the EZ-Rjpro (but not that one, by far), one being a slightly different, where the body of "your typical European" crimper has been mated with a front-fed RJ45 (and 8p8c only, at that!) crimping head. I quite like it, as long as I can live with the limitations. I've got a few places where I have more than legacy needs for other than 8-pin connections; the 2m/70cm radio in my car has a RJ12 extension cable, for instance, so another more versatile crimper is required too.

My bit of success is more in the dwagon tinkering category.  This is a photo of the internals of a space heater.  It is getting used in my future lab space until I can install a proper baseboard heater, as well as unfreezing (thawing would be correct, but mis-use of the language makes an exclamation point when it is COLD outside) the spa mentioned in an earlier post.  In the photo, it is possible to see that the end bell is wearing into the rotor, causing enough friction to stop the fan from rotating.  The copper bushing in the end bell has worn down too far, allowing the contact.  It is only on this one side, due to the direction that the fan is pushing the air.  The solution was to ream out a steel #6 washer to fit on the rotor.  A #8 washer would be too sloppy a fit.  I did lubricate it with a slight bit of bicycle grease.  The question is how long it will be until something else wears down...  It works for now!
(Attachment Link)

Cool. You knowing the limitations of the device will make next repair more of a walk in the park. That's an important part of the repair process; the familiarisation with the device. It is no longer alien. You might still dislike it, and its qualities certainly need not have improved, but you know them.

[Vince]

and stupid me I was thinking I (will) have a decent lab in my home

electronics starts at 33min

A guy with taste for sure, I see his scope is a Tek 2232 

[med6753]

Let's start this New Year's Eve with some good music. 

[Vince]

Need help from the UK gang...

Can'"t find any Belling-Lee to BNC adpater in France, unbelievable.

So thanks to the people who posted 2 links for this thing from UK vendors.

There was BARENCO :

https://www.barenco.co.uk/products/rf-adaptors/belling-lee-adaptor

2.50 quid a pop and won't ship to France. When I fill in the order form and select France, it says there is no shipping available for me, and won't proceed any further 

Other link was RS UK, at only 70 cents a pop, 4 times cheaper :

https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/psg01745/adapto-bnc-s-to-tv-coax-p/dp/AV15293

Obviously RS UK doesn't sell to France, so checked RS France website, and they don't seem to have this adapter, that's my luck.

So if someone who has an account at RS UK could order me a few of these adapters, don't 3 know say 3 of them fior a couple quid, and add it to their next RS order ? Or if no order planned in the short term well that's fine would pay the local shipping fees, can't be that expensive... think it's 6+ Euros in France. Then ship to me in France in an envelope at the cheapest / slowest rate available, whatever that is...


Thanks in advance for you assistance ! 

EDIT : I would pay via Paypal it's the most practical and fast...

[Vince]

Wow after searching pages and pages on French Farnell website I came across that :

https://fr.farnell.com/pro-signal/rw1-036/adaptor-bnc-male-to-tv-coax-plug/dp/3384446?st=bnc%20coaxial%20adapter

Adapter to a FEMELLE BNC, need male BNC of course  but I guess I can stack a BNC gender changer on top of it, worst case.

I am at page 8 out of 20+ of the search results, so still some hope that I will find the correct adapter with some perseverance....

[Specmaster]

Planning my EU 220VAC (60Hz ops....  ) distribution in my new US home.

This is the mains US panel (Mex-english  )



The last two on the left side will be my EU mains starts.
In the image are both 20A but I will switch one of them in with a 35A.

so:

35A --> - for garage (a lot of Festool jazz under a GW94207 C16 plus vacuum cleaner 1200W and other power tool)
             - Pantry EU kitchen devices (Ninja 1500W, meat slicer 220W and other little things)
             - general 220V EE lab plugs (not the bench!)

20A -->  220VAC ONLY for my lab bench!
             - 2,5mm2 cables
             - connector blue 3P CEE socket plus plug.
             - a dedicated Hager FI/LS-Schalter ADS916D B16 dedicated for my bench for now (maybe B20 in the future  )
             - CT 15959 2P realis for emergency/panic button

I like the idea to keep the bench separated on a isolated branch.

I will use Hager VE112PN in the garage and the little baby VE103PN  for the bench.
Three Hager FI/LS-Schalter ADS916D B16 and one GW94207 C16, tons of WAGO klemme, some nice Hager Brüstungskanal (with ETH cables in it  )

Some random pics about the equipment now...











PS: it will be a YT video!

Nice to see so much Hager gear in your kit, I worked for a few years back, at first I wasn't sure we were going to fit well together but in the end I really enjoyed my time working there, nice gear as well.

[capt bullshot]

Wow after searching pages and pages on French Farnell website I came across that :

https://fr.farnell.com/pro-signal/rw1-036/adaptor-bnc-male-to-tv-coax-plug/dp/3384446?st=bnc%20coaxial%20adapter

They aren't called Belling-Lee here. You'll find them under various names (as. IEC-Stecker, Koax-Stecker, Antennenstecker, ...), e.g. go to Reichelt.de and search for "IEC BNC"

[mansaxel]

Let's start this New Year's Eve with some good music. 

I've just discovered WDR 3 -- such a well-balanced very, confidently mature culture channel. Also, I'm a bit newly fond of "radio1 vom rbb", which is a fresh and surprising channel too.

The institutional weight of WDR 3 makes it all the more plausible that Heinrich Böll based his short story "Das gesammelte Schweigen Dr Murkes" on WDR and the radio house at Wallrafplatz. The "Pater Noster" lift also is a giveaway...

[Specmaster]

Wow after searching pages and pages on French Farnell website I came across that :

https://fr.farnell.com/pro-signal/rw1-036/adaptor-bnc-male-to-tv-coax-plug/dp/3384446?st=bnc%20coaxial%20adapter

Adapter to a FEMELLE BNC, need male BNC of course  but I guess I can stack a BNC gender changer on top of it, worst case.

I am at page 8 out of 20+ of the search results, so still some hope that I will find the correct adapter with some perseverance....

Vince. Maybe its me but you don't seem to be very coherent about your precise requirements here. Let's start from the beginning, have you replaced the original Belling-Lee socket on the generator? The original photo you showed was the female socket, is that still in place?

If it is, what is your intention here, to plug in an adaptor to go from that original to a BNC? so you couple up a BNC probe or lead? Or you looking to replace that original Coax (Belling-Lee) socket with a BNC socket?

[Vince]

Wow after searching pages and pages on French Farnell website I came across that :

https://fr.farnell.com/pro-signal/rw1-036/adaptor-bnc-male-to-tv-coax-plug/dp/3384446?st=bnc%20coaxial%20adapter

Adapter to a FEMELLE BNC, need male BNC of course  but I guess I can stack a BNC gender changer on top of it, worst case.

I am at page 8 out of 20+ of the search results, so still some hope that I will find the correct adapter with some perseverance....

Vince. Maybe its me but you don't seem to be very coherent about your precise requirements here.

I can assure you I am !    I have never changed my plan since day one, it's all the same intent all the way 

Let's start from the beginning, have you replaced the original Belling-Lee socket on the generator? The original photo you showed was the female socket, is that still in place?

Yup, original socket still in place, as I always intended to. It's you you heavily insisted on me replacing it, remember, not me ! 

If it is, what is your intention here, to plug in an adapter to go from that original to a BNC? so you couple up a BNC probe or lead?

Yes ! Been that all along, and numerous people have already replied helping with that with UK vendors, as my previous message implies 

Or you looking to replace that original Coax (Belling-Lee) socket with a BNC socket?

Nope again, it was you insisting on me doing that... my line has always been to do that only as a last resort, only if I could not find a BNC adapter.


But the search is over, perseverance PAYS !!! Well sometimes.

Searched the 20 pages worth of BNC adapters on Farnell France, found the MALE BNC adapter I just posted above, but not the female one sadly.
So... I took note of the name of the manufacturer for that male adapter, it's "PRO SIGNAL". Then searched the site for all the stuff PRO SIGNAL sells on Farnell. Lots of stuff, luckily you can select categories. Searched the RF adapter one, and only 79 results to go through this time, so was quick. I easily found the proper adapter, yeah !!! 
Same that RS UK sells.

https://fr.farnell.com/pro-signal/psg01745/adapto-bnc-s-to-tv-coax-p/dp/3383782

Well then I realized I could have found it in a split second had I picked the OEM part number from RS UK (PSG01745) and entered it into the search box on Farnell France web site. Oh well...
Point is, if you work at things, sometimes good will come out of it, so never despair ! 

Ordering right now....

Thanks to all who helped in this adapter saga, much appreciated !!! 

[Specmaster]

@Vince
You really do make this hard work don't you.
1/ I never insisted you change to a BNC so lets get that correct shall we, I suggested that was perhaps the best option based on experience.
2/ You need to learn the differance between advice and an instruction. Advice you can decide yourself whether you accept it or not. An instruction is something that you must do or else there are going to be consequences, i.e., if a policeman tells you to stop, then you must stop, or else.

Now what you are actually doing in a perverse way is exactly what I suggested, and considering your original problem was that the centre contact was crusty and also one half was not making any contact. This was mainly due to the fact that either the plug in lead had been pulled sideways thus bending that contact, or the plug in lead had been left plugged in and over time the weight of the cable had slowly been bending that contact.

Either way, the option that you appear to have chosen is going to greatly increase that risk of the same problem from occuring again in double quick time because are adding the effect of a lever, or a crowbar because it is multiplying that identical force on the centre pin many times over.

But hey, its your equipment and as it always was, your decision about the way to solve the problem, I wish you good luck with it.

[tonyalbus]

Hello, do some of the Tek boys have the Educationl resource CD with all kinds of nice tools, can't find in on tek.com or google.
or is it not any good?  and there is better software... it find a nice treat about a hack here on eev
i found an TDS1001C-EDU, sould still be working fine.. (original box)
can't wait to receive it.

[Martin Miranda]

@tonyalbus

i never bothered with the software. just find a usb stick that will work with your meter.  

[tonyalbus]

@tonyalbus

i never bothered with the software. just find a usb stick that will work with your meter.  

Did you have a look at this?  http://www.hakanh.com/dl/TDS_pv.htm
you could get yours to 200MHz .. 1Gs/s sould be anough and this softwrae should raise the BW limit..?
from this treat..: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tds-1000-2000-3000-bw-hack/

[Martin Miranda]

  wait what!? thanks!