Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Andrew_Debbie]

I finished assembling the 18650 power supply module and ran a few tests.  So far it is performing as expected.   ---   This is a buck-boost switcher 5V --> a 3.3V linear.

The LTC3130 buck-boost converter has pin selectable burst mode. (Jumper selectable on this board) 

  Burst mode has much higher efficiency at light loads (90% at .1mA!)  compared to PWM.  The downside is increased ripple at low loads.  The chip switches to PWM at higher loads. (~200mA?)   .   I was interested to see just how noisy Burst mode is.




With no load other than the power LED, there is about 35mV ripple on the 5V output.  Ripple is about the same with a modest load, but the frequency increases.   For baseline comparison,  Channel 2 has a 50Ω terminator on the input connector.     The 3.3V output noise is below what I can measure.   

[Robert763]

It's likely a lot of the noise you are seeing is being picked up by the probe connection rather than being actually on the output. A short length of tightly twisted hookup wire routed away from the PCB and the probe connected to that may give a better indication of the actual noise.

[AVGresponding]

Must be Keithley day on ebay:



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294812993642



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125148191796



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125148193517



Another 7001 and two more 2000 from the same seller.



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115247596019




Also, a neighbour from a few doors up just popped round with an armful of parcels for me that Herpes dumped on him earlier. Fuckers didn't leave a card in my door!

[Specmaster]

WTF, those are fighting words. There are many installations here in the UK where wire nuts have been used, and I have come across many such installations, many that have had them in use for many decades and the connections have been perfectly secure. I like to think about Wago's as the electrical equivalent to SMD components on today's circuit boards. Most of us will willingly admit that we seriously have doubts if many or indeed any of today's TE gear will around in say 30 or more years. Compare that with old-fashioned point to point and through hole system of connected TE that so many of us cherish and lovingly restore back to their former glory, case in point is Papa Smurf's and Vince's growing collection of room heating Tek scopes etc.

Funny every 2/3 weeks we need to ram our horns with "WAGO" vs "Wire Nuts".
As stated before the brain who is using the tool IS the crucial factor, as in many other cases.

That said it is more easy to do an improper installation with "Wire Nuts" rather than "WAGO".

All the rest falls in the speculation and/or personal taste bucket. 

It has everything to do with the quality of the person doing the work and I hate to say it, but it has to be said, that like so many things today, the quality of training received today is not up to the standard of that, any of us older ones received. I mean the actual college courses to obtain your certificates are actually shorter these days. That said of course, the course to become an installer / contractor always was far shorter than the courses to become an electrical engineer.

[Per Hansson]

next week end of insane instrument auction here in Denmark
have a look
https://campenauktioner.hibid.com/catalog/348344/7277-net--flytteauktion-cobham-del-4---testudstyr--pandrup-/

For helvede mand, det var nogle fede tilbud der!

I will now immediately forget seeing so many 34401 in the same auction. Or I will go insane.

I went through the page and was amazed how much stuff there was.
Then I noticed there are 4 more pages to go through?!
Yikes, that's allot of nice gear!

[med6753]

Both 485's adjusted and happy campers. 

[mnementh]

...Fun Fact: The EV1 was based on the Saturn SL1 platform, and used a 3-PH induction motor/single-speed transaxle with Lead-Acid batteries which performed well compared to similar ICE compact cars and had a very respectable 100-mile range. Later NiMH models bumped that up to 160 miles.

mnem
*tzzzzzzzt*

Wasn't that one of the Saturns with ABS body panels that were almost impossible to dent?

McBryce.

Yebbutt... Move down the calendar 10-15 years, with ever-increasing UV exposure due to pollution, etc... and as you might imagine, the plastic panels get older and brittler every winter. The few that survive outside of museums are all on borrowed time, just waiting for the minor fender-bender or fat in-law's arse copping a squat to shatter them into itty little bits. And since it's an abandoned marque, the aftermarket will abandon them for parts much sooner, sad to say.

But they are awesome cars while they last... even the one we have in storage in Ohio, which my wife has owned since it was new and is now 22 years old.

mnem
vroom.

[factory]

Hmm I may have inadvertantly cued myself up for a jammy-git award. Scored a box of random old RS stock for £25 shipped, and these things are always a bit of pot-luck, but the first items out of the box are already good.

There's a tube of about 20 LT1062CN8, these are £7+ at Mouser, loads of oddball TTL and CMOS including at least 1x 74LS155 which istr someone on here needing recently?

It'll take a while to sort through this box, it's packed, must be 5kg+!

Too much to sort through completely tonight; I need an early night as I've an early start in the morning.

Here are the highlights so far.

Aside from the obscure TTL and CMOS, there's a fair bit of jellybean stuff, like LM358's, 2N3053's, but there's some real gems, such as 9x LM301AH, 4x MC1436G, a couple of BNC to binding post adapters, some trimming tools, a 8880 gas discharge display driver, some strain gauges and an amplifier, a vernier knob for a panel mount multiturn pot, a bunch of reed relays, some 4mm binding posts, some Vero boards for mini rack mount prototyping, some very obscure and obsolete 6-pin TO-18 FETs WD402 (dual matched? idk, will have to find a datasheet), some 16-pin ceradip 6330 fuse programmable PROMs which I'm guessing are used, as they have hand written part numbers on them, some 4-pin TO-18 transistors I can't yet find a reference to (MT101B), some 1N823 zeners (meh, only 500ppm), oh, and this stowaway from Deutschland!:

Not sure who was using a 74LS155  , I did bodge in a 74LS151 with lots of mod wires, to repair a 5340A board recently.

That 8880 is rocking horse shit, very hard to find, apart from probable fakes on AE.

David

[factory]

next week end of insane instrument auction here in Denmark
have a look
https://campenauktioner.hibid.com/catalog/348344/7277-net--flytteauktion-cobham-del-4---testudstyr--pandrup-/

For helvede mand, det var nogle fede tilbud der!

I will now immediately forget seeing so many 34401 in the same auction. Or I will go insane.

I went through the page and was amazed how much stuff there was.
Then I noticed there are 4 more pages to go through?!
Yikes, that's allot of nice gear!

I had a quick look and thought it must all be from a closed down EE lab, especially as some is still setup in racks & benches. 

David

[tggzzz]

Also, a neighbour from a few doors up just popped round with an armful of parcels for me that Herpes dumped on him earlier. Fuckers didn't leave a card in my door!

Tell herpes it hasn't been delivered, and see what they do? Later on tell them your neighbour has it, to avoid accusations of fraud.

[AVGresponding]

Hmm I may have inadvertantly cued myself up for a jammy-git award. Scored a box of random old RS stock for £25 shipped, and these things are always a bit of pot-luck, but the first items out of the box are already good.

There's a tube of about 20 LT1062CN8, these are £7+ at Mouser, loads of oddball TTL and CMOS including at least 1x 74LS155 which istr someone on here needing recently?

It'll take a while to sort through this box, it's packed, must be 5kg+!

Too much to sort through completely tonight; I need an early night as I've an early start in the morning.

Here are the highlights so far.

Aside from the obscure TTL and CMOS, there's a fair bit of jellybean stuff, like LM358's, 2N3053's, but there's some real gems, such as 9x LM301AH, 4x MC1436G, a couple of BNC to binding post adapters, some trimming tools, a 8880 gas discharge display driver, some strain gauges and an amplifier, a vernier knob for a panel mount multiturn pot, a bunch of reed relays, some 4mm binding posts, some Vero boards for mini rack mount prototyping, some very obscure and obsolete 6-pin TO-18 FETs WD402 (dual matched? idk, will have to find a datasheet), some 16-pin ceradip 6330 fuse programmable PROMs which I'm guessing are used, as they have hand written part numbers on them, some 4-pin TO-18 transistors I can't yet find a reference to (MT101B), some 1N823 zeners (meh, only 500ppm), oh, and this stowaway from Deutschland!:

Not sure who was using a 74LS155  , I did bodge in a 74LS151 with lots of mod wires, to repair a 5340A board recently.

That 8880 is rocking horse shit, very hard to find, apart from probable fakes on AE.

David

The 74151 is probably what I was thinking of, there's a few of them here too, and some other oddball multiplexers/bcd decoders etc. Most of this stuff is RS NOS, some of it dates from the 70s.

[Robert763]

next week end of insane instrument auction here in Denmark
have a look
https://campenauktioner.hibid.com/catalog/348344/7277-net--flytteauktion-cobham-del-4---testudstyr--pandrup-/

For helvede mand, det var nogle fede tilbud der!

I will now immediately forget seeing so many 34401 in the same auction. Or I will go insane.

I went through the page and was amazed how much stuff there was.
Then I noticed there are 4 more pages to go through?!
Yikes, that's allot of nice gear!

I had a quick look and thought it must all be from a closed down EE lab, especially as some is still setup in racks & benches. 

David

It's from a Satcom equipment manufacturer that Cobham bought out. Note that by manufacturing standards it's all fairly old kit.  Been a long tim since I've seen that much HPAK in one sale though.

[Specmaster]

Ok then, I think its time to give you the answer to which car the BBC audiences voted for as the best car in the world, drum roll.... it is the very one that so many you slate all the time here, it is the Land Rover, surprised??

Perhaps the video might explain the logic a bit more. One thing I can say about your various comments is that yes, they are cars from different leagues and market sectors, but that does not detract from people's feelings about them, as many demonstrated when they threw in their dedications for possible contenders.

[factory]

Low priced BIN, 1950's hp 410B in France.
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/304356949599



David

[BU508A]

Must be Keithley day on ebay:

[snip]

In the German ebay Kleinanzeigen:
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/keithley-2000-multimeter-reserviert-fuer-f-w-/2022091242-168-7551

Keithley 2000 for 250 Euro. But it is already reserved ...

[mnementh]

...I am getting the time nut bug again. Maybe an infection from the two GPSDO's and Racal standard /distribution amp I found when I got to the back of the garage.

Wait... what...? You made to the back of that garage... and back out again...?

AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE...?!?   




Why am I imagining a harrowing escape like this one...? 

mnem
 

[mansaxel]

Low priced BIN, 1950's hp 410B in France.
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/304356949599



David

Vince needs it.

Helpful, ain't I?

[duckduck]

Must be Keithley day on ebay:

<SNIP>

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115247596019


<SNIP>

I looked at this ad and noticed the seller. Surprised that he hasn't converted it into a steampunk nixie clock. 

EDIT:

Love those old Keithleys. I use my 197A as much as any other piece of TE I own.

[cyclin_al]

Where's the Ford Model T, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Citroen Traction Avant, the Lamborghini Muira, the Lancia Stratos, the Peugeot 205, the BMW E46 M3, the Toyota Corolla, I could go on and on and on.

I recently saw a video showing the Model T and how to start the engine.  The guest shown the Model T happened to work for the DOT, and the owner politely asked his guest to ignore the child car seat mounts in the Model T.    Those mounts were probably the most secure hardware in the whole vehicle...

[Ice-Tea]

next week end of insane instrument auction here in Denmark
have a look
https://campenauktioner.hibid.com/catalog/348344/7277-net--flytteauktion-cobham-del-4---testudstyr--pandrup-/

For helvede mand, det var nogle fede tilbud der!

I will now immediately forget seeing so many 34401 in the same auction. Or I will go insane.

I went through the page and was amazed how much stuff there was.
Then I noticed there are 4 more pages to go through?!
Yikes, that's allot of nice gear!

I had a quick look and thought it must all be from a closed down EE lab, especially as some is still setup in racks & benches. 

David

It's from a Satcom equipment manufacturer that Cobham bought out. Note that by manufacturing standards it's all fairly old kit.  Been a long tim since I've seen that much HPAK in one sale though.

I might have a go at it, but I'm guessing prices may go crazy. If not: I've been a bit cabin-feverish lately, a road-trip might be what the doctor ordered.

[Saskia]

Finally unpacked the Anycubic Vyper printer.
Assembled it, plugged in the cables. Searched for filament and printed the demo. Never had any gizmo that was that painless and working almost out of the box.

[Robert763]

Ok then, I think its time to give you the answer to which car the BBC audiences voted for as the best car in the world, drum roll.... it is the very one that so many you slate all the time here, it is the Land Rover, surprised??

Perhaps the video might explain the logic a bit more. One thing I can say about your various comments is that yes, they are cars from different leagues and market sectors, but that does not detract from people's feelings about them, as many demonstrated when they threw in their dedications for possible contenders.

I claim the prize! Oh, no prize 
The Land Rover may no be perfect but look how long it was produced, the uses it is put to and the markets it spanned. No niche for it. It's also notable how many are still on the road. In the UK of 12,600 109's registered in 1995 1,700 are still on the road. A good proportion of those not on the raod may have been exported. Of 23,000 90's in 1995 8,000 are on the road and 7,000 SORN.
Only the Rolls Royce comes close to that level of retention and few of those will have seen the usage and storage conditions of a typical Landy. There is no data for the Mclaren F1.
I've seen Land Rovers of all ages in use in every country I've ever visited.

[tggzzz]

Bugger, sort of. Made a silly offer on a bit of Time Nut TE earlier this evening. Now it’s TEA. 
A Yokogawa TA520 Time Interval Analyser. £90 inc. Shipping.   
At least it’s not a boat anchor. I really don’t need more timenuttery stuff and was not expecting the offer to be accepted. It’s coming from a TE business and is supposedly refurbished.

Jammy git!

You'll have fun with it. I've just been playing with my Agilent/HP 53310A, my newly acquired Quartzlock off-air frequency standard, and an HP10811 OCXO.

Ought to look at my ublox GPS receiver as well.

[Saskia]

The best car in terms of reliability that I ever had was a Lexus GS300 S1, 2nd place a Jag XKR (X150 model), 3rd place a Lexus LS400. Then: Subaru Forester, Subaru Forester ...

Anything from VW is meh.

[Robert763]

...I am getting the time nut bug again. Maybe an infection from the two GPSDO's and Racal standard /distribution amp I found when I got to the back of the garage.

Wait... what...? You made to the back of that garage... and back out again...?

AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE...?!?   




Why am I imagining a harrowing escape like this one...? 

mnem
 

I've rented the garage next door  Moving stuff n there so I can sort out the shelving etc. Also triaging the complete junk e.g. quite a pile of dead lead acid batteries waiting to be sold for scrap.
It will then be critcally triaged befor being allowed back into the working garage. For exampl a lot of databooks will be going if digital copies are available.
The internet has removed the need / advantage of having copies of databooks and TE catalogs.
If anyone wants to vist and aquire some  good stuff junk they are welcome.