Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

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.

The seller has another one......

[tggzzz]

If anyone wants to vist a aquire some  good stuff junk they are welcome.

That's cruel, I say, cruel.

[tautech]

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.

Although Jeeps have probably been produced longer and in far greater numbers.

[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.

The seller has another one......

You really are being cruel today, aren't you!

Somebody here really ought to buy it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324916057293

[Andrew_Debbie]

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.

1st - 2018 BMW i3s  zero faults in 3 years.   Only completely trouble free car I've ever owned.

Lowest total cost of ownership  -- 2005 Vauxhall (Opel) Combo van.    It needed occasional repairs but parts were  cheap.

Most durable *not the same as reliable* -  2010 Landrover Defender 110  and 1990 BMW 535i.   I sold the BMW when we moved to the UK in 2007.  At 230,000 miles it still had the original engine, transmission, drive shafts (even the half shafts at the back), starter, alternator -- nearly all of the original interior was present and working.    The 110 needed minor work all the time but it never broke down and showed no signs of wearing out.

[Cubdriver]

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 dtabooks and TE catalogs.
If anyone wants to vist a aquire some  good stuff junk they are welcome.

The issue I have with online data sheets is that sometimes they change, and the changes can be less than obvious. Ran into that about ten years ago at work - can’t recall exactly what happened, but we were trying to look something up regarding a chip used in an earlier project, and despite swearing that we’d seen it the particular bit of information just wasn’t there.  Finally dug back through binders and found an old printout of the datasheet in question and discovered that the currently available one was a revision of it.  The only indication of this was the newer revision date at the bottom, which was subtle and easy to miss.  Instant downloads can be very convenient and handy, but I still prefer the permanence of dead trees where literature is concerned.

-Pat

[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.

1st - 2018 BMW i3s  zero faults in 3 years.   Only completely trouble free car I've ever owned.

Lowest total cost of ownership  -- 2005 Vauxhall (Opel) Combo van.    It needed occasional repairs but parts were  cheap.

Most durable *not the same as reliable* -  2010 Landrover Defender 110  and 1990 BMW 535i.   I sold the BMW when we moved to the UK in 2007.  At 230,000 miles it still had the original engine, transmission, drive shafts (even the half shafts at the back), starter, alternator -- nearly all of the original interior was present and working.    The 110 needed minor work all the time but it never broke down and showed no signs of wearing out.

The old BMWs were built to last. The new ones are set to die at 180k km or after 13 years whichever comes first.
Most VWs don't make it that far.
Mercs ? 75% of all Mercs we had were trash.
A brand new 220CDI estate (station wagon for the muricans) broke down 8 times in 5 months (or 25kkm). The MB branch office in mayence told me that as a steenkin C class customer I should be glad that they were fixing it under warranty ...
The SL 500 that we had spend 3 months of the 5 that we had it at the dealership undergoing repairs.
The A class lost its springs, injectors, inlet manifold, and funneled the exhausts into the passenger cabin.
Only the old W124 300CE actually performed up to specs.

German cars ? Not if I can help it.

[Cubdriver]

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.

1st - 2018 BMW i3s  zero faults in 3 years.   Only completely trouble free car I've ever owned.

Lowest total cost of ownership  -- 2005 Vauxhall (Opel) Combo van.    It needed occasional repairs but parts were  cheap.

Most durable *not the same as reliable* -  2010 Landrover Defender 110  and 1990 BMW 535i.   I sold the BMW when we moved to the UK in 2007.  At 230,000 miles it still had the original engine, transmission, drive shafts (even the half shafts at the back), starter, alternator -- nearly all of the original interior was present and working.    The 110 needed minor work all the time but it never broke down and showed no signs of wearing out.

Most reliable (and fun) - '96 Miata, bought new.  The only non-scheduled, non wear and tear thing it needed in the first several years I had it was a differential half shaft seal that started weeping around 100k miles.  It would go through front brake pads about every 60k; rears about every 90.  Timing belt every 60k (scheduled mx; it has a non-interference engine so if you let it go and it breaks all you are is stuck - I’m sure it’d last much longer than that but figured it was cheap insurance to just do it at the recommended interval).  The water pump finally started weeping at around 240, so it (and the hoses and timing belt idler & tensioner pulleys) were replaced for the first time then.  The shifter boots would need replacement with every other timing belt, so every 120k.  Had to weld up the exhaust in the high hundred ks if I recall correctly; used it as an excuse to buy a MIG welder.  Had to replace a rear wheel bearing (an excuse to buy a 20 ton press) some time in the early 200s.  The alternator brushes finally wore to bloody nubs and failed some time in the neighborhood of 270k; replaced them and it was back in service.  An injector died a little over 300k. 

Drove it year round in New England.  Put four real snow tires on it and unless its belly was dragging in the snow it just went.  Finally parked it with over 350,000 miles on the clock in late 2013 when the rust got too bad and I got the Jeep (which is about its polar opposite in every way, including reliability.  60k on that and it's already had two new brake calipers due to sticking and several sets of pads for the same reason.  The Miata spoiled me big time in that regard!)  Hopefully some day I’ll find time to restore and get the little roller skate back on the road - it was a great little car.  Oh, and it still has the clutch it left the factory with - never wore it out.  I assisted in doing four or five Miata clutches, but none were my own - they were all with/for friends putting forced induction in their cars.

-Pat

[m k]

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.

Some years back we had a 2nd level(between basic and uni) school shuffle.
A year of time was added so international level can be upped but education is less than before.

BTW,
for engine starts, Russian DT-54.

BTW2,
I'm generally downloading all manuals and software.
Nowadays space is trivial and sources are clearly less than permanent.

[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.

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.

Exactly that, and that is more or less what Richard Hammond says in his presentation of the Landy. It is class less, the Queen has one and so many still survive today and are used to do all kinds of jobs worldwide. There are even dedicated channels on YT for them. 

[Specmaster]

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.

And is your Skoda Octavia meh 

[Specmaster]

...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 dtabooks and TE catalogs.
If anyone wants to vist a aquire some  good stuff junk they are welcome.

Aha, so it seems that I wasn't a million miles out when I said that you'd end up with a second garage to store your repair queue after all then 

[Robert763]

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 dtabooks and TE catalogs.
If anyone wants to vist a aquire some  good stuff junk they are welcome.

The issue I have with online data sheets is that sometimes they change, and the changes can be less than obvious. Ran into that about ten years ago at work - can’t recall exactly what happened, but we were trying to look something up regarding a chip used in an earlier project, and despite swearing that we’d seen it the particular bit of information just wasn’t there.  Finally dug back through binders and found an old printout of the datasheet in question and discovered that the currently available one was a revision of it.  The only indication of this was the newer revision date at the bottom, which was subtle and easy to miss.  Instant downloads can be very convenient and handy, but I still prefer the permanence of dead trees where literature is concerned.

-Pat

Indeed. Anything I use in a design I keep a contempary copy of the datasheet. I recently had to tell ONSEMI that the latest revision of a datsheet for a MOSFET had the TO92 pinout wrong...

[Specmaster]

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.

The seller has another one......

You really are being cruel today, aren't you!

Somebody here really ought to buy it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324916057293

Ooh, look at where it is located, it's probably ex AWE equipment as well. I wonder if it glows in the night as well 

[mansaxel]

Somebody here really ought to buy it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324916057293

They won't ship abroad. Phew.

[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.

And is your Skoda Octavia meh 

The Octavia sucks.
The only reason I still have it is that it runs on 4 kg of CNG/100 km. That is 4€.
Seating: uncomfortable.
suspension: not up to the task
gearbox: making noises

I would like to teslarize it the Finnish way. But then again I am still getting some use out of it and currently cannot afford a new car.

[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.

Some years back we had a 2nd level(between basic and uni) school shuffle.
A year of time was added so international level can be upped but education is less than before.

BTW,
for engine starts, Russian DT-54.

BTW2,
I'm generally downloading all manuals and software.
Nowadays space is trivial and sources are clearly less than permanent.

Here you go.

[Specmaster]

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.

And is your Skoda Octavia meh 

The Octavia sucks.
The only reason I still have it is that it runs on 4 kg of CNG/100 km. That is 4€.
Seating: uncomfortable.
suspension: not up to the task
gearbox: making noises

I would like to teslarize it the Finnish way. But then again I am still getting some use out of it and currently cannot afford a new car.

Generally I find German cars to be good, I've had 3 Passats, and now on my 4th Skoda Superb, which has been the best car of them all, current one is 8 years old, had it from new and no major issues with it really, only let me down once when an alternator belt shredded itself.

[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.

Although Jeeps have probably been produced longer and in far greater numbers.

"Jeeps" is a bit wide. Not much in a Wrangler that matches the CJ. CJ production was 1.5 million to end of production in 1986. Series landrovers hit 1 million in 1976 and the defender passed 2 million in 2015.
Miltary is an other issue. And of course the first Land Rovers had the Willy's as an example of prior art.

[Robert763]

Somebody here really ought to buy it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324916057293

They won't ship abroad. Phew.

I can send one to you 

[BU508A]

Today arrival: a parcel from med6753 

@med6753: will forward it tomorrow. Will also take some pictures of the module to be sure, it is okay.

[tautech]

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.

Although Jeeps have probably been produced longer and in far greater numbers.

"Jeeps" is a bit wide.

No more than Landrover. 
S1, S2, S3, 88, 108, 90, 110, Defender, Disco, Rangerover etc......

[McBryce]

Just ordered some RAL5018 PLA Filament for my 3D printer 

McBryce.

[Andrew_Debbie]

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.

1st - 2018 BMW i3s  zero faults in 3 years.   Only completely trouble free car I've ever owned.

Lowest total cost of ownership  -- 2005 Vauxhall (Opel) Combo van.    It needed occasional repairs but parts were  cheap.

Most durable *not the same as reliable* -  2010 Landrover Defender 110  and 1990 BMW 535i.   I sold the BMW when we moved to the UK in 2007.  At 230,000 miles it still had the original engine, transmission, drive shafts (even the half shafts at the back), starter, alternator -- nearly all of the original interior was present and working.    The 110 needed minor work all the time but it never broke down and showed no signs of wearing out.

The old BMWs were built to last. The new ones are set to die at 180k km or after 13 years whichever comes first.


German cars ? Not if I can help it.

I've read the e34 BMW 5 series had a 300,000 mile (not km) design life.   From the way mine was wearing, I suspect it was true.

We've owned several newer petrol engine BMWs.  With each generation I could see them heading towards lower cost and shorter life.    The i3 might be an exception.

[mnementh]

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.

mnem

ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP!