Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

BWAHAHAHAHA!

They love me at UHaul. The first thing my associate Samantha did was thank me for being a loyal UHaul account-holder for over 2 decades. Then I gave her the number of the reservation I'd started, and told her what I needed, when & where.

She did the usual clicky-clicky-clickety for a few moments, then came back with a trailer she could have brought in from another location for my desired time, confirmed the reservation and did my online check-in right there over the phone.  Took all of about 5 minutes.

Now all I need to do is show up at the correct time with the correct vehicle and I'll be good to go.

mnem
One item off the checklist... 

I thought you was going to say that after all the clicky-clicky-clickety you this got this response.

[cyclin_al]

Still in the automotive vein, a useful bit of test gear that it occurs to me some might not know of the existence of:



This lets you pull an ATO fuse from a vehicle fuse box and replace it with a multimeter in current mode. The fuse you pulled goes in the side, still in circuit, for continued circuit protection. This one's from Voltcraft (Conrad's own brand) and is model MS-4. They also make a model MS-4S which is identical but takes automotive 'mini' fuses.

That is a useful bit of kit.
As you say, they can be found for the ATO and ATM form factors.

However, newer model cars in North America are using the JCASE or LP-JCASE (low profile) form factor.  I have not found a version that fits the JCASE form factor, and would be very interested.  More stuff to add to my kit...

[factory]

Don't think for one second that this won't happen with an EV. 

I can't speak for any others, but mine at least has the good sense to lock out the ignition if it senses a plug inserted in the charging port. Which goes on to force the question - why don't fossil fuel only vehicles also have a filler cap/flap interlock with the ignition? (The answer of course is that it would cost 50p to include on a vehicle and as any damage from driving off with the fuel hose still in place is an externality the auto manufacturer's cost accountants don't give a flying one.)

I don't know about the modern crap they have nowadays, but my van is old enough to require a zigzag piece of metal to start the engine & to open the gas cap.
And it only came with one of these special devices, so I can't insert the device into the ignition, without first returning the cap to the hole on the outside. 

Also came the the design flaw where the dash instruments bulbs refuse to light, unless you turn the headlights on, what a stupid idea, how am I supposed to drive off & forgot to put the lights on at night?   

David

[mnementh]

BWAHAHAHAHA!

They love me at UHaul. The first thing my associate Samantha did was thank me for being a loyal UHaul account-holder for over 2 decades. Then I gave her the number of the reservation I'd started, and told her what I needed, when & where.

She did the usual clicky-clicky-clickety for a few moments, then came back with a trailer she could have brought in from another location for my desired time, confirmed the reservation and did my online check-in right there over the phone.  Took all of about 5 minutes.

Now all I need to do is show up at the correct time with the correct vehicle and I'll be good to go.

mnem
One item off the checklist... 

I thought you was going to say that after all the clicky-clicky-clickety you this got this response.

No, that's what you get when you go to the local store in person. 

mnem
...including the agitated couple about to have a baby. In line right in front of you.

[Specmaster]

Don't think for one second that this won't happen with an EV. 

I can't speak for any others, but mine at least has the good sense to lock out the ignition if it senses a plug inserted in the charging port. Which goes on to force the question - why don't fossil fuel only vehicles also have a filler cap/flap interlock with the ignition? (The answer of course is that it would cost 50p to include on a vehicle and as any damage from driving off with the fuel hose still in place is an externality the auto manufacturer's cost accountants don't give a flying one.)

I don't know about the modern crap they have nowadays, but my van is old enough to require a zigzag piece of metal to start the engine & to open the gas cap.
And it only came with one of these special devices, so I can't insert the device into the ignition, without first returning the cap to the hole on the outside. 

Also came the the design flaw where the dash instruments bulbs refuse to light, unless you turn the headlights on, what a stupid idea, how am I supposed to drive off & forgot to put the lights on at night?   

David

David, you speak the truth, my car and indeed all modern cars that I'm aware of, do not require the insertion of the ignition key to release the fuel cap, instead the flap sits behind a flap which is only locked when the central locking is invoked via the push of a button on the key, or the key turn in the door lock. Likewise the dash lights come on with the ignition and are not interlocked with the sidelights. That said however, if I leave my light switch in the Auto position, I cannot drive at night without switching the headlights on because they are automatic (at least till the automatic system fails) so its swings and roundabouts on that one, on balance I prefer to have the lights on auto control as many drivers do not understand when to put theirs on.

[factory]

Honest comment from the seller: "They all turned on last week but one didn't turn on this week. Have been stored under a tarpaulin". Not the only things, from the look of it.

You forget this gem, again from that seller.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165415965228

I deliberately forget that gem, as I was bidding on it, just hope both feet are on it*, also would keep the meter frame as I've had too many damaged in various ways, also need the inside cover for my other 3406A, the rest probably belongs in the trash, if it's as badly corroded on the inside, the same as the outside. 

*never seem to be able to find this case size at low prices to borrow feet from.

I hope you got it; £16 for the 3rd bid seems reasonable.

And the little HP badge.  Funny that they're often missing on otherwise pristine instruments, and yet here this dumpster fire is still sporting the one it came with.

I have one of those badges on a name badge. You've made me wonder how much I could flog it for

Well the hp mold-o-meter 3406A has arrived, both feet & the logo are intact, looks every bit as corroded as I expected from the outside, the glass is intact but fallen in.



Seem to have a free cloth to clean it with & a bath towel to dry it too. 



P.S. someone bought the rough condition Tek 576 from the same seller for £99, the lot of hp scrap scopes didn't sell.

David

[Neomys Sapiens]

As we were talking about the removal of varnish insulation in the last Discord meet:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/255496190763

A genuine Belzer Lackabziehpinzette!

[mnementh]

   Don't think for one second that this won't happen with an EV. 

I can't speak for any others, but mine at least has the good sense to lock out the ignition if it senses a plug inserted in the charging port. Which goes on to force the question - why don't fossil fuel only vehicles also have a filler cap/flap interlock with the ignition? (The answer of course is that it would cost 50p to include on a vehicle and as any damage from driving off with the fuel hose still in place is an externality the auto manufacturer's cost accountants don't give a flying one.)

Seriously tho... the issue has been addressed to some extent, in the form of that little nut at the end of the hose right there. It is a quick-disconnect specifically designed to shut off both halves when pulled apart.

Since gas stations have had to have this device since sometime in the 80s, I guess it's a low priority for those in auto manufacturing. 

One thing that has long bothered me about the whole arrangement is the fact it depends on the integral strength of the fuel hose... and I'd lose my mind if I dared to count the number of fuel hoses I've seen that were so dry-rotted they had cracks 3-5mm wide and deep.   

Then of course, you start to wonder whatever happened to mandatory safety inspections of the petrol islands... until you notice the Dept of Weights & Measures sticker is 6 years out of date. 

mnem
This way lies madness...

[Cerebus]

Don't think for one second that this won't happen with an EV. 

I can't speak for any others, but mine at least has the good sense to lock out the ignition if it senses a plug inserted in the charging port. Which goes on to force the question - why don't fossil fuel only vehicles also have a filler cap/flap interlock with the ignition? (The answer of course is that it would cost 50p to include on a vehicle and as any damage from driving off with the fuel hose still in place is an externality the auto manufacturer's cost accountants don't give a flying one.)

I don't know about the modern crap they have nowadays, but my van is old enough to require a zigzag piece of metal to start the engine & to open the gas cap.
And it only came with one of these special devices, so I can't insert the device into the ignition, without first returning the cap to the hole on the outside. 

All very well, but as EVs get left locked and charging unattended on the driveway overnight I can see why they (well, mine at least) come with an interlock that doesn't require you to leave the keys where they would be most convenient for passing thieves. I can see why an interlock is necessary for an EV, all it takes is a minor emergency to require you to rush out of the house and drive off in the car, meantime in your preoccupation with whatever has prompted the fast exit causing you to overlook the fact that it's plugged into the wall.

My other, petrol only, car requires you to unlock the petrol cap with the ignition key. I've always felt a little uncomfortable with the keys sitting in the petrol cap resting on the boot while I'm filling up with petrol. I always feel that I have to keep casting 1/2 an eye around for someone who might snatch them and try to drive off. Given that car highjackings seem to have made their way to the UK from less salubrious countries it isn't quite as outlandish sounding a scenario as perhaps once it might have been.

Also came the the design flaw where the dash instruments bulbs refuse to light, unless you turn the headlights on, what a stupid idea, how am I supposed to drive off & forgot to put the lights on at night?   

David

Given that I see someone on the roads doing that at least once a week there are clearly people out there who need all the help they can get.

[Specmaster]

And still on the automotive theme, I can now confirm that the ABS sensors on my car are indeed 2 wire hall effect sensors and given that I have driven for a few miles with my OBD2 plugged in, switched into live data testing I can also confirm that the sensor and the reluctance hub would seem to be working OK. I have now booked it into a specialist for further investigation, for I fear that the problem exists somewhere else that I would have extreme difficulty in getting access to.

I found this gem buried deep in the manual which runs to many hundreds if not thousands of pages 

Here are a couple of useful links.

https://www.tiepie-automotive.com/en/articles/abs-sensor-inductive
https://www.tiepie-automotive.com/en/articles/abs-sensor-hall

[Vince]

Nixie DMM repair update

Been working all day long on the thing. I think I am making progress... I swear I do !!! 


Switches

I received the two lots of SECME DJET 10mm switches I bought on Ebay France from these two vendors.
Then I realized I HAD some of these in stock already !! 
I had/have 9 toggle switches no less ! All SPDT. 3 are the 10mm ones I need for these old Rochar instruments, and 6 are the skinny mini 6mm ones.

So I have lots of these switches now....

So I could at long last replace the faulty power switch !  
It works fine now, yeah... so much easier and more convenient to have a little switch on the front panel rather than having to unplug the thing all the time.
Once I had pulled the old broken switch, tested it and looked at it closer and... hmmm.... some fuckery has been going on here ! Someone messed with that switch ! Turns out... it DOES work ! And it's not a SPST it's a SPDT !  But... the middle pin, the common... see picture, broke off somehow. You can still see a tiny bit of it sticking out of the plastic body. Sticks out enough for me to put a DMM probe onto it and do a continuity test. Test reveals that the switch works just fine. So, some idiot not me, probably tried to "fix" the switch by relocating the wire to another terminal ! Hey, all terminals are interchangeable in a switch, no ? No ??   
So I replaced the switch and added a piece of heatshrink tubing on the middle pin, as was done at the factory, if I am to take the other / working meter as a reference.

Works fine now.

The front panel assembly is easy to get out. Just 3 easily accessible screws, a connector to undo underneath the chassis, and the assembly comes out and gives you great access to all the switches. 

This evening got a message from ebay... one of the two ebay sellers is telling me he did some digging and excavated some MORE of these 10mm DJET switches ! Asked if I might be interested...

https://www.ebay.fr/itm/125268668056

I might well be... 6 switches, 4 of the toggle type, and two push-buttons... the latter I have only one of,  and they appear to be much harder to come by than the toggle form. So... at only 10 Euros + 6 shipping... I think it's a good deal...  His ad allows for offers, so an offer I will make...


Dodgy solder joints on back plane PCB

Yes.. the meter is "free running" again... my fix didn't last long did it    This time wiggling that #2 Nixie board, and the ground wire on the back plane, does not cure it... so it's a new problem this time.
I hesitated between committing suicide or persevering. I chose to persevere.

So I redid all the joints, 100.00% of them, on BOTH sides of the back plane PCB. I already did those in the back but only touched them up. So this time I sucked them all with my trusty solder sucker. Took a while, an hour at least.... THEN I could definitely see which joints were good or bad. And I did find like 10 or so which were bad, where, again, the tinning didn't stick to the copper pad  This PCB is a disaster...
I redid 100% of the joints with silver solder, because I am generous and want to help the stars align in my favour, hopefully.

Getting to the other/inner side of the PCB obviously required to pull it out. 10 screws, 10 wires or so to desolder (do take pictures to remember where it all goes....) and there you go. Again I sucked each and every joint, and found ONE bad one. Looked it up in the schematic... hmmm.... interesting one : it comes from the Vref board under the chassis, and supplies the Vref that the ramp generator uses to charge its timing cap.... hmmm.... remember I was going crazy because my GOOD comparator board now would not generate a ramp any more ?! Fast forward.... YES, the board is 100% fine and it was this joint at fault !
One problem solved, I have now my good board back ! A reference board I can cherish and use to help me fix the bad board ! 


Power socket replacement

Once I had the back plane PCB, I now had good access to the power socket and could replace it.
I searched my box of 3 prong IEC sockets and found one that might do it.
Two mounting tabs on the sides, like the old obsolete socket.
Guess what ? Excellent surprise : the modern socket fits LIKE A GLOVE inside the existing hole / cut out  in the PCB, and better yet, the two holes for the mounting screws.... EXACT same location !    Couldn't believe it. I was in heaven... zero trimming or drilling needed to be made to get the new socket to fit. It's plug and play.
Well I did have to buy new screws though, because the old ones had a flat head. Also, the tabs on the new socket are 3mm thick, versus super thin on the old socket. So I had to buy counter sunk screws, that are 3mm longer than the old ones. Old ones were 8mm long. So I needed 11mm or a bit more.
H/W store had 12mm long in stock, just perfect.

So I was very pleased indeed. My new socket is not perfect though : it's meant for PCB mounting, so right angled downwards.. the pins interfere with the chassis/deck. So I bent them backwards 90° to make them straight. Now they clear the deck, but not by much. So I added heat shrink tubing to all 3 pins, and also a bit of Kapton tape on the deck by the socket, just in case.
Will buy more sockets to do the other meter, and the frequency counter as well. Of course I will get proper terminals this time, exiting straight not angled.

While putting it together, I lengthened a few wires because they were too short. Some broke, some were too tight, not enough slack to let you put the PCB flat on the bench to work on it.

Of course I had to add an earth wire that did not exist before, since the old socket was using its metallic body itself as the earth "pin"... The mounting screws were pressing the body onto a wide track on the PCB, itself in contact with the cabinet once you put all the cabinet screws in place.
So I added an earth wire that I soldered to that track.

Overall result is very nice, am happy. Clean, no destruction / trimming / drilling involved... a painless upgrade.
Can now use a modern / standard power cable.

A modern cable, a working power switch... I am bordering luxury here !!! 

Trouble shooting

So... I put it all back together, fired it up and resumed troubleshooting.

Result ? Free running still there... but not always, it's hit and miss. When you power it up, sometimes it's free running, and sometimes it displays stable and valid data. Swapped the good board... meter works fine, the trigger switches on the front panel as well.

OK will try to make it short, I am tired it's past midnight.

In short, been playing with the thing, scoping, and I think I am getting somewhere at last. It appears that there are two distinct issues combining together, which sure didn't help me get a clear picture of what was going on at first ....

So :

1) Trigger circuitry is now 100% kaput, no matter what you do you can't get this freaking board to generate a trigger signal to get the ramp generator to do its thing, hence of course it can't do any measurement. So I need to investigate that.

2) Second problem : when the counter is free running... it is now ACTUALLY free running : I can see the clock being pushed to the counter input.

3) When it does so, because there is no ramp going on, I probed the inputs of the gate circuitry, and hey presto I saw something wrong. Normally the two inputs (one for each comparator, Start / Stop signals), are both low when you are not asking for a measurement. I.e you set the trigger to "Manual", and you do not press the push-button.
Well...here, the two gate inputs are NOT both low. Only one is, the other is high. So... one of the comparators must be misbehaving ! So I probed a bit more upstream, closer to the relevant comparator and... yep, it's throwing garbage ! Not only is it high instead of low, but it's also sending pulses ! It's "oscillating" ! 10us pulses every 1ms or so. So I need to investigate that.
When this happens, I had the idea to ground the output of that comparator, to force a stable and correct logic level, so that the gate logic has valid inputs. As soon as I do that, instantly the meter stops free running !  I am on to something here it looks like !
Also, if I then remove my grounding lead... the comparator now stops misbehaving ! No pulsing anymore, and correct logic level !

I am not too clued as to how the comparator could throw pulses like that... any idea ?!
A dogdy transistor again ?! 
I will try to now scope the guts of the comparator to try to pin point what part of its circuitry is producing these weird pulses...


So... making progress I think.  Now have a plan of attack. Work on that dodgy oscillating comparator, and fix the non-working trigger circuitry.


No, no need to thank me, it's always a pleasure to deliver these updates to you all ! 

[Vince]

...

Oh, forgot to say, as can you can see on the second pic, these two boards somehow can't sit properly in their sockets  they can't go all the way in.
Luckily it doesn't seem to cause problems, the contacts must be good enough 
Thanks to their very long pins I assume.

[vk6zgo]

Don't think for one second that this won't happen with an EV. 

I can't speak for any others, but mine at least has the good sense to lock out the ignition if it senses a plug inserted in the charging port. Which goes on to force the question - why don't fossil fuel only vehicles also have a filler cap/flap interlock with the ignition? (The answer of course is that it would cost 50p to include on a vehicle and as any damage from driving off with the fuel hose still in place is an externality the auto manufacturer's cost accountants don't give a flying one.)

I don't know about the modern crap they have nowadays, but my van is old enough to require a zigzag piece of metal to start the engine & to open the gas cap.
And it only came with one of these special devices, so I can't insert the device into the ignition, without first returning the cap to the hole on the outside. 

All very well, but as EVs get left locked and charging unattended on the driveway overnight I can see why they (well, mine at least) come with an interlock that doesn't require you to leave the keys where they would be most convenient for passing thieves. I can see why an interlock is necessary for an EV, all it takes is a minor emergency to require you to rush out of the house and drive off in the car, meantime in your preoccupation with whatever has prompted the fast exit causing you to overlook the fact that it's plugged into the wall.

My other, petrol only, car requires you to unlock the petrol cap with the ignition key. I've always felt a little uncomfortable with the keys sitting in the petrol cap resting on the boot while I'm filling up with petrol. I always feel that I have to keep casting 1/2 an eye around for someone who might snatch them and try to drive off. Given that car highjackings seem to have made their way to the UK from less salubrious countries it isn't quite as outlandish sounding a scenario as perhaps once it might have been.

Also came the the design flaw where the dash instruments bulbs refuse to light, unless you turn the headlights on, what a stupid idea, how am I supposed to drive off & forgot to put the lights on at night?   

David

Given that I see someone on the roads doing that at least once a week there are clearly people out there who need all the help they can get.

My 1999 Camry obviously still has the zigzag bit of metal, but the filler cover can be released from inside the car, by operating a small lever alongside the boot release one.
In West Oz, (dunno about the rest), you are required to lock your car when filling up, to stop the aforesaid car snatchers.
This leaves the keys in my pocket, where they should be.
 
Back tracking a bit, my 1936 Chev required that I put the ignition key in, turn it, then push a pedal on the floor to start it, & my Morris Minor had a pull knob in lieu of the pedal.
When I first got a car where the key did everything, I was so thrilled that "I wouldn't have called the King my Uncle"!

Now, I would need a card, which is hopefully, sensed, then to press a big "start" button (or have they incorporated that in the huge dash touchscreen?)
Progress??

Dashlights unfortunately come on with the parking lights.

Another segue into interesting, if unrelated vignettes of history:-
When I had my long visit to the UK in 1971/72, a new Law had just been passed, requiring the use of dipped beams in lit up areas.
Before that, it was permissible to just use parking lights.

Drivers being creatures of habit, most of those in Southampton hadn't yet changed over to the new practice.
In conjunction with the extensive use of Sodium streetlights, dark coloured cars were almost invisible.

I nearly got hit on a crosswalk by a dark blue taxi running on "parkers" one night.

Another side effect of not using dipped beams in town was that quite a few cars had badly adjusted headlamps, so outside the City, you could work out how many people normally only drove in town by the high beams hitting the tops of trees, instead of the road.

This latter may have just been a "Soton thing"!

[TERRA Operative]

...

Oh, forgot to say, as can you can see on the second pic, these two boards somehow can't sit properly in their sockets  they can't go all the way in.
Luckily it doesn't seem to cause problems, the contacts must be good enough 
Thanks to their very long pins I assume.

I've seen that on a number of TE, including HP. I assume it's to give a little wiggle room to take into account manufacturing tolerances and thermal expansion etc.

[mnementh]

Nixie DMM repair update

Been working all day long on the thing. I think I am making progress... I swear I am !!! 
(SNIP)
So... making progress I think.  Now have a plan of attack. Work on that dodgy oscillating comparator, and fix the non-working trigger circuitry.


No, no need to thank me, it's always a pleasure to deliver these updates to you all ! 

This is more fun than television! 

mnem
*passes the hat around for money to send Vince a StripperGram as thanks for all the TE pr0n* 

[Zucca]

Nixie DMM repair update

Been working all day long on the thing. I think I am making progress... I swear I am !!! 
(SNIP)
So... making progress I think.  Now have a plan of attack. Work on that dodgy oscillating comparator, and fix the non-working trigger circuitry.


No, no need to thank me, it's always a pleasure to deliver these updates to you all ! 

I am the only one that can somehow smell the crusty old electronics from Vince bench?
Vince well done! We lost bd139 but you "somehow" filled the gap in your artistic way.

[Saskia]

might have a Keithley 2000 coming in. Asked my Boss if he wanted a bench dmm. Seems he does.
He might inherit my GW Instek. Or one of the Keithleys.

Need to find some calibration services that do not kill the bank.
Anybody volunteering ?

[BU508A]

Consider yourself lucky. My play time is still stuck in a customs black hole for 8 days now. DHL certainly gets no awards for speedy service. 

Screenshot from the DHL website:


I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid, that nearly every delivery service over the pond is affected by the current situation. 

[BU508A]

As we were talking about the removal of varnish insulation in the last Discord meet:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/255496190763

A genuine Belzer Lackabziehpinzette!

Thanks!

Putted on my watchlist. If plan A fails¹, then this would be plan B.

¹should arrive today or tomorrow.

[BU508A]

might have a Keithley 2000 coming in. Asked my Boss if he wanted a bench dmm. Seems he does.
He might inherit my GW Instek. Or one of the Keithleys.

Need to find some calibration services that do not kill the bank.
Anybody volunteering ?

You can ask Adrian for a quote, he is an EEVBlog forum member as well.

https://www.ab-precision.de/

[mansaxel]

Given that I see someone on the roads doing that at least once a week there are clearly people out there who need all the help they can get.

It usually is a bragging masochist, i.e. someone who has gone through lots of strain and financial burden to drive what to all sane motorists is clearly inferior; a private import US made vehicle. Those cars don't have what is required on cars actually good enough to be driven in Sweden:

Here, dipped headlights, or similar dedicated illumination, also in daylight, has been the law since October 1, 1977. It is a clear benefit to safety. Whiners who gripe about the Man causing their bulbs to wear out can go fuck themselves. Sadly, the car lobby got their stupid, short-sighted "energy-saving" measure of allowing rear lights to be out in daylight through in 2011. At about the same time as LEDs were both good enough and legal to fit, making the "saving" a thoroughly moot point. 

My car is old enough to always light up automatically all-round, and the lit lamps will be the last thing they wring from my cold dead hands as I've hit an un-illuminated car... 

[med6753]

Am I correct in stating that "dipped headlights" are what we call "daytime running lights" here? Required in Canada. Not required anywhere in USA although most vehicles today have them. 2004 Civic doesn't have them. 2013 CR-V had them but no longer. Yes, I'm one of those assholes that disconnected them. Pull one fuse and presto. So can easily be restored. I had daytime running lights on a 2007 Grand Vitara and it seemed every 6 months I was replacing burnt out bulbs. So screw that. But I am diligent in using headlights when required. NYS does have a law that states if wipers are on then headlights must be on. And quite obviously at night. But on a bright, sunny day? Don't think so.

Flame suit on....give it your best shot.     

[med6753]

Consider yourself lucky. My play time is still stuck in a customs black hole for 8 days now. DHL certainly gets no awards for speedy service. 

Screenshot from the DHL website:


I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid, that nearly every delivery service over the pond is affected by the current situation. 

Makes no sense. It took less than 2 weeks to send it from here to You. Upwards of 60 days to send it from You to here? 

[m k]

Am I correct in stating that "dipped headlights" are what we call "daytime running lights" here? Required in Canada. Not required anywhere in USA although most vehicles today have them. 2004 Civic doesn't have them. 2013 CR-V had them but no longer. Yes, I'm one of those assholes that disconnected them. Pull one fuse and presto. So can easily be restored. I had daytime running lights on a 2007 Grand Vitara and it seemed every 6 months I was replacing burnt out bulbs. So screw that. But I am diligent in using headlights when required. NYS does have a law that states if wipers are on then headlights must be on. And quite obviously at night. But on a bright, sunny day? Don't think so.

Flame suit on....give it your best shot.     

Here reasonable sellers have turned off that backlights off thing.

Here spring and autumn have also moments when the Sun is just above the road.
Turning over the lane then can be tricky.

[Specmaster]

Given that I see someone on the roads doing that at least once a week there are clearly people out there who need all the help they can get.

It usually is a bragging masochist, i.e. someone who has gone through lots of strain and financial burden to drive what to all sane motorists is clearly inferior; a private import US made vehicle. Those cars don't have what is required on cars actually good enough to be driven in Sweden:

Here, dipped headlights, or similar dedicated illumination, also in daylight, has been the law since October 1, 1977. It is a clear benefit to safety. Whiners who gripe about the Man causing their bulbs to wear out can go fuck themselves. Sadly, the car lobby got their stupid, short-sighted "energy-saving" measure of allowing rear lights to be out in daylight through in 2011. At about the same time as LEDs were both good enough and legal to fit, making the "saving" a thoroughly moot point. 

My car is old enough to always light up automatically all-round, and the lit lamps will be the last thing they wring from my cold dead hands as I've hit an un-illuminated car... 

Back in my youth I remember when my eyesight was perfect, I used to poke fun at the Swedes for their daytime running lights on their Volvo's and Saab's, but they were right, it did indeed improve visibility and therefore safety. Now my eyes are no longer so good, and I need glasses, I'm very appreciative for their innovation and glad that it has become a requirement in Europe at least.