Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tautech]

Some even add "HIGH DEFINITION "colour TV's...

Which is what I used to use for scope plate output stage drivers, particularly BF259.
They turned out to be a good GP substitute that worked well in a good # of CRO's.

However most later TV's used plastic flat packages and unless you're very lucky impossible to shoehorn into the space available in a scope. 

[Cerebus]

Added to the restaurant queue. This is another new hobby of mine

Well worth a visit. You won't find many places (and certainly not in London) with a Michelin BIB Gourmand listing where most of the menu items are under £10 and the two most expensive items come in at £16 (Parsee Lamb Dhaansaak, my personal favourite) and £22 (Lamb Shank). https://www.cafespice.co.uk/a-la-carte/

They used to be in Prescott Street (near Commercial Road, Tower Hill, that sort of area) up until recently but have moved to Prince Regent Wharf right out in the arse end of nowhere. Well, the arse end of nowhere unless, like me, it happens to be just down the road from where you do your weekly "big shop".

The Arse End of Nowhere:



It's about a 10 minute walk from Galleons Reach DLR, the station that seems to exist just because they thought they ought to put one by the train depot.

[vk6zgo]

I’m having a slow day which is nice for a change.  So here is the teardown of the Stark capacitance substitution box:



It’s built up the same way inside as the resistance box I posted the teardown of some time ago with the large common wire loop and rotary switch selecting which resistor or capacitor is in circuit:



I’m not sure if the domino capacitor is original and the others are replacements or vice versa or if it’s all original still:



And here’s a closeup of the paper capacitors that we’re made domestically by Arrow Radio Ltd.:



I looked the company up and there’s an Arrow Radio Ltd. that was started in 2013 but obviously it isn’t the same company.  There’s almost next to nothing about the business that made these other than a couple brief listings in government directories and Statistics Canada reports on industrial levels that have been scanned in and put online.

I had thoughts of changing out the components in these two boxes with tight tolerance modern replacements to hot rod them but I’m going to leave them as is, particularly the capacitance box since it has that large selection of capacitors that were made here by that long gone company.  If I end up with another pair of these boxes that are intact, I’ll leave the nicer looking pair original and modify the others.

I'm not so sure they are paper----they look a lot like some first generation polyesters.

[cyclin_al]

after some shit days at work I finally managed to complete my small retreat.
2 photos from opposite side of the room ...

I approve of the F2!  Over here, I could never afford one of those when I was the appropriate age to have one.
Had to settle for Bic & O'Brien...

[cyclin_al]

Question..

After all this, wouldn't it have been easier to just buy a new thermostat for the fridge? Or am I missing something?

Yes you are missing something, you have not been listening ! 

My dad has a replacement thermostat at home, it's already on its way to me, should receive it maybe tomorrow.

so until then I need to cycle the fridge  manually. No big deal, just a pain that's all.

So I thought it would be a good excuse/opportunity to see if I could cobble a time quick and dirty ni the lab, just for fun (and if it works then the better....). Of course it noly makes sense if I can do it with what I have here. Buying anything would defeat  the purpose and be wasted money which I can't afford atm 

This.....


Plus this...


Would have worked a treat. 

No, no go because I don't have that here so would need to buy them hence defeats the purpose of a free home made timer.
Anything that requires to be bought is immediately pointless hence disqualified. 

Those are the tools of an ice box, not of a refrigerator.

In the days of the ice box, the fridge equivalent was to find a spring (puit) on your property and use nearby stones to build a small structure.  The flowing spring water would keep the interior of the structure close to 6 to 8 Celsius.

I think that could meet your criteria for free, and a project you could do yourself.  TEA could be used to measure the temperature 

[Neper]

In my experience, the quality of Indian restaurants in the South East (we never get any further than that on our day trips from Dunkirk) has been on a steady decline for years. Either that or they've tried to rip us off, claiming our Mastercard wouldn't work and charging us scandalous rates for paying in euros. We're still mourning the loss of Taste of India in Dover.

Indian restaurants, at least the ones I go in, tend to be cash only. Allows them to be somewhat creative with the accounting. If you turn up and use a MasterCard or pay in euros they're charging you what they are usually avoiding having to charge you 

This happened to us at Curry Garden in Folkestone. We had been there a number of times before, they even recognised us on later visits, we had always paid with Mastercard and seen other people doing the same. One evening, their machine magically refused my two Mastercards and that of my partner. They insisted something was wrong with our cards which had been working perfectly well all day. Made us pay twice the normal price in euros.

Of course, we've never returned there. Creative accounting or not, this has certainly not been to their advantage.

[Cerebus]

One evening, their machine magically refused my two Mastercards and that of my partner. They insisted something was wrong with our cards which had been working perfectly well all day.

That's entirely possible. It's not uncommon for one of the intermediary payment service providers (or Merchant Services in the lingo of that particular trade) to be T.I.T.S.U.P. while all the others are working perfectly. It can be purely a question of which payment service provider that particular shop/restaurant uses. Unhelpfully the message returned is always "card declined" (which implies there's some issue with the card or account) when it ought to say "Unable to process at this time due to technical difficulties". Technically that careless wording is defamatory (take it from an ex-journo who has actual expensive professional training on the relevant law), and I'm a little surprised that someone hasn't sued over it, made a few quid, and thus forced them to adopt a more accurate and precise wording.  I've had the situation where a supermarket has flagged a card as 'declined' while the ATM built into their wall was quite happy to give me money on the same card because it connected to a different service provider.

Edit: Oh, and the way around this is to go and get some local cash from an ATM and pay the bill that way.

[m k]

What kind of a machine is Panasonic VP-5710A scope?

Does it have a positive value if its picture is partially unreadable?

[bd139]

That's entirely possible. It's not uncommon for one of the intermediary payment service providers (or Merchant Services in the lingo of that particular trade) to be T.I.T.S.U.P. while all the others are working perfectly.

Yep has happened to me numerous times and it's very embarrassing because even if it's obviously a merchant failure, the vendor says it's your fault for not having any money. Mastercard frequency completely shits a brick here as well which is annoying because VISA were so abhorrent that everyone switched to it so both my debit and credit cards and ApplePay surrogates are tied to MasterCard. Grr.

I had enough cash to cover it once which was good because I made sure I paid only the amount down to the penny without a tip for embarrassing me loudly and they had to go and borrow some change from some staff to do it. That'll teach them 


Just had some Saturday afternoon fun. Moved my middle one's Lenovo T495 to Windows 11. Two observations, resulting in increasing love for this MacBook Pro:

1. Holy hell the screen on the T495 is awful. It actually hurts my eyes to look at one now. And that's not really that bad for a PC.
2. Windows 11 is absolutely dire, but slightly less dire than windows 10. It's a step in the right direction. I think Windows 13 might actually be usable.


Dunstable trip planned, cash withdrawn, hamfest bingo card at the ready:



I laugh now but that is probably me down the line 

[mnementh]

What kind of a machine is Panasonic VP-5710A scope?

Does it have a positive value if its picture is partially unreadable?

Did you get this fuxxored unit...?

Very reminiscent of the failure on my NASA 2465...



Which I'm hoping is caused by the SPMS needing to be recapped, but fear may be a corrupted EEPROM caused by running with a fuxxored SMPS. Probably why I've put it off, even though I've had it back for a few months now.

mnem
*currently engaged in a project very similar to Vince's last Odyssey*

[mnementh]

Just had some Saturday afternoon fun. Moved my middle one's Lenovo T495 to Windows 11. Two observations, resulting in increasing love for this MacBook Pro:

1. Holy hell the screen on the T495 is awful. It actually hurts my eyes to look at one now. And that's not really that bad for a PC.

2. Windows 11 is absolutely dire, but slightly less dire than windows 10. It's a step in the right direction. I think Windows 13 might actually be usable.
Dunstable trip planned, cash withdrawn, hamfest bingo card at the ready:      

I laugh now but that is probably me down the line 

   

This was my exact reaction to the Acer ES1-512-C1PW  ( N2840 CPU/4GB RAM/500GB HDD) laptop I bought a month ago cuz it was $28 at the Thrift... I knew the N2840 was gonna be a wee bit underpowered, but between the spinning rust and the cheap 1366 x 768 screen, it was just... underwhelming. As in I still prefer to use my old Lenovo with the cracked screen.

Honestly, the air fryer I bought at the same time has gotten much more use. 

Thankfully, the only machines in the house with the requisite TPM are the boy's gaming rig and mine... so not even thinking aboot Winblows11... yet.
Fuck you; that's me RIGHT NOW when I wake up... at least once a week or so...

mnem
*crawls off to the bench for some much-needed me time...*

[factory]

I’m having a slow day which is nice for a change.  So here is the teardown of the Stark capacitance substitution box:



It’s built up the same way inside as the resistance box I posted the teardown of some time ago with the large common wire loop and rotary switch selecting which resistor or capacitor is in circuit:



I’m not sure if the domino capacitor is original and the others are replacements or vice versa or if it’s all original still:



And here’s a closeup of the paper capacitors that we’re made domestically by Arrow Radio Ltd.:



I looked the company up and there’s an Arrow Radio Ltd. that was started in 2013 but obviously it isn’t the same company.  There’s almost next to nothing about the business that made these other than a couple brief listings in government directories and Statistics Canada reports on industrial levels that have been scanned in and put online.

I had thoughts of changing out the components in these two boxes with tight tolerance modern replacements to hot rod them but I’m going to leave them as is, particularly the capacitance box since it has that large selection of capacitors that were made here by that long gone company.  If I end up with another pair of these boxes that are intact, I’ll leave the nicer looking pair original and modify the others.

I'm not so sure they are paper----they look a lot like some first generation polyesters.

They could be anything, an insulation test at rated voltage should find out if they are paper.
In several Shango066 videos, similar looking caps (can't remember the brand) are found in some old radios/TVs, they were described as wax paper types in a ceramic tube, along with the typical comment "these capacitors are junk". Sometimes he has got away with not replacing them in the resurrection videos, i.e. in non critical parts of the circuit. I think the fact he finds stuff that has been stored in a dry desert environments tends to help, over here with our damp; lofts, garages, sheds, left under a sheet in field etc, they tend to be quite leaky.

The Erie & Domino caps could be original, hardly surprising to see the lowest values are silver mica types. Certainly see those in early 60s hp TE.

What about making a copy using new parts, instead of looking for another?

David

[Robert763]

Hey BD, there's a 427 with Option 01 (mains) and accessory kit available here. Won't be cheap, I guess. I can help with practical parts.

https://www.tradera.com/item/340198/542024892/hp-427a-voltmeter-opt1-komplett-med-hf-prob

Ooh thanks for the heads up on that. Looks like a near perfect example and well looked after. Will keep an eye on it

I have a not so perfect one if you want it. Pic below. AS IS, FOB Dunstable Downs 22/5/22 £10 cash

[bd139]

Hey BD, there's a 427 with Option 01 (mains) and accessory kit available here. Won't be cheap, I guess. I can help with practical parts.

https://www.tradera.com/item/340198/542024892/hp-427a-voltmeter-opt1-komplett-med-hf-prob

Ooh thanks for the heads up on that. Looks like a near perfect example and well looked after. Will keep an eye on it

I have a not so perfect one if you want it. Pic below. AS IS, FOB Dunstable Downs 22/5/22 £10 cash

Sold

How can I locate you?

[factory]

Very reminiscent of the failure on my NASA 2465...



Which I'm hoping is caused by the SPMS needing to be recapped, but fear may be a corrupted EEPROM caused by running with a fuxxored SMPS. Probably why I've put it off, even though I've had it back for a few months now.

mnem
*currently engaged in a project very similar to Vince's last Odyssey*

I thought you said it was recapped, I would check it outputs & ripple first, before thinking about anything else.

Edit: Here is what my 2445A looked like after replacing the original caps (same morse code readout as before  ), still haven't got round to diagnosing the processor/readout boards, due to lack of time & space.


David

[Brumby]

Hey BD, there's a 427 with Option 01 (mains) and accessory kit available here. Won't be cheap, I guess. I can help with practical parts.

https://www.tradera.com/item/340198/542024892/hp-427a-voltmeter-opt1-komplett-med-hf-prob

Ooh thanks for the heads up on that. Looks like a near perfect example and well looked after. Will keep an eye on it

I have a not so perfect one if you want it. Pic below. AS IS, FOB Dunstable Downs 22/5/22 £10 cash

Sold

How can I locate you?

Wear the shirt....

[Robert763]

Hey BD, there's a 427 with Option 01 (mains) and accessory kit available here. Won't be cheap, I guess. I can help with practical parts.

https://www.tradera.com/item/340198/542024892/hp-427a-voltmeter-opt1-komplett-med-hf-prob

Ooh thanks for the heads up on that. Looks like a near perfect example and well looked after. Will keep an eye on it

I have a not so perfect one if you want it. Pic below. AS IS, FOB Dunstable Downs 22/5/22 £10 cash

Sold

How can I locate you?

I'll PM you

[tggzzz]

The Arse End of Nowhere:



It's about a 10 minute walk from Galleons Reach DLR, the station that seems to exist just because they thought they ought to put one by the train depot.

There's a lot of gold stored in Beckton. The one time I went there (on tube and bike ) I bought some.

Can't think of any other reason to go, unless you like taking videos of planes landing in crosswinds.

[Vince]

Question..

After all this, wouldn't it have been easier to just buy a new thermostat for the fridge? Or am I missing something?

Yes you are missing something, you have not been listening ! 

My dad has a replacement thermostat at home, it's already on its way to me, should receive it maybe tomorrow.

so until then I need to cycle the fridge  manually. No big deal, just a pain that's all.

So I thought it would be a good excuse/opportunity to see if I could cobble a time quick and dirty ni the lab, just for fun (and if it works then the better....). Of course it noly makes sense if I can do it with what I have here. Buying anything would defeat  the purpose and be wasted money which I can't afford atm 

This.....


Plus this...


Would have worked a treat. 

No, no go because I don't have that here so would need to buy them hence defeats the purpose of a free home made timer.
Anything that requires to be bought is immediately pointless hence disqualified. 

Those are the tools of an ice box, not of a refrigerator.

In the days of the ice box, the fridge equivalent was to find a spring (puit) on your property and use nearby stones to build a small structure.  The flowing spring water would keep the interior of the structure close to 6 to 8 Celsius.

I think that could meet your criteria for free, and a project you could do yourself.  TEA could be used to measure the temperature 

Nope, sorry, really sorry... does not meet free criterion, for I have no water source in my garden...

for a change the French post did their job, I did receive my dads replacement thermostat this morning on the letter box.
Sadly my dad, due to old age I guess, did not send me an appropriate thermostat. I told him the "probe" part was 65cm long. He replied OK that one I am sending you has a 50cm long probe, so it will fit.
Except it's not 50cm long it's 120cm long !!! 
He said no worries you can make the excess run along the in side of the fridge, visible, no big deal, works fine. But no, I can't, because the runners for the shelves are in the way.

So... since he is due to visit me next week he says, to attend other business (help me fit plinths in my bedroom. He just custom made them for me recently, now delivering them...), he said he would bring another, different thermostat that should fit better.... crossing fingers !

See ? It was worth it designing and bulding my timer, it's gonna be used for at least a few more days !

I checked Amazon and Ebay, the appropriate / plug n' play part is still available. " Whirlpool A13 0477R " . Cheapest 11 Euros on Amazon, on Ebay 15 to 25 + 9 Euros shipping because all the ebay sellers are in Germany somehow, no seller in France or any other European country ?! 

So about 20/25 shipped, say. I would not mind spending the money as it's good bang for buck for a bolt-on replacement, but of course my dad won't let me, saying I am wasting money. So I have to make do with what he gives me, or else I will be facing, yet again, a huge long lasting diplomatic incident which I can't afford. Not for something as stupid as a 20 euros thermostat.

As we were discussing the issue over the phone a minute ago, I eventually realized he was persuaded that I had a two door "fridge", that is a fridge with a freezer stacked over it. When I told him "dad, I have had this frige for 15 years, YOU gave to me... you see it all the time when you visit me.... it's just a basic fridge, just a fridge, WHERE did you see it had two freaking doors ?! ". He replied : "Ah, so the thermostat I sent you won't be appropriate ! "  . "But it will still work somewhat, no big deal "....   

So... crossing fingers that his second replacement thermostat will fit better 

Yes, technical and monetary aspects are not the only things to consider here. Human relations are just as important and need to be taken into account...

He also got the light bulb wrong.... he said it's standard, it's a bayonet socket. I said no it's screw type. He said yeah that's standard, it's E14. I said yes I measured it it's 14mm indeed.
But the bulb he sent to me measures 16mm not 14 


My dad is becoming more and more of a shit show, but he will be 77yo in two weeks so I guess it's just old age doing its thing, his memory playing tricks on him, his ability to focus diminishes... I don't know.
So I just try to keep calm and do as if everything were alright.... he is trying to help me after all, so I can't possibly complain...

[m k]

I had an e-shop.

The only winner was a post.

[m k]

What kind of a machine is Panasonic VP-5710A scope?

Does it have a positive value if its picture is partially unreadable?

Did you get this fuxxored unit...?

Very reminiscent of the failure on my NASA 2465...



Which I'm hoping is caused by the SPMS needing to be recapped, but fear may be a corrupted EEPROM caused by running with a fuxxored SMPS. Probably why I've put it off, even though I've had it back for a few months now.

mnem
*currently engaged in a project very similar to Vince's last Odyssey*

Not yet.

Seems to be a pretty evasive model, and a maker.
Can't find any kind of a manual, but quite promising that Tek has similar symptons, if both are not using exact components.

[mansaxel]

Annual suspension refurbish of the tractor going on. So far, have managed to find two ABS rings in Sad++ state, one ABS sensor scarred by above, and have been set back by lack of tooling.

Shopping list now includes:

15mm swivel joint wrench -- I have dimensions for the old models, but every screw head seems to have shrunk.

Puller of suitable size.

Penetrating oil.

[Cerebus]

There's a lot of gold stored in Beckton. The one time I went there (on tube and bike ) I bought some.

Can't think of any other reason to go, unless you like taking videos of planes landing in crosswinds.

Well for us locals it's where all the "out of town" retail is, there's three retail parks all within half a mile of each other, Sainsburys, Lidl, Tesco, Asda, a Bodge-It-Quickly (B&Q), Halfrauds, Currys, TK Maxx (where I picked up a decent Nordberg softshell jacket for £45 the other day) and all the other usual suspects.

Actual high points are the Woolwich Ferry, a much superior way of getting to  "South of the River" than choking in a fume filled tunnel or going all the way to Tower Bridge or Dartford (those on foot have the additional options of the Greenwich Tunnel or the "Dangle a Boris" Emirates Air Line (sic)). Down near the ferry is a strip of foreshore that's quite good for mudlarking, and a little hidden and seemingly forgotten walkway upstream of the ferry with some modern sculpture made from retired chunks of ship like props and anchors, and a bench where you can sit and quietly watch the river traffic passing.

Edit: I almost forgot, just north of the hidden walkway is a huge recently built BT satellite ground station.

[med6753]

just came back from some kayaking ...
(need to get in shape ...)
Received a tiny box from across the pond with some connectors and jumper wires in there, merci bien ...
Did not try out the stuff yet.
10 € customs.

Thanks a lot, Mike !

You're welcome. Glad I could help. 

[mnementh]

...he will be 77yo in two weeks so I guess it's just old age doing its thing, his memory playing tricks on him, his ability to focus diminishes... I don't know. So I just try to keep calm and do as if everything were alright.... he is trying to help me after all, so I can't possibly complain...

Question...   After all this, wouldn't it have been easier to just buy a new thermostat for the fridge? Or am I missing something?

I think he's wanting to let his dad "save the day"... over here, the half-dozen generic thermostats you need to cover 95% of the fridges you're going to run into cost $10-15 next day via Prime. Prolly $5-10 more from a brick & mortar. You can buy a digital universal module with 2 zones/relays for $20 next-day via Prime as well.     Any of these are a helluva lot cheaper than a fridge full of spoiled food, for damn sure.

mnem