Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cubdriver]

New acquisition: Heath Zenith SP-2717A regulated HV DC power supply

Bought this off of Craigslist. It's got several codes with "85" inside (PCB, transformers), so I'm guessing that's the build date. Power tubes are Svetlana 6L6GCs (date codes from '98 on them, I believe). The little tube is a GE 6BH6 (Made in USA!) Build construction is really very nice: thick steel case, aluminum sheet chassis, nice carry handles on both sides, Nichicon caps, Carling switch. I guess having tubes inside was a selling point since the market was all tube-people. I hooked it up to my DC electronic load at 400VDC @ 100mA and there was no drama.

It's certainly due for a re-cap and the banana jacks could do a with a good scrubbing, but it would probably be fine without touching either.

https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/093/6/6BH6.pdf - GE 6BH6 spec sheet
https://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Roehren-Geschichtliches/Roehren-Netzteile/SP2717A.pdf - Owner's manual with schematic.

EDIT:

Yes, it has an integrated mains cord, but it has the little ears on the back to wrap the cord around when not in use.


EDIT EDIT:

Check out the lacing on the wires.

One thing Heathkit definitely did well was wiring harnesses - they had that down to a science and in my experience all of them were very well made and neatly dressed.  Lay it into the chassis correctly and the right wire would be at the right spot to connect to whatever it went to.

-Pat

[med6753]

Ooh very nice. SP prefix so factory assembled aka no retards 

You beat me to it. Yes, factory built.

[bd139]

New acquisition: Heath Zenith SP-2717A regulated HV DC power supply

Bought this off of Craigslist. It's got several codes with "85" inside (PCB, transformers), so I'm guessing that's the build date. Power tubes are Svetlana 6L6GCs (date codes from '98 on them, I believe). The little tube is a GE 6BH6 (Made in USA!) Build construction is really very nice: thick steel case, aluminum sheet chassis, nice carry handles on both sides, Nichicon caps, Carling switch. I guess having tubes inside was a selling point since the market was all tube-people. I hooked it up to my DC electronic load at 400VDC @ 100mA and there was no drama.

It's certainly due for a re-cap and the banana jacks could do a with a good scrubbing, but it would probably be fine without touching either.

https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/093/6/6BH6.pdf - GE 6BH6 spec sheet
https://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Roehren-Geschichtliches/Roehren-Netzteile/SP2717A.pdf - Owner's manual with schematic.

EDIT:

Yes, it has an integrated mains cord, but it has the little ears on the back to wrap the cord around when not in use.


EDIT EDIT:

Check out the lacing on the wires.

One thing Heathkit definitely did well was wiring harnesses - they had that down to a science and in my experience all of them were very well made and neatly dressed.  Lay it into the chassis correctly and the right wire would be at the right spot to connect to whatever it went to.

-Pat

Until the retard who bought the kit soldered it in wrong, smoked it and then made their own. At least two I've had were clearly that screwed up 

[25 CPS]

I promised test equipment earlier and so here is test equipment.  A heatwave moved in and the air conditioning got put on for the third time this season.  I've been unhappy with the air circulation in the living room so I decided to drag one of these filthy fans that haven't been used in years out, clean up, and let is move the air around the living room.  However, to get it between where it's been sitting stored and upstairs, it had to pass through the workshop so I took the opportunity to do some measurements on it:



The first stop was the HP 4192A Low Frequency Impedance Analyzer.  For kicks and giggles, I measured the fan switched off just to get the analyzer to error out on an impossible measurement:



Then I walked the fan through the low, medium and high speeds and took impedance measurements at 60 Hz just for interest acknowledging that this is a static measurement without the motor spinning:







For running measurements, I used an Extech 380803 Power Analyzer with the fan on low, medium and high respectively:







Power consumption is about what I expected.  The power factor surprised me though.  Utility companies here don't charge residential customers for apparent power if they run excessively reactive loads so I wasn't expecting care to be taken to make sure the power factor was this close to unity especially on all three speeds, especially for a cheap department store fan.

[med6753]

New acquisition: Heath Zenith SP-2717A regulated HV DC power supply

Bought this off of Craigslist. It's got several codes with "85" inside (PCB, transformers), so I'm guessing that's the build date. Power tubes are Svetlana 6L6GCs (date codes from '98 on them, I believe). The little tube is a GE 6BH6 (Made in USA!) Build construction is really very nice: thick steel case, aluminum sheet chassis, nice carry handles on both sides, Nichicon caps, Carling switch. I guess having tubes inside was a selling point since the market was all tube-people. I hooked it up to my DC electronic load at 400VDC @ 100mA and there was no drama.

It's certainly due for a re-cap and the banana jacks could do a with a good scrubbing, but it would probably be fine without touching either.

https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/093/6/6BH6.pdf - GE 6BH6 spec sheet
https://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Roehren-Geschichtliches/Roehren-Netzteile/SP2717A.pdf - Owner's manual with schematic.

EDIT:

Yes, it has an integrated mains cord, but it has the little ears on the back to wrap the cord around when not in use.


EDIT EDIT:

Check out the lacing on the wires.

The 6BH6 is commonly used in Tek equipment too mainly in the PSU.

[Robert763]

I weakened yesterday and made an offer on the TE pictured below.
It was accepted so more photos and report when it arrives. I now have all the significant options and accessories for the R&S FSH-3.
Only one I don't have is the pre-amp. I don't want the built in preamp, I'd rather use an external one for the band of interest with approriate gain for the task and maybe filtering.

I now have to decide if I want to sell any of my other 5 RF milliwattmeters and 6 heads.

[Cerebus]

Your power cords could certainly be used as melee weapons in a pinch!

-Pat

What do you mean "in a pinch"? Just like the Chinese peasants who were forbidden weapons and devised martial arts that used common tools such as rice flails, there's a secret English martial art that teaches you to do horrible things to a man with a 13A mains cord and a common gardener's dibbler. 

[Vince]

All 10 of them, are identical it turns out. Al marked " S5KC20R ".

Couldn't find a datasheet for it, only an old scanned catalog page from some chinese company : " SHINDENGEN Semiconductor ". Never heard of them ? Well now thanks to me, you have !

That page also shows an interesting product of theirs, that they named, I quote : " SIDAC bit-directional diode thyristor ".
I don't know what a SIDAC is, and I don't see how it can be a dual diode and a thyristor at the same time. I guess I am just too ignorant again... why don't all manufacturers make this wonderful product... 

SIDACTORs are also made by Littlefuse. They are circuit elements for overvoltage protection. You can see them as self-triggering crowbar thyristors or maybe as a thyristor crowbar triggered by a TAZ diode, which is formed on the same crystal. They come in various types, like those for power circuits, which are dependent on fuse action but also those frequently found in telecommunication lines, which can stay conducting until cleared.

Thanks for that ! I learned something... and I bet I am not the only one here !
First time ever I hear about that name for sure.

But... geez, Wikipedia stroke again, there is an article about this thing !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIAC

.. basically a beefed up DIAC they explain. Same electrical behaviour, but meant for higher voltages and/or higher current than a little DIAC.

They ARE Japanese and rather well known.
 

Oh, OK... I will try to remember them now !

IN MY DEFENSE ..  "Shindenghen" looks and sounds very much Chinese and very much not Japanese ! 

[Neomys Sapiens]

IN MY DEFENSE ..  "Shindenghen" looks and sounds very much Chinese and very much not Japanese ! 

Clearly. Like the famous Chinese Shinkansen high speed train.
 

[Vince]

SORTING TIME


OK so some more stuff to sort... this time OPTO stuff.... I like opto stuff, it's just cool.

On the left  are infra red LEDs and receivers from consumer electronics.

The group of 9 packages circled in red below, not sure what they are, zero markings on any of them.
I think they are receivers, so phot diode or photo transistor, I guess.

I buzzed them, DMM says they behave like diodes, with a drop of about 0.485V.

On the right, opto-couplers. All the yellow ones are yellow because they have some kinda of crusty conformal coating on them and it's hard to read part numbers... might need to do some fine grit wet sanding or scraping with a sharp blade...
All these I salvaged a few years ago from the same board. Were all soldered on both sides of the PCB, the only way I found to removed them without destroying them, was to heat them from the bottom with my hot air station, then just pull the chips effortlessly with tweezers. cheap hot air station I bought for 50 Euros back then. With that one job alone I was sold on the concept and it paid for itself. I now love hot air stations....

The column of small 4 pin black ones I think I must have mostly salvaged from SMPS in consumer stuff. So they are all different, one here one there...

I doubt all that remote control Rx / Tx can be identified, nor would I care too much about it... it's not like I would be reusing it 
I would just use it for experiments for fun, at best.
However of course all the opto-couplers I will Google and inventory 

In the lot you can see a lone IR barrier sensor. This one might be worth identifying, there must be  part number on it, and could be reused in some project, who knows.

[mindcrime]

Yes, indeed, I finally pulled the trigger on ordering a 121-GW. Now my BM786 will have a companion to keep it company on my bench.  I think that's a nice, wholesome ending to this story.

Naah, it's a good start on a life of buying more multimeters. At least in here it is.

Let me rephrase that: "I think that' s nice, wholesome ending to this chapter of the story."

There are lots of 8060A with leaky caps out there just waiting for you.

I'm really jonesing for a 3458A.  One day... yes, one day.

[mnementh]

Your power cords could certainly be used as melee weapons in a pinch!

-Pat

What do you mean "in a pinch"? Just like the Chinese peasants who were forbidden weapons and devised martial arts that used common tools such as rice flails, there's a secret English martial art that teaches you to do horrible things to a man with a 13A mains cord and a common gardener's dibbler. 

...your household plugs and our Dryer/Range plugs, when applied properly on a suitable piece of electrical cord, more than reasonably constitute a +3 spiked mace in melee combat.And I am amazed we don't hear about people being clubbed to death with them on a regular basis...

I still contend that the "spiked mace" part is what most constitutes an everyday threat. That falls down on a head or a unshod foot as in bd139's example... some real injury could result. 

mnem
   

[mnementh]

   Coffee table ornament?  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265740767106

Isn't that a photo of the inside of Robert's second "garage"? 

*want*

What, you want the contents of my second garage 

You really don't want a large turbofan to play with. They require a huge amount of support. Even to run at ground idle you need a substantial hardstanding and tie downs. A ground start turbine big enough to start it will typically cost more than the turbofan. That's assuming the airstarter is included with the engine. An inadvertent increase in power is likely to be traumatic. There is a reason why they sell for scrap metal value.
Years ago I was offered a similar sized RB211 complete with intake cowl and stand for £500. I declined. It was on the same industrial estate as my work and the boss said I could put it in the carpark. I even had free access to a forklift. They are just a liability. Even to scrap one needs special tools and lifting gear.
Even something medium sized like a Spey only fetches £2000-6000 but a small engine will cost far more.

Doesn't change the "want!!!" factor. Not one iota. 

mnem
Just makes your "want" expand... to include having the "Mad Scientist Secret Island Lair" you need to play with such toys... 

It'd be cool in the front yard with Christmas lights on it...   

-Pat

Mmmmhmmm.... need two then. And a 5 foot Flexible Flyer. 

mnem
Hey... at least it's not a JATO rocket...

[bd139]

Your power cords could certainly be used as melee weapons in a pinch!

-Pat

What do you mean "in a pinch"? Just like the Chinese peasants who were forbidden weapons and devised martial arts that used common tools such as rice flails, there's a secret English martial art that teaches you to do horrible things to a man with a 13A mains cord and a common gardener's dibbler. 

Nothing compared to the Terry's Chocolate Orange which has been in the fridge too long conveniently dropped into a sock.

[tggzzz]

Your power cords could certainly be used as melee weapons in a pinch!

-Pat

What do you mean "in a pinch"? Just like the Chinese peasants who were forbidden weapons and devised martial arts that used common tools such as rice flails, there's a secret English martial art that teaches you to do horrible things to a man with a 13A mains cord and a common gardener's dibbler. 

Nothing compared to the Terry's Chocolate Orange which has been in the fridge too long conveniently dropped into a sock.

How long is too long?

Bear in mind I have food in my cupboard marked best before Dec 1992, and I've just finished off the second to last lump of meat that has been sitting on my working top for a few months and marked BBE 24/12/2021.

Oh, and some jam I made in 1987, and am saving for a special occasion.

[bd139]

Your power cords could certainly be used as melee weapons in a pinch!

-Pat

What do you mean "in a pinch"? Just like the Chinese peasants who were forbidden weapons and devised martial arts that used common tools such as rice flails, there's a secret English martial art that teaches you to do horrible things to a man with a 13A mains cord and a common gardener's dibbler. 

Nothing compared to the Terry's Chocolate Orange which has been in the fridge too long conveniently dropped into a sock.

How log is too long?

Bear in mind I have stuff in my cupboard marked best before Dec 1992, and I've just finished off the second to las lump of meat that has been on my working top for a few months 24/12/2021. Oh, and some jam I made in 1987, and am saving for a special occasion.

As long as it smells ok when you open it it’s fair game if you ask me.

I used to eat 10 year out of date MRE packs when camping as a teenager  . Much prefer a fresh cheese and pickle sandwich and some dried fruit though. Better for the bowel than biscuits brown.

[tggzzz]

Your power cords could certainly be used as melee weapons in a pinch!

-Pat

What do you mean "in a pinch"? Just like the Chinese peasants who were forbidden weapons and devised martial arts that used common tools such as rice flails, there's a secret English martial art that teaches you to do horrible things to a man with a 13A mains cord and a common gardener's dibbler. 

Nothing compared to the Terry's Chocolate Orange which has been in the fridge too long conveniently dropped into a sock.

How log is too long?

Bear in mind I have stuff in my cupboard marked best before Dec 1992, and I've just finished off the second to las lump of meat that has been on my working top for a few months 24/12/2021. Oh, and some jam I made in 1987, and am saving for a special occasion.

As long as it smells ok when you open it it’s fair game if you ask me.

I used to eat 10 year out of date MRE packs when camping as a teenager  . Much prefer a fresh cheese and pickle sandwich and some dried fruit though. Better for the bowel than biscuits brown.

Traditional way to tell when a pheasant is ready to plucked and drawn is to hang it by the neck and when the body hits the floor, is is ready.

I am very partial to Italian mountain soft cheesewhen it dribbles between the tines of a fork.

As for gut health, some raw (unpasteurised) kimchi or sauerkraut will help increase your beneficial intestinal flora.

[Cerebus]

Your power cords could certainly be used as melee weapons in a pinch!

-Pat

What do you mean "in a pinch"? Just like the Chinese peasants who were forbidden weapons and devised martial arts that used common tools such as rice flails, there's a secret English martial art that teaches you to do horrible things to a man with a 13A mains cord and a common gardener's dibbler. 

Nothing compared to the Terry's Chocolate Orange which has been in the fridge too long conveniently dropped into a sock.

Ah, the old "Frozen leg of lamb as a murder weapon" ploy, followed naturally by "eating the evidence".

I have had, in my bachelor rugby playing days, socks that could do the deed without the chocolate orange. In that case one would have to wash the evidence, post mayhem.

[TERRA Operative]

@Vince, if you have trouble finding info on stuff from that Shindengen company, let me know and I'll have a poke around locally.


Also, who's putting Terry's chocolate oranges in socks?! If it were me, it wouldn't make it to the sock before it was half eaten, especially the dark chocolate one....
(*Glances sideways at the few remaining pieces in the cupboard....)

[mnementh]

*looks up, traces of dark chocolate around his maw*


mnem

   "mmmmnmmmmrrrmmmmphlmmmmmphhhh...?"

[TERRA Operative]

Well, the HP 8116A 50MHz Pulse/Function Gen that I got for a couple thousand yen (20-odd US dollars) that I was thinking of using for parts to fix my HP 8112A 50MHz pulse gen just arrived.

Aaanndd it seems to work perfectly. Damn.... No parts picking from this unit..  The search continues for a new A1U220 chip, part number 1DD6-0002     


This one will get a spit polish (maybe some retrobrite action on the front panel), a tweak and probably resold, one day... some time in the future... maybe... 

[GreyWoolfe]

After the minivan got stolen, I started pulling the fuel pump fuse and one or two others if I was going to be away from home for more than a day or two with the vehicle left unattended.  I don't think it's foiled any attempts at theft though since I've never come back to find any signs of someone trying to break in and start up any of the vehicles I've had since.  It doesn't rule out the possibility of someone towing or trailering them away vs. stealing them under their own power, but having the fuel pump and a couple of other control power fuses out does give me peace of mind that it wouldn't be as straightforward as normal to steal.  The other thing that changed out of the minivan being stolen was the porch light which also lights up the front part of the driveway stays on all the time, hydro bill be damned.

None of this addresses the problem of the driveway being empty while I'm away on a driving vacation and I have come home and the neighbours have told me they've been woken up by their dog barking and noise in my driveway between their house and mine and seeing scuffs on the side door where someone's tried to kick it open.

Employ geofencing plus the 500 grams solution. This would prevent the thieves from stealing other cars. Declare the situation a sacrifice to the gods and claim religious freedom.

We love accommodating anything and everything here.  As long as it isn't mainstream and as long as it doesn't involve taking care of things for yourself.  I think the Canadian way on this if I find someone trying to steal my car is to hug-a-thug, give them the keys, invite them in to load it up with whatever possessions from my house they also feel like stealing while I cook them a meal respecting their cultural heritage and religious, medical and personal preference dietary restrictions.  And, above all, not stand up for myself because dishing not-nice-ness out to poor misunderstood individuals breaking into houses and stealing cars would be very, very mean and we just can't have that.

I mean, if someone tries to steal my car or break into the house and steal the tools and equipment in my workshop and I come across this and ask them politely to leave, they'd be so traumatized, right?

They used to hang horse thieves...  Very frustrating when such things are dismissed with a slap on the back of the hand, if even that.     Stringing them up is extreme, but there's got to be a happy medium in the middle there somewhere.

-Pat

That idiocy around here would earn a thief a Sicilian Rose and I am not talking about a flower.

[vk6zgo]

As for payment I don't like alcohol nor snails nor frogs nor stinky/smelly cheeses like Maroilles.. but I lke Roquefort, fresh milk and organic orange juice.
Love a good roasted chicken with potatoes and lots of sauce too, slurp slurp ! Oh and a home made apricot or apple tarte for dessert !. 

Either that, or I will steal whatever components and/or TE that I like in your lab, could get expensive as I don't know what's in your lab ! 

Hey Vince I had a French meal last night. I had some Dijon mustard which I know originated in Dijon, France. I put it on my hot dogs. It was Walmart brand "Great Value" Dijon but it tasted French! 

Like the mustard, but didn't like the city, many years ago, when I visited.
The train arrived late, so it was about 7:30 pm before I got settled into the hotel & went out to look for a meal.

All the places I tried had finished their meals for the night, & just wanted to sell grog!
I ended up back at the railway station, where I paid way too much for a "Cold Collation", which looked like it had been sitting in the fridge for a week, & was pretty much inedible.

That was back in antiquity, though, & Dijon may now be a beacon of sophistication.
Stranger things have happened----look at Glasgow!

[vk6zgo]

BRIDGES !

Have a few of those as well, 33 it looks like. A bit a of everything size and package wise.... some small 4 and 6 pin DIP, small round ones, TO220, big SIL packages, and one big square.

They'll all be double diodes right, so technically not a bridge. 

How do you know it's not a bridge ?

The pins are identified like a bridge would : an ' AC ' symbol on two pins, and a ' - - negative polarity symbol one the last pin. All my dual diodes were marked clearly with actual diode looking symbols, not polarity symbols. So when I hastily sorted these bridges earlier this year, as a first pass trying to sort through all my components, I based my judgement on that. I figured the missing ' + ' pin would just be connected to the metal and that's it.

OK just buzzed it, turns out it 's not. Metal tab is not the positive, it's connected to the negative pin... so it's indeed a dual diode not a bridge, but it could have been a bridge, tehcnically.. you just had no way to be 100% sure.... so sorry but I don't count that as win for you, merely luck. 

All 10 of them, are identical it turns out. Al marked " S5KC20R ".

Couldn't find a datasheet for it, only an old scanned catalog page from some chinese company : " SHINDENGEN Semiconductor ". Never heard of them ? Well now thanks to me, you have !

That page also shows an interesting product of theirs, that they named, I quote : " SIDAC bit-directional diode thyristor ".
I don't know what a SIDAC is, and I don't see how it can be a dual diode and a thyristor at the same time. I guess I am just too ignorant again... why don't all manufacturers make this wonderful product... 


OK so I shall be adding them to diode inventory then, I guess....

So they are 200V 5A 300ns fast recovery diodes.

Problem, with any dual diode :  for some of them the datasheet says they are rated, say, at 20A... then somewhere else they will say no it's just marketing BS. 20A is the "total" current... but each diode can only take 10A.

So the problem is that now, it casts a doubt of shadow on EVERY other diode. Most of them don't state if the current they specify is for one individual diode, or the total current for both diodes combined...

So in fact you just can never be 100% sure what current your freaking dual diodes can really take !! 

Sometimes I hate datasheets !!!  They are supposed to help you understand what the device can do... NOT add CONFUSION instead !

SIDACs are a real thing, & were a popular device back in the late 1960s, early '70s.
I did have a really old semiconductor course hanging round which described them, but I think they were like a Triac, but didn't have a control electrode, with the number of degrees of conduction during the input sine wave being predetermined at manufacture -----it is many years since I last read the text, so I might have it all wrong.

[cyclin_al]

Has anyone ever seen a calculator like this at all? I can't recall seeing anything like myself.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313959676347

The sketching panel is simply the modern day electronic version of the kids toy "etch-a-sketch"; search for "LCD writing tablet" and there are tons of them marketed towards kids & parents...