Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[dl6lr]

The reason for skipping some letters/numbers is the low resolution silkscreen, which make an easy confusion: I-L-1, O-Q-0, G-C, U-V; not to mention how it look after some (mis)handling...
Here's an example:

Yes, but there seems to be no standard. Where JAMMA and EDAC states "G" is to be ommitted, your example includes "G". So my question was: How did HP handle that?

Tektronix used numbers on both sides of the card edge connectors and called the sides A and B.

[grizewald]

Lesson learned; the MSDS doesn't list ALL the active ingredients; you have better chance with TDS to find all the ingredients. But anyway, my interest in organic chemistry topped up around the C-3/C-41/E-6 level...

It's a minefield sometimes and even after research, it's easy to get the impression that the solvent is the accelerator. As the Internet is full of incorrect information, I just had to say something so that the idea of acetone being all you needed to accelerate CA bonding didn't get another reference to support the assertion. You know:

"I read it on the Internet, so it must be true!"

[Zenith]

After 1 hour the beast is dead nuts. But I don't know how much longer I can listen to that fucking fan. 

I've got an HP5326B. It doesn't have the overnised crystal option, but it's accurate to a few parts in 10 million. The problem is the fan that makes a semi-regular grumbling, throbbing noise. I can't stand it for long.

[Specmaster]

go for the 50 grams solution then...

Oh yes I wish !!!! 

I pulled the power plug : IEC socket detached from the power board !!! You just can't make this shit up ! 

OK now I have removed the LCD and have access to the LED strips and plastic diffuser.

Look at the pics..... problem is not at all what I thought it was, it's much WORSE !

The strips didn't detach / com loose, no, look... the white dots I was seeing on the bottom edge where not due to that.... It looks like the edge of the diffuser, during the impact/fall, must have contacted for a split second some of the LEDs, and the LEDs BURNED the hell out of the diffuser ! See ! The plastic has changed appearance, it liked "bubbled "or seomthing ! 

So it's not repairable, the diffuser is cooked, literally 

So I guess the best I can do now is flip the diffuser 180° so that the burned / damaged bottom edge, ends up being now the top edge... hoping that the white dots won't end up at the top now 

OK, friend is supposed to arrive in 10 minutes or so. I will show him the devastation and see what he wants to do...

Hmm, that could be 1 of 2 things, 1st, is that the LED's may be too powerful for the application and hence the apparent super brightness that they seemed to be in the earlier photos. If so then they will get hotter than the originals, or 2nd, maybe you missed out some sort of clip arrangement that holds the diffuser away from the LEDs so physical contact is not possible. I suppose it might well be a combination of the 2, who knows.

What I do know, is that the screens do get a little warm to the touch after a couple of hours ON and my own 46" screen can also smell warm if you get close to it.

I remember when I used to visit the BBC TV Centre in Wood Lane, that the plasma screens in their reception area were more than capable of giving people nasty burns if they touched the screen itself, infact you feel the heat being radiated from them if you got to close.

[factory]

After 1 hour the beast is dead nuts. But I don't know how much longer I can listen to that fucking fan. 

Not to worry Papa Smurf. As age is coming and hearing is going south, soon you won't notice that HP fan more than you notice the compressor in your fridge today -->  problem solved ! 

I'm already half deaf in my right ear and it's still too loud. 

You are making me reconsider my desire to get one of these old HP counters...... can't a more modern and quieter fan be fitted ? Like one of those low RPM high CFM ones, that are very thick ?

Med has a 5248 series counter, these use a different fan to the 5243/5245 series. The 5248 series is good for 135MHz or 150MHz without plug-ins, depending on when it was made.

The fan used in my 5243L


Fan used in my 1840A prefix 5245L


And the nosier fan used in my 5248M.


David

[Cubdriver]

Yeah, my 5248M has a rather loud muffin fan, too.

-Pat

[AVGresponding]

After 1 hour the beast is dead nuts. But I don't know how much longer I can listen to that fucking fan. 

Not to worry Papa Smurf. As age is coming and hearing is going south, soon you won't notice that HP fan more than you notice the compressor in your fridge today -->  problem solved ! 

I'm already half deaf in my right ear and it's still too loud. 

You are making me reconsider my desire to get one of these old HP counters...... can't a more modern and quieter fan be fitted ? Like one of those low RPM high CFM ones, that are very thick ?

Yes, of course. Some case/chassis modification might be needed, which some don't like to do as it "detracts from the originality".

[factory]

go for the 50 grams solution then...

Oh yes I wish !!!! 

I pulled the power plug : IEC socket detached from the power board !!! You just can't make this shit up ! 

OK now I have removed the LCD and have access to the LED strips and plastic diffuser.

Look at the pics..... problem is not at all what I thought it was, it's much WORSE !

The strips didn't detach / com loose, no, look... the white dots I was seeing on the bottom edge where not due to that.... It looks like the edge of the diffuser, during the impact/fall, must have contacted for a split second some of the LEDs, and the LEDs BURNED the hell out of the diffuser ! See ! The plastic has changed appearance, it liked "bubbled "or seomthing ! 

So it's not repairable, the diffuser is cooked, literally 

So I guess the best I can do now is flip the diffuser 180° so that the burned / damaged bottom edge, ends up being now the top edge... hoping that the white dots won't end up at the top now 

OK, friend is supposed to arrive in 10 minutes or so. I will show him the devastation and see what he wants to do...

Hmm, that could be 1 of 2 things, 1st, is that the LED's may be too powerful for the application and hence the apparent super brightness that they seemed to be in the earlier photos. If so then they will get hotter than the originals, or 2nd, maybe you missed out some sort of clip arrangement that holds the diffuser away from the LEDs so physical contact is not possible. I suppose it might well be a combination of the 2, who knows.

What I do know, is that the screens do get a little warm to the touch after a couple of hours ON and my own 46" screen can also smell warm if you get close to it.

I remember when I used to visit the BBC TV Centre in Wood Lane, that the plasma screens in their reception area were more than capable of giving people nasty burns if they touched the screen itself, infact you feel the heat being radiated from them if you got to close.

Makes me wonder if the originals failed due to the a PSU fault and got driven at a higher current than designed for.

And I refuse to even look at any big TVs if asked, don't have space to work on them and zero interest in fixing them. Same goes for cordless jobsite radios (branded with well known drill brands), after the last two, if asked again they will get it back in many bits, in a bin bag, after violent application of BFH. 

David

[Zenith]

You are making me reconsider my desire to get one of these old HP counters...... can't a more modern and quieter fan be fitted ? Like one of those low RPM high CFM ones, that are very thick ?

Yes, of course. Some case/chassis modification might be needed, which some don't like to do as it "detracts from the originality".

I looked into it briefly, it can obviously be done but there wasn't anything like an easily available drop in fan, at least that I could find. I didn't look very hard because it's a thing I bought cheaply at a swapmeet and hardly ever use.

[Saskia]

I got 2 tools for widlarizing now ...
- sledge hammer (parting gift from the toxicology department, along with a Mettler Toledo organ weight scale)
- Husky tree moped.

If I cannot widlarize something with those tools, I will have to resort to brute force.

[Vince]

After 1 hour the beast is dead nuts. But I don't know how much longer I can listen to that fucking fan. 

Not to worry Papa Smurf. As age is coming and hearing is going south, soon you won't notice that HP fan more than you notice the compressor in your fridge today -->  problem solved ! 

I'm already half deaf in my right ear and it's still too loud. 

You are making me reconsider my desire to get one of these old HP counters...... can't a more modern and quieter fan be fitted ? Like one of those low RPM high CFM ones, that are very thick ?

Med has a 5248 series counter, these use a different fan to the 5243/5245 series. The 5248 series is good for 135MHz or 150MHz without plug-ins, depending on when it was made.

The fan used in my 5243L


Fan used in my 1840A prefix 5245L


And the nosier fan used in my 5248M.


David

Thanks for the summary and piccies ! 

So if I understood well, the situation seems a bit counter-intuitive / paradoxical isn't it ?

I mean, looks like the noisy one is the slowest counter, which uses a modern looking thick fan... and the faster counters with vintage looking fans, are less noisy ?!
That's a no brainer then, I will just steer clear from the 5248 and look for the faster models...

[factory]

Vince that's wrong, the 5243 is 20MHz, 5245 is 50MHz, 5248 is 135/150MHz.

After 1 hour the beast is dead nuts. But I don't know how much longer I can listen to that fucking fan. 

I've got an HP5326B. It doesn't have the overnised crystal option, but it's accurate to a few parts in 10 million. The problem is the fan that makes a semi-regular grumbling, throbbing noise. I can't stand it for long.

The early versions of the 5326/5327 series can't be fitted with the oven oscillator, they had to redesign the motherboard to provide space & the extra PSU components.

David

[Specmaster]

I got 2 tools for widlarizing now ...
- sledge hammer (parting gift from the toxicology department, along with a Mettler Toledo organ weight scale)
- Husky tree moped.

If I cannot widlarize something with those tools, I will have to resort to brute force.

Let me guess, this brute force you speak of, would be the knowledgable application of the legendry 50gm's 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Ooh capacitor lot arrival. This is better than I was expecting. These are all top notch ones including high voltage coupling capacitors, milspec ceramics etc and all useful values 

Are those still on offer?

[Vince]

TV REPAIR

OK, a happy end for a change 

Flipped the melted diffuser upside down, refitted the LCD screen, fired it up...... did the trick, white dots are gone now 

Fourth LED strip still working intermittently though.

Turned out to be the LED board to board connector at the power board (again).
Already had a failed contact on that connector for strip n°2, ran wires  going through the chassis, soldered directly to the power board, to bypass the two faulty pins of the connector.

So I would have needed to remove the LCD again to run 2 more wires to bypass the pins for that second failed strip.... no way.
Friend sensed how pissed and mad I was, so he proposed to leave the LCD alone, and instead try to twist/bend the two faulty pins a bit. Seeing as the problem is the female part that must be loose, he twisted using tweezers, the spade / male part (on the power board side). Good idea, that fixed it, no intermittent contact anymore, backlight now 100% good ! 
Of course that can fail again later but that won't be my problem any more.

So we put it all back together 100%, one last check, twisted / tortured the TV a bit, still a solid backlight, good.

Friend loaded the TV in his car, going straight to his buddy who owns the TV, for a drink.

Friend gave me 50 Euros, so minus the 14 Euros I spent for the new LED strips, that's 36 Euros gain. A miracle, it's zero usually.
He said he will try to extract a bit more from the owner and if successful, will pass it on to me.

So, I call it a good day today. TV is fixed, got some money for my work, and TV is out of my bench and living room, less clutter... I can see the floor tiles again now and can go to the loo at night without banging my legs on that TV. That's good.

EDIT : just got a call from my friend, he arrived at the owner's place. TV still works, it survived the transport. Talked a bit with the owner, he said he would give me 50 more Euros. So 100 Euros total, minus 14 Euros for the new strips, that's 86 Euros gain for one repair. A history first, almost worth the trouble...

[Vince]

Vince that's wrong, the 5243 is 20MHz, 5245 is 50MHz, 5248 is 135/150MHz.

David

Oh dear me, sorry I apologize, this freaking TV is driving me completely nuts today, can't focus 

But it's gone now ! 

[mnementh]

My current distraction...     

mnem
Caffeine levels dangerously low... must stop for refill...   

   Currently printing. Lots of print & trial fit fettling with the model to get the body so it fits the socket in the scope properly.

mnem
I do hope this is the last iteration...

   3D Model Web Viewer

Printed successfully, but too fine detail; not enough mass in the "snap-together" bits. They just fall apart.

In the middle of a complete redesign. You can click on the link above and see current iterations. New version should print well at 0.20LH, tho.

mnem
"The role of failure in design."

[Zenith]

The early versions of the 5326/5327 series can't be fitted with the oven oscillator, they had to redesign the motherboard to provide space & the extra PSU components.

David

Thanks for that. It's a 5326B. If I was tempted to upgrade it, it would be worth bearing in mind before pitching in. I'm pretty sure there's a missing option on it for another Nixie tube to give it 8 digits. It probably needs a driver chip as well. I haven't looked.

I have a couple of Racal frequency counters I use, so it's basically a nice old piece of HP kit with Nixie tubes, which is also a surprisingly good frequency counter and includes a DVM. It's a shame about the racket that fan kicks up though.

[bd139]

Ooh capacitor lot arrival. This is better than I was expecting. These are all top notch ones including high voltage coupling capacitors, milspec ceramics etc and all useful values 

Are those still on offer?

Nope only one lot

[dl6lr]

The fan used in my 5243L


Fan used in my 1840A prefix 5245L


And the nosier fan used in my 5248M.

Yes, the first version with the cut-and-bend-it aluminium sheet is horrible, it's acting as an siren. The second is reasonable (if it wasn't abused) and the third *can* be fine if it is a quality fan *and* the air duct is constructed to aid the air flow. I bet the older hp equipment isn't...

But the older gears are just dissipating a lot of heat, so a lot of air flow is required to cool it and this will never be quiet.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Sometimes you find yourself being a prisoner of deeply ingrained professional habits.
My predilection with composite pinouts (multiple sizes and/or types of contact in one connector) did bite me in my rear today. I was happily selecting through the more obscure parts of Mil-C-26482 connectors when I realised that there will be no real benefit: it being a 'ruggedised infrastructure' application, I will have to use some cable that is readily available instead of having it spun for me by the cable fairy with 4x#20, 4x#16 and one STP.
 

[Neper]

Friend gave me 50 Euros, so minus the 14 Euros I spent for the new LED strips, that's 36 Euros gain. A miracle, it's zero usually.
He said he will try to extract a bit more from the owner and if successful, will pass it on to me.

So, I call it a good day today. TV is fixed, got some money for my work, and TV is out of my bench and living room, less clutter... I can see the floor tiles again now and can go to the loo at night without banging my legs on that TV. That's good.

EDIT : just got a call from my friend, he arrived at the owner's place. TV still works, it survived the transport. Talked a bit with the owner, he said he would give me 50 more Euros. So 100 Euros total, minus 14 Euros for the new strips, that's 86 Euros gain for one repair. A history first, almost worth the trouble...

Weren't they also the guys who gave you the notebook that helped you get your new job?

[Saskia]

I got 2 tools for widlarizing now ...
- sledge hammer (parting gift from the toxicology department, along with a Mettler Toledo organ weight scale)
- Husky tree moped.

If I cannot widlarize something with those tools, I will have to resort to brute force.

Let me guess, this brute force you speak of, would be the knowledgable application of the legendry 50gm's 

Fire in the hole !
Tell the aft batteries to open fire !

[Vince]

Friend gave me 50 Euros, so minus the 14 Euros I spent for the new LED strips, that's 36 Euros gain. A miracle, it's zero usually.
He said he will try to extract a bit more from the owner and if successful, will pass it on to me.

So, I call it a good day today. TV is fixed, got some money for my work, and TV is out of my bench and living room, less clutter... I can see the floor tiles again now and can go to the loo at night without banging my legs on that TV. That's good.

EDIT : just got a call from my friend, he arrived at the owner's place. TV still works, it survived the transport. Talked a bit with the owner, he said he would give me 50 more Euros. So 100 Euros total, minus 14 Euros for the new strips, that's 86 Euros gain for one repair. A history first, almost worth the trouble...

Weren't they also the guys who gave you the notebook that helped you get your new job?

The friend that brought me this TV (which is owned by a colleague of his, which I don't know personally), yes is the same friend that lent me his old work laptop for the interview the other day. I gave it back to him after the interview, of course, it's his....

[factory]

The early versions of the 5326/5327 series can't be fitted with the oven oscillator, they had to redesign the motherboard to provide space & the extra PSU components.

David

Thanks for that. It's a 5326B. If I was tempted to upgrade it, it would be worth bearing in mind before pitching in. I'm pretty sure there's a missing option on it for another Nixie tube to give it 8 digits. It probably needs a driver chip as well. I haven't looked.

I have a couple of Racal frequency counters I use, so it's basically a nice old piece of HP kit with Nixie tubes, which is also a surprisingly good frequency counter and includes a DVM. It's a shame about the racket that fan kicks up though.

The model numbering is a bit confusing, the 5326A/B/C are 50MHz only, 5327A/B/C have the 550MHz prescaler added, B models have the DVM added, C models have time interval mode removed.
The early ones predate the 10544A oven, hence why the later ones, with exactly the same model number & letter have the redesigned motherboard.

There are three custom ICs for adding the 8th digit option, these are difficult to obtain NOS, they can be found from sellers that only flog the readout boards, but I don't like buying from these sellers knowing they probably destroyed working machines.

These are the two I own, the early 5326B below, crystal board is on the right, next to the side frame..


Later 5327B with oven fitted, regular crystal board fits in place of the oven module, there is a missing capacitor in the picture, it broke off the board during shipping.


David