Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Squarewave]

We had an AVO 8 Mk5 that was perfect from the outside, the meter movement destroyed (the plastic that held the movement in place shattered). I did swap out the movement from another scrap one, only to find the tw&t that bought it on a scrap order then sold it on ePay for a premium as almost NOS condition.

Having been inside that one I never want to work on another Mk5, with those crappy flex wiring looms, I have one have that needs rehoming (reads low on most ranges), now I have a nice AVO Test Set Multirange No 1.
David

I've heard people say that before. Find working inside the Mk5 a doddle. Have been inside a few of them when I've bought shabby ones with good movements, to replace o/c movements in others with good outers.

[Squarewave]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

[Robert763]

I bet you're older than me, by quite some margin, but I love Avometers 

Yep, if you drop them, they're donald ducked, though the movements can survive, the casing will be shattered.

I don't love them, and have a couple of carcasses I will unload for a pittance.

Long ago I was working with GPO[1] Martlesham Heath and they told me of a "competition" between Avo 8 salesmen and  a DMM salesman. Everything was evenly matched until the DMM salesman picked up his offering, threw it across the room, and suggested repeating the competition.

[1] no, it wasn't BT for a few years

I suppose there's always lots of ridiculous comparisons to make, that being one of them. No instrument is meant to be thrown. I guess that's where the DMM salesman lost his argument - it was all evenly matched, until he lost his temper.

Edited: for quote bracket thing was missing.

I'll take objection to on this one. Fluke distributor visited the school where I was getting my first degree; that was part of the demonstration. Their professional sparky series of meters are designed to withstand a fall from the top of at least a 12-foot ladder.

Cheers,

mnem
 

Yep, good luck doing that with an AVO, but then only a blithering idiot would dream taking an AVO up a ladder.

Back in the seventies it was the only meter work had so you took it everywhere including up ladders. In the ever ready case of course.

[bd139]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

They invented the hammer to solve that problem.

[Squarewave]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

They invented the hammer to solve that problem.

I'm sure someone will find the solution to yours one day.

[tautech]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

Only 1 of those here, a 7X that fell into my lap from NZDF sources a few years back. 
Never used this one but it did come with the hook grabber leads. 
The case is pretty novel in that it's like an 8 case so you remove the meter out the top for bench use OR one side opens completely and the meter stays in the case behind a couple of holding ribs for it not to fall out.

Otherwise there's a little graveyard of old AVO's under one bench all acquired before I got the 8 MkV I really wanted.
It don't get pulled out these days as fixing old CRO's was a past life still if I was to keep any one it would be this one.

As for bd139 bitching about supplying these with 15V batteries it must have been some years back before he developed decent problem solving skills as a stack of LR44's with some copper tube to get the overall length right and shrink sleeve to hold it all together is a 5 minute fix ! 
 

[Specmaster]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

They invented the hammer to solve that problem.

I'm sure someone will find the solution to yours one day.

Those Panclimatic meters weighed a bloody metric ton FFS, nobody would want one of those things hanging round their neck, enough to fold you up double 

[tautech]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

They invented the hammer to solve that problem.

I'm sure someone will find the solution to yours one day.

Those Panclimatic meters weighed a bloody metric ton FFS, nobody would want one of those things hanging round their neck, enough to fold you up double 

A teaspoon of cement fixes that. 

[Squarewave]

As for bd139 bitching about supplying these with 15V batteries it must have been some years back before he developed decent problem solving skills as a stack of LR44's with some copper tube to get the overall length right and shrink sleeve to hold it all together is a 5 minute fix ! 

I've got a neat little device which slots into the 15v battery slot and is powered by the 1.5v battery. However, the 15v battery is only used for the high ohms range, which is great for capacitor leakage testing, one of the many reasons I have one on the bench.

[tautech]

As for bd139 bitching about supplying these with 15V batteries it must have been some years back before he developed decent problem solving skills as a stack of LR44's with some copper tube to get the overall length right and shrink sleeve to hold it all together is a 5 minute fix ! 

I've got a neat little device which slots into the 15v battery slot and is powered by the 1.5v battery. However, the 15v battery is only used for the high ohms range, which is great for capacitor leakage testing, one of the many reasons I have one on the bench.

Yep great what little devices we can get cheap today.

Back some 40+ years when I twisted spanners on small motors for a few years the ignition cap tester we used was my Jap Kaise SK160 moving coil meter which worked a treat until the boss splashed out and got a proper tester. 

[tautech]

Vince spotted....How's work going ?

[factory]

We had an AVO 8 Mk5 that was perfect from the outside, the meter movement destroyed (the plastic that held the movement in place shattered). I did swap out the movement from another scrap one, only to find the tw&t that bought it on a scrap order then sold it on ePay for a premium as almost NOS condition.

Having been inside that one I never want to work on another Mk5, with those crappy flex wiring looms, I have one have that needs rehoming (reads low on most ranges), now I have a nice AVO Test Set Multirange No 1.
David

I've heard people say that before. Find working inside the Mk5 a doddle. Have been inside a few of them when I've bought shabby ones with good movements, to replace o/c movements in others with good outers.

Maybe I'm a little biased, as I've come across cracked & defective flex cables, in many things we repaired at work (not TE related). Seem to remember someone on here rewiring one with regular point to point wiring too.

David

[Squarewave]

We had an AVO 8 Mk5 that was perfect from the outside, the meter movement destroyed (the plastic that held the movement in place shattered). I did swap out the movement from another scrap one, only to find the tw&t that bought it on a scrap order then sold it on ePay for a premium as almost NOS condition.

Having been inside that one I never want to work on another Mk5, with those crappy flex wiring looms, I have one have that needs rehoming (reads low on most ranges), now I have a nice AVO Test Set Multirange No 1.
David

I've heard people say that before. Find working inside the Mk5 a doddle. Have been inside a few of them when I've bought shabby ones with good movements, to replace o/c movements in others with good outers.

Maybe I'm a little biased, as I've come across cracked & defective flex cables, in many things we repaired at work (not TE related). Seem to remember someone on here rewiring one with regular point to point wiring too.

David

Yep, people have gotten to them with either the wrong soldering iron and/or technique. I can get one off with out issue and get it back on fine, but in the past I have seen some people butcher them and advised just that, making your own loom and it's back in action.

[AVGresponding]

Some mentalist paid almost working unit money for something that looks like it has some potentially serious front end damage:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1923238610?iid=185523787974





What with all the talk of those silly wobbly pointy things, thought you might like to see this:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284928722136





I'm even less inclined to buy this:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325299380159

[Squarewave]

I've got one of them somewhere.

[Saskia]

Fnort. Just returned from a shopping road trip.
Did the mandatory backfisch and went to my favorite dealer.
Left huge money there.
a UPS. I think it's one of those, the 3k one.
https://www.fsp-group.com/en/product/ups/1489377489-410.html
Hoymiles microinverter HM-1500 for the solar stuff (takes 4 panels)
assorted cabling to hook up aforementioned microinverter.
Bluebrixx model of space 1999 eagle transporter

Tomorrow I can pick up a couple of 400W panels

Had major argument with hubby regarding panels and how to set them up.
He has interesting ideas that conflict with my ideas.
So it has been decided we will slug it out empirically.

Build a PV system and take it from there.
Also looking at some battery buffering solution, the inverter I have for that (supporting island operation) only has a 12VDC charging thingie for batteries, so my guess is that I will need to use a 4S LiFePo4 block which would give me a about up to 3.4 kWh of juice.
good for emergency stuff and experimenting. We will need to check this and do a PoC.

[Specmaster]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

They invented the hammer to solve that problem.

I'm sure someone will find the solution to yours one day.

Those Panclimatic meters weighed a bloody metric ton FFS, nobody would want one of those things hanging round their neck, enough to fold you up double 

A teaspoon of cement fixes that. 

Well I suppose a teaspoonful is approx 50g 

[Saskia]

[tautech]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

They invented the hammer to solve that problem.

I'm sure someone will find the solution to yours one day.

Those Panclimatic meters weighed a bloody metric ton FFS, nobody would want one of those things hanging round their neck, enough to fold you up double 

A teaspoon of cement fixes that. 

Well I suppose a teaspoonful is approx 50g 

A teaspoon is enough to harden you up to hang a Avo around your neck whereas 50g will soften you up more ! 

[armandine2]

Re AVO weird battery requirement - on my to do list:

Mikeselectricalstuff coin battery mod

[Robert763]

I’m aiming higher. This has been used in broadcast measuring van. And it came with manual with all the instructions one may ever need.
Hope it will re-activate and even elevate my DXing 
If not, I can still use it for 10MHz frequency reference GPS antenna, 4G router antenna, weather station, … 

Been there, done that. Be carefull they can kill. One nearly got me.

Thanks for the warning. Lightning? Collapsed? Accidental retracting?

I'd imagine that a genuine risk with those is driving off after failing to retract it. Add almost any overhead structure, but especially HV power lines to "fire for effect".

The Range Rover had a pressure switch and a big IP67 microswitch (active if mast not fully down) in paralell. If either was active with ignition in RUN position you got a big reg LED lit on top of the dash. If handbrake was off you got a loud sonalert too. Compressor would not run with handbrake off. You could cancel the LED for night time operations with engine running for power but if anything changed state, including brake lights, it came back on. Insurance compamy (NFU Mutual) were OK with it as long as it passed the MOT. They did exclude the mast from the comprehensive cover too but 3rd party including hitting something with it was covered.

[Specmaster]

We had an AVO 8 Mk5 that was perfect from the outside, the meter movement destroyed (the plastic that held the movement in place shattered). I did swap out the movement from another scrap one, only to find the tw&t that bought it on a scrap order then sold it on ePay for a premium as almost NOS condition.

Having been inside that one I never want to work on another Mk5, with those crappy flex wiring looms, I have one have that needs rehoming (reads low on most ranges), now I have a nice AVO Test Set Multirange No 1.
David

I've heard people say that before. Find working inside the Mk5 a doddle. Have been inside a few of them when I've bought shabby ones with good movements, to replace o/c movements in others with good outers.

Maybe I'm a little biased, as I've come across cracked & defective flex cables, in many things we repaired at work (not TE related). Seem to remember someone on here rewiring one with regular point to point wiring too.

David

That would be me, the flex cable was fecked, so I used multicoloured ribbon cable, doubling up on the cores where required, works a treat.

[Specmaster]

You obviously overlook their PANCLIMATIC, soft cased with a shoulder/neck strap. 

I've got a few of those, 7X Panclimatic, 8X Panclimatic, 8 Mk3 Panclimatic.

I'm never far from an AVO 

They invented the hammer to solve that problem.

I'm sure someone will find the solution to yours one day.

Those Panclimatic meters weighed a bloody metric ton FFS, nobody would want one of those things hanging round their neck, enough to fold you up double 

A teaspoon of cement fixes that. 

Well I suppose a teaspoonful is approx 50g 

A teaspoon is enough to harden you up to hang a Avo around your neck whereas 50g will soften you up more ! 

Well the end result of the application of either is about the same, you're fit for F all afterwards 

[Vince]

Vince spotted....How's work going ?

Too much traffic here... and I am a slow reader. I can only afford to skim through the stuff and even just that, takes me an hour or more. 

Work is boring as hell... workshop is 90% empty, most people are still on hols.
So the couple colleagues have nothing to do of their own either, so we just talk and talk to pass time.
So, more of the same tomorrow.

Then next week, on Tuesday (Monday will be bank holiday here), the real stuff will start. Most people will come back from their hols, it will become a busy place again. The colleague I am meant to replace will be back from hols as well, so she can start training me on her job... and we will see what happens, good or bad.. or ugly 

So for now, this week it's zero stress, just pure babysitting, all fun, but next week stress will be high and serious things will commence.... brrr.... anxiety will be rising to insane levels over the week-end.... but at least I won't be on the morning shift anymore, I will be able to start doing office hours as was planned for this job, so that's cool. Also the hours are quite flexible. I need to work 7 hours every day, but I can arrange them as I wish, pretty much. Based on Airbus own policy. Most subcontractors follow the same policy on the site, so that's cool. So in the morning I can arrive anytime between 07H30 and 09H00.
At lunch, I must take at least a 45 minutes break, and can take as much as up to 1H30 if I so fancy. So for those who want to come back home to eat, if they live nearby... they can.  Personally I won't because even though I live only 9kms away, it would double my petrol bill and wear on the car, so I would rather avoid that... So I think I will just take the minimum 45 minutes break, so I can be back home ASAP, and eat a home made sandwich to save money. The Airbus restaurant is prohibitive, like 10/15 Euros per meal. They also sell sandwiches but way overpriced for what you get, so no thank you. I will make my own sandwiches...
Typically the restaurant, I would go once every week or two with ex colleagues who still work at Airbus in other parts of the plant, or nearby related companies in the same industrial estate, as a sortie, a luxurious event...

Loved all the old tranistors BD got, nice to see he has so many of them, might come handy when I fix my old stuff, who knows !

[tautech]

Cool Vince sounds like the perfect restart to work for you. You’ll do just fine next week for sure.