Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Saskia]

which reminds me that I got my first compute node for my deep learning training system set up with 2 NVidia P100. I have a 2nd node which will already has some P100s but will need to be reinstalled w/ RHEL 8. A 3rd one with 2 A100 / 80G will be coming in.

At home it will be 2x3090, 1x 3070TI, 2x2070s for now.
Should be enough powwaahhhh for @home.

additional note: the solar panel mount for 2 panels has finally arrived. 2 tired to set it up today, but will try to do so over the week end to build one of the "balcony plants".

Then I got news that island solutions are hard to get by because they don't want you to have them, it is said to be a political matter. you are to get your 8-10 c /kWh that you sell to the energy companies but pay them 40 - 60 cent for every kWh that you need to buy from them.

Currently thinking about a Blockheizkraftwerk (co-generator ?) that I might get my hands on for relatively little money to satisfy my energy needs. The authorities will most likely find a way to prohibit this, too ...

Energy prepayments now are so high that they take up hubby's entire pension. This country is completely effed up.

[Cerebus]

There is one 2465B, too. For those interested: shipping by Purolator from Dartmouth to west coast is ~CAD157, so the rest of Canada should be the same or cheaper.

Every time I hear the name Purolator my first thought is that it's some peculiar electric kitchen appliance that I've never heard of, and then it's only after a few seconds do I remember that it's a US courier company.

"Honey, if we put the Sunday leftovers through the Purolator it'll make a swell mid-week meal!".

[mnementh]

WAF Improvement Project: FINAL UPDATE



I'm just going to lead with the money shot; it's the one most folk would be interested in, even though for me it represents easily a full work week of semi-skilled labor and ~$150 in tools & supplies (more like $300 if you include the woodworking bench bought primarily for this project) and associated back misery from too much time spent vertical...

Cheers!

mnem
We now return you to your regularly scheduled insanity.

Beautiful!!!  Looks like it would hold a 1950 RCA Oscilloscope perfectly!
What kind of wood is it? I just purchased 2nd hand a 9 foot oval table with drop side leaves, and a set of 6 gorgeous chairs. It was way over 3600 for just the table at a local Antique type furniture shop.
I'v been trying to not pile any scopes on it (yet). It's Cherry wood. Needs some finish work as well.

Great Job!

Yes, once the trestle base is completely assembled, the table is solid as bedrock! I daresay it would likely hold up two or even three such as the WO-57B; prolly a dozen of the W0-5x5 and family. 

It's 60's vintage product from a defunct furniture maker that was near to my wife's home town in Louisiana; made from local white pine. The chairs are actually a recent CL acquisition. According to source, they were made by Link Wood furniture MFG from local hardwoods here in the Hartford area; they're dated "Fall 1991"...?

No idea why they always seem to care about being made from locally sourced woods; but whatevs. I guess it all feeds into the whole "shop local" thing. 

mnem
*toddles off to the great upstairs*

[Saskia]

@mnem very nice wood working.
Congrats.
@bd congrats for the results


higher print temperature appears to yield better results. this is an out of the box anycubic vyper on a not so stable stand (empty 19" 10u or so light weight rack) with old filament rotating on a cheap outtadabox filament holder. Filament has been sitting in the open for about 6 months. These prints are currently totally utilitarian for use with my empty systainers and destined to hold pinball parts that are due for cleaning or to be refitted after cleaning.

[Specmaster]

A quick look at the local buy and sell sites:

The HP 400FL listed for $75 that was bought from Value Village for $15 which my offer of $50 for was rejected on is still for sale.  The pictures still show the $14.99 Value Village price tag on it.

The Agilent U1253B that I messaged twice and offered full asking price on but never heard back from the seller is still there.  Several weeks later, I got a friend to offer full asking price and would've bought by proxy if it was me the seller had an issue with for some reason, but the friend never got a reply either.  The 13 week old listing now has additional pictures though. 

Beats me.  The first seller would've been up $50 and the second $400 instead of $0 with their advertisements getting older and generating very little interest from other people, if any.  I don't understand it.

I think that sometimes these local buy and sell sites are an overlooked resource. Sure items may not crop up very often, but usually when they do, they can be real bargains to be had.

[Specmaster]

I did think about buying something like that and decided that it was more fun to make one. Plus it’ll only cost about 2 quid

Doesn't a typical handheld DMM output precise currents of this nature on various ohms and diode test ranges..? Over an even wider impedance range too, I'll warrant...   

Unfortunately not the handheld ones generally. There’s a crude voltage source and series resistance with the resistor under test. Constant current should not be relied on. The bench meters tend to have current sources but aren’t very portable 

Turns out we're both right. The F87V and the F289 can both give a very stable and accurate 1mA, from 0 to about 2k1, it drops past your 5% mark at around 2k3. This is of course with manual ranging set to lowest ohms range. The Metrix puts out 1mA but drops past 950uA at a bit over 1k5. Brymen 869S, Tek 912, Agilent 1401 all use 340uA on the lowest range. The Fluke 8060 seems to use a different method; the current changes directly in relation to the resistance. Haven't put a battery in the F27 to check that.

Manually ranging the F87V or 289 gives progressive decade divisions of 1mA, and are good to hundreds of k; I'd say they could be used for this purpose. Naturally I'd just take my Agilent U1401B with me, since it can source +/-25mA in 1uA steps...   

I'd just take along my MS7221 for the ride, anything from 1uA to 24mA is available on that puppy.

[Specmaster]

which reminds me that I got my first compute node for my deep learning training system set up with 2 NVidia P100. I have a 2nd node which will already has some P100s but will need to be reinstalled w/ RHEL 8. A 3rd one with 2 A100 / 80G will be coming in.

At home it will be 2x3090, 1x 3070TI, 2x2070s for now.
Should be enough powwaahhhh for @home.

additional note: the solar panel mount for 2 panels has finally arrived. 2 tired to set it up today, but will try to do so over the week end to build one of the "balcony plants".

Then I got news that island solutions are hard to get by because they don't want you to have them, it is said to be a political matter. you are to get your 8-10 c /kWh that you sell to the energy companies but pay them 40 - 60 cent for every kWh that you need to buy from them.

Currently thinking about a Blockheizkraftwerk (co-generator ?) that I might get my hands on for relatively little money to satisfy my energy needs. The authorities will most likely find a way to prohibit this, too ...

Energy prepayments now are so high that they take up hubby's entire pension. This country is completely effed up.

Nah, you ain't seen anything yet, move to the UK for an education in that arena 

[Saskia]

just stumbled across the legends of valhalla deluxe pinball preorder page.
10k€. oooompf.

[Specmaster]

There is one 2465B, too. For those interested: shipping by Purolator from Dartmouth to west coast is ~CAD157, so the rest of Canada should be the same or cheaper.

Every time I hear the name Purolator my first thought is that it's some peculiar electric kitchen appliance that I've never heard of, and then it's only after a few seconds do I remember that it's a US courier company.

"Honey, if we put the Sunday leftovers through the Purolator it'll make a swell mid-week meal!".

Every time I hear it, I think of huge air filters on a Gardener 6LX engine, Gardeners FTW.

[Neper]

..or some totally esoteric water purification device. Something with colourful crystals and magnets and copper rings.

[mnementh]

@mnem very nice wood working. Congrats.

Thanks... it were a lot of work, but then when I get picky aboot something it always winds up being more assache than anticipated. Just think how much nicer it could've been with some Festool in the recipe.

mnem
But we christened it in fashion that wifey says her dad would've approved: First meal served on it was lunch from Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen. 

[mnementh]

higher print temperature appears to yield better results. this is an out of the box anycubic vyper on a not so stable stand (empty 19" 10u or so light weight rack) with old filament rotating on a cheap outtadabox filament holder. Filament has been sitting in the open for about 6 months. These prints are currently totally utilitarian for use with my empty systainers and destined to hold pinball parts that are due for cleaning or to be refitted after cleaning.

Yup. looked underextruded to me, and some layer voids. That's why I suggested raising the temp in 5° steps, and maybe increasing flow rate a wee bit (5% per step to no more than 115-120%).

Welcome to your new nuttery! 

You should see if you can get your employer to foot the bill for a full sub to Frustion360... unless you want to design some things you'd rather not have stored in the cloud.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

..or some totally esoteric water purification device. Something with colourful crystals and magnets and copper rings.

Yeah, but we already have PÜR water filters, and PuraFilter (primarily air filters) also has a full line of water filter cartridges for household and refrigerators.



And then, of course, we have Purolator brand oil filters; who supposedly invented the cartridge type oil filters we take for granted nowadays:

https://www.purolatornow.com/en/about-purolator.html

mnem
 

[tautech]

bd139
I hope you don't mind and please correct me if my memory is shot but I dropped your little Brymen BM22s HV capability into Joe Smiths DMM thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/msg4366615/#msg4366615

[Neomys Sapiens]

..or some totally esoteric water purification device. Something with colourful crystals and magnets and copper rings.

Indeed the devices (water tap accessory) generally known as 'Perlator' were at one time (mid-70s) sold under this name. No magnets nor colours though.

[mnementh]

bd139
I hope you don't mind and please correct me if my memory is shot but I dropped your little Brymen BM22s HV capability into Joe Smiths DMM thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/msg4366615/#msg4366615

I dunno that adding bd139's "I'm gunna do somethin' stoopit!" empirical testing of this poor meter to that train-wreck in progress is any better than throwing a bale of hay on a bonfire... but I applaud your dedication to your craft... 

mnem
 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Yeah it’s weird. It’s definitely NPN. I buzzed out a few with diode tester. All the same. These are TI 1970 stamped ones. Will see if there’s a catalogue on bitsavers…

I suppose it’s a good excuse to buy a DCA55 or something 

Could it be a counterfeit part?

I think this was just a Friday afternoon labelling job and murphy doing his thing to me today by handing me the one duff one to play with . I tested all the others and they are all PNP. Just one part was wrong. It does work quite happily as a dual NPN transistor though!

One inconsistency remains. Yesterday you wrote:

Yeah it’s weird. It’s definitely NPN. I buzzed out a few with diode tester. All the same. These are TI 1970 stamped ones. Will see if there’s a catalogue on bitsavers…

So the few were always the same one?
 
Now bd, you don't have to make up an excuse to get a DCA55! But my advice would be to get a DCA75+ instead.
 

[tautech]

bd139
I hope you don't mind and please correct me if my memory is shot but I dropped your little Brymen BM22s HV capability into Joe Smiths DMM thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/msg4366615/#msg4366615

I dunno that adding bd139's "I'm gunna do somethin' stoopit!" empirical testing of this poor meter to that train-wreck in progress is any better than throwing a bale of hay on a bonfire... but I applaud your dedication to your craft... 

mnem
 

Yeah well if you remember the context at the time he had nothing else that went that high and place at risk so the cheapest and least treasured kit got offered up as a possible sacrifice.
We were all amazed ! 

Then again, most of us just might have an old AVO tucked away such requirements. 

[TERRA Operative]

Another TDS220 with the burnt out LCD just arrived now, firmware v1.17 has already been ripped and put up on Tekwiki.

I really gotta find a source for FSTN LCD polarizing film that isn't stupid expensive. There is a single seller on aliexpress that sell the front polarizer, plus the rear with the required compensating layer, but a sheet is rather pricey...
I'll have to message them and ask for a price on smaller TDS200 series sized pieces. I got 3 of these things now that need the polarizer films replaced.

[Zucca]

BTW, Saskia here

https://diysolarforum.com/

the guys are helping me a lot to design my system.
After posting there, I declare this EEVBlog SMF forum is light years behind what a forum should be in 2022.

https://xenforo.com/ 

[mnementh]

Another TDS220 with the burnt out LCD just arrived now, firmware v1.17 has already been ripped and put up on Tekwiki.

I really gotta find a source for FSTN LCD polarizing film that isn't stupid expensive. There is a single seller on aliexpress that sell the front polarizer, plus the rear with the required compensating layer, but a sheet is rather pricey...
I'll have to message them and ask for a price on smaller TDS200 series sized pieces. I got 3 of these things now that need the polarizer films replaced.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256802784129794.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804208051738.html

Is this any help...?

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

BTW, Saskia here

https://diysolarforum.com/

the guys are helping me a lot to design my system.
After posting there, I declare this EEVBlog SMF forum is light years behind what a forum should be in 2022.

https://xenforo.com/ 

Hey, CoSY from the 1980s beats the pants off of SMF. It's not hard.

[mnementh]

The Anniversary Project Table is encouraging all sorts of family fun; tonight after dinner we played Exploding Kittens for the first time. I led with Catomic Bomb right out the gate to take out MIL. Son got to wear the Cone of Shame, and wifey had to hit me with 2 Nope/Directed Attack combos in a row to win.

This game is perversely addictive; the basic strategy is be a dick to everybody to win.

mnem

[mnementh]

BTW, Saskia here

https://diysolarforum.com/

the guys are helping me a lot to design my system.
After posting there, I declare this EEVBlog SMF forum is light years behind what a forum should be in 2022.

https://xenforo.com/ 

so... looks like aboot $600 licensing for the full monty, then $100/year plus infrastructure costs...?

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[David Greene]

Hello, my name is David and I am NOT a test equipaholic.

I love this and it is not bad for me.

I have just started my journey.  Began by scrounging the local university surplus center for enclosures to house a dim bulb tester and isolation transformer.  Got some gigantic electrolytics from inside one of 'em.

I had zero test equipment beyond a no-name handheld multimeter.

Now I also own a (possibly broken) EICO signal generator, a (possibly broken) HeathKit capacitor checker and a (possibly broken) Tektronix 7603 with two amplifiers and timebase plugin.

Tomorrow I will probably own a (possibly broken) Tektronix tm506 mainframe.  And a DMM for it by the end of next week.

I still have to buy wire to build the dim bulb tester.

Then fix the probably-broken mainframe.
Then fix the probably-broken scope.
Then fix the probably-broken signal generator.

Then fix the RCA amp that started all this.

Am I doing it right?