Manual Availability

[RickieSalad]

So I'm relatively new to electronics and I'd like to build up the test gear I have so I might be able to do more and more as time goes on.  I thought the best way to do that might be to find a little older gear that is damaged or broken off of Ebay or other sources.  Not only could I get some decent gear for a relatively decent price since it's broken, but I also get to learn how to fix the gear before I can use it.  Sort of a win-win situation.  I was thinking about it and I think that, especially as a newer person to electronics that the service manuals would be an indispensable resource for being able to track down and fix issues.  So I think when I'm shopping for broken gear I'd like to invest in gear from companies that have robust and easily available service manuals.  So my question for folks who know more than I do, is in your experience what manufacturers are good about their service manuals?  Also, maybe what companies should I avoid buying equipment from because their manuals and documentation are notoriously hard to get?   I know that HP has some great manuals but that is the extent of my knowledge. I wonder if Agilent/Keysight are as good with manuals with newer gear as the older HP stuff is?  Hmmmm...

Anyway,  thanks for taking the time.  Happy holidays for everyone!

[AlphZeta]

Buying broken equipment from eBay is always a risky business. What I would recommend is before buying anything, first search on the internet to see if you can find detailed service manuals and if you do, glance through and find out if the unit uses any custom ICs or hard-to-find parts. Most older HP equipment have decent service manuals freely available (but not always, so you really need to check out before you buy).

That said, I fixed most of the "not working" equipment I bought from eBay relatively easily. Either it was due to dried up caps or corroded traces or blown fuses. But sometimes even with service manuals, haunting down the problem could be extremely time consuming (but it's rewarding as well).

[electr_peter]

Buying non working equipment is a very risky business. You have to buy really cheap to offset time, effort, parts and resources required for a repair (which is by no means a guaranteed to work). Of course, you will get some experience by doing it, but is not a best deal.

With regards to acquiring equipment by repairing broken stuff - it will take forever for you to do it this way. As you stated above, you have little electronics experience - repair jobs won't be easy in many cases. On top of that, you will proper working equipment for repairs which you likely do not have right now. Also, time and effort consumed with fiddling with partly working stuff is underestimated - expect for broken stuff to accumulate.

I suggest to take a slow approach - buy some working test gear at first, try few repairs and see how it goes from here. If you like accelerated approach, try working in a repair shop - you will learn much quicker.

[RickieSalad]

With regards to acquiring equipment by repairing broken stuff - it will take forever for you to do it this way. As you stated above, you have little electronics experience - repair jobs won't be easy in many cases. On top of that, you will proper working equipment for repairs which you likely do not have right now. Also, time and effort consumed with fiddling with partly working stuff is underestimated - expect for broken stuff to accumulate.

I suggest to take a slow approach - buy some working test gear at first, try few repairs and see how it goes from here. If you like accelerated approach, try working in a repair shop - you will learn much quicker.

I do have some equipment already, like an oscilloscope, DMM, bench top power supply, hand tools and things like that. I'm newer to electronics but not a total noob. I know it's risky, but I think learning how to track down problems and the satisfaction of having fixed it myself will more than make up for the risk. 

I'm just thinking that while I'm looking I can steer myself toward or away from certain manufacturers based on how easy it is to find documentation.  That's why I was trying to see if anyone has any input with their personal experiences on any manufacturers that are notoriously good or bad at documentation availability?  I know HP seems to be pretty good when it comes to having their service manuals freely available. I just don't know about other manufacturers either way.

[tautech]

Best advice is to find the manual before purchasing equipment.
Google will generally find Service manuals but not always, it's one of the reasons why I started this thread in the Repair board:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/repair-documents-and-links-sticky-me-please-mods/

I still find myself checking each of the manual repositories from time to time to find just what I'm looking for.
When a new source is found I link it.

Dave has some manual links in his Wiki:
http://www.eevblog.com/wiki/index.php?title=Service_manuals_and_repair_information

[RickieSalad]

Best advice is to find the manual before purchasing equipment.
Google will generally find Service manuals but not always, it's one of the reasons why I started this thread in the Repair board:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/repair-documents-and-links-sticky-me-please-mods/

I still find myself checking each of the manual repositories from time to time to find just what I'm looking for.
When a new source is found I link it.

Dave has some manual links in his Wiki:
http://www.eevblog.com/wiki/index.php?title=Service_manuals_and_repair_information

Great links! Thanks!