Author Topic: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?  (Read 10007 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Online Jon.C

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: ad
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #25 on: July 21, 2017, 10:26:40 am »
When Dave starts shipping 121GW from Australia we will see where it comes from...   :o
 

Offline Bill158

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 105
  • Country: us
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #26 on: July 21, 2017, 03:08:09 pm »
The Agilent 34401A most adventurous in the history of mankind    :-DD





My younger brother flies cargo 757s, as a plane captain, for United Parcel Service "UPS".  It is obvious UPS is the package carrier for this item.  He lives in Anchorage AK and routinely flies from Anchorage to Korea, Taiwan and places in the Far East.  He will also fly from Louisville KY to as far as Istanbul Turkey.  He got stuck in Istanbul for 4 days after "9/11".  From what I understand when talking to him, UPS does NOT want to fly the Far East to Europe route for a LOT of reasons, including what happened to MH17 that got shot down over the Ukraine.  Plus UPS has most of it's maintenance and sorting facilities in the USA because that is where UPS got started many many years ago.  Louisville is the MAIN hub.  So I hope this explains why your 34401A seems to have taken the "long" route to get to you.  This is UPS's strategy and it works.  I hope you DON'T get a "brick".
Bill
 
The following users thanked this post: Jon.C

Offline not1xor1Topic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 716
  • Country: it
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #27 on: July 21, 2017, 03:17:24 pm »
The brick has landed  ;D

The parcel is something more than 4.2kgs:




The brick looks like a real Agilent made in Malaysia:





There is also a sort of 4wire adapter, but the Kelvin clips are missing



Now I'll open it to check if everything looks fine inside, then will see if it works.
I'll let you know later.

P.S. they did not even charge me any customs duties, handling fees or VAT (multimeters from South Korea to Europe should pay just VAT).
« Last Edit: July 21, 2017, 06:14:10 pm by not1xor1 »
 
The following users thanked this post: SeanB

Online Jon.C

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: ad
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #28 on: July 21, 2017, 03:25:09 pm »
Bill158  , Thank you very much for this explanation, certainly very interesting


not1xor1  Congratulations !!!!   :scared: :scared: :scared:   Mine think I'll have it on monday   

The display looks bright?


 

Offline not1xor1Topic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 716
  • Country: it
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #29 on: July 21, 2017, 04:22:59 pm »
not1xor1  Congratulations !!!!   :scared: :scared: :scared:   Mine think I'll have it on monday   

The display looks bright?

Warning!!!
It was set for 100VAC supply.

BTW Agilent manual states that one has to use the 220VAC setting for 230VAC (Europe standard supply voltage).

I held down the Shift key while switching the multimeter on to perform a full self test with PASS as result.  :-+

The display is a bit dim, but still quite readable. Probably it is 10-15 years old.
There is a 2003 in the middle of a long code number on a sticker inside, but I've no idea if this has any relation to the manufacture date.

I tested a few voltages and 0.1% resistors. I got the feeling it is a few tenths of ppm off.
But I do not have any new calibrated instrument to compare it with, apart an older Fluke 8842A which agrees by one digit with one of those cheap voltage references sold on ebay (the one with handwritten sticker).

Besides that the multimeter was quite hot, probably 30-35°C when I unboxed it.

I'll make more tests tomorrow, but that might better fit in a different section of the forum.  :)

Update
the local courier (delivery was not handled directly by UPS) called me and told I had to pay 57.63€ for customs expenses...
a bit more than I expected but the total cost is still around 100€ less than the average ebay price for items in such good condition
« Last Edit: July 21, 2017, 06:11:46 pm by not1xor1 »
 
The following users thanked this post: Jon.C

Online Jon.C

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 139
  • Country: ad
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #30 on: July 25, 2017, 07:18:43 pm »
Ladies and Gentlemen ....

the brick !!!!






not bad








I'm waiting for this week a more serious voltage reference


 

Offline Brumby

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 12288
  • Country: au
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #31 on: July 25, 2017, 11:58:37 pm »
Ladies and Gentlemen ....

the brick !!!!






not bad


Very nice.
 

Offline not1xor1Topic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 716
  • Country: it
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #32 on: July 26, 2017, 04:01:12 am »
Ladies and Gentlemen ....

the brick !!!!



yours looks better than mine :)

The one I got has a faint display with some segment more bright than others (it doesn't look so in the photo below).
It is still perfectly usable though.



The most annoying problem is that it is off by an average of 200µVs (the 2 LSDs) when switched on, and of about 300µVs after warm up.

The cal menu displays 35 calibrations and 25 jan 2004 as calibration message.
Since I found 2003 on the stickers on the PCBs, when I opened the case, I suppose it was produced at the end of 2003 and calibrated multiple times during burning in before being sold and then never calibrated again.

If I short the inputs with a thick copper wire the 2 LSDs still flicker, but so does the last LSD of the old Fluke 8842A (5-1/2 digits) I got a few months ago.

Now, after having switched the display off (menu -> sys -> display -> off -> enter), I'm keeping the multimeter on for a couple of days just to check voltage/resistance measure drift.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2017, 04:07:43 am by not1xor1 »
 

Offline edpalmer42

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2260
  • Country: ca
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #33 on: July 26, 2017, 04:55:26 am »
You can get the approximate production date for any piece of HP equipment from the serial number.  The four digit prefix gives you the number of years from 1960 and the week.  So if the serial number started with 2645, it would be 1986, week 45.

Ed
 

Online alm

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2840
  • Country: 00
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #34 on: July 26, 2017, 07:28:22 am »
That is the date of the last design change. Actual production date could be a decade later. It does set a lower bound. In my opinion semiconductor date codes are a better guide.

Offline Specmaster

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 14483
  • Country: gb
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #35 on: July 27, 2017, 11:12:04 pm »

The one I got has a faint display with some segment more bright than others (it doesn't look so in the photo below).
It is still perfectly usable though.


Apparently that type of display has known problems after a few years of use, particularly if they have been treated in the normal lab fashion of being left switched on all day long while not actually being used. Is it really required to be that precise with measurements that makes it worth sacrificing longevity of the display for as opposed to switching it on when required and switching off to conserve power and equipment?
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline Nusa

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2416
  • Country: us
Re: ebay scam? How can a parcel with an Agilent 34401A weigh just 3kgs?
« Reply #36 on: July 28, 2017, 12:03:53 am »

The one I got has a faint display with some segment more bright than others (it doesn't look so in the photo below).
It is still perfectly usable though.


Apparently that type of display has known problems after a few years of use, particularly if they have been treated in the normal lab fashion of being left switched on all day long while not actually being used. Is it really required to be that precise with measurements that makes it worth sacrificing longevity of the display for as opposed to switching it on when required and switching off to conserve power and equipment?

If the users didn't have a perceived need (justified or not) for that kind of accuracy, they wouldn't bother buying such an expensive and precise meter in the first place.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf