Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

I’d stay away from the black star meters. Notorious for having leaked batteries in.  End game if that happens.

Hmm, I'm sure the battery compartment could be rebuilt to use AA's or others if the terminals have been destroyed because if the construction inside is like their frequency counters, its all hung of the front panel and so should be well away from any battery leakage, unless I've got it all wrong?

There are two heights of enclosure that Thandar/Black star do. This is one of the low profile ones. The thing will have C batteries in it and they are a floating battery holder partially over the main board. When they leak it goes all over the board and via capillary action all over the rear of the board. The early Thandar TG counters, DMMs and function generators all suffer from this. Also the SC110 scopes.

Edit: have a look at the bottom of the following carefully on the rear (poor sod who bought this!):: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F232346221928

[Specmaster]

I’d stay away from the black star meters. Notorious for having leaked batteries in.  End game if that happens.

Hmm, I'm sure the battery compartment could be rebuilt to use AA's or others if the terminals have been destroyed because if the construction inside is like their frequency counters, its all hung of the front panel and so should be well away from any battery leakage, unless I've got it all wrong?

There are two heights of enclosure that Thandar/Black star do. This is one of the low profile ones. The thing will have C batteries in it and they are a floating battery holder partially over the main board. When they leak it goes all over the board and via capillary action all over the rear of the board. The early Thandar TG counters, DMMs and function generators all suffer from this. Also the SC110 scopes.

Oh I see, I was basing it on my experience with their Meteor range of frequency counters which was a very similar construction to my Iso-Tech bench multimeter, all housed in a vertical pcb attached directly behind the display, just goes to show that sometimes I assume too much 

[bd139]

Those are the newer ones and are all 

I only know because I got a stack of Thandar kit for £5 a unit (25 units) and had to throw half of it in a skip

All the SC110’s were good apart from dry solder joints! Horrid little things though.

[Specmaster]

I’d stay away from the black star meters. Notorious for having leaked batteries in.  End game if that happens.

Hmm, I'm sure the battery compartment could be rebuilt to use AA's or others if the terminals have been destroyed because if the construction inside is like their frequency counters, its all hung of the front panel and so should be well away from any battery leakage, unless I've got it all wrong?

There are two heights of enclosure that Thandar/Black star do. This is one of the low profile ones. The thing will have C batteries in it and they are a floating battery holder partially over the main board. When they leak it goes all over the board and via capillary action all over the rear of the board. The early Thandar TG counters, DMMs and function generators all suffer from this. Also the SC110 scopes.

Oh I see, I was basing it on my experience with their Meteor range of frequency counters which was a very similar construction to my Iso-Tech bench multimeter, all housed in a vertical pcb attached directly behind the display, just goes to show that sometimes I assume too much 

Although it does state in the advert, that they have been power tested and switch on, but batteries are not included, so they may be worth a gamble?

[Mr. Scram]

I'm not sure of your location in the world as you not stated that on your profile, but anyway, you do not copy and paste, they are active hyperlinks and clicking on them should take you directly to relative page on Ebay UK.

If not, then copy each complete line and then paste directly in the address bar of your browser and press enter and you will again be transported direct to the page.

Don't worry, I understand that they're hyperlinks 

It's just that I tried to search for the listings based on your initial photo and didn't get anywhere. Now I have the listings and I still can't reproducibly find them with an independent query. That's slightly worrying and begs the question what else doesn't turn up.

[bd139]

WRT power tested, you have to ask if they have been switched on by someone who knows what they are supposed to do when they are turned on.

[Mr. Scram]

What the? I just tried searching for "Metrix" "metrix" and "GX320" in the store of this very seller and still nothing pops up. I must be overlooking something.

[Specmaster]

What the? I just tried searching for "Metrix" "metrix" and "GX320" in the store of this very seller and still nothing pops up. I must be overlooking something.

Try searching for "Metrix GX320" and it should work, it just did for me and that seller has a total of 4 on offer, 1 @ £80, 1 @ £30 and 2 together for £20 as they have what they describe as dodgy outputs?

[Specmaster]

Those are the newer ones and are all 

I only know because I got a stack of Thandar kit for £5 a unit (25 units) and had to throw half of it in a skip

All the SC110’s were good apart from dry solder joints! Horrid little things though.

Oh so it was you then, I was looking at those myself and debating whether or not to go for them and see if I make a return on the investment, then I forgot to snipe them 

You have no idea how much I lusted after one of those SC110's when I was quite a few years younger 

[bd139]

This was about 5 years ago and wasn’t via eBay. I did sell the good ones on eBay though. The SC120’s went for around £70 each!

You would have been disappointed if you owned one.

[Specmaster]

Now I would, but back then I doubt it seeing as my only other experience with scopes was back in my teens and that was with a Cosser 1130 or 1049, huge great thing that weighed a flaming ton I swear.

[bd139]

Ooh Cossor. Haven’t heard that name for a while. I did my work experience with them at school

Edit: used to skip dive from Pitney Bowes over the road from them as well

[Specmaster]

Ooh Cossor. Haven’t heard that name for a while. I did my work experience with them at school

Edit: used to skip dive from Pitney Bowes over the road from them as well

Harlow?

[bd139]

Yep. Pinnacles. Horrid place! (the building, not the company )

[Specmaster]

Know it well, Pitney Bowes, BOC, Cossor, Panther Cars, Co-op biscuit factory etc.

[bd139]

Not sure who’s still left there now. Haven’t been up there for about 15 years. I know Cossor got bought by the yanks (Raytheon) and are still there and a load got knocked down for GSK.

Probably no skips now

[Specmaster]

Both BOC and Pitney Bowes went for GSK and last time I look at Raytheon, they had 24 hour security all over the place so must be some sensitive stuff in there for one or more governments I reckon, so skip diving there would not be possible

[bd139]

Yeah when I was there on work experience when it was Cossor it was all hush hush stuff. Mainly avionics, IFF, comms, military GPS (before selective availability was killed) is what I saw. Had to sign OSA and all sorts. Vehicle searches in and out. They had MoD police lurking as well.

I was tea and fetch and carry boy for a week. No one was allowed to give me anything to do really

Whole place smelled of nicotine and anti static floor polish.

Saw me a tek 7000 crate and I was hooked I think.

[Mr. Scram]

I'm catching myself getting a bit purchase happy lately. That's not bad in itself, but it does mean that funds get redirected from the things I actually planned to do. Time to refocus a bit, even though that means letting some excellent eBay deals get away.

[Specmaster]

I'm catching myself getting a bit purchase happy lately. That's not bad in itself, but it does mean that funds get redirected from the things I actually planned to do. Time to refocus a bit, even though that means letting some excellent eBay deals get away.

Does that mean that you're going after some of those items from the UK Ebay after all?

[Mr. Scram]

Does that mean that you're going after some of those items from the UK Ebay after all?

No, unless it turns out those universal frequency counters are something I could use, but even then I don't think they're for me. It should mostly mean that I'm going to spend some money on brand new stuff. Hisss!

[bd139]

If you're going to go for a universal counter, watch out for the HP 5315/5316 units. They're pretty good, don't take a lot of space and are very quiet and reliable.

[Mr. Scram]

If you're going to go for a universal counter, watch out for the HP 5315/5316 units. They're pretty good, don't take a lot of space and are very quiet and reliable.

I was eyeing a nice unit, but I let it go because it didn't have any connectivity options. GBIP is available on one of the units you mention, but a bit of a hassle to actually run and doesn't come quite cheap either. As I've said elsewhere, to me it's a "nice to have" and not worth spending stupid money on. The nice models all seem ridiculously expensive. Thanks for the suggestion though, I don't think I've looked at those two models before.

I'm still on the fence about a Rigol DM30X8 multimeter. It should do everything I need, though somehow it doesn't quite feel like the quality mainstay meter I'm after. Then again, they're good enough for Shahriar, so maybe I shouldn't be so pretentious.

[Specmaster]

If you're going to go for a universal counter, watch out for the HP 5315/5316 units. They're pretty good, don't take a lot of space and are very quiet and reliable.

I was eyeing a nice unit, but I let it go because it didn't have any connectivity options. GBIP is available on one of the units you mention, but a bit of a hassle to actually run and doesn't come quite cheap either. As I've said elsewhere, to me it's a "nice to have" and not worth spending stupid money on. The nice models all seem ridiculously expensive. Thanks for the suggestion though, I don't think I've looked at those two models before.

I'm still on the fence about a Rigol DM30X8 multimeter. It should do everything I need, though somehow it doesn't quite feel like the quality mainstay meter I'm after. Then again, they're good enough for Shahriar, so maybe I shouldn't be so pretentious.

Hers an interesting fact about Rigol, in the calibration document for their meters they actually state that you need a Fluke 5520A ti do the calibration with. Most other makers state that you need their own meters etc in order to carry out a full calibration.

[Mr. Scram]

Hers an interesting fact about Rigol, in the calibration document for their meters they actually state that you need a Fluke 5520A ti do the calibration with. Most other makers state that you need their own meters etc in order to carry out a full calibration.

To be fair, they don't have or pretend to have something appropriate for calibration. Knowing and admitting your strengths and weaknesses is a plus, especially for a Chinese outfit.

I could spend slightly more and get a Keysight or Agilent unit that doesn't do half of what I need, or spend three times as much and get one that does most of it. That's a stupid amount of money, though, which I would probably prefer to spend elsewhere.