Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Ero-Shan]

Yeah, I think I'd keep clear of it TBH, if it was a 3.5 digit then it might worth it if the price was right but we have had better buys at that price point and that 2.5 digit display is going to be a PITA to get with.

Oh, come on! bd139 doesn't intend to actually use it to measure something. So it doesn't matter whether it has 2½ or 3½ digits. It's to sooth the longing ... Several pieces of my collection serve no other purpose as well.

He can show it to everybody and tell him or her: "This is the first DMM I wanted so badly!"

[Ero-Shan]

Go back a page or 2.

Yeah, I really should catch up first before answering ... I just don't like postponing.

Will try to remember that in the future.

[Housedad]

What a world we live in now.

In forums like this, we chat with people all over the world.  Servers I assume are in Australia, and I can watch the different time zones sign in and out every morning and night.  New Ideas, education and information shared from the most remote to the most urban environments. 

Having been born and reared in an era of communications that were point to point and relatively difficult and expensive compared to today,
I stand astounded each and every hour by the amazing flow of human communications.

"Oh, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in ’t!"

Shakespeare - The Tempest.

[Cerebus]

...Servers I assume are in Australia,...

The USA in fact, but set to believe they are running on Aus time.

"Oh, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in ’t!"

Shakespeare - The Tempest.

Careful with that quote, it might go off in your hand; Aldus Huxley used it for the title of the dystopian novel "Brave New World".

[med6753]

...Servers I assume are in Australia,...

The USA in fact, but set to believe they are running on Aus time.

Really? And how did you come to know this little tidbit?

[bd139]

Hosted in LA by gorillaservers.com (geoip + reverse lookup) and the time is always wrong by about the right amount

[tggzzz]

Having been born and reared in an era of communications that were point to point and relatively difficult and expensive compared to today,
I stand astounded each and every hour by the amazing flow of human communications.

Arthur C Clarke pointed out that this might be the first and last generation where any human can have a conversation with any other human.

[Mr. Scram]

Hosted in LA by gorillaservers.com (geoip + reverse lookup) and the time is always wrong by about the right amount

It also has been discussed by the forum crew every now and then.

[bd139]

Ok didn't go for the Heathkit but got a bust Tek 475A with DM44 module. Another 4xx scope but the fastest at 250MHz!

There are two more 475's available and a 465 on there at the moment as well. Looks intact apart from one of the 475's. Go go go.  I'm not taking two on

Seller is reliable. Guy I bought my 7L12 off. Excellent packaging.

Edit: appears that the remaining scopes that are showing trace are listed as "no timebase" but are all set in X-Y mode. May be user error.

[mnementh]

gixen.com is your friend.

mnem

Friends don't let friends snipe.

They do it themselves.

     

This is considerably worse than an HP95LX or Tek 7854

I stared at it for 30 minutes and I am literally not sure I can be arsed if I'm honest with this one... over to anyone else if they want it: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253938359189

(yes 2.5 whole digits)

   Oh hell, that ain't old. Meet it's older cousin. Don't let the “Bell & Howell Schools” fool you. It's 100% Heathkit. About the only thing that keeps it out of the dumpster is the Nixies. Other than that it ain't good for nuthin except for a display. But it does work and is somewhat accurate.

That really is at the top of the list of (as the time has gone over them) useless DMMS!   
But never say never... am wondering if there ever was a DMM with just one digit..   

Thanks for showing!

URI

Hear hear! That thing is delicious! It's uselessness is as much part of its charm as are the nixies!

I remember these, actually... when I was a teenager both the LED and nixie versions were all over the swap meets. I thought it was so cool, but the folks who had 'em always wanted ~$50 for 'em... I assumed that was around what the kit cost. I had an ugly old 260 and a Micronta Dual FET MultiMeter that I just barely knew how to use, and I thought I just didn't understand how to use it properly, because two digits just didn't make sense to me.



 A year or so later I bought one of these 3.5 digit "Pocket calculator" style DMMs at Radio Shack for the princely sum of $19.99 just before Christmas. By this time I'd been working in the High School AV Lab for a while and had some idea what to expect from a DMM; I had already realized that the Heathkit was utterly useless. This little thing was an absolute marvel; even Mr. Basche, who had several DMMs bought by the school and himself, couldn't believe the feature set for only $20.

https://youtu.be/x4ql2aKBh5M

You don't need a lot of digits for a meter to be useful though, if the UI is well thought out.  Here's a little 499 count meter that we use for testing our LiPo batteries. It will give individual cell voltage up to 6 cells in sequence, then total pack voltage. This little marvel costs a couple dollars; there are slightly more expensive models with up to 12-cell capacity and others with scary-loud alarms buzzers that can be set to alert at an adjustable minimum cell voltage; we even have versions that can be connected to the receiver in the aircraft, and will send that cell voltage back to the transmitter and/or a HUD in our FPV goggles as telemetry. Any of these can be had for around $4-10 depending on feature set.

mnem
How many digits am I holding up?

[mnementh]

gixen.com is your friend.

mnem

Only if you are prepared to drop a lot of wonga to get the item. Lately it has not been my friend at all, I missed out on a nice Fluke 189 recently, it was among a load of other 189s that were attracting several bids early, but this one, not a single bid!

Me being a cheapskate put a not so insignificant sum on it via Gixen and left it alone. I later get message telling me that I lost the meter because the price was more than my maximum bid. It went for £113 and I bid £100 grrr, but I'm meant to be having a cull of my meters but somehow they keeping growing in numbers[emoji44]

Gixen can't stop other people who want it more than you...     but it CAN stop you from missing the one you forgot to bid on, and it DOES at least level the playing field between you and the "professional eBayers" who are already using a sniping script or similar sniping service.

Bidding on fleaBay without gixen.com is like trying to shoot a rifle with your di** in one hand; sure you can do it, and sometimes you'll be successful. But you're really just deliberately handicapping yourself because it feels good.   

Yeah, I think I'd keep clear of it TBH, if it was a 3.5 digit then it might worth it if the price was right but we have had better buys at that price point and that 2.5 digit display is going to be a PITA to get with.

Oh, come on! bd139 doesn't intend to actually use it to measure something. So it doesn't matter whether it has 2½ or 3½ digits. It's to sooth the longing ... Several pieces of my collection serve no other purpose as well.

He can show it to everybody and tell him or her: "This is the first DMM I wanted so badly!"

Bizzackly. Usefulness has VERY LITTLE to do with TEA.  

Having been born and reared in an era of communications that were point to point and relatively difficult and expensive compared to today,
I stand astounded each and every hour by the amazing flow of human communications.

Arthur C Clarke pointed out that this might be the first and last generation where any human can have a conversation with any other human.

Yes... the man who imagined a world connected by communications satellites before Sputnik, and who brought us "3 Laws Dependable, 3 Laws Safe!" The man was a visionary... and of course, as such, found himself constantly bound by Cassandra's dilemma.

mnem
If only we applied those 3 laws to.. our laws.

[tggzzz]

Having been born and reared in an era of communications that were point to point and relatively difficult and expensive compared to today,
I stand astounded each and every hour by the amazing flow of human communications.

Arthur C Clarke pointed out that this might be the first and last generation where any human can have a conversation with any other human.

Yes... the man who imagined a world connected by communications satellites before Sputnik, and who brought us "3 Laws Dependable, 3 Laws Safe!" The man was a visionary... and of course, as such, found himself constantly bound by Cassandra's dilemma.

Yes indeed; there are many other aspects of modern life ACC predicted. (I once found him sitting behind me, many decades ago!)

As for Cassandra, any parent with an adventurous child will eventually feel they are the reincarnation of Cassandra.

[bd139]

Doing well today. Just got a Mega brand UV exposure unit for 20% of current retail price.

I'm too impatient for China PCBs. So will do single sided SMD boards at home.

So Tek 475A w/ DM44 and a UV box 

Now to explain it to SWMBO 

[Specmaster]

Doing well today. Just got a Mega brand UV exposure unit for 20% of current retail price.

I'm too impatient for China PCBs. So will do single sided SMD boards at home.

So Tek 475A w/ DM44 and a UV box 

Now to explain it to SWMBO 

Tell her that like a stray dog, they sort of latched onto you and followed you home, should do it. 

[Specmaster]

Gixen can't stop other people who want it more than you...     but it CAN stop you from missing the one you forgot to bid on, and it DOES at least level the playing field between you and the "professional eBayers" who are already using a sniping script or similar sniping service.

Bidding on fleaBay without gixen.com is like trying to shoot a rifle with your di** in one hand; sure you can do it, and sometimes you'll be successful. But you're really just deliberately handicapping yourself because it feels good.

mnem
If only we applied those 3 laws to.. our laws.

Hmmm, so thats why they say you should keep your di** in a vice, to free up your other hand 

[Mr. Scram]

Doing well today. Just got a Mega brand UV exposure unit for 20% of current retail price.

I'm too impatient for China PCBs. So will do single sided SMD boards at home.

So Tek 475A w/ DM44 and a UV box 

Now to explain it to SWMBO 

It's a tanning and nail drying box!

[med6753]

Doing well today. Just got a Mega brand UV exposure unit for 20% of current retail price.

I'm too impatient for China PCBs. So will do single sided SMD boards at home.

So Tek 475A w/ DM44 and a UV box 

Now to explain it to SWMBO 

Tell her that like a stray dog, they sort of latched onto you and followed you home, should do it. 

Yep, and then go sleep in the dog house with the dog. 

edit...

[bd139]

Tell her that like a stray dog, they sort of latched onto you and followed you home, should do it. 

Hahaha that's last resort excuse

It's a tanning and nail drying box!

Genius!!! 

Yep, and then go sleep in the dog house with the dog. 

 

[med6753]

Tell her that like a stray dog, they sort of latched onto you and followed you home, should do it. 

Hahaha that's last resort excuse

It's a tanning and nail drying box!

Genius!!! 

Yep, and then go sleep in the dog house with the dog. 

 

You missed my edit to that comment. 

[bd139]

Listening to it now

[Specmaster]

Snap, just downloaded it and listening to it as well 

[bd139]

Well that lead down a youtube music rabbit hole and a half to industrial acid techno 

And now for bed.

[Specmaster]

Yeah, the animals album was a little strange to say the least, orf to bed now as well 

[Carl_Smith]

 A year or so later I bought one of these 3.5 digit "Pocket calculator" style DMMs at Radio Shack for the princely sum of $19.99 just before Christmas. By this time I'd been working in the High School AV Lab for a while and had some idea what to expect from a DMM; I had already realized that the Heathkit was utterly useless. This little thing was an absolute marvel; even Mr. Basche, who had several DMMs bought by the school and himself, couldn't believe the feature set for only $20.

mnem
How many digits am I holding up?

Weird coincidence.  Probably about while you were post that, I was trying to fix mine.  It's a bit different though, it has a slider switch and push button.  I think it was the first meter I bought. But it quit working properly many years ago.



The obvious problem was that when I set it to the ohms function it just shut off.  I figured it was a simple fix, just take it apart and clean the gunk out of the slider switch and it will be fine.  I did that, and also cleaned some crud off the battery contacts and figured it would be fine. 

Put it back together and now it remains on in the ohms position, but I tested it by hooking it to my bench power supply set to 2.5 volts and it read 1.2 V or so.      Then I found that if I pressed on the front in just the right spot it would jump up and read 2.5 volts like it should.   OK, cracked solder joint or something.  Except I inspected every joint under my binocular microscope from several lighting angles and couldn't find a single joint that looked bad. 

And in the process of taking the thing apart several times, since you can't just test the circuit board out of the case, I managed to break several of the tabs that hold the case together.   Tried to glue them back and had an issue with a pressurized super glue tube that belched out everywhere when I opened it, cleaned up that mess, tried to glue the tabs back, resoldered a few joints on the board in the area where pushing on the case made it work, and no dice.  Still reads wrong unless I push hard right on where it says "meter."   Which is no where near any of the inside switches or contacts for anything.  It's actually right where one corner of the big IC is on the circuit board.  Figured maybe I could resolder all the pins of the IC in that area, but I decided I had already spent too much time on fixing something I don't need and was taking up way more time than I expected.

[bitseeker]

This is considerably worse than an HP95LX or Tek 7854

I stared at it for 30 minutes and I am literally not sure I can be arsed if I'm honest with this one... over to anyone else if they want it: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253938359189

(yes 2.5 whole digits)

Oh hell, that ain't old. Meet it's older cousin. Don't let the “Bell & Howell Schools” fool you. It's 100% Heathkit. About the only thing that keeps it out of the dumpster is the Nixies. Other than that it ain't good for nuthin except for a display. But it does work and is somewhat accurate.

That's a beauty, med. I've seen a bunch of them go by on eBay this year.

So, with regard to uselessness, is 2.5 digits really that bad? What about taking a thermocouple and a little amp to turn it into a Nixie thermometer? 0-199° for a lab air temp readout. (Non-invasive usefulness mod.)