What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[BU508A]

Will arrive today from Welectron:



- Siglent electronic load SDL1020X-E


- LiPo Pouch Battery 503562


- Andonstar ADSM302 Digital Microscope


- Probe Master 8017S Softie Test Leads 120cm


- Probe Master 9175 Measurement Lead Holder

[cncjerry]

Yo, long time since I've scored.

I've wanted a Tek 11801 since I passed on one two years ago. A friend told me about an 11801C in the SF area so I bid on it and won for $175.  It presented on ebay as super clean and it was.  What I've found in two of these now is that maybe due to the size of the frame, things have a tendency to work loose in them. It had an error we misread as easy but it turned out to be a time base issue that could have been a nightmare.  I started reseating cables, cards,  etc and when i got to one of the last ones, all of a sudden it booted clean.  I reran the diagnostics a few times and it's been clean since. The same friend, a great guy, sent me a module from the one I passed on originally that he bought.  I then found an SD-22 module for cheap, that worked well, so for cheap I'm up to 20gig. Sampling has limitations but it has value for the price I paid.

You might note from my approach above that I rebooted or ran diagnostics frequently during the cable reseating.  I think it is important to do this for a couple of reasons. One is incase a new problem shows up you will note where you made the last adjustment or cable moved.  2nd, if you fix it, it is also valuable for the future as these problems might come back.

Jerry

[Microdoser]

Decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my (very) old UT60A. Ordered a Brymen 867S and some Probemaster leads.

I didn't want to feel like spending more money in a year or two, often that is a false economy.

[rfclown]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I've only read 3 pages so far.

[josh132]

A new soldering iron heating elemant.

[rsjsouza]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I've only read 3 pages so far.

I liked the book when I read it, despite being a dense book. To fully grasp it all, I would have to read it at least one more time.

[grumpydoc]

One of these




And its big brother




I was reminded by yet another 10 minute power outage the weekend before last that power here is not all that reliable, we get a short outage every 3-6 months and the occasional longer one.

The 12V one has about 30Wh of 18650 li-ion (4x2200mAh) so should keep the modem powered up for anything up to 5 hours. The APC unit (bought 2nd hand from eBay) has 2x12V 17/20Ah - so about 408Wh of battery and will run the NAS/server, firewall and phones for about an hour. Haven't quite tested it to full battery discharge but it had about 30% battery left after 47 minutes so I think the full hour should be no problem.

I do find it a bit frustrating that UPS marketing concentrates almost entirely on output power and not runtime - having to buy a 1.5kVA/1kW unit just to get decent runtime for a 250-300W load is overkill, especially as it has a much heavier autotransformer than I need (these "line interactive" units regulate under/over voltage by choosing the appropriate taps).

[tautech]

A good few bucks worth: 
30 DSO's, 4 AWG's, 4 spectrum analyzers, 2 bench meters, 2 e-loads, 2 PSU's, 50A current probe and other assorted bits and bobs.

[TSCOLAN]

Hi,

Last week, I received a nice HP 5210A Frequency meter. As usual with equipment from this period, it needed cleaning of the rotary switches (with IPA). Once done, it worked great !

And, today, postman delivered me a HP 339A Distortion measurement set that was lost since February the 4th... Package was in bad shape but the instrument was well packed. Just one broken binding post.
The "meter" portion was not working at all, the culprit was a diode bridge having one side open. Capacitors seems in good condition. I'll now spend some time cleaning it's switches.

Thomas

[beanflying]

Took out a 3rd Mortgage on my remaining Kidney and brought a JBC station and a few tips. Currently some very good deals in Oz (cheaper than PACE by a little) on this one at least as it seems there is a new model due out soon but this one has way more tweaks and features than I need already. https://www.oritech.com.au/jbc-cd-b-digital-soldering-station.html or https://www.mektronics.com.au/jbc-cd-b-solder-station-superceded-by-cd-2bqe.html I went with my more local option.

[gamalot]

Took out a 3rd Mortgage on my remaining Kidney and brought a JBC station and a few tips. Currently some very good deals in Oz (cheaper than PACE by a little) on this one at least as it seems there is a new model due out soon but this one has way more tweaks and features than I need already. https://www.oritech.com.au/jbc-cd-b-digital-soldering-station.html or https://www.mektronics.com.au/jbc-cd-b-solder-station-superceded-by-cd-2bqe.html I went with my more local option.

I bought almost the same JBC soldering station at the same distributor at the same price 6 years ago.

[beanflying]

Interesting. Quick check on the Aussie Peso to USD shows it about the same too. No idea if it is JBC's price rise over time or Oritech and as one of there competitors Pace has increased pricing by a chunk in this price range if they led or followed 

Pleased I checked my email too, no confirmation seemed strange so I gave them a call - Paypal web site integration issue  all happy and it left the cold wet hole that is Ballarat this afternoon so new toy Monday maybe 

[ChrisG]

Having not yet played with it too much but did see some cracks in the RIFA capacitors (especially the 0,022uF ones). So taking it slow and ordering new ones.

[gamalot]

Interesting. Quick check on the Aussie Peso to USD shows it about the same too. No idea if it is JBC's price rise over time or Oritech and as one of there competitors Pace has increased pricing by a chunk in this price range if they led or followed 

Pleased I checked my email too, no confirmation seemed strange so I gave them a call - Paypal web site integration issue  all happy and it left the cold wet hole that is Ballarat this afternoon so new toy Monday maybe 

You should be happy with the price of your JBC. The 34465A I bought in 2015 was AUD1,800 and it has now risen to AUD2,600. 

[cdev]

Tell us a bit more about them! Are they fairly sensitive? How old a design are they? Do they support any interesting features?

Looks like they support both GSM and GPS?

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/2501398/a2d-3jp3-falcom/9

Looks like you would need a sim card and an RS232 interface to them, plus audio..And antennas that are appropriate to the application. See link above.

Some GPS modules FALCOM A2D for an unbeatable price  , are they still usable:

[cdev]

Interesting. Quick check on the Aussie Peso to USD shows it about the same too. No idea if it is JBC's price rise over time or Oritech and as one of there competitors Pace has increased pricing by a chunk in this price range if they led or followed 

Pleased I checked my email too, no confirmation seemed strange so I gave them a call - Paypal web site integration issue  all happy and it left the cold wet hole that is Ballarat this afternoon so new toy Monday maybe 

You should be happy with the price of your JBC. The 34465A I bought in 2015 was AUD1,800 and it has now risen to AUD2,600. 

Thats an insane price for a piece of soldering equipment, IMHO.

Maybe not, I don't know. But it seems like a hell of a lot.

[DC1MC]

Tell us a bit more about them! Are they fairly sensitive? How old a design are they? Do they support any interesting features?
Looks like they support both GSM and GPS?
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/2501398/a2d-3jp3-falcom/9
Looks like you would need a sim card and an RS232 interface to them, plus audio..And antennas that are appropriate to the application. See link above.

Well, as I don't have any suitable connectors for them, they will be used as micro-soldering practice boards, or returned to the great void  . Of course, if some one needs a couple or more, please PM me.
Unfortunately, the whole assembly is a diarrhea of unobtainable (4me) micro-mezzanine PCB connectors  .
In the mean time, I godified one and here are some pics, including one made trough my 10x  jeweler lope,  to give a bit more details, please enjoy.

 Cheers,
 DC1MC

[tautech]

8 assorted 100-600 MHz autosense scope probes
2 70A current probes
2 8 KV 1000:1 probes
10 BNC cables

[trophosphere]

I did it again and bought another piece of equipment.  I need to check myself into TEA.

[gamalot]

EEVBlog BM786 

[daqq]

I did it again and bought another piece of equipment.  I need to check myself into TEA.

You poor person! The first step to therapy is to give away some of your stuff... erm... share the burden. I volunteer.

[trophosphere]

You poor person! The first step to therapy is to give away some of your stuff... erm... share the burden. I volunteer.

It's as good as yours if you want to pay off my credit card bills. 

[PartialDischarge]

Received an RF amp from ebay, advertised as 50-1100MHz Class A 4W.
Will use it to emit garbage for radiated immunity tests.

[shakalnokturn]

Today a Avo DCM 300E leakage current clamp meter turned up for 45€ posted.
It came with a early '90s look to it although the box is dated 04/02, the Toshiba LR44 batteries must have been the original ones and had leaked a little.

It's a rebrand of the Japanese made Multi M-140.
http://www.multimic.com/e/products/detail/285

[jc101]

A Mantis Elite arrived this week, currently clamped to the front of the bench whilst I figure out the best place to permanently mount it.
I think I may end up with a 2nd base plate so be able to move it between two work areas.  I try to keep soldering / hot air away from where I have stuff under test hooked up to instruments and the PC. 

Stunning to use, wish I'd bought one a while ago now, it would have saved all sorts of grief.