Author Topic: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!  (Read 2754532 times)

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Offline dirtcooker

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KP184 electronic load on Aliexpress $172
« Reply #8200 on: May 10, 2019, 05:26:50 pm »
The brand is shown as Hiltand. However, I purchased one and the unit I received appears to be a genuine Kunkin. The unit performs well, the battery capacity function is especially nice and allows setting a low voltage limit, CC and CV work well. CR mode has some strange behavior, I need to test more to see what is going on.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/KP184-DC-Electronic-Load-Battery-Capacity-Tester-RS485-232-400W-150V-40A-AC110-220V-Professional-Battery/32949838100.html?
« Last Edit: November 28, 2019, 06:50:43 pm by dirtcooker »
 

Offline basinstreetdesign

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8201 on: May 10, 2019, 11:50:39 pm »
Bought a HP4440B decade capacitor from eBay, 40pf-1.2uF:



Double shielded: The outer case and then inside an aluminium box. Works without problems. Accuracy much better than the usual 10% you get from normal capacitors. It was worth the $200, I could already use it to fine-tune a Qi receiver.

Boy could I have used this Jul, 2014.  I built a L-C meter from scratch but couldn't calibrate it any better than about 5-10% for lack of a standard.
How do you know how accurate it is?  What do you have to compare it with?
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Offline FrankBuss

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8202 on: May 11, 2019, 12:32:04 am »
Boy could I have used this Jul, 2014.  I built a L-C meter from scratch but couldn't calibrate it any better than about 5-10% for lack of a standard.
How do you know how accurate it is?  What do you have to compare it with?

I have a HM8018. Some measurements, with the fine-tune knob at 40 pF, measured with my shielded Kelvin probes and 100 Hz measurement frequency:

- 0 pF (plus the fine tune knob and the cable etc.) : 48 pF
- 100 pF: 150 pF
- 900 pF: 951 pF
- 12.3 nF: 12.36 nF
- 765.4 nF: 765.5 nF
- 1.1 uF: 1.100 uF

Looks like it is dead on. I guess the trick is to use high quality capacitors, which doesn't need to be very accurate, but with very good long term stability, and then trim each capacitor with parallel variable capacitors. You can trim each of the bigger capacitors, as shown in the schematic in the manual linked in the article from beanflying. I didn't trim it so far, but maybe the seller did.
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Offline maginnovision

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8203 on: May 11, 2019, 04:33:58 am »
I got an RV-622A which I can't find any actual data on. Initially I was disappointed with the accuracy because dividing my 7.090462V reference by half resulted in more than half. Then I remembered this DMM is only 10Mohm in 30V range, the Datrons are the Gohm DMM I have for up to 20V. Any ratio that allows me to stay in <= 3V range is just about right on. For this picture I set it to Ratio with the value of the reference(just measured) as the reference voltage. Pretty much perfect but I already feel like I should have just bought a 7 decade kelvin-varley divider. Maybe later when a 720A isn't so expensive especially now that I have a perfectly good divider.
 

Offline beanflying

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8204 on: May 11, 2019, 05:40:19 am »
Boy could I have used this Jul, 2014.  I built a L-C meter from scratch but couldn't calibrate it any better than about 5-10% for lack of a standard.
How do you know how accurate it is?  What do you have to compare it with?

I have a HM8018. Some measurements, with the fine-tune knob at 40 pF, measured with my shielded Kelvin probes and 100 Hz measurement frequency:

- 0 pF (plus the fine tune knob and the cable etc.) : 48 pF
- 100 pF: 150 pF
- 900 pF: 951 pF
- 12.3 nF: 12.36 nF
- 765.4 nF: 765.5 nF
- 1.1 uF: 1.100 uF

Looks like it is dead on. I guess the trick is to use high quality capacitors, which doesn't need to be very accurate, but with very good long term stability, and then trim each capacitor with parallel variable capacitors. You can trim each of the bigger capacitors, as shown in the schematic in the manual linked in the article from beanflying. I didn't trim it so far, but maybe the seller did.

I have done some more testing against my both of my new LCR Tweezers and 34461A and it stacks up well. Part of the problem comes up you would need a calibrated Capacitance meter a lot better to even prove it's spec of 0.25% was good or bad and at best my gear only matches with and agrees with it's spec. The Yokogawa Caps seem to hold up really well over time is the nuts and bolts of it.
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Offline Housedad

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8205 on: May 11, 2019, 07:40:30 am »
PACE ComForm 1 Lead Bending and Component Forming Tool.

I want my friends PIDP computers to be nice and neat on the board.

I like it a lot. 

At least I'm still older than my test equipment
 
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Offline windsmurf

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8206 on: May 11, 2019, 08:55:31 am »
An all-yellow Fluke...
 
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Offline tautech

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8207 on: May 11, 2019, 09:01:30 am »
An all-yellow Fluke...

Good DMM.  :)
Had a Chinese 15B for some years now and 100% pleased with it.
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Offline maginnovision

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8208 on: May 13, 2019, 01:23:16 am »
Ok, so sooner than expected I bought an ESI RV726. Looks a lot like the fluke 720a but darker colored.
 

Offline GreyWoolfe

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8209 on: May 13, 2019, 12:15:17 pm »
PACE ComForm 1 Lead Bending and Component Forming Tool.

I want my friends PIDP computers to be nice and neat on the board.

I like it a lot. 



I have one also and I like it.  Nice and neat looking passives.  I paid $10 for mine. :-+
"Heaven has been described as the place that once you get there all the dogs you ever loved run up to greet you."
 

Offline Miyuki

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8210 on: May 13, 2019, 02:50:35 pm »
A have a "new" car with fancy features like phone and all rotted wiring so all things go randomly on and off  :-DD
 

Offline PA0PBZ

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8211 on: May 13, 2019, 02:58:53 pm »
A have a "new" car with fancy features like phone and all rotted wiring so all things go randomly on and off  :-DD

Wow, an NMT telephone, those where already obsolete 20 years ago! :)
Keyboard error: Press F1 to continue.
 

Offline alank2

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8212 on: May 13, 2019, 03:08:40 pm »
The construction looks very nice:


I love how that is built; a work of art.
 

Online McBryce

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8213 on: May 14, 2019, 06:25:24 am »
After many years of positive experience with my Ersa i-Con Nano, I decided to upgrade.

McBryce.

30 Years making cars more difficult to repair.
 
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Offline bitseeker

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8214 on: May 14, 2019, 04:58:22 pm »
Ooh, very nice, McBryce! :-+
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Offline Kjelt

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8215 on: May 14, 2019, 06:05:19 pm »
Very nice station.
Except for the marketing dept. the picture looks like it is batterry powerede without cables  :)
 

Online McBryce

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8216 on: May 15, 2019, 06:38:13 am »
Yes the cables just magically disappear to the right, never to return. The station is a pleasure to use and the tweezer iron makes SMD work so much easier than before. It was expensive, but as the iron is the second most used device (after the multimeter) I think it's a good investment.
Also, the cables to the two irons are a really soft, flexible silicon, the i-Con Nano had a more plastic cable that tended to get in the way.

McBryce.
30 Years making cars more difficult to repair.
 

Offline beanflying

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8217 on: May 15, 2019, 06:55:12 am »
Just keep repeating I will not become a HAM, I am not becoming a HAM, I will avoid at risk of starvation becoming a HAM.

To go with my SDR Dongle and Baofeng HH I brought 'them' a Discone Antenna and Coax........ I do not need another Rabbit Hole more than my current TEA one :palm:

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Offline tautech

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8218 on: May 15, 2019, 09:03:43 am »
Thanks to Beanflying's review, and thanks to my fault selling my Smart Tweezers ST-5S, today I bought an LCR Research Pro 1 Plus.

Yes, I do have a better one, I designed a few based on AWG+DSO, VNA S11+tuner, VNA S12 and single slope, but none of them is portable, and both run on IVI.NET with a bunch of measurement cards required. Those are designed for measuring extreme cases (sub-10nH), but not for casual 100uH-range measurements.

So, I think it's time for a small, grab-n-go LCR meter for building transformers.
Good on ya BS.  :-+
Despite the price of these teeny wheeny smart tweezers I dunno why others don't switch onto them too.  :-//

Weeks will go by before DMM usage exceeds these tweezers here.
I'll be very interested in your comments of the LCR's after having had the ST5's before.  :)
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Offline beanflying

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8219 on: May 15, 2019, 09:08:26 am »
Thanks to Beanflying's review, and thanks to my fault selling my Smart Tweezers ST-5S, today I bought an LCR Research Pro 1 Plus.

Yes, I do have a better one, I designed a few based on AWG+DSO, VNA S11+tuner, VNA S12 and single slope, but none of them is portable, and both run on IVI.NET with a bunch of measurement cards required. Those are designed for measuring extreme cases (sub-10nH), but not for casual 100uH-range measurements.

So, I think it's time for a small, grab-n-go LCR meter for building transformers.

Jump into that thread of mine with your thoughts too. I must get back to putting mine there but the LCR Research ones are my go to.
Coffee, Food, R/C and electronics nerd in no particular order. Also CNC wannabe, 3D printer and Laser Cutter Junkie and just don't mention my TEA addiction....
 

Offline GreyWoolfe

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8220 on: May 15, 2019, 06:03:30 pm »
Just keep repeating I will not become a HAM, I am not becoming a HAM, I will avoid at risk of starvation becoming a HAM.

You keep telling yourself that, see how far it gets you. :-DD

GreyWoolfe
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Offline VK5RC

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8221 on: May 16, 2019, 07:54:27 am »
Come to the dark side Luke - sorry beanflying!
Seriously - the ACMA has just changed the way you get your Ham licence in  VK land. It used to be the WIA - now it is a commercial arm of the Uni of Tasmania - Marine licencing guys. I am the past president of the North East Radio Club in south Australia - we have a couple of guys who are examiners and always keen to get more guys out there.
In South Australia - the most technical ham group is the Adelaide Radio Experimenters Group - guests are welcome to any of the meetings of any ham clubs.
Regards Rob
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 

Offline beanflying

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8222 on: May 16, 2019, 08:02:22 am »
Come to the dark side Luke - sorry beanflying!
Seriously - the ACMA has just changed the way you get your Ham licence in  VK land. It used to be the WIA - now it is a commercial arm of the Uni of Tasmania - Marine licencing guys. I am the past president of the North East Radio Club in south Australia - we have a couple of guys who are examiners and always keen to get more guys out there.
In South Australia - the most technical ham group is the Adelaide Radio Experimenters Group - guests are welcome to any of the meetings of any ham clubs.
Regards Rob

Lucky I live in the land of VK3. I have avoided talking HAM with a nearby one in VK3ZQB who I know fairly well as it is what he lives sleeps and breathes  ;) I should get a marine operators licence minimum and depending on how serious I get with Drones look at an Air one too  :palm:
Coffee, Food, R/C and electronics nerd in no particular order. Also CNC wannabe, 3D printer and Laser Cutter Junkie and just don't mention my TEA addiction....
 

Offline CJay

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8223 on: May 16, 2019, 09:14:40 am »
Lucky I live in the land of VK3. I have avoided talking HAM with a nearby one in VK3ZQB who I know fairly well as it is what he lives sleeps and breathes  ;) I should get a marine operators licence minimum and depending on how serious I get with Drones look at an Air one too  :palm:

Like all things, in moderation.

Ham radio does attract a 'certain type' and it's quite an experience when you meet them.

for me, it's a way to legitimise my hobby, I've been tinkering with radio for decades and I really enjoy building stuff (if and when I ever get time) plus there's lots of ways to not have to actually talk to people yet still make use of the licence
 

Offline VK5RC

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Re: What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!
« Reply #8224 on: May 16, 2019, 09:48:55 am »
Come to the dark side Luke - sorry beanflying!
Seriously - the ACMA has just changed the way you get your Ham licence in  VK land. It used to be the WIA - now it is a commercial arm of the Uni of Tasmania - Marine licencing guys. I am the past president of the North East Radio Club in south Australia - we have a couple of guys who are examiners and always keen to get more guys out there.
In South Australia - the most technical ham group is the Adelaide Radio Experimenters Group - guests are welcome to any of the meetings of any ham clubs.
Regards Rob

Lucky I live in the land of VK3. I have avoided talking HAM with a nearby one in VK3ZQB who I know fairly well as it is what he lives sleeps and breathes  ;) I should get a marine operators licence minimum and depending on how serious I get with Drones look at an Air one too  :palm:

For some funny I thought you were VK5 - bad news though, there are even more Hams there ! HeHe.
There  are lots of interesting hobbies competing for our time (and $) I suppose we are really spoilt by the choices but it can get confusing - too much choice.
Rob
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 


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