What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[McBryce]

i7s TWS EarPods....  Well I didn't really buy it but I was GOING to buy it but I received it for free anyways. My wife has been asking me to look for a set of AirPod-like earphones for her for several months now. It just happened that we were at a function and in the "loot bag" given to all the guests was the i7s TWS EarPods BlueTooth (Apple AirPod clones)! Everyone got all excited but given that it is in a loot-bag how much could it possibly be? My wife got a pair and so did I, so I had 2 sets to compare. And so the fun began...  .

I was given the i12 version in much the same manner, but I don't find them bad at all. They are the exact dimensions of the Apple version (I think the i7 is slightly larger) and the box has the Apple rounded design. However, I think the i12 is a completely new design based on a different BT chip, so I doubt they are really comparable. The only thing I don't like are the flashing red/blue LEDs in the earbuds.


McBryce.

[HighVoltage]

Finally got me a semi-decent current probe!  HP 1146A

$150 + tax and shipping

That actually is a very good quality current probe for general purpose applications.
And it can be calibrated too.

[beanflying]

I promise to spend $ on TEA this week as I think it is plane I could have another addiction issue

Three Stanley's and a cheap and cheerful ringer.

The Ringer eBay auction: #261524911254 with some work on the sole and sides and a proper sharpen is actually very good and much better value than paying collectors prices for the real deal.

The Baby partly because it is 'cute' eBay auction: #371990474694 is a step up from my Razor plane for model building for non Balsa use. It actually does surprisingly well on proper timber with a good sharpen.

Time to start building some TEA shelving and trawl evilbay some more to overfill them

[CalMachine]

Finally got me a semi-decent current probe!  HP 1146A

$150 + tax and shipping

That actually is a very good quality current probe for general purpose applications.
And it can be calibrated too.

Yeah I'm excited to have finally picked one up    The 1147As are a little too expensive for me right now

[Urs42]

Got a nice diesel generator for almost no money, got it to start on the first try after some reverse engineering, and it does generate power. I have no idea where this thing was used before. The exhaust system does have a heat exchanger inside to cool the exhaust,  i've found a lot of similar generators for marine use on the internet but they all have a wet exhaust and mine does not have that.

[Haenk]

Again, way too much stuff.
A nice LCR meter (finally, the cheap one sucked), 6 liters of IPA to dive-clean a Fisher CD player, a to-fix-project Yamaha Soundprojector.

[HighVoltage]

Finally got me a semi-decent current probe!  HP 1146A

$150 + tax and shipping

That actually is a very good quality current probe for general purpose applications.
And it can be calibrated too.

Yeah I'm excited to have finally picked one up    The 1147As are a little too expensive for me right now

Do NOT buy a 1147A!
Because they all develop a drift and after a few years they can no longer be calibrated in the DC offset and you always have to deal with such offset on the scope in DC mode.
Get a 1147B instead, the problem was solved but they are much more expensive!

[deadlylover]

Finally broke down and ordered one of these $43 storage cabinets from element14. It was a toss up between those or the $19 Duratool ones.

I really wanted the $73 Treston ones here with the sexy crystal clear drawers but according to my friendly neighbourhood chemist, polystyrene is not great, not terrible. The $43 Raaco one is steel and polypropylene, the datasheet even gives a max load rating of 33kg which is a nice touch.

[mansaxel]

Raaco

That's the spirit. Best cabinets around.

[Mortymore]

In Portugal we have a company that makes great cabinets, caled SUC.

Their  website SUCks though 

It's not easy to find them in retail stores, and I think they're most turned for big sales. It's common to find them at use in hardware stores, labs, hospitals... were small stuff storage is needed.

The models I have are the blue metal cabinets and transparent polystyrene drawers.
They have inside separators (sold appart), but I've been made my owns with cardboard.

[CalMachine]

Finally got me a semi-decent current probe!  HP 1146A

$150 + tax and shipping

That actually is a very good quality current probe for general purpose applications.
And it can be calibrated too.

Yeah I'm excited to have finally picked one up    The 1147As are a little too expensive for me right now

Do NOT buy a 1147A!
Because they all develop a drift and after a few years they can no longer be calibrated in the DC offset and you always have to deal with such offset on the scope in DC mode.
Get a 1147B instead, the problem was solved but they are much more expensive!

Hmmm, did not know that!  Good call   Thanks for the info.  I'll definitely steer clear of the 1147A's

[BravoV]

NOS, Vicor DC-DC converters, 100 Watt rated, 36V to 15V and 300V to 12V.

[digsys]

NOS, Vicor DC-DC converters, 100 Watt rated, 36V to 15V and 300V to 12V

Nice. I use that series pretty much exclusively for all my Solar car / EV / Solar charge designs. Damn good devices !

[edy]

I passed by some trinkets near the checkout at the local hardware store and noticed a 3-in-1 lens clip-on kit for phones. It was under $5 so I couldn't resist. These things can be found on eBay for under $2 shipped. So I wanted to have a try since I do film most of my YouTube content using an iPhone 6. I'm impressed so far with it but I have to remove my case from the phone (which is a pain) to use it, as it needs to be flush up against the phone camera or else you get this vignetting around the frame.

One other thing I noticed which I have had trouble finding info about (maybe someone in the forum here can help)... On an iPhone 6, when I am using the PHOTO mode it has a higher field of view than when I am shooting VIDEO. That is with both completely zoomed out. No matter what I do, I cannot get the VIDEO to zoom out to what I can get when I am in PHOTO. Someone mentioned that this is due to camera stabilization mode and that the iPhone uses the surrounding border (which it doesn't show) to compensate for camera shaking (basically digital stabilization algorithms). However, it is a HUGE DIFFERENCE in the perceived "angle" of the lens. For example, in photo mode I feel like I am shooting with a 28mm lens while in video it feels more like 35mm or even great (not very wide at all).

The macro lens on this kit is INSANELY CLOSE. I'm not sure how useful it is because it blocks out all the light. You have to be very careful with lighting but it may be useful if I film any electronics or close-ups of failed parts. I'm fairly happy with the close-up performance and zoom of the native iPhone 6 camera, but this will give me an added level of macro performance (if I can get proper lighting).

Anyways, this lens kit gives me a bit more flexibility when shooting video as now I can get a normal wider angle and even fisheye if needed. I have a GoPro clone (SJ4000) but I would prefer shooting with the iPhone as it gives me better quality and sound recording. Here's the review, I made a video of it (of course) showing the different lens on and off the phone:

[BravoV]

NOS, Vicor DC-DC converters, 100 Watt rated, 36V to 15V and 300V to 12V

Nice. I use that series pretty much exclusively for all my Solar car / EV / Solar charge designs. Damn good devices !

Thanks, scored them new old stock at a really cheap price, definitely I can not afford them at list price, which is about $250 a pop.   

[BigBoss]

I found this Tektronix TDS3034 at ebay and purchased 1005 Euro (all included)..Is it good according to your experiences ??( this is my first oscilloscope 57 years later.. )
4 Channels , 300 MHz, 2.5Gs/s ( per ch) 10K Recording Length, 9bits Vertical Resolution,1mV-10V etc.
http://www.testequipmenthq.com/datasheets/TEKTRONIX-TDS3034-Datasheet.pdf
TDS3TRG - Advanced Trigger
TDS3VID - Extended Video
TDS3FFT - FFT
TDS3AAM - Advanced Analysis
TDS3LIM - Limit Test
TDS3TMT - Telecom Mask Test
TDS3SDI - 601 Digital Video (Needs TDS3SDI hardware module)
TDS3BTA - Beta Enabled

[Muttley Snickers]

I bought a cheap fitness tracker watch thing on special for $8.26 AU or $5.50 US and feel totally ripped off. It's not even close in regards to accuracy or measured values. My Omron Oximeter shows 60bpm and the Fitness Tracker randomly displays 92bpm.   

[rdl]

I bought a 2GB compact flash card because the one in my camera is almost 15 years old. I bought a PS/2 to USB adapter because I have an old PS/2 keyboard I'd like to use on a computer that has only USB (hopefully it will work). And I bought a 16GB micro SD card for no reason I can think of.

What I actually meant to get, I completely forgot about after getting side-tracked on memory cards. So I guess I'll be placing another order tomorrow.

[Smokey]

I found this Tektronix TDS3034 at ebay and purchased 1005 Euro (all included)..Is it good according to your experiences ??

I used one of those as a daily driver for years.  Only real complaint, but it's a big complaint, is the 10k sample memory.  Don't ever expect to capture any sort of long event and be able to zoom in with any resolution.  It really forces you to know exactly what you want to capture and set the trigger up so you are centered perfectly on that event with whatever resolution you need.  If you miss it, you reset and do it again with new trigger settings until you actually capture what you are looking for.
I feel like having a cheap Chinese deep memory scope (Rigol, etc) AND something like the TDS3034 on the bench next to each other is a good compromise.  Realistically, the Chinese deep memory scope will get the job done most of the time, and if you need the better noise floor or better jitter or higher bandwidth for something specific then switch over to the TDS3000 for that test.  Plus you can take screen shots with the Tek so your presentations don't make you look like an amateur with the Rigol logo in the corner.

[bitseeker]

Plus you can take screen shots with the Tek so your presentations don't make you look like an amateur with the Rigol logo in the corner.

 

[BigBoss]

I used one of those as a daily driver for years.  Only real complaint, but it's a big complaint, is the 10k sample memory.  Don't ever expect to capture any sort of long event and be able to zoom in with any resolution.  It really forces you to know exactly what you want to capture and set the trigger up so you are centered perfectly on that event with whatever resolution you need.  If you miss it, you reset and do it again with new trigger settings until you actually capture what you are looking for.
I feel like having a cheap Chinese deep memory scope (Rigol, etc) AND something like the TDS3034 on the bench next to each other is a good compromise.  Realistically, the Chinese deep memory scope will get the job done most of the time, and if you need the better noise floor or better jitter or higher bandwidth for something specific then switch over to the TDS3000 for that test.  Plus you can take screen shots with the Tek so your presentations don't make you look like an amateur with the Rigol logo in the corner.

I will use it basic measurements,repairing,signal tracing purposes etc.Sample memory length shouldn't be any problem for me..
It's good enough thought..

[tooki]

I have recently purchased for my new mini-lab First two, both are highly recommended..
Designed and Engineered in Germany, Manufactured in Poland by STAMOS Soldering.

While I'm sure those things are fine, nothing about them is "designed and engineered in Germany and manufactured in Poland", no matter what the company says! For starters, the website says:

DESIGNED IN GERMANY, PRODUCED IN CHINA ACCORDING TO OUR HIGH QUALITY REQUIREMENTS!

Our devices and their design are both developed in Germany. The entire production of our welding devices is subjected to the strict obligations of the German law and rigorous internal quality controls. The Stamos Welding Group produces in several factories around China.

But all of their soldering and electronics gear is plainly the standard products made in Asia and rebadged for countless resellers around the world. That hot air station, for example, is actually a Xytronic LF-861D. Other stuff looks like other Xytronic models. Other items look like Yihua (or clones) or Atten. The power supply is a Twintex TPM-3005E, other power supplies are other Twintex models, and several Korad, Yihua, etc.

So while I think those are perfectly adequate products for normal use, just don't be under any illusion that the German company did anything more than import them and maybe have a German manual translated.

[Mr. Scram]

I noticed the same. While they do seem to pick products which are known to provide decent value for money their claims seem disingenuous.

[tooki]

Exactly! I guess they mean "design" as in "trade dress", insofar as they designed the front panels to match their corporate design.

For sure, it's possible that they've submitted the units for compliance testing, etc. Maybe they've even had to suggest/request/demand some changes in order to comply with EU regulations. But there's zero chance that they're designing them in-house and then just outsourcing the manufacturing, as their wording suggests.

[rdl]

Today I bought the external SSD enclosures that I meant to buy yesterday before getting side-tracked. I bought two of each for about $40 total counting sales tax.

https://www.newegg.com/orico-2139u3-bk-enclosure/p/0VN-0003-000Z5?Item=9SIA1DS4VX9128
https://www.newegg.com/sabrent-ec-uasp-others/p/2WA-001J-00010?Item=9SIAME8AJ15678