I've bought a broken scope haven't I ?

[Brumby]

That's a pretty typical power supply.  It has some useful features built in, such as output selection: Independent, Series (for dual rail - and it seems it turns into a tracking supply  ) plus Parallel for those higher current requirements.

Not sure about the quality side of things (I have no experience with Tenma), but a supply like that will be useful to have on any workbench.

[aneng]

Well...  Things are still on hold until I get a power supply!  I held out for several on eBay but was outbid, and since then they have become rarer than rocking horse poop.  Typical!

After a couple of weeks of waiting, an old Farnell unit has turned up.. Faulty, of course!  I do have the schematic for it though, and it looks relatively simple compared to the Trio scope.  The question is... Do I bid on it, and end up with another box to fix? :-)

He had to fix the supply to fix the function generator to fix the scope to fix the... Hang on - I can't even remember what the original thing was I got the scope for!

I must say, I am tempted - if it goes for a cheap price.  Apparently one channel is pegged at 30v and the other doesn't work at all.

The problem is - you all know where I'm going to come for help don't you? :-)

[Brumby]

Whirlpool?



There's also a song on my mind - but making the lyrics fit isn't coming easily.............

[Brumby]

Hang on - I can't even remember what the original thing was I got the scope for!

Please ... if you remember, let us know.  I can add it to the song lyric.... 

[Performa01]

I think it's hard enough to fix some broken gear even in a reasonably equipped lab, but buying something broken when all you already have is a bunch of broken gear ... I don't know ...

What was your budget again?

You might want to have a look at this eBay link:

http://www.ebay.at/itm/ELECTRONIQUE-DOLOISE-D-LAB-3-1-ALIMENTATION-POWER-SUPPLY-2x-20V-1-5A-1x-7V-D495-/291666530447?hash=item43e8ae108f:g:HAAAAOSwFqJWogFW

This shop has tons of bench power supplies, so make sure you check the other items. But the one in the link seems already pretty decent.

Disclaimer: I am not related with the seller in any way nor have I ever bought something from there, but I certainly would give it a try!

[Ian.M]

OTOH a broken linear power supply that doesn't have any digital controls and doesn't use a phase-angle controlled TRIAC preregulator, can be fixed with no more test equipment than a selection of high power load resistors and a couple of good multimeters.

[Brumby]

OTOH a broken linear power supply that doesn't have any digital controls and doesn't use a phase-angle controlled TRIAC preregulator, can be fixed with no more test equipment than a selection of high power load resistors and a couple of good multimeters.

+1

[aneng]

I think it's hard enough to fix some broken gear even in a reasonably equipped lab, but buying something broken when all you already have is a bunch of broken gear ... I don't know ...

What was your budget again?

You might want to have a look at this eBay link:

http://www.ebay.at/itm/ELECTRONIQUE-DOLOISE-D-LAB-3-1-ALIMENTATION-POWER-SUPPLY-2x-20V-1-5A-1x-7V-D495-/291666530447?hash=item43e8ae108f:g:HAAAAOSwFqJWogFW

This shop has tons of bench power supplies, so make sure you check the other items. But the one in the link seems already pretty decent.

Disclaimer: I am not related with the seller in any way nor have I ever bought something from there, but I certainly would give it a try!

Interesting !  I've had a good look around the eBay shop and there are plenty of old-school units there that would definitely fit the bill but.... they're all in France and I'm in the UK and the postage pretty much equals or exceeds the cost of the item on most of them !

My budget ?  Probably no more than 80GBP.  That seems to be the figure most of the digital supplies I was looking at on eBay went for.  Less would be better (i.e. if I can get this faulty Farnell until for under 25/30 GBP then it might be worth a shot), but if a digital type unit appears and it looks like I can get it for 80GBP or less then I'll go for that.  It's just a question of finding the buggers now !

As for trying to fix broken kit with more broken kit - I'm not completely surrounded by piles of smoking PCBs ;-)  I do have a fully working oscilloscope, two DMMs, a good soldering iron, a little component tester gadget and the most important tool in my toolbox.............  you guys !! :-)


Oh - and @Brumby, I've remembered ! - It's my mum's HiFi Amp :-)

[Performa01]

@aneng

Yes, I've noticed that shipping costs are high in that shop. It's a bummer, as I thought they really have some interesting vintage stuff at mostly reasonable prices.

As for the broken - broken thing, yes, I knew you got a 2nd scope  - which is even working, woo-hoo!
Thankfully your soldering iron isn't broken too - I figure it would be quite difficult to fix a broken soldering iron by means of a ... flat iron maybe?
As you sure have already guessed, I was a bit exaggerating, and having said that, I agree with the others that it shouldn't be too difficult to fix an old school linear power supply.

Anyway, good luck in finding something useful and be sure I will be following your efforts!