Tektronix P6248 Mini Teardown

[gamalot]

Sorry no high resolution pitctures this time.

[gamalot]

I found a strange thing, there are two EEPROM chips (24C02) on top side and bottom side of the PCB, why is it like this? 

[MarkL]

I found a strange thing, there are two EEPROM chips (24C02) on top side and bottom side of the PCB, why is it like this? 

Just a guess, but maybe one responds when /10 mode is selected, and the other when in /1 mode.  Some probing on the two EEPROMs and what comes out of the TekProbe II connector could confirm.

[Smokey]

As a proud new member of the P6248 owners club, I have a question..

What do you guys use for tips?  The legit ones are silly expensive, especially the "tip saver".

[MarkL]

It's not the answer you want to hear, but I bought my 2x P6248 with the accessories.  So I'm using the legit tips.

The most useful tip is the "TwinTip" offset needle 016-1786-00.  Followed by the "Longhorn" twin tip 016-1780-00.  At least for my purposes.  And for probing where lead length is not a major issue, the 196-3434-00 "Y-Lead" adapter is useful.  The tip saver is a good idea if you use the probe often, but is optional if you're gentle with your probing.

If it helps, the diameter of the needle tips is exactly 0.025".  You might be able to find some gold plated needles and bend them into the shape you want.  You'll probably also want to provide some additional support like the original.  Although it might be tempting, don't try to make needle probes out of 0.025 *square* posts.  It will ruin the contacts in the probe if the square post tries to rotate in the probe socket.  (Guess how I know...)

You can make a "Y-Lead" adapter with a piece of 2x1 regular 0.1" header.  Square pins is ok here since they won't rotate.

[Smokey]

It's not the answer you want to hear, but I bought my 2x P6248 with the accessories.  So I'm using the legit tips.

The most useful tip is the "TwinTip" offset needle 016-1786-00.  Followed by the "Longhorn" twin tip 016-1780-00.  At least for my purposes.  And for probing where lead length is not a major issue, the 196-3434-00 "Y-Lead" adapter is useful.  The tip saver is a good idea if you use the probe often, but is optional if you're gentle with your probing.

If it helps, the diameter of the needle tips is exactly 0.025".  You might be able to find some gold plated needles and bend them into the shape you want.  You'll probably also want to provide some additional support like the original.  Although it might be tempting, don't try to make needle probes out of 0.025 *square* posts.  It will ruin the contacts in the probe if the square post tries to rotate in the probe socket.  (Guess how I know...)

You can make a "Y-Lead" adapter with a piece of 2x1 regular 0.1" header.  Square pins is ok here since they won't rotate.

thanks.  What are your options if the probe sockets get damaged? is that repairable?

[Protegimus]

@gamalot thanks for this. Was your probe faulty, or did you strip it for interest?

I bought a secondhand probe earlier in the year and the first one received was faulty. Think I'll open it up and take a look.
Any tips on disassembly, or is it straightforward?

[MarkL]

It's not the answer you want to hear, but I bought my 2x P6248 with the accessories.  So I'm using the legit tips.

The most useful tip is the "TwinTip" offset needle 016-1786-00.  Followed by the "Longhorn" twin tip 016-1780-00.  At least for my purposes.  And for probing where lead length is not a major issue, the 196-3434-00 "Y-Lead" adapter is useful.  The tip saver is a good idea if you use the probe often, but is optional if you're gentle with your probing.

If it helps, the diameter of the needle tips is exactly 0.025".  You might be able to find some gold plated needles and bend them into the shape you want.  You'll probably also want to provide some additional support like the original.  Although it might be tempting, don't try to make needle probes out of 0.025 *square* posts.  It will ruin the contacts in the probe if the square post tries to rotate in the probe socket.  (Guess how I know...)

You can make a "Y-Lead" adapter with a piece of 2x1 regular 0.1" header.  Square pins is ok here since they won't rotate.

thanks.  What are your options if the probe sockets get damaged? is that repairable?

It's probably repairable, if a replacement can be found for the contact or the leaf can be bent back into shape, but I haven't opened the one where this happened to know for sure.  The regular probe accessories are now very loose on the "+" side, but they still stay in when inserted (barely), so I haven't risked disassembling it.