Tek 2215 - Never been used!

[TheBay]

Friend popped over with a gift for me, his dad was going to throw out a Tek 2215 so he thought I'd like it.
I know there is not much love for this scope on the forum, but it doesn't seem a bad little CRO. And I couldn't let him throw it out!

The interesting thing about this scope is, it has never been used! It's a British Telecom badged unit and has the original "Post Office (PO)" branded mains plug.
This particular scope was manufactured in 1983 was never used and has just sat in storage since!

The manuals and 10:1 P6120 probes were still sealed in their packaging, the CRT is lovely and bright, also very crisp but hard to see on this picture as my phone won't focus on the CRT.

Am I right in thinking there is no graticule illumination on this model?

[Specmaster]

I don't think so because if there was then the control would surely be on the front panel and I can see nothing relating to screen illumination on it.

It is however a really nice looking scope and must a find in a million, never being used in all this time.

[particleman]

If you want to make sure the CRT stays nice and bright make sure sup3010 has been done.

[drussell]

If you want to make sure the CRT stays nice and bright make sure sup3010 has been done.

SUP3010 instructions attached.

[bsfeechannel]

I know there is not much love for this scope on the forum, but it doesn't seem a bad little CRO.

What's so dreadful about this scope to attract so little love?

[TheBay]

If you want to make sure the CRT stays nice and bright make sure sup3010 has been done.

If you want to make sure the CRT stays nice and bright make sure sup3010 has been done.

SUP3010 instructions attached.

Thanks both, will check this!

I know there is not much love for this scope on the forum, but it doesn't seem a bad little CRO.

What's so dreadful about this scope to attract so little love?

It's not really a great scope for Tek, not up to their usual standards. I quite like it though having played with it for a bit.
Some can be problematic as they are an early SMPS based scope from memory.

[drussell]

What's so dreadful about this scope to attract so little love?

Mostly just because it was a lower-cost, more basic scope than what most people think of when they see a Tektronix scope.  When most people think of a Tek scope, you would generally think of a state-of-the-art (for the particular time), high-end, feature-rich and expensive unit. 

[TheBay]

Do any Tek aficionados know what "Mod WU" means on my scope? It's stamped on a plate below the serial number.

[Old Printer]

Might want to have a look at the caps, particularly in the power supply.

[tautech]

Some reading for ya:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/tektronix-2215-scope-repair/

Yep the SMPS can be tricky to fix and even get your head around but threads like these offer good guidance. 

[drussell]

Yeah, aren't there several different versions of the power supply?  I think the service manual has a bunch of info.  You should be able to get the most recent revision from Tek's website, I would assume.

Also, depending on the age of your unit, there were some "improvements" called Option 48 (which is funny because I don't think Tek ever officially offered any "options.")

I was going to attach document 045-0034-00, but it is 0.99 MB, a few bytes too big for the forum, but here is a link... 

http://hakanh.com/dl/docs/kitinstructions/045-0034-00.pdf

[Per Hansson]

Really nice find!
From my service manual about option 48:
"All instruments manufactured in Europe contain the Pre- regulator board (A18). These instruments have serial numbers 200000 and up."
Also the serial number on this unit is high enough that SUP3010 should have been done from the factory too, but do look at the scope to verify that.
It should be marked with M50226 behind the rear panel.

[TheBay]

Stripped her down for an internal inspection, wow it really is like new inside!
Checked for the modification and it has been carried out (The transformer has a 01 sticker)

Everything looks lovely inside, one thing I did notice is that the CRT has an orange graticule scale underneath the lens, there is also a space on the scope for a lamp.
I might retrofit a white LED or a lamp in there to illuminate the scale.

Pics:

[SeanB]

Do not use a white LED, use an orange LED instead, 3mm, 2 in series each side turned to light the glass of the CRT. Much better illumination and a much better contrast with the blue white of the CRT, plus the LED's do not leave a flood of activated phosphor on the CRT at high brightness.  Then you can use any convenient power rail around 12V that has 20mA of current capacity, and a 10k variable resistor across the 12v rail, feeding the base of a NPN transistor (PN2222A) via a 1k resistor, and collector to 12V, and a 1k 0.5W resistor from emitter to the 4 LED's in series. Gives a good brightness range from off to way too bright.

I did the same for a USB light, though it spent most of the time running at 1mA, as the full 20mA of current through the recycled white backlight LED's I used ( amazing how bright those suckers are these days at 20mA, when they run in the panel at 50-100mA) was basically daylight.

[TheBay]

Do not use a white LED, use an orange LED instead, 3mm, 2 in series each side turned to light the glass of the CRT. Much better illumination and a much better contrast with the blue white of the CRT, plus the LED's do not leave a flood of activated phosphor on the CRT at high brightness.  Then you can use any convenient power rail around 12V that has 20mA of current capacity, and a 10k variable resistor across the 12v rail, feeding the base of a NPN transistor (PN2222A) via a 1k resistor, and collector to 12V, and a 1k 0.5W resistor from emitter to the 4 LED's in series. Gives a good brightness range from off to way too bright.

I did the same for a USB light, though it spent most of the time running at 1mA, as the full 20mA of current through the recycled white backlight LED's I used ( amazing how bright those suckers are these days at 20mA, when they run in the panel at 50-100mA) was basically daylight.

Great idea! I did wonder if a white LED would cause phosphor glow, my HP1741A is quite strange when you turn off the light as it almost glows in the dark due to the persistence type CRT.
I'll play around with some Amber LED's, I can hide the pot behind the CRT lens bezel, I don't really want to drill holes in this.

[Specmaster]

Good idea with the pot behind the crt trim, there are some ready made holes that you can use 

[TheBay]

Good idea with the pot behind the crt trim, there are some ready made holes that you can use 

That's the idea
I'm almost certain those holes/slot take the Tek graticule lamp assembly.

[Per Hansson]

Stripped her down for an internal inspection, wow it really is like new inside!
Checked for the modification and it has been carried out (The transformer has a 01 sticker)

Everything looks lovely inside, one thing I did notice is that the CRT has an orange graticule scale underneath the lens, there is also a space on the scope for a lamp.
I might retrofit a white LED or a lamp in there to illuminate the scale.

Pics:

Yea it really looks pristine!
One thing to keep in mind is this from the service manual addendum at the end saying this:

To reinstall the Preregulator board, perform the following steps:
NOTE Check for sufficient silicon grease and proper positioning of the insulator in the plastic holder housing Q933.

[TheBay]

Stripped her down for an internal inspection, wow it really is like new inside!
Checked for the modification and it has been carried out (The transformer has a 01 sticker)

Everything looks lovely inside, one thing I did notice is that the CRT has an orange graticule scale underneath the lens, there is also a space on the scope for a lamp.
I might retrofit a white LED or a lamp in there to illuminate the scale.

Pics:

Yea it really looks pristine!
One thing to keep in mind is this from the service manual addendum at the end saying this:

To reinstall the Preregulator board, perform the following steps:
NOTE Check for sufficient silicon grease and proper positioning of the insulator in the plastic holder housing Q933.

Thank you, will check that out and apply fresh grease.

[boffin]

Do not use a white LED, use an orange LED instead, 3mm, 2 in series each side turned to light the glass of the CRT. Much better illumination and a much better contrast with the blue white of the CRT, plus the LED's do not leave a flood of activated phosphor on the CRT at high brightness.  Then you can use any convenient power rail around 12V that has 20mA of current capacity, and a 10k variable resistor across the 12v rail, feeding the base of a NPN transistor (PN2222A) via a 1k resistor, and collector to 12V, and a 1k 0.5W resistor from emitter to the 4 LED's in series. Gives a good brightness range from off to way too bright.

I did the same for a USB light, though it spent most of the time running at 1mA, as the full 20mA of current through the recycled white backlight LED's I used ( amazing how bright those suckers are these days at 20mA, when they run in the panel at 50-100mA) was basically daylight.

And frankly red looks cooler too.

[Per Hansson]

Thank you, will check that out and apply fresh grease.

Your welcome
Also please be sure to use non-conductive grease.
If the MOSFET makes contact with the chassis it would be live.
That's what the white spacer is for...

[David Hess]

Am I right in thinking there is no graticule illumination on this model?

Only the higher end and later 22xx models included graticule illumination.

What's so dreadful about this scope to attract so little love?

The 2213 and 2215 were essentially prototypes of the 2235 series and because they had some problems, were quickly replaced by the 2213A and 2215A.