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Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

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bd139:

--- Quote from: Mr. Scram on May 05, 2018, 11:28:53 pm ---
--- Quote from: bd139 on May 05, 2018, 07:36:57 am ---If you think that’s shocking, the poor NHS disposed of about 2000 PCs last year which didn’t even leave the suppliers. Basically just handed over the money for them. Then the suppliers charged them storage and disposal.

Going to ML&S today. That’s dangerous. Got my eye on one of these:

https://youtu.be/EWfgtKapVDU

--- End quote ---
Why do I get the feeling that when a company or individual does that the tax man will look for the loophole or scam until it is found?

Do you have a source for that story? All I can find are about regular NHS IT failures and wastes of money.

--- End quote ---

Tax man doesn’t care. Attempts to report this to the press have been met with “meh” so far as there’s no agenda or political affiliation involved. In time someone will bite...


--- Quote from: mnementh on May 05, 2018, 11:25:45 pm ---
--- Quote from: Cerebus on May 05, 2018, 01:22:37 pm ---I don't think he's auditioning, he is it.

BD139 has gradually turned into the TEA soap opera what with the Mrs' haircuts, the lego, the GPS and sticky faceprints on the window, decimated credit cards, exploding domestic appliances and the never-ending suspense of when will the oven get fixed.  :popcorn:

--- End quote ---

Okay... but how do we blame Penis Fingers for the Legos?  :-DD

Speaking from experience, I know that li'l mnem IS responsible for my own Lego misery... without him, no little boy; no little boy, no 10000 Legos (NOT an exaggeration... a conservative estimate from the last 7 years purchases) scattered from hell to breakfast about the house. But there's at best an etymological relationship between the two.  :o


mnem
I survived the Saturday afternoon trip to Wholesale Club Hell without eating any of my family in self-defense; don't expect another damn thing of me until after I've had a decent night's sleep.  };=)~~~~<

--- End quote ---

I blame it on my eldest who was tasked with helping clean up the youngest’s lego explosion :)

I can’t do wholesale places any more.  I turned into my local Costco (Feltham) car park a few months back and there were toilet rolls everywhere and two women punching each other and pulling hair. Just did a 180 and went elsewhere.

Mr. Scram:
I think the tax man would be most interested if a company bought and immediately junked computers worth a million quid or more. It has the smell of a fraud, except that these systems actually existed.

Cerebus:

--- Quote from: bd139 on May 05, 2018, 11:42:49 pm ---I can’t do wholesale places any more.  I turned into my local Costco (Feltham) car park a few months back and there were toilet rolls everywhere and two women punching each other and pulling hair. Just did a 180 and went elsewhere.

--- End quote ---

What, to get popcorn before you drove back?  >:D

Note: If you ever do this in real life remember to park military style, nose out for a quick getaway. As every copper who's been called to a 'domestic' will tell you, the quickest way to stop a fight is to become the mutual focus of the protagonists ire.

Cerebus:

--- Quote from: Mr. Scram on May 06, 2018, 12:16:50 am ---I think the tax man would be most interested if a company bought and immediately junked computers worth a million quid or more. It has the smell of a fraud, except that these systems actually existed.

--- End quote ---

Allowable expenses include those that are the result of rank stupidity. If they didn't every Times-100 company's board would be in gaol.

Ero-Shan:
Thought I'd give you a small update as to the proceedings of my PM2421 repair.


--- Quote from: tggzzz on May 04, 2018, 09:18:05 pm ---It was all downhill after that.

--- End quote ---

Although this referred to Nimrods, that sums it up nicely.

The first session didn't go well.
The second session didn't go well.
The third session went far worse than those.

I really didn't expect this to become such a task. It took me some time to realize that the beautiful manual was for an earlier model. The manual from ElektroTanya is for my model, but the scan quality is not as good. And both manuals have missing pages.  :(
After lots of wasted time, I realized that the logic was stuck in the down-integration phase. Looked like the comparator never signaled the zero crossing to ending that. Pulled out the resistor at its input and applied -0.1 V / +0.1 V. Output didn't change. However, that comparator is a µA710 in a 14-pin DIP. :( Unlike the majority, this one has push-pull outputs, so most of my collection is pretty useless. For testing's sake I build an adapter and went with a LT1018 (slower, not really dual supply, but as a quick test ...). After switching the thing on, I saw a light in the corner of my eye, which was also the corner of the power supply PCB. The display changed to 2 Nixies out, 2 Nixies gibberish, and the 5 volts were gone. Getting at the PS PCB is not too easy, but after pulling it out I found the light source: a long, thin glass tube with a fine wire in it, which the schematics showed as a 1 \$\Omega\$ resistor.

That was on Friday, and I still don't have the slightest idea why this happened. I was nowhere near the 5 volts rail when it happened. I was just watching, as I hoped it would spring to life. Even if I had made any short with that comparator, this could not have resulted.
I'm planning on powering the thing with my lab supplies (except the HV for the Nixies) so I can limit the current easily and safely. After replacing the dead fuse resistor with an ordinary 1 \$\Omega\$ resistor, the 5 volts from the PS are fine again (tested with an electronic load and DC lab supply instead of transformer).

Of course this might deserve a posting in the repair thread, but if I fail to make it work, I'd be too embarrassed.  :-[ I hate to admit defeat.
Not sure if I find some time today. The weather's too nice to stay in the house all day.

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