Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14408624 times)

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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10650 on: May 15, 2018, 04:52:12 am »
...I got rid of my adult supervision quite a while ago, so I have no one to protect me now...

Aha!  Now I understand how such a purchase is possible.

Yay for lack of adult supervision!!



Hmmm...  On second though, perhaps some adult supervision might be a good idea...

Nahhh, screw it. That ship has sailed.  Off to the bay of evil!!

-Pat

They're congregating...or perhaps colluding. Did you recently schlepp some of the units I see there?
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10651 on: May 15, 2018, 04:54:28 am »


I snagged that a few years ago out in CA; the display was not working so I gambled for $350 IIRC (plus another c-note to ship it home; the friggin thing weighs around 75 pounds!).  It turned out to have two bad electrolytic caps in the display driver circuitry; it was all of about $3 in parts to bring it back to life.  I lucked out on that one!

 :o Talk about scoring a deal! Now, that's a TEA party.
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10652 on: May 15, 2018, 05:11:09 am »
OK gang, put the kiddies to bed. Tell your XYL it's normal to look. Dim the lights. Tek 2465 pron to follow...

Pix1: The top plate with original factory sign-offs. I did not pull the top plate.

Added to POI index. :-+
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Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10653 on: May 15, 2018, 07:46:54 am »
They're congregating...or perhaps colluding.

Excellent collective noun: "a collusion of test equipment"
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
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Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10654 on: May 15, 2018, 07:55:49 am »
...I got rid of my adult supervision quite a while ago, so I have no one to protect me now...

Aha!  Now I understand how such a purchase is possible.

Yay for lack of adult supervision!!



Hmmm...  On second though, perhaps some adult supervision might be a good idea...

Nahhh, screw it. That ship has sailed.  Off to the bay of evil!!

-Pat

They're congregating...or perhaps colluding. Did you recently schlepp some of the units I see there?

Indeed I did.  You obviously recognize the pile just to the left of center as my recent score.

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 


Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10656 on: May 15, 2018, 08:20:58 am »


I snagged that a few years ago out in CA; the display was not working so I gambled for $350 IIRC (plus another c-note to ship it home; the friggin thing weighs around 75 pounds!).  It turned out to have two bad electrolytic caps in the display driver circuitry; it was all of about $3 in parts to bring it back to life.  I lucked out on that one!


 :o Talk about scoring a deal! Now, that's a TEA party.

Yes, it certainly was.  They were asking $500 IIRC, but when we plugged it in and it showed no signs of life other than the fan spooling up, I offered $350 and they accepted.  I'd recently read about the VFDs in them going bad, and seen something about fitting fourteen segment LED displays - likely here - and figured that was always a possibility.  It seemed a bit odd that BOTH displays had failed, though, and thought I'd seen a tiny flicker in one of them, which meant power supply issues were a possibility, too.

I found schematics and started poking about, and the trouble revealed itself quickly when I looked at the board with an IR camera and saw two glowing electrolytics.  I did some probing with the scope to make sure the drive was there, then replaced them and lo and behold, the display lit right up!  Sweet!  I ran the self cal (Lord only knows how long it was on a shelf before going to surplus), then checked it with the recently calibrated bench meter at work, and it read pretty much dead on.  I was a happy camper til time to figure out packing it came along - that was a challenge.  It's about 24" long, so I had to modify one of the 24x24x24" boxes I normally ship my boat anchors home in to make it longer and thinner.  PITA, but it made its cross country trek unharmed, so all is good.

It's funny when packing the instrument to ship it winds up being more challenging than bringing it back to life was...

Edit to add repair images

The display board (display power supply circuitry at bottom right):


The overheated cap (seeing the pic reminds me that just one was bad.  I shot gunned them, though.  The thermal and visible outline images are misaligned because the picture was taken with the thermal camera quite close to the board and there is parallax error between the thermal and visible light lenses. The thermal image is above the visible light image):


-Pat
« Last Edit: May 15, 2018, 08:41:07 am by Cubdriver »
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10658 on: May 15, 2018, 08:37:00 am »
I'm busy convincing myself now :D
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10659 on: May 15, 2018, 08:40:47 am »
Actually I've unconvinced myself now as I have a couple of other things on the watch list which are more important at the moment.
 

Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10660 on: May 15, 2018, 08:43:09 am »
I'm busy convincing myself now :D
I wouldn't quite know what to use one for. I can't come up with anything I can't already do.
 

Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10661 on: May 15, 2018, 08:44:02 am »
Actually I've unconvinced myself now as I have a couple of other things on the watch list which are more important at the moment.

You're weak, bd!!   :-DD

(Only with this lot could RESISTING the temptation to buy something you really don't need be considered a weakness.  :o )

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10662 on: May 15, 2018, 08:48:16 am »
I'm busy convincing myself now :D
I wouldn't quite know what to use one for. I can't come up with anything I can't already do.
Keeps the TF930 company on the shelf.  :-DD
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10663 on: May 15, 2018, 08:49:38 am »
It does have the “matching cushions appeal” :)

Believe me the other things I have my eye on have a considerably higher “woot factor”.

Plus lame as it is, the old 555 makes a pretty good pulse gen  :)
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10664 on: May 15, 2018, 08:51:44 am »
Actually I've unconvinced myself now as I have a couple of other things on the watch list which are more important at the moment.
At that price they wont hang around for long, the only other ones currently in the UK offered for sale 2nd hand are going for £195 and £395 respectively.
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10665 on: May 15, 2018, 08:58:46 am »
It does have the “matching cushions appeal” :)

Believe me the other things I have my eye on have a considerably higher “woot factor”.

Plus lame as it is, the old 555 makes a pretty good pulse gen  :)
Well I can be smug about it cos I've got that matching cushion effect cos I got mine from the last lot that they had. Then again like you I also have the means of doing other ways and I had considered selling it TBH but not while they have them on offer, its pointless  :-DD It could be a good investment though if I hang on to it for a while  :-+
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10666 on: May 15, 2018, 09:00:37 am »
It does have the “matching cushions appeal” :)

Believe me the other things I have my eye on have a considerably higher “woot factor”.

Plus lame as it is, the old 555 makes a pretty good pulse gen  :)
It would be the odd one out, as it would be one of the few items that can't be hooked up to a computer.
 

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10667 on: May 15, 2018, 09:04:35 am »
It does have the “matching cushions appeal” :)

Believe me the other things I have my eye on have a considerably higher “woot factor”.

Plus lame as it is, the old 555 makes a pretty good pulse gen  :)
It would be the odd one out, as it would be one of the few items that can't be hooked up to a computer.
Nah, you have just enough voltage from USB to make them work.  :phew:
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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10668 on: May 15, 2018, 09:10:13 am »
Nah, you have just enough voltage from USB to make them work.  :phew:
What?
 

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10669 on: May 15, 2018, 09:11:02 am »
Nah, you have just enough voltage from USB to make them work.  :phew:
What?
555
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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10670 on: May 15, 2018, 09:12:52 am »
555
Ah, I was referring to the TTi units. Hooking up a 555 to USB power would technically be hooking it up to a computer, but not quite what I meant.  ;D
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10671 on: May 15, 2018, 09:28:01 am »
555
Ah, I was referring to the TTi units. Hooking up a 555 to USB power would technically be hooking it up to a computer, but not quite what I meant.  ;D
I'm not at all sure that I'm understanding you with this one, the TF930 has a USB port but that is just another option for providing portable power, the TGP110 is purely 240v driven and neither of them has a GPIB connector, so in what way was you thinking of computer linking them?
« Last Edit: May 15, 2018, 09:38:36 am by Specmaster »
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Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10672 on: May 15, 2018, 09:48:54 am »
Heads everyone, TTi TGP110's are back in stock again and they have 18 in cream and 19 in grey.

I'm not really sure why I would want a pulse generator; any of the pulses I would want would be more conveniently generated by a pattern generator.

Having said that, I recently picked a Tek 115 up for £5, and that does one thing a pattern generator won't: have (independently) variable rise and fall times. Mind you, neither does that TTI.

The Tek 115 is remarkably versatile, being able to generate double pulse and, with an external signal triggered bursts. The TTI doesn't look like it does that either.

Example, with equal rise/fall times:


Ob porn: the front panel showing rise and fall time controls, and one interior shot showing old-school wiring looks and, if you look closely on the left, 863pF, 908pF and 9.85nF capacitors.

EDIT: much more detailed porn of this instrument here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/anachrocomputer/albums/72157690644170820
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 07:52:40 am by tggzzz »
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10673 on: May 15, 2018, 09:57:40 am »
I'm not at all sure that I'm understanding you with this one, the TF930 has a USB port but that is just another option for providing portable power, the TGP110 is purely 240v driven and neither of them has a GPIB connector, so in what way was you thinking of computer linking them?
The USB port is not just for power.  :) The TF930 is SCPI enabled, even though it uses a shorthand dialect. You can control all its functions through a PC.
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #10674 on: May 15, 2018, 10:04:21 am »
Ob porn: the front panel showing rise and fall time controls, and one interior shot showing old-school wiring looks and, if you look closely on the left, 863pF, 908pF and 9.85nF capacitors.

That's a thing of beauty!  :-+

Another xfce user I see as well :D
 


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