Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Found myself accidentally just hitting the unreadreplies URL in my browser here (muscle memory!!!) while sorting some shit out so figured I better post a reply... Household has had one lying cheating witch evicted. Kids remain. I shall leave my explanation of the problems at that as this is my escape hatch really at the moment.

To quote Cave Johnson: "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give CAVE JOHNSON LEMONS! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I'm the man who's GONNA BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN! WITH THE LEMONS! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!"

On a positive note the 2235 multiplier and the stuff from RS arrived but I fear if I wield a soldering iron for a couple of weeks I might insert it in someone.

Anyway back to getting nits out of the kids post-school 

Well, hell... that's rough man. Here... have some hazelnut brandy, settle your nerves.

Actually kindof spooky, you quoting that; just yesterday bean posted this in jest while yanking on the ol' dwagon's tail for shits & giggles:



*Cue Twilight Zone music*

When you're ready, talk. We're not going anywhere. 

Now is probably a good time for some mindless, repetitive tinkery; just as you suggested, not a good time for open-heart surgery on something as cantankerous as a 223x.

Got any old electrolytics that need to find their way to heaven?   

mnem
Wonder how many KV were involved in the eviction...

[GreyWoolfe]

Found myself accidentally just hitting the unreadreplies URL in my browser here (muscle memory!!!) while sorting some shit out so figured I better post a reply... Household has had one lying cheating witch evicted. Kids remain. I shall leave my explanation of the problems at that as this is my escape hatch really at the moment.

Thankfully, you still have the kids.  Ex cheated, evicted me and kept the son.  And lied to everyone that I left.  19 years went by before my son came back into my life.  He finally got the truth and we have a great relationship now.  Him and his mother, not so much but the bridges were already damaged between them.

I know all about her current life situation.  No husband, 2 sons alienated, her daughter, who is just like her, and the grandkids sponging off.  "anxiety" attacks regularly.  There is no doubt that she has a great big steaming bowl of karma coming her way.  Meanwhile, Mrs GreyWoolfe and I are VERY happily married.

[LapTop006]

I'd been such a good boy recently, restricting myself to just a scope probe here and there (those old HP micro probes are *nice*, and fairly cheap), and then last week my main bench power supply, a very nice (except for the UI) HP E3631A died (looks like the same 5v control failure that a few folk on this forum have had, I'll repair it eventually).

So I used it as an excuse to buy the modular supply chassis that I've had on my list for a few years, just never been able to buy at a sane price (even this one was US$2500 delivered for an empty chassis).



I didn't buy it assuming it had any modules, but after purchasing it I saw the obvious outline of one installed module in the photos of the case sides, sadly the seller removed it before delivery, and it also has none of the software options.

I have an 8v module at home already for one of the rackmount chassis I bought *really* cheap a while back, but filling out the slots will take a few months.

[beanflying]

Channeling through Lemons  It was just an appropriate way to treat the sh1t life sometimes throws our way.

I put off doing anything with this beast as I was looking for an unobtanium (unless I sold a kidney) power cable for this 895A. Bit of a rough head but converting to 240V and the plug swap is underway. Fluke picture porn just because 

[mnementh]

I'm just catching up, and I'd got to "be away for a while" earlier and then this. Don't know what to say man, don't know what to say.

We've got your back man, always remember that. But keep a wary eye on that dragon, like don't do any training course "trust exercises" with him, or accept any glasses of "this little nut brandy made by a friend of mine" - you'll wake up in a dive bar in Budapest with a lipstick printed card hung around your neck saying "It was fun, love Fifi".

Hey, Fifi really liked you man; you woke up with both your kidneys still where the good lord put 'em.     And don't forget who drove all the way down there from Prague to rescue your furry arse from those crazy Turks.

mnem
And who drunk his way back right beside yer... 

[mnementh]

Channeling through Lemons  It was just an appropriate way to treat the sh1t life sometimes throws our way.

I put off doing anything with this beast as I was looking for an unobtanium (unless I sold a kidney) power cable for this 895A. Bit of a rough head but converting to 240V and the plug swap is underway. Fluke picture porn just because 

Well, better channeling lemons than channeling kidneys...    

mnem
*Doo-dee-doo-doo... doo-dee-doo-doo...*

[Kosmic]

Found myself accidentally just hitting the unreadreplies URL in my browser here (muscle memory!!!) while sorting some shit out so figured I better post a reply... Household has had one lying cheating witch evicted. Kids remain. I shall leave my explanation of the problems at that as this is my escape hatch really at the moment.

To quote Cave Johnson: "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give CAVE JOHNSON LEMONS! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I'm the man who's GONNA BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN! WITH THE LEMONS! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!"

On a positive note the 2235 multiplier and the stuff from RS arrived but I fear if I wield a soldering iron for a couple of weeks I might insert it in someone.

Anyway back to getting nits out of the kids post-school 

Good move! Not sure why but recently I was wondering what I would do if something like that would happen to me. Was planning to stick to the house keep the kids and force her out.

Not cool when it's actually happening though

[beanflying]

Well, better channeling lemons than channeling kidneys...    

mnem
*Doo-dee-doo-doo... doo-dee-doo-doo...*

Used to be a bad family in joke from time to time. My Brother and Sister have bung kidneys one started Dialysis this year and the other isn't far off and as mentioned Dad was on it for 40 years. Stupid hereditary crap as mine are of no use to them as their bodies would make them fail but I can still donate them to non family.

Muses to himself Mmm sell brother or sisters bung kidneys on the black market, keep my own and buy more test gear with the proceeds

[mnementh]

To quote Cave Johnson: "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give CAVE JOHNSON LEMONS! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I'm the man who's GONNA BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN! WITH THE LEMONS! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!"

Speaking of which; I can't wait until my son's old enough to really get into Portal... we play it in cooperative mode, but he's still a little young (and the attention span of a ferret on crack) for the searching... searching... searching... of the single-player version. But he does like the twisted humor. I caught him one time just sitting and reading all the stuff that goes by on the monitors and laughing... he'll be ready soon. 

mnem
Yup. Got his daddy's effed-up sense of humor alright. 

[mnementh]

You know what... I think I'm going to just cross fleaBay off my list forever.

First, non-paying bidder number 4... on, you guessed it, my 2nd iPwn... and now the parts for my daughter's iPad, which took 8 days to get here from 260 miles away... arrive with the lock lever to the FPC connector for the HOME button broken and just laying in the package. I already had my concerns when I saw how the box was creased and crushed both ends, so chalked it up to shipping damage, so I took plenty of pics BEFORE I opened it... then again AFTER.

Then the guy comes back telling me he thinks it's not shipping damage but that I broke it, he knows they're really fragile "from personal experience" and he'd gladly fix it if shipped it back to him and paid him $30.

So I tell him he can see very clearly in the photos the part is untouched, exactly as received; the FPC cables haven't even been untaped from the back. I tell him I think his "personal experience" came from THIS very unit, and that he decided to just make it someone else's problem, and that he was just hoping I wouldn't notice until I had already started putting the other parts to it.

I'm not getting scammed for Christmas, it's bad enough my daughter isn't getting her new iPad.   

He immediately authorized RMA, then tried to tell me Karma would find its way to me. I am YOUR Karma bitch. A 2 decade member of echoBay with 100% lifetime feedback; earned not made up, bought, or leveraged.

Good thing I did get her the biggest toy under the tree... the one that's gonna have even her big brother jealous. 

mnem
And I did it all without pants!   

[neo]

Any remember my long suffering 5340A? Anyone at all? 

Originally i  had a 90% perfect 5340A but with a broke counting board that i couldn't fix. Now being perfectly reasonably i tried to fix it, i tried to fix it again and then i accidentally lost that damn board. Probably for the better.....
   Skip forward a bit i finally gave in and bought ANOTHER 5340A this time with the problem i had shown as not present but with its own unique problem. No signal lock but last tried to be calibrated in 2007 and shown counting correctly in the picture, i was hesitant but the seller took my stupidly low offer of a hundred dollars shipping included. I thought, when he accepted that offer, well this is going to go to hell in a handbasket and quick. It shows up in a box six times the size needed, bottom half was pure foam padding and 2 inch thick corrugated cardboard where the device sat and the top was that foam padding which expands exactly to the space required. I excavated it from the box and to my surprise it was still in possession of all four feet. Then i set in on my bench, plugged it in and sure enough it counts right but doesn't lock onto the signal worth a damn. Put my long suffering 5340A on the bench next to it, popped the tops, swapped the counting board from one to the other then plugged in the frankenstein praying it would work aaannnddd YUP! I had bet a hundred dollars on a shaky hunch and hope of the new one actually working and for once i was right.

Now i have a 5340A without a counting board and with no signal lock 

[beanflying]

Sigh, I am a man with two clocks. The Advantest and 34401a have been running for 5 hours or so and have both sitting +-1 on the last digit against the 735a as a reference so nice they all track together. Temperature today has been very stable and they only disagree by 0.0046% but the uncertainty of the Agilent is likely better or closer to the truth being the newer and much more recently calibrated one or is it 

0.0046% out is tiny but is the equivalent of a smidge under 4 seconds a day in clock terms so this just confirms I need a better calibrated clock. 3458a where are you?

Meanwhile a careful recal of the Advantest to match the 34401a I think is the non voltnuttery/metrology standard fix but more than plenty for this shack. 

[beanflying]

Any remember my long suffering 5340A? Anyone at all? 

....
Now i have a 5340A without a counting board and with no signal lock 

Bugga. I have a working one in the rack if it can help for voltages or anything similar but I apart from popping it's top on arrival I know nothing about it really other than it works well.

EDIT : The sentence above was brought to you by  and lazy reading 

[neo]

Bugga. I have a working one in the rack if it can help for voltages or anything similar but I apart from popping it's top on arrival I know nothing about it really other than it works well.

Thanks for the offer but as i said in the brick wall of text; i have a working one from two, the end joke being that i now, of course as a direct side effect, have a broken one with both problems.

EDIT: Also, bean, if you have a working one and want to keep it that way then i would recommend you change those caps ASAP. On mine, the one i fixed, it worked too until a cap gave up and subsequently all hell broke loose.

[Berni]

Sigh, I am a man with two clocks. The Advantest and 34401a have been running for 5 hours or so and have both sitting +-1 on the last digit against the 735a as a reference so nice they all track together. Temperature today has been very stable and they only disagree by 0.0046% but the uncertainty of the Agilent is likely better or closer to the truth being the newer and much more recently calibrated one or is it 

0.0046% out is tiny but is the equivalent of a smidge under 4 seconds a day in clock terms so this just confirms I need a better calibrated clock. 3458a where are you?

Meanwhile a careful recal of the Advantest to match the 34401a I think is the non voltnuttery/metrology standard fix but more than plenty for this shack. 

Just means you don't have enough multimeters yet. I'm sure one of them  HP 3458A would settle the debate, just make sure you don't get two of them, then you are back at the same problem.

[beanflying]

Just means you don't have enough multimeters yet. I'm sure one of them  HP 3458A would settle the debate, just make sure you don't get two of them, then you are back at the same problem.

The one thing I am certain of is my uncertainty is uncertain 

[Cerebus]

Just means you don't have enough multimeters yet. I'm sure one of them  HP 3458A would settle the debate, just make sure you don't get two of them, then you are back at the same problem.

The one thing I am certain of is my uncertainty is uncertain 

What's the uncertainty on that last statement?

[Specmaster]

Just means you don't have enough multimeters yet. I'm sure one of them  HP 3458A would settle the debate, just make sure you don't get two of them, then you are back at the same problem.

The one thing I am certain of is my uncertainty is uncertain 

Haha, having trouble making up your mind eh

[beanflying]

It's a voltnut metrology thing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurement_uncertainty

Statistical uncertainty is applied as a deviation from a 'known standard' in my case that has some uncertainty and is less certain because my 34401a is out of calibration making it overall have a higher uncertainty. Cofused yet? Because I am 

[mnementh]

"Only fools are certain." ~ Michel de Montaigne

mnem

[Specmaster]

It's a voltnut metrology thing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurement_uncertainty

Statistical uncertainty is applied as a deviation from a 'known standard' in my case that has some uncertainty and is less certain because my 34401a is out of calibration making it overall have a higher uncertainty. Cofused yet? Because I am 

The more meters you have the more confused you will get unless you adopt an attitude of say 3 decimal places must agree, the others are for most purposes irrelevant. [emoji48]

[mnementh]

Any remember my long suffering 5340A? Anyone at all? 

(SNIP)
Now i have a 5340A without a counting board and with no signal lock 

Does it have feet? Sell 'em!!! 

mnem
HP feet: Legendary.

[beanflying]

]The more meters you have the more confused you will get unless you adopt an attitude of say 3 decimal places must agree, the others are for most purposes irrelevant. [emoji48]

I used to be happy with just two but then three came into my life which I knew was more accurate than two. I then found this forum and the Metrology section and found there was so much uncertainty in my meters that I brought six digits of recently calibrated meter. Just as my life was becoming more certain I built my first reference and discovered drift and aging which started the uncertainty increasing again so I built another and they didn't agree then I found this place and you all enabled me so I brought a commercial reference by.......

[Specmaster]

]The more meters you have the more confused you will get unless you adopt an attitude of say 3 decimal places must agree, the others are for most purposes irrelevant. [emoji48]

I used to be happy with just two but then three came into my life which I knew was more accurate than two. I then found this forum and the Metrology section and found there was so much uncertainty in my meters that I brought six digits of recently calibrated meter. Just as my life was becoming more certain I built my first reference and discovered drift and aging which started the uncertainty increasing again so I built another and they didn't agree then I found this place and you all enabled me so I brought a commercial reference by.......

At the end of the day does it really matter if something measures say 10. 5555 or 10.5557, the. 555 is accurate enough.

[neo]

Does it have feet? Sell 'em!!! 

mnem
HP feet: Legendary.

No congrats on raising one from the dead?
Yes the dead one has feet.