Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

Looking very nice. What kind of shorts are you using in both 34401As, 3457A and others?

[Kosmic]

Oh man, half a day through and there are four more pages.   

I worked a bit on the power distribution of my bench rack I showed its back side on the #teatime channel yesterday:
(Attachment Link)

Good job 

[mnementh]

On the Bench This Afternoon:

      

GoPro Hero 2014 Edition

Picked this up last time I went grocery shopping; had to plug it into my PS3 controller charger, because, like those controllers, it doesn't charge unless it successfully negotiates USB handshaking.  After charging overnight it showed almost full; this may actually be a good thing as it was deader than a doorknob when I got it.

Curious, I decided to pop the back cover off; not really a lot to see except a couple PCBs and a battery. Interesting that they used a HV LiPo to get more runtime tho. I REALLY expected to find the battery all bloated and puffy; poking it revealed it is hard as a rock. That fact combined with the long charge time may actually indicate it is fairly healthy... at least as healthy as a 6-year-old commodity LiPo can be.

Steve Jobs would've been disgusted at the wasted space and called this thing a "bubble full of air". 

GoPro got a lot of flak about this model back in the day; the integrated case and lack of 1080P/60FPS made folks in my FPV Quadcopter circles call it the "Cheapout Edition". At that time, Mobius had released the Model 2; it had 1080P/60FPS, much improved optics (over its older models), and a $80 pricetag in a package 1/4 the size/weight. Not armored or waterproof like the GoPro of course, but weight was a much higher priority on our whirry little flying things.

I bought a Session when these were both being sold at the same time; had it long enough to develop a loathing for the GoPro Studio software and to have it brick itself on a FW update. Fortunately, well within the Amazon return window, so I happily sent it back and bought a Xiaomi Yi action cam fully kitted out for $99 and spent the rest building this:



At this point, not a lot more to tell; after a few minutes with Q-Tips cleaning sand out of all the crooks & nannies it looks pretty good. Took a few disturbingly distorted pics of my own round face and poked around on the 16GB CF card (Nice surprise: Sony Class 10/UH probably worth more than I paid for the whole camera) that was still in it.

I was hoping to find some nice juicy compromising videos; but all there was is a few pics of some guy bro-ing down on his tropical vacation with the card mostly full of feet vidz and oodles of time-lapse shots of the insides of various baggage.

I'll see if I can actually get contact with the LiPo cell itself and do a IR measurement to confirm its health; otherwise I may be able to do a few charge/discharge cycles through the protection PCB to see if it has anywhere near expected capacity.

I'm still vacillating over whether to allow GoPro software on ANY PC I own long enough to update the FW; the possibility of 1080P/60FPS does make me think.

mnem
*lunch-dwagon*

[mnementh]

Looking very nice. What kind of shorts are you using in both 34401As, 3457A and others?

BVDs, with a few Fruit of the Loom for color. 

mnem
Heh... heh-heh...

[URI]

In my last posting I showed the rack populated with finished power distribution.

With this posting I'll show you how I mounted the trays for the test instruments.
I take the rack space for narrow 1/2 19" instruments as an example.

Here's the lowest tray. It is "simply" a 30x30mm 2mm strong 90° angled piece of ~50cm extruded aluminium profiles.
I made 48 of them for 24 trays all together. Each with four drill holes and sinking (? : deutsch: Senkung). Didn't like that part.
The instrument sits on the tray without mounting screws or something alike. It's just sitting on two rubber feet (the round black pieces you see on the lower end of the picture sitting on the horizontal surface of the aluminium profile):


At the back of the instrument I simply put two pieces of solid cardboard under it -the thickness of the cardboard matches the height of the rubber feet:


This works remarkably well; the rubber feet prevent the individual piece of TE to slip out of its tray if I pull e.g. plugs from their terminal.
In the other direction my HP gear benefits from the typical HP housing/front plate construction:


With this form fit they can't be pushed in.   
Ok, Fluke/Philips gear doesn't have this property but as only a PM6685 counter sits in my rack, this is no real problem: BNC connectors typically don't need much force for pushing them in or pulling them.   

The next tray was mounted using an HP 3437A system voltmeter as a physical master: Its height plus two times the solid cardboard gives the position of the next tray:




This step was repeated several times.   

[mnementh]

Isn't 8040 build extrusion just a joy to work with? 

mnem
*glerp*

[Specmaster]

This is why. Even when y'all get wasted and let it all hang out in the middle of the street, there's a certain artfulness to it.

mnem
I'm all out of "pithy".

Everytime I see that picture (or rather the photo it was derived from) I can't help but think it was staged. I have personally never seen it anywhere near as bad as the scene makes it out to be.

You’re hanging out in the wrong kind of wrong places 

Nah, I don't go up the smoke these days

[bd139]

Nah, I don't go up the smoke these days

Chelmsford town centre on a Saturday night is about the same 

[URI]

Looking very nice. What kind of shorts are you using in both 34401As, 3457A and others?

Below are the different types of 4 wire shorts I currently use:


upper row:
left: adjustable PCB type plug from opendcm ( a guy from romania)
right: 19mmx19mm fixed PCB type plug from opendcm

bottom row:
left: self built from 2mm copper plate and MC plugs.
middle: copper wire, 1.5mm²
left: 19mmx22mm fixed PCB only type from opendcm

I plan to investigate the properties of the different 4 wire shorts in the future.

Looking very nice. What kind of shorts are you using in both 34401As, 3457A and others?

BVDs, with a few Fruit of the Loom for color. 

mnem
Heh... heh-heh...

I'm sure I didn't show my shorts to you..      

[Kosmic]

I'm finally a proud member of the probulator club! Found my ticket for 5$ on ebay It's a good old Simpson model 36, 10kV probe.





The only problem was that the resistance in that thing was around 49Mohm. Gave some funky value on a 10MOhm meter. Was made for some 5MOhm meter?

In any case, I decided to mod it a little bit to work with my meters. So I added around 40MOhm to make a 90/10 voltage divider. The resistors were covered with Super Corona Dope to make sure they don't short with anything.



Now a proper bodge can't really be complete without a good dose of hot glue 



Testing at 1kV:


3kV:

[Mr. Scram]

On the Bench This Afternoon:

      

GoPro Hero 2014 Edition

Picked this up last time I went grocery shopping; had to plug it into my PS3 controller charger, because, like those controllers, it doesn't charge unless it successfully negotiates USB handshaking.  After charging overnight it showed almost full; this may actually be a good thing as it was deader than a doorknob when I got it.

Curious, I decided to pop the back cover off; not really a lot to see except a couple PCBs and a battery. Interesting that they used a HV LiPo to get more runtime tho. I REALLY expected to find the battery all bloated and puffy; poking it revealed it is hard as a rock. That fact combined with the long charge time may actually indicate it is fairly healthy... at least as healthy as a 6-year-old commodity LiPo can be.

Steve Jobs would've been disgusted at the wasted space and called this thing a "bubble full of air". 

GoPro got a lot of flak about this model back in the day; the integrated case and lack of 1080P/60FPS made folks in my FPV Quadcopter circles call it the "Cheapout Edition". At that time, Mobius had released the Model 2; it had 1080P/60FPS, much improved optics (over its older models), and a $80 pricetag in a package 1/4 the size/weight. Not armored or waterproof like the GoPro of course, but weight was a much higher priority on our whirry little flying things.

I bought a Session when these were both being sold at the same time; had it long enough to develop a loathing for the GoPro Studio software and to have it brick itself on a FW update. Fortunately, well within the Amazon return window, so I happily sent it back and bought a Xiaomi Yi action cam fully kitted out for $99 and spent the rest building this:



At this point, not a lot more to tell; after a few minutes with Q-Tips cleaning sand out of all the crooks & nannies it looks pretty good. Took a few disturbingly distorted pics of my own round face and poked around on the 16GB CF card (Nice surprise: Sony Class 10/UH probably worth more than I paid for the whole camera) that was still in it.

I was hoping to find some nice juicy compromising videos; but all there was is a few pics of some guy bro-ing down on his tropical vacation with the card mostly full of feet vidz and oodles of time-lapse shots of the insides of various baggage.

I'll see if I can actually get contact with the LiPo cell itself and do a IR measurement to confirm its health; otherwise I may be able to do a few charge/discharge cycles through the protection PCB to see if it has anywhere near expected capacity.

I'm still vacillating over whether to allow GoPro software on ANY PC I own long enough to update the FW; the possibility of 1080P/60FPS does make me think.

mnem
*lunch-dwagon*

The Hero+ or LCD versions were more interesting offering but this was the time oriental competition really got into stride. I don't think GoPro ever was the same since. Regardless it's a good find for 15 Canapesos. Looks like you're hard at work filling the new house up with thrift store junk. I mean treasures. 

[Mr. Scram]

Below are the different types of 4 wire shorts I currently use:
(Attachment Link)

upper row:
left: adjustable PCB type plug from opendcm ( a guy from romania)
right: 19mmx19mm fixed PCB type plug from opendcm

bottom row:
left: self built from 2mm copper plate and MC plugs.
middle: copper wire, 1.5mm²
left: 19mmx22mm fixed PCB only type from opendcm

I plan to investigate the properties of the different 4 wire shorts in the future.

I'm sure I didn't show my shorts to you..      

Yes please. I'd be most interested to see whether the thermal mass of that copper plate that supposedly matters actually does. Are the opendcm ones soldered or just screwed in?

[URI]

Below are the different types of 4 wire shorts I currently use:
(Attachment Link)

upper row:
left: adjustable PCB type plug from opendcm ( a guy from romania)
right: 19mmx19mm fixed PCB type plug from opendcm

bottom row:
left: self built from 2mm copper plate and MC plugs.
middle: copper wire, 1.5mm²
left: 19mmx22mm fixed PCB only type from opendcm

I plan to investigate the properties of the different 4 wire shorts in the future.

I'm sure I didn't show my shorts to you..      

Yes please. I'd be most interested to see whether the thermal mass of that copper plate that supposedly matters actually does. Are the opendcm ones soldered or just screwed in?

I just screwed them in tightly.

[Mr. Scram]

I just screwed them in tightly.

My edit was just a bit too late. Looks like those plugs are deep enough for 34401As? Do you have any part numbers for the opendcm and homebrew ones?

[URI]

After several sniping tools functionally died from iiiieeeebays new login procedure using captchas and other script-e-di-daddle-di-du I saved quite a penny not being able to place snipes on items ending at unbearable times of the day (or more precisly: the night).

This time is now over!      

I stepped across Biet-O-Matic BE. This is a browser add-on to several internet browsers e.g. chrome (at this time only with an interface in german).
Ok, this is a hint more for the fellow german TEA sufferers.   

As a locally (inside the browsing program) running add-on it just automates the steps the user would do to place a bid: open a tab, open the articles web site, fill in your bid, click and confirm the "place bid" button.
Because of this approach it doesn't require the user to give away ones *bay credentials nor does it interfere with the login procedures. You just have to be logged in your browser session and then it's automating your bids for you.
It seems to work with *bay.de and *bay.com -the two sites I usually used to use.   

I tested with four items today (didn't win any, but only because i got outbid) and the bid was placed 3-4sec before auction ending every time. This said, a correct system time is crucial for this, ntpd is your friend here..

Sniping again, sniping, snipe...   

[AVGresponding]

Nah, I don't go up the smoke these days

Chelmsford town centre on a Saturday night is about the same 

Just about any town centre these days, even sleepy little Hebden Bridge   


@URI  *sighs* I wish I had the space for a big 19" rack cabinet. They are easy to come by, just not easy to house   


@Kosmic dammit I just missed a 30kV Philips probe that went above my *abort abort* threshold. Now I'm even more sad!
Guess I'll have to go back to plan A and make a HV divider out of reclaimed resistors and corona dope...


If any of the US lot are willing to help me acquire a small item that has stupid GSP costs, please pm me!

[bd139]

Right DMM requirements are down. Choice is narrowed to the Fluke 179 by the looks. Has 100uV/10uA resolution which is fine for a second DMM (i rarely if ever do measurements that low anyway), autohold, True RMS good enough for line usage,  backlight that isn't shite, frequency measurement bandwidth fine for audio, thermocouple input, basic 0.09% + 2 count accuracy in DCV. 2 minutes backlight timeout.

Any objections? 

Edit: Honestly some of the choice was influenced by the fact it's the direct successor of the Fluke 77 I nicked off my father and wore out years ago 

[tautech]

Right DMM requirements are down. Choice is narrowed to the Fluke 179 by the looks. Has 100uV/10uA resolution which is fine for a second DMM (i rarely if ever do measurements that low anyway), autohold, True RMS good enough for line usage,  backlight that isn't shite, frequency measurement bandwidth fine for audio, thermocouple input, basic 0.09% + 2 count accuracy in DCV. 2 minutes backlight timeout.

Any objections? 

Edit: Honestly some of the choice was influenced by the fact it's the direct successor of the Fluke 77 I nicked off my father and wore out years ago 

Second hand ? If so you're a braver man than I ! 

[bd139]

Nope. New boxed

[factory]

You're obviously far too genteel Specmaster.
Wow, do you live in a post office BD139? My item is posted already and I only paid for it 10 minutes ago!   

BD139 should be able to afford some new wire strippers now, I've bought some parts from him too.

David

[AVGresponding]

I object!

Proper Flukes have their rotary switch decently recessed in the middle of the casing.

Everything else is either antique and suitable only for display purposes, or deviant from respectable proportionality!


EDIT: In that case David, he can afford to buy a proper 87 instead of some lower grade 179!

[URI]

I just screwed them in tightly.

My edit was just a bit too late. Looks like those plugs are deep enough for 34401As? Do you have any part numbers for the opendcm and homebrew ones?

All plugs shown are deep enough for 34401As.   

Errm, yes. (searching....)
The opendcm variants are e.g. available on the *bay, check user "krasimir.k".

My home-brew ones are made of 2mm copper plates. I think I got them over the *bay but I haven't found them in my history.
The plugs are from Stäubli/MC (multi-contact), I got them from Bürklin.
With gold plated nuts for car pimping:
e.g. Mutter M4 GOLD or Bundmutter M4 GOLD

A saw, a drill and a file and you are ready to go.      

[tautech]

Nope. New boxed

Selling the Rigol to fund it ?

[mnementh]

I'm finally a proud member of the probulator club! Found my ticket for 5$ on ebay It's a good old Simpson model 36, 10kV probe. (SNIP)   The only problem was that the resistance in that thing was around 49Mohm. Gave some funky value on a 10MOhm meter. Was made for some 5MOhm meter?

Welcome to Probulator Club! Remember the first rule of Probulator Club... You MUST TALK ABOUT Probulator Club! 

My guess would be that it's intended to be used with a 260 analog meter; later models are 20KΩ/V with 10/50/250VDC scales, so 5MΩ on highest scale.

My 635 is 20KΩ/V with 12/60/300V scales; not sure if older model 260s were the same.

mnem
 

[bd139]

Thanks factory / ThickPhilM . Stuff going in the post tomorrow lunch time 

I've got piles of stuff to go yet so add me to your sellers lists   

Going on a TE splurge at the moment so any assistance appreciated