Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14555761 times)

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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12725 on: July 03, 2018, 12:42:12 pm »
It's out...FINALLY...for the most part. The Vertical Board on this sick 465. I just have to unsolder/tag some wires and pull the rear coaxes and it will be free. Then disassemble the range switch assemblies so I can get to the backside and clean the finger contacts. Oh and guess what? The BNC's are part of the board assembly.

BD....question...does the delay line unplug from the vertical board? It looks like a connector but it is real tight. I may have to unsolder it.

   
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12726 on: July 03, 2018, 01:10:24 pm »
Think the delay line is soldered on. If it's not one of those little coax connectors it will be
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12727 on: July 03, 2018, 01:25:54 pm »
It is soldered to the board. But now that I have everything else disconnected and tagged I have plenty of room to remove the rear switch board and work in that area. So the delay line is going to remain connected.

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Online PA0PBZ

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12728 on: July 03, 2018, 02:16:29 pm »
It's out...FINALLY...for the most part.

Holy s... that thing put up a bit of a fight isn't it?  :phew:
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12729 on: July 03, 2018, 02:29:47 pm »
Tek didn’t put a lot of thought into fixing it once it was built.
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12730 on: July 03, 2018, 03:20:43 pm »
It's out...FINALLY...for the most part.

Holy s... that thing put up a bit of a fight isn't it?  :phew:

Yep, it sure has. My 2465's are marginally better at servicing compared to this puppy. It's like they stuffed 5 pounds of shit in a 3 pound bag. But that's the price you pay for a portable scope I guess. But I did notice that the bench OS-245 (civilian 7603N) looks like a real PITA if I ever have to get access to it's linear power supply. Nothing like the old 500 series where everything was accessible. 
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12731 on: July 03, 2018, 03:34:29 pm »
Now UPS is saying I'll get the secret package on Thursday. We'll see... :-//
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12732 on: July 03, 2018, 03:38:46 pm »
It's out...FINALLY...for the most part.

Holy s... that thing put up a bit of a fight isn't it?  :phew:

Yep, it sure has. My 2465's are marginally better at servicing compared to this puppy. It's like they stuffed 5 pounds of shit in a 3 pound bag. But that's the price you pay for a portable scope I guess. But I did notice that the bench OS-245 (civilian 7603N) looks like a real PITA if I ever have to get access to it's linear power supply. Nothing like the old 500 series where everything was accessible. 

7603 is nice. Undo some screws on the side and it just slides out apparently. Never done it myself however

Got to be better than that D83.
 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12733 on: July 03, 2018, 03:42:05 pm »
It's out...FINALLY...for the most part.

Holy s... that thing put up a bit of a fight isn't it?  :phew:

Yep, it sure has. My 2465's are marginally better at servicing compared to this puppy. It's like they stuffed 5 pounds of shit in a 3 pound bag. But that's the price you pay for a portable scope I guess. But I did notice that the bench OS-245 (civilian 7603N) looks like a real PITA if I ever have to get access to it's linear power supply. Nothing like the old 500 series where everything was accessible. 

7603 is nice. Undo some screws on the side and it just slides out apparently. Never done it myself however

Got to be better than that D83.

Hmmm...maybe you're right. I just gave it a quick look over when I had the covers off. I'm sure sooner or later I'll find out because as far as I know it's got it's original filter caps.
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12734 on: July 03, 2018, 04:19:27 pm »
Tek didn’t put a lot of thought into fixing it once it was built.
I've always thought that designers should be made to work on these things so they can see the implications of their designs on others who have to keep them working. We,d see some changes then that's for sure.

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« Last Edit: July 03, 2018, 05:18:27 pm by Specmaster »
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12735 on: July 03, 2018, 04:20:15 pm »
I would have thought that since my latest Ebay order originated in New Hampshire that it would go directly to a UPS depot in New York. But no.....it's bouncing all over New England. First to another depot in NH, then to Masshole, and now it just departed a depot in Rhode Island. I figured even with the holiday on Wednesday that I'd get it no later than Friday. Now I'm not so sure and who the hell knows where it will go next.  |O

If it was later in the year you could put it down to it wanting to do what much of New York does, take a tour to see the fall leaves.  Rhode Island? If it goes via Quahog it's probably screwed - Giggity. :)
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12736 on: July 03, 2018, 04:38:29 pm »
I've always that designers should be made to work on these things so they can see the implications of their designs on others who have to keep them working. We,d see some changes then that's for sure.

An old boss of mine, our CEO/Chairman, used to insist that everybody in the company, from himself on down, spent one shift a month on the phones taking customer service calls so they would get a feel for things from the coal face.

It wouldn't hurt, in any engineering type company, to insist that everyone spent some time doing service/field service work to get a feel for how products react in the field. Even if that wasn't politic/practical, every design engineer ought to have to spend at least one day a month doing it. The moment of revelation usually comes thusly: "What idiot decided to do things this way? Oh, hold on, it was me."
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12737 on: July 03, 2018, 04:42:05 pm »
Definitely. It's quite good when you're a one man band / contractor. You have to understand the entire business and every side effect of every decision. Everyone should go solo for a bit and get educated on this.
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12738 on: July 03, 2018, 04:59:23 pm »
There's a flip side to that. People who have only ever worked for medium-large companies* don't get to see anything like enough and often think that some things happen by magic and get a rude awakening if they ever have to fend for themselves. Ditto blokes who go directly from "living with mum" to "living with the wife**".

*Definition: if you don't know everybody in the company by name.
**Substitute your own politically correct/gender obfuscated noun.
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Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12739 on: July 03, 2018, 05:12:28 pm »
I would have thought that since my latest Ebay order originated in New Hampshire that it would go directly to a UPS depot in New York. But no.....it's bouncing all over New England. First to another depot in NH, then to Masshole, and now it just departed a depot in Rhode Island. I figured even with the holiday on Wednesday that I'd get it no later than Friday. Now I'm not so sure and who the hell knows where it will go next.  |O

If it was later in the year you could put it down to it wanting to do what much of New York does, take a tour to see the fall leaves.  Rhode Island? If it goes via Quahog it's probably screwed - Giggity. :)

I don't have to "take a tour" to see the fall leaves. All I have to do is look out my window. Got plenty of leaves. Along with apple orchards. So every Fall the city folk invade us "leaf peeping" and picking apples. Clog up the roads and in general be a PITA. I realize it's important to our local economy but I sure am glad when Oct 31 arrives and the orchards close and the city horde goes home.
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12740 on: July 03, 2018, 08:32:27 pm »
Tek didn’t put a lot of thought into fixing it once it was built.

Tek was ahead of their time. Most things these days aren't designed to even last, let alone be fixed. Fortunately, not everything is crap, but so much certainly is. :palm:
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12741 on: July 03, 2018, 09:09:39 pm »
I would have thought that since my latest Ebay order originated in New Hampshire that it would go directly to a UPS depot in New York. But no.....it's bouncing all over New England. First to another depot in NH, then to Masshole, and now it just departed a depot in Rhode Island. I figured even with the holiday on Wednesday that I'd get it no later than Friday. Now I'm not so sure and who the hell knows where it will go next.  |O

If it was later in the year you could put it down to it wanting to do what much of New York does, take a tour to see the fall leaves.  Rhode Island? If it goes via Quahog it's probably screwed - Giggity. :)

I don't have to "take a tour" to see the fall leaves. All I have to do is look out my window. Got plenty of leaves. Along with apple orchards. So every Fall the city folk invade us "leaf peeping" and picking apples. Clog up the roads and in general be a PITA. I realize it's important to our local economy but I sure am glad when Oct 31 arrives and the orchards close and the city horde goes home.

I've ordered enough stuff China-Direct that this is still a "meh" for me. I've had packages come from ShenZhen spend weeks with no update then show up in Dew Delhi, Azerbaijan, then bounce around between Bucharest, Sarajevo and Zurich before getting on a plane in Antwerp on its way here. I could imagine the damn thing traveling tied to the back of a yak through the Tibetan mountains or somesuch thing during that 2 weeks of silence, I tell you what.  :-DD

Then the REAL higgledy-piggledy starts; the USPS sorting centers here in the Midwest are positively sociopathic.  |O


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If only I could take that trip for US$2.25 ePacket...
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12742 on: July 03, 2018, 09:17:07 pm »
In other news...



While looking for parts PCBs hoping to fix my new Surround receiver for free, what did I come across? The baggie filled with "bits o' remote" which belonged to my OLD surround receiver, that had accidentally gotten curb-stomped by a dropped couch years ago. Damn... now I HAVE to try and fix it, of course... but I don't have an IR module for my 'scope, nor any of the nifty testers from fleaBay. I used to have a little photochemical card from Radidio Shack that would show you the IR if you charged it up under UV light; but that got lost forever ago, and I never replaced it.


[Tool Time]

     

So... a little rummaging around in the PCB bin yields a front button bar pulled from an old TV with IR sensor; upon closer inspection, I find the I/O pins are not only neatly labeled, it also has the pullup resistor, etc already on the board to be fully functional with just application of 5V. A little Dremeling yielded a nice little sub-board to which I soldered a BNC adapter direct; then a 10K buffer resistor plugged into that and addition of a USB pigtail and it was ready to rock!

Then I just had to notice... there's a red/green LED on the board too.  :palm:

A little trial/error "empirical engineering" nets me a combination of resistors that allows the green side to drive at ~3mA, yet easily shunted with a PNP to drive the red side at approx 15mA whenever the base is pulled low by the IR sensor. Some epoxy to pot the resistors and transistor and cable, and it's ready to go!

This gives me a decoder with green power indicator that blinks red (actually appears orange in most cases, which is still fine) with application of IR signal from a remote, AND plugs direct into the BNC & USB ports on my good ol' wRigol.

Not only that, but it's ALSO usable as a standalone go/no-go IR Remote tester just by plugging into any live USB port!

Easy-peasy, and useful as hell!


[/Tool Time]


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« Last Edit: July 03, 2018, 09:24:39 pm by mnementh »
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12743 on: July 03, 2018, 09:22:49 pm »
More POWER!!! Waugh! Waugh! Waugh!!!

So now you just have to shoehorn a small block V8 in there and you're golden.
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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12744 on: July 03, 2018, 09:25:40 pm »
Nice little hack mnem.  :-+
Yeah I 'spose that's easier than trying to connect to the pins of an IR LED but for just a 'does it work' check a cellphone camera works pretty well to see if a remote IR LED is working.
Found the odd dud one like that.
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Offline bitseekerTopic starter

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12745 on: July 03, 2018, 09:48:28 pm »
That's really neat, mnem! I think I have the electronics from an old floor-standing fan I scrapped some time ago. I believe it was IR controlled. So, I might have a chance of making something similar.

BTW, to do go/no-go checks of IR remotes, I usually use my phone's camera to see if the IR LED blinks.
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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12746 on: July 03, 2018, 09:51:42 pm »
You can have a load of fun with a photodiode, opamp and a DS1054Z. I built a simple photodiode amp with a LM358 and BPV11.  Record the power button waveform and load it into the DDS (DG1022Z) then play it back through a 2n7000 and IR LED pointed at the TV slyly with a simple trigger set up wired to a push button with a pull up.

Kids playing up, first warning, second warning clicked fingers and TV goes off.

They nearly fell off the couch in surprise, especially the one holding the remote control.

iPhone camera is no good for this as it has an IR filter on it.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12747 on: July 03, 2018, 09:58:05 pm »
You can have a load of fun with a photodiode, opamp and a DS1054Z. I built a simple photodiode amp with a LM358 and BPV11.  Record the power button waveform and load it into the DDS (DG1022Z) then play it back through a 2n7000 and IR LED pointed at the TV slyly with a simple trigger set up wired to a push button with a pull up.

Kids playing up, first warning, second warning clicked fingers and TV goes off.

They nearly fell off the couch in surprise, especially the one holding the remote control.

iPhone camera is no good for this as it has an IR filter on it.
Samsung phones work a treat as an IR detector, I often use mine for that purpose, another score for Android in the TE arena.

Good to see England in the QFs after all this time, let's hope we continue the momentum and bring it home again.

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Online tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12748 on: July 03, 2018, 10:01:05 pm »
You can have a load of fun with a photodiode, opamp and a DS1054Z. I built a simple photodiode amp with a LM358 and BPV11.  Record the power button waveform and load it into the DDS (DG1022Z) then play it back through a 2n7000 and IR LED pointed at the TV slyly with a simple trigger set up wired to a push button with a pull up.

Kids playing up, first warning, second warning clicked fingers and TV goes off.

They nearly fell off the couch in surprise, especially the one holding the remote control.

iPhone camera is no good for this as it has an IR filter on it.

Or https://www.tvbgone.com
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Offline Neomys Sapiens

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #12749 on: July 03, 2018, 10:04:25 pm »
I hope that the TEAparty is well and going, as I am not.
I suffered total and sudden computer failure on the Internet-capable part of my IT.
Meh.
Took Laptop from work home to take care of the most urgent stuff.
See you (and your new gear, i hope) soon. New stuff under way. I HATE SETTING UP PCs!
 


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