Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

F**k the electricity bill as well 

Was looking at a Tek 547 the other day. Then I found it pulled 500W out of the wall. Hot enough in here already!

But excellent for Winter heat. 

No, 500W are not enough to heat a room. 

Long time ago I used a Tek 555. An excellent scope with a W plug in (something like the 7A13).
With this 1KW electrical heater in my basement lab it was never too cold and never too warm...

Oh yes it is, it all depends on the size of the room, my lab is 1.5m x 3.3m and faces north and the window is in the north wall and so does not get any sunshine and with just my desktop PC, speakers and a LG22" monitor (LCD) in use it gets to around 27C and thats sweating territory even with the old fan on, I'm hoping my fan will be an improvement on that.

[djos]

That thing has its own ozone hole

Multimeter problem solved. Ordered a Brymen BM867S from Telonic for a respectable amount less than I would have paid for an 87V. Lets hope it doesn't suck

I've got Dave's blue BM235 model and it's fantastic, easily better than most of the more affordable flukes I've used.

[khs]

F**k the electricity bill as well 

Was looking at a Tek 547 the other day. Then I found it pulled 500W out of the wall. Hot enough in here already!

But excellent for Winter heat. 

Oh yes it is, it all depends on the size of the room, my lab is 1.5m x 3.3m and faces north and the window is in the north wall and so does not get any sunshine and with just my desktop PC, speakers and a LG22" monitor (LCD) in use it gets to around 27C and thats sweating territory even with the old fan on, I'm hoping my fan will be an improvement on that.

No, 500W are not enough to heat a room. 

Long time ago I used a Tek 555. An excellent scope with a W plug in (something like the 7A13).
With this 1KW electrical heater in my basement lab it was never too cold and never too warm...

I started my business in a 27 m² storeroom, and storerooms are always cold.

BTW. interestingly I had a 100 MHz TEK585A too, and was not sure what's the more useful scope.

It was the 555 dual beam monster with its 33 MHz Bw only. The big advantage was the four channels (or 3 ch with the W plug in).

But some years later even 100 MHz was not enough to see the glitches...

[mnementh]

That thing has its own ozone hole

Multimeter problem solved. Ordered a Brymen BM867S from Telonic for a respectable amount less than I would have paid for an 87V. Lets hope it doesn't suck

I've got Dave's blue BM235 model and it's fantastic, easily better than most of the more affordable flukes I've used.

I'm watching some 87Vs right now... but I do expect all of them to sell quite higher than you paid for the BM867S, even accounting for VAT and exchange rate. I eagerly await your inspection and review; particularly of the case material. It looks like it might be ABS in the pics; if not 'glas-filled nylon like Fluke uses, I'm probably gonna keep waiting.


mnem
moo.

[bd139]

It’s probably ABS. My Keysight is glass filled nylon. Very impressed with that meter.

[bitseeker]

I recall thinking the power consumption wasn't that bad for the number of tubes . some lovely glowing pics
In reality it's not very useful - a new/good DSO any day for real work, but it is a beauty in some ways.

I think the only problem here is that you haven't properly redefined its purpose and, hence, what's considered useful. It's a space heater with retro styling and a built-in visualizer for your stereo. So, this winter you'll stay warm and have something to stare at with your favorites tunes playing.

[med6753]

The re-cap of the 2465 is done. It went as smooth as silk...unlike my fighting with that bastard 465. 

It's all documented in the 2465B tear down thread. Check it out. 

[mnementh]

No. 

Seriously... I'm saving that little tidbit as a reward for when I finish my sorting today/tomorrow. I'm horribly behind due to triage-related delays. 


mnem

[VK5RC]

@bitseeker, the problem with that plan is the fan noise, it's about as loud as a car engine idling! Or for that matter a 500W (588W) fan heater - now that I come to think of it! HiHi.

[Zucca]

Keysight AC power supply, AC 6802A

Nice puppy that AC6802A.

[tautech]

No. 

Seriously... I'm saving that little tidbit as a reward for when I finish my sorting today/tomorrow. I'm horribly behind due to triage-related delays. 


mnem

You all right mate ?
With that tiny pecker you wouldn't want to faceplant on it and make it any smaller. 
Or might it swell instead ? 

[VK5RC]

Keysight AC power supply, AC 6802A

Nice puppy that AC6802A.

I fully agree, I have used it much more than I thought I would.

@mnem - that little cartoon sort of reminds me of my life sometimes, a loop of me getting face planted!

[bd139]

Oh fail of fails. ebay for you. There be dragons:

1. Sold my RF signal generator.
2. Buyer chose click and collect from Argos.
3. He went on holiday.
4. Now he returns from holiday and went to collect it but the 7 day collection window has expired.
5. Terms and conditions state: "Your item will be held in-store for collection for a maximum of 7 days from when you receive your Collection Notification. If you fail to collect your item within 7 days, we’ll treat this as cancellation of your order. The item may be returned to the seller or may be disposed of or donated to a charity with no liability to eBay and/or service providers."
6. I haven't seen it or had it returned and this was over a week ago.

Place your bets. I get a negative feedback for this one?

On a positive note, I just ordered a FTTC internet connection which has just been enabled finally!!!! Woohoo!!!  Have ordered a new faceplate/master socket/back box and will self install. Bugger the rules

[bd139]

 

[Specmaster]

Thats nice, 5.5 digits on the Brymen then  Thats looks like a real bargain.

[Specmaster]

Oh fail of fails. ebay for you. There be dragons:

1. Sold my RF signal generator.
2. Buyer chose click and collect from Argos.
3. He went on holiday.
4. Now he returns from holiday and went to collect it but the 7 day collection window has expired.
5. Terms and conditions state: "Your item will be held in-store for collection for a maximum of 7 days from when you receive your Collection Notification. If you fail to collect your item within 7 days, we’ll treat this as cancellation of your order. The item may be returned to the seller or may be disposed of or donated to a charity with no liability to eBay and/or service providers."
6. I haven't seen it or had it returned and this was over a week ago.

Place your bets. I get a negative feedback for this one?

On a positive note, I just ordered a FTTC internet connection which has just been enabled finally!!!! Woohoo!!!  Have ordered a new faceplate/master socket/back box and will self install. Bugger the rules

If you get a negative feedback, speak to Ebay and I think you will find that they will cancel it for you, its not really your problem is it. Apart from anything else how can you refund the idiot if you don't get it back??

Good news on the FTTC, how far away roughly is the cabinet as this will have a major role to play in determining your connection speed.

[bd139]

It's usually 4.5 digits but 50,000 count but you can stick it in high res mode which is 500,000 count. The U1241C is technically 11,000 count so this is a big improvement.

Regarding the eBay dude. Indeed. I will have to see what happens. Not much I can do really. He chose the option without reading the T&C then screwed up. I'm not in agreement with the outcome myself but it's not really my problem.

FTTC estimate is 61mbits which is fine for my requirements. Cabinet isn't far from me - around 300m. I've got a very old master socket though, before the nice modular ones even existed with a filter hanging off it at the moment. This is bad juju so I ordered a new NTE5C unit which is apparently better for FTTC due to the filter arrangement.

[Berni]

Now those are quite the digits on a handheld meter! But how spot on are those last digits. Both of my Agilent handheld DMMs are bang on to the last digit according to my 6.5 digit bench meters.


I have had fiber to home for some time now and it works pretty darn well. 150/150 Mbit that actually goes above that on speedtest.net and a ping of 1 or 2 ms.

[bd139]

That's a good question which requires voltnuttery. I'll get on that when I get off the time nuttery bandwagon

150 meg would be nice. We're apparently 35th in the world in broadband speeds here in the UK

[Specmaster]

sounds like you have the nuttery problem real bad there what with time and volts and just about to add speednuttery as well 

[mnementh]

No. 

Seriously... I'm saving that little tidbit as a reward for when I finish my sorting today/tomorrow. I'm horribly behind due to triage-related delays. 


mnem

You all right mate ?
With that tiny pecker you wouldn't want to faceplant on it and make it any smaller. 
Or might it swell instead ? 

Mine's a grower, not a show-er, mate.

(SNIP)

@mnem - that little cartoon sort of reminds me of my life sometimes, a loop of me getting face planted!

That is EXACTLY how I was feeling last night when I posted it... 

Oh fail of fails. ebay for you. There be dragons:

1. Sold my RF signal generator.
2. Buyer chose click and collect from Argos....
(SNIP)

I had NOTHING to do with this. Nor did any of my cousins.  

Now those are quite the digits on a handheld meter! But how spot on are those last digits. Both of my Agilent handheld DMMs are bang on to the last digit according to my 6.5 digit bench meters.


I have had fiber to home for some time now and it works pretty darn well. 150/150 Mbit that actually goes above that on speedtest.net and a ping of 1 or 2 ms.

It's the upstream speed that makes all the difference in daily usage. I had a rep from AT&T came around a few weeks ago soliciting customers for a new fiber ring; I signed up just on GP in hopes that this time they might actually implement, but in all honesty I'd rather stand in a busy intersection and drill screws through my feet than be an AT&T rape victim customer again.

mnem
I'll let you know how I like my new RF generator. 

[med6753]

That's a good question which requires voltnuttery. I'll get on that when I get off the time nuttery bandwagon

150 meg would be nice. We're apparently 35th in the world in broadband speeds here in the UK

Get one of these. Accurate and stable enough for 5.5 digits.

[mnementh]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/253732641476


Welp... hopefully the search is over for me. I just won a as-is Fluke 189 for $118; just short of my max bid. We'll see how it turns out.


mnem
*Back to my cave*

[Specmaster]

Looks to be OK, lets hope the reality is as good as the promise.

[mnementh]

That's a good question which requires voltnuttery. I'll get on that when I get off the time nuttery bandwagon

150 meg would be nice. We're apparently 35th in the world in broadband speeds here in the UK

Get one of these. Accurate and stable enough for 5.5 digits.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/311498494419

Oh poop... I remember someone saying that Doug was going to do another run of DMMCheck Plus sometime around now... so I went to his website to see if i could get in on it, and I found that starting July 1st, they're going on extended vacation thru SEPTEMBER!!!

 

I guess I'll have to muddle through with my collection of resistors and cheap AD584 reference for now. I hate to bug the guy while he's "away".

In other news... I just unearthed a 20-year-old IBM Thinkpad 380XD. This was my laptop when I met my wife and has been in storage since at least 2008. I plugged it in and it not only works, the battery took a charge and ran for ~15 minutes while I showed it to her. Jeebus, they knew how to build 'em back then.

Looks to be OK, lets hope the reality is as good as the promise.

Ifni save me, I hope not. It was advertised as "intermittently doesn't work". I'm hoping that's entirely due to the battery contact issues that plagued this family of designs, which I can resolve with a LiPo upgrade. That's the only reason I was willing to take that much of a gamble on it.


mnem
*Looking for the website of the local computer museum*