Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

£10.38 ~= $13 via ebay china.

Just ordered one of those shonky looking PLCs for $19.50. Let's see how that goes. Wonder if I'll get screwed for import on it. Worked out how to build a current loop receiver for their 0-10V analogue inputs with an LM358 and some resistors so should be fun to play with

[Specmaster]

I've just had a low ball offer accepted on a Black Star 4503 bench meter which shows a CAL error, so I'm expecting it to be a case of the battery being flat. I have the owners and also the service manual with the calibration procedure and it can be calibrated via the front push buttons in similar style to the HP3478A. This is yet another item for my growing collection of the TTi family of products as Black Star was I believe a brand name of theirs as the address is identical and the style very similar.

EDIT Ok I'll admit it, I just love all of those LEDs, one for each button, almost 

Haha I saw that and thought about it for a couple of minutes 

But wasnt convinced to slap an offer then eh. I felt sure that you would, so I went in a few £ higher than what I thought you'd go at  Seriously I offered 50% of his asking price and considering there were a few watching, I was surprised to be accepted. I needed a new challenge in this lockdown to keep me from boredom 

Attempting to be objective here, mostly unsuccessfully so decided I'd skip the potential hassle. Plus I was slightly worried that the battery had leaked on the board as well. Good job with the offer though. I reckon people are getting desperate to shift stuff. Best time to be a buyer 

If the battery has leaked, it's currently not doing any real harm to the main circuitry as it seems to be functioning on its internal reference so any leakage should be treatable.

As long as you've not got the "tOtErr" you should be able to recover the cal data, as it stores 10 copies. You need to do it using the RS232 or GPIB, the service manual tells you how to see which of the 10 copies are bad, and how to replace them using the good copies.

Just out of curiosity, how much did you pay?

Oh, and also is it an early 20,999 count or later 40,999 count like mine? The service manual I have is only for the later version, it says you need a different manual for the early version.

EDIT: Some of the traces in the area of the battery are quite small; I had to do a bodge wire to fix the damage on mine. I recommend sorting the battery sooner rather than later!

Oh shit, I wasn't aware that were two variants of this meter  and I too have the manual for the 40,999 count one, so I need to back and search around for the correct one  The price, well the seller was listing it as BIN £39, so I offered £20 and got an acceptance within minutes.

I don't think I'm too bothered about being able to recover other copies of the CAL data, I should be able to reprogram the data via the push buttons and for the higher voltages where I don't have suitable references, I should be able to connect my HP3466A in parallel other higher supplies and get the 4503 to agree with the 3466A, which agrees with the other meters I have. What are the differences then between the 2 versions?

[AVGresponding]

Oh shit, I wasn't aware that were two variants of this meter  and I too have the manual for the 40,999 count one, so I need to back and search around for the correct one  The price, well the seller was listing it as BIN £39, so I offered £20 and got an acceptance within minutes.

I don't think I'm too bothered about being able to recover other copies of the CAL data, I should be able to reprogram the data via the push buttons and for the higher voltages where I don't have suitable references, I should be able to connect my HP3466A in parallel other higher supplies and get the 4503 to agree with the 3466A, which agrees with the other meters I have. What are the differences then between the 2 versions?

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer, besides the obvious difference in counts. I suspect it's mainly a software difference.

My user manual is for the early 4.5 digit, and has the same specs listed in the service manual I have for the 4.75 digit, in terms of accuracy etc. and also operationally in terms of button functions.

The only changes it mentions aside from software is emc compliance changes from s/n55629 onwards.

Black Star were acquired by TTi, I did read a nice history somewhere of the various brands within the company.

I got the service manual from TTi, by emailing their tech support. A nice bloke scanned it and emailed it to me in pdf.
Might be worth emailing them if you can't find it on the web somewhere.

[Specmaster]

Oh shit, I wasn't aware that were two variants of this meter  and I too have the manual for the 40,999 count one, so I need to back and search around for the correct one  The price, well the seller was listing it as BIN £39, so I offered £20 and got an acceptance within minutes.

I don't think I'm too bothered about being able to recover other copies of the CAL data, I should be able to reprogram the data via the push buttons and for the higher voltages where I don't have suitable references, I should be able to connect my HP3466A in parallel other higher supplies and get the 4503 to agree with the 3466A, which agrees with the other meters I have. What are the differences then between the 2 versions?

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer, besides the obvious difference in counts. I suspect it's mainly a software difference.

My user manual is for the early 4.5 digit, and has the same specs listed in the service manual I have for the 4.75 digit, in terms of accuracy etc. and also operationally in terms of button functions.

The only changes it mentions aside from software is emc compliance changes from s/n55629 onwards.

Black Star were acquired by TTi, I did read a nice history somewhere of the various brands within the company.

I got the service manual from TTi, by emailing their tech support. A nice bloke scanned it and emailed it to me in pdf.
Might be worth emailing them if you can't find it on the web somewhere.

Yeh, I think I'll have to do that as all the ones I've found on line are for the 4.75 digit version. How did you recognise that I had the early version from the photo?

[Saskia]

does anybody know this board ?
It looks to me like a Willem Eprom Burner, however I am not entirely certain.

The only markings I can find are some cryptic chinese ones.
If you have a manual / software somewhere please do not hesitate to point it out to me.

Thanks

[bd139]

Willem 5.5. I have one somewhere 

[Saskia]

dank u wel.

[AVGresponding]

Yeh, I think I'll have to do that as all the ones I've found on line are for the 4.75 digit version. How did you recognise that I had the early version from the photo?

Well I couldn't be certain, but there are some cosmetic differences that made me wonder.

The case is a different design, and the jacks also. The jacks on yours are the same as on my 3210MP, I'd have to open the cases to get an approximate date off the ICs though.

My 4503 is definitely pre-1996 though, as the s/n is 52XXX

£20 definitely earns a award!
Mine was ~£40 + shipping iirc



EDIT: It's hard to see from your pic, but it looks like yours has 4--- on the ranges printed under the buttons? Surely it's 4.75?
My software is v1.14

[Specmaster]

Yeh, I think I'll have to do that as all the ones I've found on line are for the 4.75 digit version. How did you recognise that I had the early version from the photo?

Well I couldn't be certain, but there are some cosmetic differences that made me wonder.

The case is a different design, and the jacks also. The jacks on yours are the same as on my 3210MP, I'd have to open the cases to get an approximate date off the ICs though.

My 4503 is definitely pre-1996 though, as the s/n is 52XXX

£20 definitely earns a award!
Mine was ~£40 + shipping iirc



EDIT: It's hard to see from your pic, but it looks like yours has 4--- on the ranges printed under the buttons? Surely it's 4.75?
My software is v1.14

Oh, there is some hope that I have the correct manual in that case then. Looking at your photo I can see the difference in the input jacks but I think that might just because they could not get supplies of their normal ones when they build yours. I have just found one on Ebay in the states with a serial number of 69652 which looks exactly like mine https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Star-4503-Intelligent-Multimeter-120V-50-60Hz-9VA-Measures-AC-volts-DC/274138223384 scan through the photos and it shows the serial number    I see also that you have, like me, a 1905A, which are also nice meters.

[mnementh]

Nope... bean is almost right; that's not a net, it's a veil and med is snorting a line of "yellow" off the belly of a dead banana dancer.   Wait'll all his Blue Krylon finds out... 

Hmmm....  What are you snorting?

mnem

Hellooooo; dwagon here. Snorting is kinda what we do.

[bd139]

LOL bloody amazing film that.

[AVGresponding]

This lazy TE addict just bulk-completed ebay feedback...

I always leave it until it seems like there's a hundred or more   

Only knocked off 1 star on the PM99, I'm just too soft-hearted...

Only things waiting for feedback now are ones that didn't arrive yet, one of them being 50 neon lamps from Shenzen, which I ordered on the 6th of March. Though I technically only need a couple, the price for 50 was too good to pass on, and prompts ideas of neon based 7-segment displays...   
(if I can't buy a sensibly priced nixie, I'll just make my own version!)

Cue everyone linking pics of neon 7-segment displays I never heard of   


EDIT: I had no choice but to google it, and found one on Hackaday. Naturally I shall engineer my own from scratch, that's half the fun!
 

[tggzzz]

Only things waiting for feedback now are ones that didn't arrive yet, one of them being 50 neon lamps from Shenzen, which I ordered on the 6th of March. Though I technically only need a couple, the price for 50 was too good to pass on, and prompts ideas of neon based 7-segment displays...   

You can do far more than that with neons.... counters, oscillators...

If you had enough, you could make an entire digital clock from neons. The major issue is their nonuniform parameters which can change over time.

[bd139]

Yes very true. An example:

[Specmaster]

Seen that before, cool clock.

[AVGresponding]

I care nought for non-uniform parameters, tim eis ani llu sio nin any case, lun cht ime dou bly so.

My neon LCD replacement display will incorporate "vertex approximation" and "variable temporal synchronisation", and might well benefit from being viewed through one squinted eye at an improbable angle, but it will be a pure expression of electrons and photons working together to create a visual interpretation of the relationship between the ground plane and the arbitrary SI unit of measurement selected by the (hopefully rich) patreon subscriber to my (non-existent) channel.

[factory]

They've sent me a list of what they think is in the stock, so for example, there's 15,000 Zener diodes (from 3V up to 36V) , 12,000 Dual N-Channel MOSFETs (2N7002DW), lots of useful general purpose NPN/PNP transistors and tonnes of passive components. Things that I might use, but never in those volumes. Obviously no company would buy things like that from me, they have their own (certified) supply chains, but would I ever get rid of that many components to Hobbyists? From what I know about the company, they specialised in electronics and charging stations for e-scooters and e-bikes. As far as I can see, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of CPUs, although I did spot some SPI Flash ROM, that I could use, but again, not in the volumes they're offering.

Actually, if there are any fast PNPs (or even NPNs) then you could probably shift them: they are all discontinued now, and some people bemoan that.

Whenever I go to hamfests there are reels of unsold components.

Wasn't there a chap on this forum, that (about a year ago) did something similar. His experiences might inform you.

Not me then is it? I saved work having to pay for a skip just over a year ago, moved 3 small van loads of parts in drawer units (mostly through hole parts) over three nights. Which had to be done outside working hours, so I was completely knackered by Friday that week. 

And 99% of it is still here, only chucked out stuff that is obviously junk or fake, I have since noticed someone pinched almost all the wirewound pots from the units before I collected them. 

In the year since I have only managed to sort the transistors & thyristors, which now occupy half the amount of space.
I really need to sort the IC's next, as they are all in that black antistatic foam that apparently rots all the legs off.

David

[worsthorse]

does anybody know this board ?
It looks to me like a Willem Eprom Burner, however I am not entirely certain.

The only markings I can find are some cryptic chinese ones.
If you have a manual / software somewhere please do not hesitate to point it out to me.

Thanks

It is. The 5.5 version, I think. I have a later model. There isn't really a manual but I do have the software and I think it will work with that version. Let me dig around tonight and see if I can find it.

[bitseeker]

Morning all. Fell out of bed at 11:00  . Feeling much better today. Am going to sit and design an STM32 dev board that isn’t a piece of shit today that I can get 100% assembled at LCSC/JLCPCB. Sort of like a blue pill but less crap.

That's great news, bd!  (Apart from the falling part. )

Curious what your STM board will be like.

[syau]

does anybody know this board ?
It looks to me like a Willem Eprom Burner, however I am not entirely certain.

The only markings I can find are some cryptic chinese ones.
If you have a manual / software somewhere please do not hesitate to point it out to me.

Thanks

Only able to offer the translation as below:

The top button is - Reset
The middle button is - Select
The bottom button is - Move Right (Shift Right ?)

[worsthorse]

Does anyone here have a HP3400A that they are willing to crack open and check something for me?

When I opened the meter to replace the power socket, I discovered that several of the wires in the power harness had broken free.  I also found an apparent difference between the schematic and the wiring. Here are my two questions:

1. There are two black wires in the harness. One is connected to the 115/230 VAC switch. Is the other connected to the center post of the power socket?

2. There is a sprague ceramic capacitor (three leads, two capacitors with a common lead in one package) across the power socket. Is the center lead connected to the center post of the power socket?

[0culus]

Do you need a photo? [edit] I can open mine up after I eat some food and take pics.

[worsthorse]

Do you need a photo? [edit] I can open mine up after I eat some food and take pics.

Yes, thanks! The color scheme of the wires in the harness vs. the schematic don't quite match up and the black wire doesn't appear to be shown. A photo of the 115/230 switch and the power socket would be most helpful.

No rush, as our local containment order is likely to last another five weeks. 

[worsthorse]

does anybody know this board ?
It looks to me like a Willem Eprom Burner, however I am not entirely certain.

The only markings I can find are some cryptic chinese ones.
If you have a manual / software somewhere please do not hesitate to point it out to me.

Thanks

Here's a link to the software I have, including the somewhat paltry documentation:  https://web.tresorit.com/l#gjRfTCnBdq02k1ElvB0hsQ  The link will be active for 24 hours. 

[0culus]

Do you need a photo? [edit] I can open mine up after I eat some food and take pics.

Yes, thanks! The color scheme of the wires in the harness vs. the schematic don't quite match up and the black wire doesn't appear to be shown. A photo of the 115/230 switch and the power socket would be most helpful.

No rush, as our local containment order is likely to last another five weeks. 

No worries at all.

This is the best I could do without further disassembly. Hope it helps.