Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Quote from: TorinoFermic on Today at 00:18:18

Hurrah, I have managed to recap these pesky rifa caps with these news ones for my HP 3478A. But when I power it up, readings can be crazy until the device warms up, but at some ranges these values are waaaaay out of calibrated limits thus it needs to get recalibrated.

Short the input terminals out and see if it still does it. The inputs are high-Z in the lowest two DC ranges so drift all over the place.

Got nice zero there.

Quote from: TorinoFermic on Today at 00:18:18

Hurrah, I have managed to recap these pesky rifa caps with these news ones for my HP 3478A. But when I power it up, readings can be crazy until the device warms up, but at some ranges these values are waaaaay out of calibrated limits thus it needs to get recalibrated.

Surely it must have been doing the same before you replaced the Rifa's? Are you getting any error codes flash up?

No error codes

Quote from: TorinoFermic on Today at 00:18:18

Hurrah, I have managed to recap these pesky rifa caps with these news ones for my HP 3478A. But when I power it up, readings can be crazy until the device warms up, but at some ranges these values are waaaaay out of calibrated limits thus it needs to get recalibrated.

What does the self test say?

It says ok

In that case it seems to be perfectly OK to. Test it out on some known voltages and see if the meter agrees with the known values

[Specmaster]

I think in reality to be awarded the gong of Jammy Git, the price has to a real bargain and I don't think it was in this case, unfortunately 

How low would it have to be?  He paid $65 USD.

Shipping was that much as well, its the total package that counts.

No, it wasn't....
Including shipping and import fees it was under $100 USD...  (He said he ended up paying less than $135 CAD all-in.)
I think that's an incredible bargain. 

I'd take that in a heatbeat!!

Well maybe I'm being a tad to harsh, but either way to me its still CRT scope and over here the considered going rate for them is £1 a MHZ. Taking the 135Cad$ and converting to GBP is £77. It was also badly damaged, it was really cosmetically as it turned out but it could have been so much worse.

[Neomys Sapiens]

I think in reality to be awarded the gong of Jammy Git, the price has to a real bargain and I don't think it was in this case, unfortunately 

How low would it have to be?  He paid $65 USD.

Shipping was that much as well, its the total package that counts.

No, it wasn't....
Including shipping and import fees it was under $100 USD...  (He said he ended up paying less than $135 CAD all-in.)
I think that's an incredible bargain. 

I'd take that in a heatbeat!!

Well maybe I'm being a tad to harsh, but either way to me its still CRT scope and over here the considered going rate for them is £1 a MHZ. Taking the 135Cad$ and converting to GBP is £77. It was also badly damaged, it was really cosmetically as it turned out but it could have been so much worse.

Indeed. When I saw the picture with the wide gap and the deformed case, I could not imagine a good outcome, at least not that fast! Congrats to MNEM, no matter how good the scope is. At least he has one now.

[med6753]

I think in reality to be awarded the gong of Jammy Git, the price has to a real bargain and I don't think it was in this case, unfortunately 

How low would it have to be?  He paid $65 USD.

Shipping was that much as well, its the total package that counts.

No, it wasn't....
Including shipping and import fees it was under $100 USD...  (He said he ended up paying less than $135 CAD all-in.)
I think that's an incredible bargain. 

I'd take that in a heatbeat!!

Well maybe I'm being a tad to harsh, but either way to me its still CRT scope and over here the considered going rate for them is £1 a MHZ. Taking the 135Cad$ and converting to GBP is £77. It was also badly damaged, it was really cosmetically as it turned out but it could have been so much worse.

Wow, feeling generous today are we?  Is your last name Scrooge? 

He deserves the award. That was a steal. 

[bd139]

I agree this wasn't jammy git territory. This was a calculated risk that played off with some professional repair ability.

[mnementh]

IT LIVES!!!   

Nice! Looking very good and you finally have a real scope again! 

Nice one. That was a winner. Good job 

Very nice!
The 456xx MegaZoom 'scopes are my favorite midrange 'scopes. Not too big, certainly not deep, nice CRT display, drives like an analog but has reasonable storage features.

@mnementh, well done, thats another winner from All Test, good result 

nice job hoser!

@mnem - top find and good repair

Yeah! well done.... nice one

Indeed!

I almost bought one of the older non-MegaZoom 4-channel (what is that, a 54601A? I think) a year or two ago locally, wanted $200, and I figured the digital specs were a bit lacking so decided to pass...  You did well. 

I don't know who the current holder is, but I figure that's a serious contender for the...

Thanks for collecting all the "Attaboy!" posts together so I can say "Thanks!" all at once.

Thanks everyone! 

This one started out being as much about the fact of "want" as it was about "need". I saw the listing weeks before I bought, and it kept niggling at me. When I sold the blind-stitch sewing machine (with nothing invested except time and household cleaners), I had enough to buy the parts for the Juki and ~$150 left over, so I made that my budget.

But the bottom line... even after bd139's well-documented warnings about how easily the frontend could be totally euckered from impact damage... was that even after looking over all the auction pics at least 100 times (maybe a slight exaggeration... not sure and making double-damn sure I was still applying the lessons of my Used Equipment 101 post, I STILL had a good feeling about this one. When the money to buy it fell into my lap, that's when I pulled the trigger.

Now of course... I need to get some decent probes for the thing. And something to generate signals for to look at with it. And some current probes and a real bench power supply anda counter and a NanoVNA and... and.. and...

NOTE: Due to the eevBlog Attachment bug blowing up my original post, I'm forced to use this post for additional IMG storage in order to repair that post.

mnem

[med6753]

I agree this wasn't jammy git territory. This was a calculated risk that played off with some professional repair ability.

And Scrooge Jr pipes in. 

[TorinoFermic]

In that case it seems to be perfectly OK to. Test it out on some known voltages and see if the meter agrees with the known values

I did confirm that I got 5 V for roughtly 5V and other voltages.

[mnementh]

I think in reality to be awarded the gong of Jammy Git, the price has to a real bargain and I don't think it was in this case, unfortunately 

How low would it have to be?  He paid $65 USD.

Shipping was that much as well, its the total package that counts.

No, it wasn't....
Including shipping and import fees it was under $100 USD...  (He said he ended up paying less than $135 CAD all-in.)
I think that's an incredible bargain. 

I'd take that in a heatbeat!!

Well maybe I'm being a tad to harsh, but either way to me its still CRT scope and over here the considered going rate for them is £1 a MHZ. Taking the 135Cad$ and converting to GBP is £77. It was also badly damaged, it was really cosmetically as it turned out but it could have been so much worse.

Wow, feeling generous today are we?  Is your last name Scrooge? 

He deserves the award. That was a steal. 

While I do appreciate the JaMMMY, and I certainly FEEL JaMMY getting this scope with this low hours for US$139 total, I'm not sure it qualifies in toto due to the cost of getting it here.

OTOH, maybe location SHOULD matter; as far as TE goes, EVERYTHING costs more up here due to the captive market. 10% of the cost was Import fees, so unavoidable. About 20% was the difference between normal domestic shipping and what it would have cost anyone in the local market, even paying for  AllTest's top-quality shipping process. So cost adjusted for location was ~US$97.

Now as to what it cost... IN CONTEXT, it cost me -$13 and some elbow grease; I bought it with money from a sewing machine I curb-scored. After buying parts to fix the other sewing machine, I had $152 left over. So overall, I MADE $13 on the deal.

Is THAT JaMMY enough...? No... I'm not crowing here; I'm asking for honest opinions.

Now as to whether you apply the Jammy to the sewing machines (I think someone may have done that already, but not sure) or to the entire deal I leveraged out of them... I think that's up to our dear readers to decide. 

mnem
 

[mansaxel]

Now of course... I need to get some decent probes for the thing. And something to generate signals for to look at with it. And some current probes and a real bench power supply and a counter and a NanoVNA and... and.. and...

I think of that part of your acquisition process as something you'll draw from stores; your own stores, because I like the idea of you being able to go south of the border and pick that trailer up. Soon.

[med6753]

I think you deserve it. Don't know what's up with the UK crowd and why they don't agree. Must be brexit has got them sore assed. 

[mnementh]

I think in reality to be awarded the gong of Jammy Git, the price has to a real bargain and I don't think it was in this case, unfortunately 

How low would it have to be?  He paid $65 USD.

Shipping was that much as well, its the total package that counts.

No, it wasn't....
Including shipping and import fees it was under $100 USD...  (He said he ended up paying less than $135 CAD all-in.)
I think that's an incredible bargain. 

I'd take that in a heatbeat!!

Well maybe I'm being a tad to harsh, but either way to me its still CRT scope and over here the considered going rate for them is £1 a MHZ. Taking the 135Cad$ and converting to GBP is £77. It was also badly damaged, it was really cosmetically as it turned out but it could have been so much worse.

Okay... fair point. OTOH, this scope clearly has very low miles. Aside from the collision damage, it is literally like a new scope. Does that not deserve some modifier for value?

Lets think about those NIB/NOS Tek 465s we were talking about a few weeks ago... Yeah, sure... to us they're still not worth ~$500 each. But they're museum-quality examples, literally bought new and mothballed for 3/4 of a century. That HAS to have more value than the usual fleaBay Tek score...?

If so, then how much..?

The one thing I CAN say, just playing around with it for a few hours... as a daily driver, I ALREADY like it more than my 1054Zed. I'd forgotten how nice it is to push a button or twirl a knob and not have to WAIT to see IF the scope responds... 

I must admit... while I was hoping for some "Attaboy!"response (of which I got much more than ever expected); I certainly did NOT expect to stir up such controversy! 

mnem
Not that I'm NOT enjoying it... no, not ME...

[drussell]

While I do appreciate the JaMMMY, and I certainly FEEL JaMMY getting this scope with this low hours for US$139 total, I'm not sure it qualifies in toto due to the cost of getting it here.

OTOH, maybe location SHOULD matter; as far as TE goes, EVERYTHING costs more up here due to the captive market. 10% of the cost was Import fees, so unavoidable. About 20% was the difference between normal domestic shipping and what it would have cost anyone in the local market, even paying for  AllTest's top-quality shipping process. So cost adjusted for location was ~US$97.

Ahh, if it was $139 USD total instead of CAD, then, yeah, I postulate that it's still only runner-up territory.   

Note that I did say contender, I have no authority to award such a prestigious prize.   

If it had been CAD, (remember, scopes here are rare and expensive, and shipping something the size of a scope to import more is expensive, we don't have an excess of scopes in this country, we seem to have many tinkerers and they get held and used, they're coveted items and even old analog 20 MHz CROs fetch ridiculous prices) then I would advocate for this nominee, but.....

Carry on...   

[Saskia]

fuck the award, just enjoy your scope.

[mnementh]

I agree this wasn't jammy git territory. This was a calculated risk that played off with some professional repair ability.

I'll gladly take the backhanded compliment, ya Ferengi bastahhd... 

mnem

[mnementh]

I think you deserve it. Don't know what's up with the UK crowd and why they don't agree. Must be brexit has got them sore assed. 

Thanks for having my back, med. I knew I could count on ya. 

mnem

[Saskia]

More chores. Rearranging my stuff.
Electronic load now integrated.

Fuck, I need a 200 sqm warehouse.

[drussell]

fuck the award, just enjoy your scope.

Indeed...   
Geez, I didn't mean to start a nomination committee row...   

Maybe there should be a runner-up prize. 
There is the typical Canadian knock-off version after all...



^^^ "Peak Freans Fruit Cream Biscuit" or "Biscuit Crème de Fruit" if you're in QC.

[mnementh]

Now of course... I need to get some decent probes for the thing. And something to generate signals for to look at with it. And some current probes and a real bench power supply and a counter and a NanoVNA and... and.. and...

I think of that part of your acquisition process as something you'll draw from stores; your own stores, because I like the idea of you being able to go south of the border and pick that trailer up. Soon.

Oh, you and me BOTH. 
OTOH, not sure I WANT to go down to Trump's Typhoid Internment Camp any time soon.

mnem
 

[bd139]

I think you deserve it. Don't know what's up with the UK crowd and why they don't agree. Must be brexit has got them sore assed. 

Thanks for having my back, med. I knew I could count on ya. 

mnem

It’s Sunday, it’s hot and we’re already miserable fuckers without that shit on us already 

[AVGresponding]

MMO guild activity got cancelled this afternoon so I decided to have a look at the borked low current ranges on the Keithley 197.

Yes, two items in my repair queue in one week, I can't rule out having been replaced by a replicant.

I wasn't helped by the fact the circuit diagram and layout I have are for an earlier revision   
The front end is quite different.

All the resistors in the dividers checked out, but I was getting a reading of 10Mohm between +ve in and the fuse 

Next step, check the switches; yep, all good.   

Tracing from both directions, it became apparent there's a problem between the +ve input and the amps function switch. Unfortunately, it's a double sided board and there's a lot you can't see under the switch gang. Still, have to try.

There's a trace goes under the gang, and by dint of contortionism and through board lighting, I saw what looked like a blown track.
Time to dig out the endoscope. This is what I found:


The image isn't very good because I needed 6 hands and couldn't get the camera exactly where I wanted. However you can clearly see the track is broken.
It's actually easier to see with a magnifier and eye. The track isn't just blown, it's fucking vapourised! The gap is so small I can't even get a cue tip in to clean it, but nvm.
Soldered a bodge wire on the bottom of the board, and hey-presto! Working low current ranges.

Just goes to show I was right to be suspicious of the wrong value fuse fitted. Clearly the moron who last used the low current range wasn't satisfied with blowing the fuse and kept upping the value until the damn meter blew.

[mnementh]

fuck the award, just enjoy your scope.

Already doing that. A LOT. 

mnem
May have to send the wife & kids off on a "errand" here shortly so we can have some alone time...

[med6753]

I think you deserve it. Don't know what's up with the UK crowd and why they don't agree. Must be brexit has got them sore assed. 

Thanks for having my back, med. I knew I could count on ya. 

mnem

Don't get used to it. 

[ElektroQuark]

More chores. Rearranging my stuff.
Electronic load now integrated.

Fuck, I need a 200 sqm warehouse.

(Attachment Link)

What METTLER is that?

[Specmaster]

To be perfectly fair to mnementh, it was a good price, given the outcome and the low hours on it is true BUT when it comes Jammy Git territory I really believe that many of his "Thrift" purchases are far closer to the Jammy Git award, I personally have never seen prices so low as he gets in our equivalent type of shops, makes me quite jelly at times.