Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Saskia]

alternate solution: do not use Intel cpus ...

[bd139]

It looks like an issue with freedesktop drm, not just Intel. Same thing will happen on that kernel on an AMD / Radeon machine.

This is also a 4 watt TDP CPU with no active cooling which doesn't really exist in the AMD space.

[AVGresponding]

TBH Med, if you have a hot air rework station, I'd be inclined to select a small nozzle, low air flow, medium to high heat, cut of the excess cap legs flush with the solder, then apply heat slowly to each caps joints, alternating while trying to insert a screwdriver blade between the board and the cap to gently lever it out of the holes as the solder melts. Once out you'll be able to use the wick method to clean the holes ready for the new caps to go in.

I do something similar, just with an ordinary iron, ie a W60D, Metcal, even the fleabay lamp-dimmer-controlled Katsu can do it.

You do need heat-proof fingertips, but I expect almost everyone here has those...


Just got back from collecting a car, time for fish and chips, followed by some sort of vodka based drink I should think.

[factory]

Defeated right from the get go. None of my soldering/desoldering equipment can generate enough heat to properly wick the solder off these capacitors. Even braid dipped in liquid flux. The mass of those capacitors acts like a giant heat sink. My suction bulb desoldering iron just sits there with very little melt. The pix shows about 20 minutes of freaking around just making a fucking mess.

Obviously I need a heavy duty vacuum pump desoldering station. Recommendations? Hopefully something that will do the job without spending a fortune. I know Hakko has one but it's damn near $300 USD. I'm looking to spend less than that.

Going to clean up this mess and reassemble everything and call it a day.     

Use a high power solder gun like the one in the photo?   

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-GT7A-Solder-Solid-State/dp/B0042T1G0I/

Good lord... that thing dates back to Edison FFS. At least suggest something civilized with temp control like a GT7...

mnem
 

ePay had one of these 500W deathtraps as a suggested item once  , I can't recommend it as bigclivedotcom hasn't done a teardown of one yet.


David

[Saskia]

It looks like an issue with freedesktop drm, not just Intel. Same thing will happen on that kernel on an AMD / Radeon machine.

This is also a 4 watt TDP CPU with no active cooling which doesn't really exist in the AMD space.

Similar thing with Geforce GPUs. If the cable is not plugged in during power on, getting a picture (at least on Win 7) is pure luck. At least that's my experience.

[Saskia]

my translator is back in business after huge maintenance.
translation speed in text box is almost instantaneous across the more than 3 dozen language pairs. Will have to tweak performance a bit for large batch jobs. Now let's see if I can grow my internal business to > 50k translations/day ...

[bd139]

It looks like an issue with freedesktop drm, not just Intel. Same thing will happen on that kernel on an AMD / Radeon machine.

This is also a 4 watt TDP CPU with no active cooling which doesn't really exist in the AMD space.

Similar thing with Geforce GPUs. If the cable is not plugged in during power on, getting a picture (at least on Win 7) is pure luck. At least that's my experience.

Yes mine does that. If you have my monitor switched to the other input and you switch back and the HDMI one it'll give you a black screen. Have to Win+L it to lock it and wait until the display goes into power save, then wiggle the mouse and it comes back.

my translator is back in business after huge maintenance.
translation speed in text box is almost instantaneous across the more than 3 dozen language pairs. Will have to tweak performance a bit for large batch jobs. Now let's see if I can grow my internal business to > 50k translations/day ...

Nice 

[Specmaster]

A few days ago I posted some information about the Psion Revo Plus and ordered some replacement batteries for it. Today they arrived and I soldered the batteries up in the same fashion as the ones removed and refitted the thermal overload, refitted the cover, and man what a bastard that is to do as well, so little space for tools especially when you have extra large hands like I have and after a struggle I was able to get the spring that holds the clamshell closed fitted and it all works again now that the battery has been charged up. It certainly isn't a job for the faint-hearted but seeing as the current price for replacing the batteries is £75 plus carriage I thought I'd have ago, batteries were £13.85 including carriage, so a good saving was enjoyed, but loose that spring or break the clip and its game over   

[dl6lr]

I was searching for an Extron Video dist amp, but the seller did not respond  for three weeks so I had to buy a Kramer VM-100CB which was even more cheap.
To be hacked as a 10MHz distribution amp. 
[attach=1]
[attach=2]
Removed the sticker stain and tested working fine. With the possibility to feed 30 devices, I have to acquire more TE with 10MHz ref input... 

Bernd

[bd139]

A few days ago I posted some information about the Psion Revo Plus and ordered some replacement batteries for it. Today they arrived and I soldered the batteries up in the same fashion as the ones removed and refitted the thermal overload, refitted the cover, and man what a bastard that is to do as well, so little space for tools especially when you have extra large hands like I have and after a struggle I was able to get the spring that holds the clamshell closed fitted and it all works again now that the battery has been charged up. It certainly isn't a job for the faint-hearted but seeing as the current price for replacing the batteries is £75 plus carriage I thought I'd have ago, batteries were £13.85 including carriage, so a good saving was enjoyed, but loose that spring or break the clip and its game over 

Nice job  . Good to see a good outcome after everyone's shit shows over the last month 

[25 CPS]

So I was going to slack off and play with some test gear this evening but now I just spent two hours tracking down a Linux kernel bug. Turns out if you pull an HDMI cable out of an Intel chipset after boot on some kernels it hammers the fuck out of the CPU. Total fail.

And so we see that "Unplug-n-Play", the poor cousin to the widely known and far more popular "Plug-n-Play" has once again been neglected...

[URI]

I orderer some Felder soldering tin wire Sn60Pb40 from Bürklin (a Munich distributor) the other day.
Put it in my virtual basket, made the order only without any hassle. But then...

Reaction I got on the invoice (only): Position set to zero, with an information that the manufacturer set a prohibitive note: This soldering tin wire is not available for private buyers any more, only for companies.   
Well, I can only look at classic soldering tin wire now in webshops but can't buy it?!   !@#?§#!!   

All other parts I ordered were delivered flawlessly as always..

I've ordered this at 30.06.2020 at Bürklin. Got delivered without any problems:

Bestell-Nr.     Artikelbezeichnung                          Menge    Einzelpreis inkl. MwSt.     Gesamtsumme inkl. MwSt.

11L4370         Lötdraht, 0,5 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 250 g        1           28,56 €                       28,56 €

11L4372         Lötdraht, 0,75 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 250 g       1           24,276 €                    24,276 €

11L410           Lötdraht, 1 mm, Sn60Pb39Cu1, 500 g           2           21,063 €                    42,126 €

86F8918         Ø 4 mm Stecker stapelbar, rot                      15          1,5708 €                    23,562 €

86F8897         Ø 4 mm Stecker stapelbar, schwarz               15          1,5589 €                    23,3835 €

11L395          Lötdraht, 0,5 mm, Sn60Pb39Cu1, 500 g         1           29,155 €                     29,155 €

@URI

Let me know if I can help out, e.g. ordering some stuff at Bürklin.

You didn't order as a private person, did you?

The Bürklin web shop says:

Code: [Select]

Solder wire, 0.5 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 1.1.2.B
Order No.: 11L4370
Manufacturer: Felder

Manufacturer No.: 18720520
RA 0,5MM 250G

Ordering information: not for sale to end-consumers
Thanks for your offer to help me. But I think I'll just look for other sources than Bürklin then..   

[Robert763]

So a few hours later and the Delta 300V 100mA PSU is working
Needed a couple of resistors, diodes and transistors from stock in addition to the bought in parts. It would be a bit of a pig to troubleshoot as the main PCD is behind the panel, hard to access and hard wired to front and rear panels.
Load test for full voltage was fine but on high current I thought I was only getting 20mA maximum until I checked the actual current and found the ammeter adjustment was well out. Full current at 40V out and the heatsink does not even get warm.
Nice little power supply.

[Specmaster]

I orderer some Felder soldering tin wire Sn60Pb40 from Bürklin (a Munich distributor) the other day.
Put it in my virtual basket, made the order only without any hassle. But then...

Reaction I got on the invoice (only): Position set to zero, with an information that the manufacturer set a prohibitive note: This soldering tin wire is not available for private buyers any more, only for companies.   
Well, I can only look at classic soldering tin wire now in webshops but can't buy it?!   !@#?§#!!   

All other parts I ordered were delivered flawlessly as always..

I've ordered this at 30.06.2020 at Bürklin. Got delivered without any problems:

Bestell-Nr.     Artikelbezeichnung                          Menge    Einzelpreis inkl. MwSt.     Gesamtsumme inkl. MwSt.

11L4370         Lötdraht, 0,5 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 250 g        1           28,56 €                       28,56 €

11L4372         Lötdraht, 0,75 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 250 g       1           24,276 €                    24,276 €

11L410           Lötdraht, 1 mm, Sn60Pb39Cu1, 500 g           2           21,063 €                    42,126 €

86F8918         Ø 4 mm Stecker stapelbar, rot                      15          1,5708 €                    23,562 €

86F8897         Ø 4 mm Stecker stapelbar, schwarz               15          1,5589 €                    23,3835 €

11L395          Lötdraht, 0,5 mm, Sn60Pb39Cu1, 500 g         1           29,155 €                     29,155 €

@URI

Let me know if I can help out, e.g. ordering some stuff at Bürklin.

You didn't order as a private person, did you?

The Bürklin web shop says:

Code: [Select]

Solder wire, 0.5 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 1.1.2.B
Order No.: 11L4370
Manufacturer: Felder

Manufacturer No.: 18720520
RA 0,5MM 250G

Ordering information: not for sale to end-consumers
Thanks for your offer to help me. But I think I'll just look for other sources than Bürklin then..   

Ebay UK is awash with this and no mention of selling only to ltd companies, I got myself 1.1kg of it.

[BU508A]

You didn't order as a private person, did you?

The Bürklin web shop says:

Code: [Select]

Solder wire, 0.5 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 1.1.2.B
Order No.: 11L4370
Manufacturer: Felder

Manufacturer No.: 18720520
RA 0,5MM 250G

Ordering information: not for sale to end-consumers
Thanks for your offer to help me. But I think I'll just look for other sources than Bürklin then..   

No, I have here a "Kleingewerbe" and therefore I was able to order it.
On a discord session, Neomys Sapiens gave me the tipp about Balver solder. It is Pb-free but the handling feels like the common Sn60Pb40.

There is some in the ebay Kleinanzeigen in Germany available (NAWTS):
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/2-5kg-balver-zinn-bleifrei-sn100c-sncu0-7ni/1452809623-168-1742

[Specmaster]

Help required please, can anyone identify the make and model of this meter? I know I have used these at college but cannot remember who made them, I thought it was made by Taylor but unable to confirm it?

[bd139]

Salford Electrical Instruments Selectest Super 50

Details here: http://www.richardsradios.co.uk/selectest.html

[shakalnokturn]

Specmaster has a P.O.TEL. one, would that make it younger than the P.O. one on "richardsradios"?

Edit: Specmaster will soon have...

[Specmaster]

Specmaster has a P.O.TEL. one, would that make it younger than the P.O. one on "richardsradios"?

Edit: Specmaster will soon have...

Haha, no specmaster won’t soon have unless I can cut a deal and it works. These have a higher accuracy than the Avo 8’s with DC being down to 1%

[Cubdriver]

Defeated right from the get go. None of my soldering/desoldering equipment can generate enough heat to properly wick the solder off these capacitors. Even braid dipped in liquid flux. The mass of those capacitors acts like a giant heat sink. My suction bulb desoldering iron just sits there with very little melt. The pix shows about 20 minutes of freaking around just making a fucking mess.

Obviously I need a heavy duty vacuum pump desoldering station. Recommendations? Hopefully something that will do the job without spending a fortune. I know Hakko has one but it's damn near $300 USD. I'm looking to spend less than that.

Going to clean up this mess and reassemble everything and call it a day. 

This'd probably be able to hit both pins of each pair at once...



-Pat

[mansaxel]

Well it's a headless server so YMMV on that  . Fixed. drm related. Add "nomodeset" and "i915.modeset=0" to the kernel parameters.

Ffuuuuuuck all I wanted to do was program a sodding AVR.

Late to the party: Headless servers have serial consoles. If I could only stop the stupid consumer hardware from using VGA and USB to push out boot messages, I'd be sooo happy.

[mansaxel]

This'd probably be able to hit both pins of each pair at once...



-Pat

I have one like that too. 250W, IIRC. I've used it for a desoldering job, someone had made a distributor by soldering a 2,5mm² wire across the tags of a barrier strip. Took ages to come to proper temperature, but oh did it melt things well!

I second the recommendation for a Chinesium solder-sucker station. It's a life saver.

[AVGresponding]

Specmaster has a P.O.TEL. one, would that make it younger than the P.O. one on "richardsradios"?

Edit: Specmaster will soon have...

Haha, no specmaster won’t soon have unless I can cut a deal and it works. These have a higher accuracy than the Avo 8’s with DC being down to 1%

Just imagine how accurate it could be, with a digital display instead!   

[URI]

You didn't order as a private person, did you?

The Bürklin web shop says:

Code: [Select]

Solder wire, 0.5 mm, Sn62Pb36Ag2, 1.1.2.B
Order No.: 11L4370
Manufacturer: Felder

Manufacturer No.: 18720520
RA 0,5MM 250G

Ordering information: not for sale to end-consumers
Thanks for your offer to help me. But I think I'll just look for other sources than Bürklin then..   

No, I have here a "Kleingewerbe" and therefore I was able to order it.
On a discord session, Neomys Sapiens gave me the tipp about Balver solder. It is Pb-free but the handling feels like the common Sn60Pb40.

There is some in the ebay Kleinanzeigen in Germany available (NAWTS):
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/2-5kg-balver-zinn-bleifrei-sn100c-sncu0-7ni/1452809623-168-1742

Ah, ok, I don't even have a Kleingewerbe.
I'll check that Balver soldering tin wire, I think. Sounds good!   

[tggzzz]

This'd probably be able to hit both pins of each pair at once...



-Pat

I have one like that too. 250W, IIRC. I've used it for a desoldering job, someone had made a distributor by soldering a 2,5mm² wire across the tags of a barrier strip. Took ages to come to proper temperature, but oh did it melt things well!

I second the recommendation for a Chinesium solder-sucker station. It's a life saver.

All these pictures of modern soldering irons are rather different to the first one I used - similar to the ones below. The heat source was the kitchen gas hob.

No, I didn't use it on PCBs, but did use it on other electric projects.