Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[McBryce]

Hi,
The Tektronix 834 pops up regularly on epay and usually go for very low prices, even when they are in excellent condition. Have they any use these days other than for parts? And are there any parts inside worth salvaging? I was considering getting one just to replace the power button cap on my 2465, but it would nice to know what else is inside that I could use. Does anyone here have experience with these?

McBryce.

[Ice-Tea]

I was considering getting one just to replace the power button cap on my 2465...

That was litteraly the first thing that caught my eye.

[bd139]

Have a couple of PM's from folk (BU/spec etc) - sorry not had time to reply yet... will pick them up when I get a min. Flames coming out of everything everywhere at the moment! 

[BU508A]

Have a couple of PM's from folk (BU/spec etc) - sorry not had time to reply yet... will pick them up when I get a min. Flames coming out of everything everywhere at the moment! 

You should subcontract the Dwagon as this is the natural enviroment for his species.    

[Robert763]

Hi,
The  pops up regularly on epay and usually go for very low prices, even when they are in excellent condition. Have they any use these days other than for parts? And are there any parts inside worth salvaging? I was considering getting one just to replace the power button cap on my 2465, but it would nice to know what else is inside that I could use. Does anyone here have experience with these?

McBryce.

They are actually quite useful RS232 testers, BER, Message transmission (QBF or cutom), ASCII or Hex display and a breakout panel. I have one and do use it. maybe it's the size but dumb breakout boxes seem to sell for more.
Manual
https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/0/05/070-3400-01.pdf

[AVGresponding]

Badly listed 466 mit DM44 anyone?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-DM44-466-Digital-Multimeter-inkl-Manual-Zubehor/124493686633?hash=item1cfc66e769:g:yH8AAOSwYWBf3h0w

[McBryce]

Hi,
The  pops up regularly on epay and usually go for very low prices, even when they are in excellent condition. Have they any use these days other than for parts? And are there any parts inside worth salvaging? I was considering getting one just to replace the power button cap on my 2465, but it would nice to know what else is inside that I could use. Does anyone here have experience with these?

McBryce.

They are actually quite useful RS232 testers, BER, Message transmission (QBF or cutom), ASCII or Hex display and a breakout panel. I have one and do use it. maybe it's the size but dumb breakout boxes seem to sell for more.
Manual
https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/0/05/070-3400-01.pdf

Does anyone have a service manual / schematics for it. I've searched, but I can't even find a picture of the PCB.

McBryce.

[AVGresponding]

Bah, missed the Fluke 8502A I was bidding on. Oh well, there'll be another...

[mnementh]

Have a couple of PM's from folk (BU/spec etc) - sorry not had time to reply yet... will pick them up when I get a min. Flames coming out of everything everywhere at the moment! 

You should subcontract the Dwagon as this is the natural enviroment for his species.    

mnem
*twitch... twitch... twitcha-twitch...*

[Kosmic]

People who have broken phones are on monthly contracts and couldn't afford them in the first place.

Happens to cars as well.

Finding deals on things you shouldn't be able to afford is part of TEA life. It also means repairs become relevant. I love having better than sensible kit.

Good point right there. This is mostly why I love TEA. My workshop full of stuff I shouldn't have.

Now if you would excuse me, I'm going to use my 2Ghz scope to try to repair the Anritsu VNA I have laying around 

(Sorry, I'm like 10 pages behind)

[Zucca]

Was the second highest bidder

Second highest bidder fells like somebody took a tasty italian pizza from my table when I just sat in.
Condolences.

[Specmaster]

Ehhhhhh...

The fact is that Qi wireless charging is a de-facto standard now... and a very widespread one... and even more so is USB-C. I have no problem with them shipping phones without that one more fucking charger I don't need; just one less in the landfill, so in the long run we all pay a tiny bit less.

And hopefully this change, and the move to a proper standard USB-C, means the death of "gotta be fucking Apple" chargers and fuxxoring cables. 

mnem
But I wouldn't bet on it.

Eh, you wot? My Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) and my Huawei P Smart 2019, both support only the micro USB on the phone and USB-A on the charger, both came with chargers, neither support wireless charging. The only phone I have that support wireless charging is a Samsung Galaxy S3 and then only as an optional extra, so I'm afraid I'd have to disagree that these USB-C chargers are already common place. Mrs Specmaster has just brought herself a new phone, iPhone 11 and my son has just brought an iPhone SE, £600 and £400 respectively and the 11 came  with a USB-A charger and the SE with a lead to fit a USB-C charger and no charger. Both phones were brought within the last 6 weeks. The iPhone 11 according to your theory should have a USB-C charger then. Oh also my Sister-in-Law has also in the 6 weeks brought a iPhone 11, which also came with a USB-A charger 

[cyclin_al]

For me the quandary is should I 'preventatively' replace IEC filters in old gear.
I am not sure the durability of the product I would use to replace the old and functional part is worth the time/effort /risk of damage to the equipment.
 I have about 60 or so bits of HP type equipment from the 1980-90s that probably has IEC /EMI filters (I haven't checked them all) and my failure rate seems to be one every couple of years. Some of the gear requires serious dismantling - something I am reluctant to do unless I really have to. My current strategy is to have a supervised switch on every few months.
Rob

Get yourself an insulation resistance tester and regularly check the insulation between live, neutral and earth. This should help weed out those IEC filters with RIFA capacitors that are not long for this world. This is most effective on Y capacitors but less so on X capacitors, which usually have a paralleled discharge resistor. An X capacitor generally has to be really leaky before it shows up in an insulation resistance test.
 
I regularly check my instruments and record the results. I can see year by year the deterioration in insulation resistance even for equipment that has sat on the shelf the whole time. Mostly, I see Schaffner filters going leaky over time but I also see a significant number of TDK filters going bad as well.

That is a very useful tip excuse to acquire an insulation resistance tester, thanks
Rob

Fixed it for you! 

[mnementh]

Ehhhhhh...

The fact is that Qi wireless charging is a de-facto standard now... and a very widespread one... and even more so is USB-C. I have no problem with them shipping phones without that one more fucking charger I don't need; just one less in the landfill, so in the long run we all pay a tiny bit less.

And hopefully this change, and the move to a proper standard USB-C, means the death of "gotta be fucking Apple" chargers and fuxxoring cables. 

mnem
But I wouldn't bet on it.

Eh, you wot? My Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) and my Huawei P Smart 2019, both support only the micro USB on the phone and USB-A on the charger, both came with chargers, neither support wireless charging. The only phone I have that support wireless charging is a Samsung Galaxy S3 and then only as an optional extra, so I'm afraid I'd have to disagree that these USB-C chargers are already common place. Mrs Specmaster has just brought herself a new phone, iPhone 11 and my son has just brought an iPhone SE, £600 and £400 respectively and the 11 came  with a USB-A charger and the SE with a lead to fit a USB-C charger and no charger. Both phones were brought within the last 6 weeks. The iPhone 11 according to your theory should have a USB-C charger then. Oh also my Sister-in-Law has also in the 6 weeks brought a iPhone 11, which also came with a USB-A charger 

Yeah... not their fault you keep that stone-age bottom-of-the-food-chain shit around.  Seriously. We're going through the same "changing standards" shit now that we did when we shifted from VGA to DVI/HDMI, or when we shifted from mini-USB to µ-USB. Deal with it or get left behind.

It's not like any Apple Store, whether digital or brick & mortar, is NOT going to make sure you know that your new iDevice needs USB-C, and try to sell you that product. That, IMO, is the right way to do it. Only those who need or want the new charger get one, and only those people pay for it. The rest of us do not.

The practice you advocate is to force those of us who've already got a drawer full of perfectly serviceable chargers to pay for yet another one with every new device we buy... and on top of that, the entire world pays the price of disposing of those unwanted/unneeded chargers because we don't ever make the manufacturer pay the disposal cost asshole tax up front.

But hey, I've gotten used to getting a free POS USB-A charger with every $5 & $10 POS electronic gewgaw I ever bought, and I'm the fucking customer, and I feel like I'm somehow losing something if I don't get that charger for free at everybody else's cost. Every fucking time. THAT is what's important here.

The world is changing. USB is a quarter of a century old; it's aboot time it grew up.

The whole point of USB-C is two things:

1) Higher current and voltage capacity that auto-negotiates for things that need more than 500mA or 5V charge capacity. Anything USB-A that doesn't limit to those standards is not standards-compliant. It is the resultant race-to-the-bottom bastardization that has made USB such an unmitigated clusterfuck for over a decade.

2) Universal cable, with the same "can't-plug-it-in-wrong" connector on both ends. In case you didn't know; the USB-C to USB-A cable is the bastard child here, not the USB-C to USB-C cable. USB-C to USB-C is the one that is actually standards-compliant.

USB-C is the new minimum standard, it has been for years, and honestly, it is how USB should have been done from day 1; it has been the connector of choice for any not-fApple flagship phone and most other "not the cheapest thing they make" laptops, tablets and cordless I/O for years now... long enough that Linus has literally been on a crusade to put the last stake through the heart of µ-USB for years. And I agree with him. USB-A-to-anything cables should have been killed off a decade ago; anything that continues to use that "standard" is just prolonging the misery for the whole damned world.

You can't compare the old crap you keep long beyond its design life (or old models sold cheap because they were deliberately shifting them out to get rid of old designs with the old connectors) to what is actually current. That is buggy-whip-manufacturer thinking in the age of personal robots.

mnem
 

[25 CPS]

For me the quandary is should I 'preventatively' replace IEC filters in old gear.
I am not sure the durability of the product I would use to replace the old and functional part is worth the time/effort /risk of damage to the equipment.
 I have about 60 or so bits of HP type equipment from the 1980-90s that probably has IEC /EMI filters (I haven't checked them all) and my failure rate seems to be one every couple of years. Some of the gear requires serious dismantling - something I am reluctant to do unless I really have to. My current strategy is to have a supervised switch on every few months.
Rob

Get yourself an insulation resistance tester and regularly check the insulation between live, neutral and earth. This should help weed out those IEC filters with RIFA capacitors that are not long for this world. This is most effective on Y capacitors but less so on X capacitors, which usually have a paralleled discharge resistor. An X capacitor generally has to be really leaky before it shows up in an insulation resistance test.
 
I regularly check my instruments and record the results. I can see year by year the deterioration in insulation resistance even for equipment that has sat on the shelf the whole time. Mostly, I see Schaffner filters going leaky over time but I also see a significant number of TDK filters going bad as well.

That is a very useful tip excuse to acquire an insulation resistance tester, thanks
Rob

Fixed it for you! 

Absolutely!

You know how there's a ton of Youtube videos out there bemoaning how most modern capacitor testers don't have any high voltage leakage testing functions?  An insulation tester performs exactly that function so there's another reason to get an insulation tester.  Everyone should have an insulation tester.  No home is complete without one!

I bet eBay searches for insulation testers are going to nudge up now.  The Keysight store usually has a few.  That's where I got mine.

[Saskia]

fuck. diverticulitis crash landing.
stocked up on antibiotics, hoping to get it under control without (0 calorie tea diet)

[mnementh]

    

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4670812

mnem

Gallows humor; Please don't jump my shit. Even tho I probably deserve it.

[Zucca]

I bet eBay searches for insulation testers are going to nudge up now.  The Keysight store usually has a few.  That's where I got mine.

Mine is a Fluke 15xx, I do not remember exactely which one...

[Zucca]

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4670812

I recently signed up to thingiverse, I am not convinced it was a smart choice. the website is slow and not well done.
Buuttt... it looks like it is like youtube, everybody complains about it but everybody use it.

I will try myminifactory in the future... no rush.

[mansaxel]

You know how there's a ton of Youtube videos out there bemoaning how most modern capacitor testers don't have any high voltage leakage testing functions?  An insulation tester performs exactly that function so there's another reason to get an insulation tester.  Everyone should have an insulation tester.  No home is complete without one!

I bet eBay searches for insulation testers are going to nudge up now.  The Keysight store usually has a few.  That's where I got mine.

I have a crank Megger, and was second bidder on a Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit Telco-style (for twisted pairs and such) insulation tester multimeter this weekend. Which of course annoys me, but that's how things are.

Very useful that crank machine.

[med6753]

My meager contribution to today's TEA activity. PL-259 (UHF) to BNC female adapters for the Type 503. Nope, not Amphenol. Cheap Chinese. I've bought them from the same supplier before and they have good fitment and no noticeable impedance bump at the frequencies they will be used. So it's a win.

The capacitors for the Type 503 PSU rebuild will be here Wednesday but won't start on that until after Christmas.

[mnementh]

You know how there's a ton of Youtube videos out there bemoaning how most modern capacitor testers don't have any high voltage leakage testing functions?  An insulation tester performs exactly that function so there's another reason to get an insulation tester.  Everyone should have an insulation tester.  No home is complete without one!

I bet eBay searches for insulation testers are going to nudge up now.  The Keysight store usually has a few.  That's where I got mine.

I have a crank Megger, and was second bidder on a Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit Telco-style (for twisted pairs and such) insulation tester multimeter this weekend. Which of course annoys me, but that's how things are.

Very useful that crank machine.

Especially when you know exactly whose machine is at the other end of that Cat5 cable in your IDF. 

mnem

[Robert763]

People who have broken phones are on monthly contracts and couldn't afford them in the first place.

Happens to cars as well.

Finding deals on things you shouldn't be able to afford is part of TEA life. It also means repairs become relevant. I love having better than sensible kit.

Good point right there. This is mostly why I love TEA. My workshop full of stuff I shouldn't have.

Now if you would excuse me, I'm going to use my 2Ghz scope to try to repair the Anritsu VNA I have laying around 

(Sorry, I'm like 10 pages behind)

Yet again today I took some of my personal TE (specialist old aerospace kit) to work to sort a problem on a million dollar project........

[mnementh]

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4670812

I recently signed up to thingiverse, I am not convinced it was a smart choice. the website is slow and not well done. Buuttt... it looks like it is like youtube, everybody complains about it but everybody use it. I will try myminifactory in the future... no rush.

Wow... a lot more alternative model-sharing sites now than last time I looked:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=MyMiniFactory&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLWz9U3MDQqyzVJNlFC5mgJZydb6Sfn5-bm51kVZ6aklidWFi9i5fWt9M3My3RLTC7JL6rcwcoIAHMOpsBEAAAA

mnem

[bd139]

People who have broken phones are on monthly contracts and couldn't afford them in the first place.

Happens to cars as well.

Finding deals on things you shouldn't be able to afford is part of TEA life. It also means repairs become relevant. I love having better than sensible kit.

Good point right there. This is mostly why I love TEA. My workshop full of stuff I shouldn't have.

Now if you would excuse me, I'm going to use my 2Ghz scope to try to repair the Anritsu VNA I have laying around 

(Sorry, I'm like 10 pages behind)

Yet again today I took some of my personal TE (specialist old aerospace kit) to work to sort a problem on a million dollar project........

I had to do that at school back in the day