Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cubdriver]

My newest acquisition arrived today:

courtesy of everyone's favorite wallet draining site.

It puts out a somewhat ragged signal of about the right amplitude, but I suspect that it will need some new condensers given the noise.




According to the manual, the somewhat odd seeming output voltage sequence is to provide a constant six division deflection as the scope's attenuators are stepped through their range.  The final two volt range is to provide a sampling bridge linearity check.

Teardown pics to follow when I open it up.

-Pat

[med6753]

Never knew that 50 ohm calibrator existed and certainly would be useful because calibrating the 50 ohm inputs on a 485, 7A24 plug-in, and 2465 is definitely a crap shoot. 

[FransW]

Yeah, not being able to change the temp is a deal breaker for me. I just ordered one of those. Will see if they are any good.
[/quote]

Any programmable power supply can control (when allowed) to supply the correct voltage and amperage for any soldering iron.
And an intelligent switch box (not unlike the TEC entension box) could could be controlled by the sleep mode system.
Nearly all fast-reacting soldering stations are set-up that way.
The blame for in-efficiency lies with the user(s).

[McBryce]

No, I didn't work on the Type 547 today but I did squander more of the children's inheritance on this. Tek 212. *    I should get it by Wednesday.




* In case you've forgotten I'm retired and can do whatever I want, when I want.  The mood just didn't strike me today to work on it. 

I've been holding out for a Tek 222, but I stupidly missed a working one this week that went for an almost reasonable price. Just like I want a HP54645D and have real problems to not bid on a HP54621D - Must not settle for less than true goal!

McBryce.

[bd139]

That’s actually already on my watch list 

Did you notice that it's also radioactive?
Not sure what, probably a T/R cell or possibly a spark gap.

Thoriated tungsten In there…

[Robert763]

Speaking of getting your door kicked in by guvmint goons, scotttrade12 is surely going to experience that sooner or later.

I think he is getting  lot of stuff from a scrap processor who is supposed to destrory it. I suspect he or the suppler has already been warned. That is based on the number of incomplete units and RF modules with cables cut hat have appeared since he changed his user ID. 

[bd139]

Yeah there’s stuff in there that should have been minced. I’m waiting for a crypto to turn up 

Edit: there was a bit of a stink kicked up a few years back when a CATAPAN device turned up on eBay 

[Robert763]

Was this of buying that radar set for my model rocket. The one with the air start turbofan ...
Wondering if I need a license for that ...

I once bought a MQM-74C Chukar II that was on ebay....   

EDIT: I also had to explain my ebay activity to government officials. This was much later and they were asking generally, not about a specific item....

[bd139]

Now here’s something special!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274943852633

Those things cost a literal fuck load of money new.

[Robert763]

Score of the day for me, a Fischer 0.4 K/W heatsink with integrated fan, new, still in Fischer and RS packaging. RS price today, £73.79, mine for £28.20 all in. Bonus: It's really quiet even at full throttle. Should be good for nearly 200W if I mount it where fingers can't get frazzled.

I feel a small DC Electronic load coming on...

Consider a couple of FDL100N50F MOSFETs  They are N-CH 500V 100A TO-264 which might seem overkill but they have good DC SOA. For example 20A at 100V or 100A at 25V.  They also have a reasonably wide linear gate region.
Not cheap but they work. I stuck a couple in my 1kW cont, 2kW30% load. it works well.
https://www.onsemi.com/pdf/datasheet/fdl100n50f-d.pdf

[Robert763]

That’s actually already on my watch list 

Did you notice that it's also radioactive?
Not sure what, probably a T/R cell or possibly a spark gap.

Thoriated tungsten In there…

Thorated Tungsten does not normally warrant a radiation warning. Not that hazardous due to the chemical physical nature and a lot of self shielding.

[Robert763]

Yeah there’s stuff in there that should have been minced. I’m waiting for a crypto to turn up 

Edit: there was a bit of a stink kicked up a few years back when a CATAPAN device turned up on eBay 

I've bought items from legitimate UK Gov. disposals that still had American Crytpo chips in them. Older kit but still controled in the USA.

[bd139]

That’s actually already on my watch list 

Did you notice that it's also radioactive?
Not sure what, probably a T/R cell or possibly a spark gap.

Thoriated tungsten In there…

Thorated Tungsten does not normally warrant a radiation warning. Not that hazardous due to the chemical physical nature and a lot of self shielding.

Depends on who wrote the spec to stick the stickers on it 

[Robert763]

Fluke 2635A Hydra Databucket on UK ebay

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144204123470
Looks tydy and complete with input module and memory card. £150
The have another with tape around the back for £140

[bd139]

Paging AVGresponding on that one 


Dang. Sinclair died:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

[Martin.M]

my Windows 11 arrived today.

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[AVGresponding]

Paging AVGresponding on that one 


Dang. Sinclair died:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

Nah I just need an input module for mine, and to sort out the stupid Dallas chip ofc.



That was an interesting read, I didn't remember seeing him on Late Night Poker. He's left quite a technological legacy, one way or another.

[nfmax]

Paging AVGresponding on that one 


Dang. Sinclair died:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

That was an interesting read, I didn't remember seeing him on Late Night Poker. He's left quite a technological legacy, one way or another.[/color][/size][/b]

I remember going to hear him speak somewhere strange, like Arundel, maybe, while at university - I think @tggzzz was there as well?

[Robert763]

Paging AVGresponding on that one 


Dang. Sinclair died:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

Nah I just need an input module for mine, and to sort out the stupid Dallas chip ofc.



That was an interesting read, I didn't remember seeing him on Late Night Poker. He's left quite a technological legacy, one way or another.

Buy the one with the module and card and flip yours.......

[Specmaster]

Paging AVGresponding on that one 


Dang. Sinclair died:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

Thats so sad, we owe a lot to him, he is the reason why we have pocket sized calculators today, and he kick-started the computer programming craze that has led us to the modern day games we enjoy now. Many of those programmers cut their teeth on ZX80, ZX81 and Spectrum computers. It might also be argued that perhaps if it were not for his pocket TV, we might not have the smartphones with their ability to play video now.

[Cerebus]

Score of the day for me, a Fischer 0.4 K/W heatsink with integrated fan, new, still in Fischer and RS packaging. RS price today, £73.79, mine for £28.20 all in. Bonus: It's really quiet even at full throttle. Should be good for nearly 200W if I mount it where fingers can't get frazzled.

I feel a small DC Electronic load coming on...

Consider a couple of FDL100N50F MOSFETs  They are N-CH 500V 100A TO-264 which might seem overkill but they have good DC SOA. For example 20A at 100V or 100A at 25V.  They also have a reasonably wide linear gate region.
Not cheap but they work. I stuck a couple in my 1kW cont, 2kW30% load. it works well.
https://www.onsemi.com/pdf/datasheet/fdl100n50f-d.pdf

Doesn't seem like overkill. To get useful overall power while respecting SOA limits you always need a lot of middling MOSFETs or to use few really big ones. Once you take in the additional costs of reliably paralleling lots of FETs with effective power sharing, paying for few big FETs instead is probably more economic. It's not just perhaps a few extra decent low value resistors and an op amp of two, it's board area, transistor mounting clips, thermal interface material (the good stuff's expensive), stray inductance and so on. The FDL100N50F is actually already on my list of likely devices, at the top in fact. The only downside of big devices is concomitantly acquiring enough gate capacitance that you can't drive them at any decent speed directly from a cheap op amp.

Disclaimer: If my usual standards of written clarity are down tonight, it's because I'm post-migraine this evening and that usually renders me more of a mumbling, drooling fool than normal.

[mansaxel]

Paging AVGresponding on that one 


Dang. Sinclair died:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

Thats so sad, we owe a lot to him, he is the reason why we have pocket sized calculators today, and he kick-started the computer programming craze that has led us to the modern day games we enjoy now. Many of those programmers cut their teeth on ZX80, ZX81 and Spectrum computers. It might also be argued that perhaps if it were not for his pocket TV, we might not have the smartphones with their ability to play video now.

My first contact with a home computer was a Spectrum.

He was not the inventor of the pocket calculator. Not only did the -hp- 35 beat the Sinclair to market with a year, it also wasn't the first one. The Sinclair effort still is commendable for being very cheap and accessible.

[Neper]

Dang. Sinclair died:

Very sad news indeed. His computers were much like the motorcars from earlier days. Far less sophisticated, terribly unreliable, but so much more fun. Without him, the lives of us early computer freaks would have been a lot more boring.

[bd139]

Paging AVGresponding on that one 


Dang. Sinclair died:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

Thats so sad, we owe a lot to him, he is the reason why we have pocket sized calculators today, and he kick-started the computer programming craze that has led us to the modern day games we enjoy now. Many of those programmers cut their teeth on ZX80, ZX81 and Spectrum computers. It might also be argued that perhaps if it were not for his pocket TV, we might not have the smartphones with their ability to play video now.

I wouldn’t give him that much credit.

He produced a bunch of error ridden articles for PW magazine, sold terrible quality kits that had a 50% return rate, sold a watch that caught fire, a computer that couldn’t compute and display at the same time, wobbly memory extensions that barely worked, a rubber keyboard from hell, joysticks that broke if you farted near them, a proprietary storage system which expertly corrupted your data or tore itself to shreds and built at least two lines of computers which didn’t sell at all well, designed a car which my arse wouldn’t fit inside and a bike which was impossible to ride.

He did however invent a new kind of cheap. The only thing we really owe him is keeping prices in check.

But we loved all this anyway.

I was an Acorn user 

[Cerebus]

Thats so sad, we owe a lot to him, he is the reason why we have pocket sized calculators today, and he kick-started the computer programming craze that has led us to the modern day games we enjoy now.

Err, no and no. He was beaten to the first pocket calculator by more than 2 years. The home computing craze was already well underway when he jumped on the bandwagon. What he was a very good self publicist and good at producing a product that was as cheaply made as possible and just functional enough to keep him out of court.