Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

David

5 digit Nixie DMM for 50 pounds, working at that, can't complain for sure ! 

It's even got a mega cute little Omega symbol on the left most Nixie ! 

Oh no I got that wrong, 4 digit not 5 ! Strange, the MSD tube looks like it displays " Eleven ", two ones, two digits " ! I got fooled....
I guess it's just the camera  being too sensitive ? In real life that tube looks unlit I assume ?

Still a good find at 50 quid even with "only" 4 digits !

[factory]

Yes it blanks the MSD tube when not required, it goes up to about 2600 on  ohms range with nothing connected.

David

[Cerebus]

Measured Voltage at metal parts against earth. A couple hunnerd mV, but that's it.
No dangerous voltage after correctly attaching the ground wires within the cabinet.

I would recommend that you look out for a PAT (while your pinball machines do not seem to be 'portable', it is applicable to anything connected to a standard outlet). It does not need to be a current one with protocol etc., but as those machines leave your hand when done, it would certainly aid your risk management.
Improvised measurements such as described above are not really a substitute for the prescribed PE resistance/Insulation/leakage tests.

PAT regs apply to anything not part of the permanent wiring (here in the UK at least, and they are from when we were still harmonised with europe so...) which includes anything connected to a Fused Connection Unit (aka a fuse spur) or flex outlet plate via a flex, even if the flex is protected by flexible conduit.
Confusingly, this includes what is referred to in the PAT regs as "static equipment", which could be something like a lathe connected via a 64A TP N+E commando.

What UK "PAT regs"? Answer, there aren't any. The official word from the Health and Safety Executive:

I've been told that, by law, I must have my portable electrical appliances tested every year. Is this correct?
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently (ie they don't make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually).

Is Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) compulsory?
No. The law simply requires an employer to ensure that their electrical equipment is maintained in order to prevent danger. It does not say how this should be done or how often. Employers should take a risk-based approach, considering the type of equipment and what it is being used for. If it is used regularly and moved a lot eg a floor cleaner or a kettle, testing (along with visual checks) can be an important part of an effective maintenance regime giving employers confidence that they are doing what is necessary to help them meet their legal duties. HSE provides guidance on how to maintain equipment including the use of PAT.

I'm not saying that PAT testing isn't a good idea (although may be circumstances where it would not be appropriate) just that: (1) it is not required by law in the UK, and (2) that PAT testing alone is not enough to necessarily comply with The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

Many weasel words have been published by people with a vested interest in selling PAT kit that make it sound like a legal requirement when it it not. A similar weasel word mentality is used by the IET (formerly IEE) in labelling their wiring recommendations as wiring regulations (Their formal name in their British Standards version  is "Requirements for electrical installations"). They have no statutory force and while excellent codes of practice are not not necessarily enough in and of themselves to ensure compliance with the law - the HSE may treat compliance with the 17th edition as persuasive that you're following your legal obligations but it isn't the law (although the IET would like you to believe it is). The HSE's own turn of phrase is that 17th edition compliance is likely to comply with the law.

Sorry, this is a personal pet hate, things that do not have the force of law being sold as if they have by using names like 'regulations'.

[TERRA Operative]

Ooohhh, two big boxes arrived at my friends factory for me..... (easier to receive them there than at home as I drive past to work every day anyway).

Gonna pick them up on the way in to work. Looks like the Tek TDS goodness is arriving!

[Vince]

New TE in the lab today ! 


My first bench DMM, the Metrix MX 554 we discussed the other day with Spec. Always fancied one of those but Spec was an enabler.

So here it is.

Very happy with it, it's best described as NIB. Zero dirt no scratch or dent anywhere. It's so perfect that it's almost annoying : the LCD window is like a mirror, reflects the lab lights like mad, makes it difficult to take a half decent pic, for starters.

Guy even sent me a printed copy of the manual, how nice. Even a brand new power cord and a brand new set of "Voltcraft" test leads ! 2mm ones with very sharp tips. Not "SMD work" sharp, but still very sharp. But they are crap none the less. Hard plastic hand pieces, stiff PVC cable, and non-gold plating that make the (unlatched on Metrix TE) continuity tester sound like you are trying to find an AM radio station, when rubbing the probe tips against one another. My sharp "SMD" probes are gold plated and even though they are cheap Chinesium, they make the continuity tester sound pretty much as if it WERE latched, when it is not in actuality. So.. gold plating does make a huge difference, it's not a gizmo. Cheap Chinese works just fine, gold is gold... even Chinese gold works... 
So out with the Voltcraft leads... I salvaged the wires of course, always handy for wiring up power stuff.

Love the meter, glad I bought it. Quality look and feel. Love that large green/yellow LCD with mega huge digits, very easy to read.

From a technical perspective, it's 100% the same as a handheld MX 54, just in bench format but that's it.
So same exact features and pecs, same CPU ( 4 bit NEC, D75P3018) and RMS converter ( 1MHz Analog Device AD636), same everything, no more no less. So all good stuff then.

Quick test drive on all ranges but 10A, seems to work perfectly and agree perfectly with the handheld version.

I think the only reason I got it for much lower price than usual is that although it's in NIB condition... it's not NIB on all sides : the left side has huge dark red stripe on it ! Weird.
Seller clearly mentioned it and took pic of it so I knew what I was buying. Didn't care at all... you don't get to see the sides of a bench DMM anyway, only the front.. and the front looked like new, and is brand new now I can see it in the flesh. So I was more than willing to live with that red stripe on the side, if that meant I could get a pristine front and low price ! 
Stripe is like some thick varnish, nail varnish or something I don't know. I can just try to scrape it off of the plastic case with a sharp blade, then fine wet sand it to buff it out... will be just fine 

So the specs and features are like the handheld version :

- 0.05% +/-2 digits basic accuracy.
- 50.000 counts
- high-impedance mode
- measures AC+DC combined
- Frequency
- capacitance
- Duty cycle
- peaks / min / max / rel / hold
- dB
- °C / °F temperature measurements
- "surveillance" mode, forgot what that does.
- baregraph with zoom feature
- opto-isolated RS-232 at the back to read measurements, configure/setup the meter, and also to calibrate it, cool.

Of course before I powered it up, I took it apart.

They didn't just slap the board of the handheld version into the cabinet no, thank god they redesigned everything from the ground up.
So we have two boards at the front. One that holds the main range switch + the power stuff  ( input protection componentry & current shunts ). Other board holds the LCD and keypad and CPU

The main board carries :

1) The delicate analog stuff, all hidden under a shield soldered to the PCB, so I left that alone. The buzzer is there too.

2) The power supply. Mostly surface mount for all the small components. A lovely, big mechanical mains switch. Simple linear PSU : through-hole fuse soldered to the PCB, then a small molded transformer, then full wave bridge rectifier made of 4 discrete diodes but, it's a first for me : made of 4 big ass surface mount MELF diodes ?! First time I see a bridge made like that ! Looks neat though  . Then a single filter cap, then a 3 terminal adjustable linear regulator, good old LM317, again SMD, 8 pin SOIC.

3) The circuitry for the opto-isolated serial port. Opto isolation home made using 4 discrete LEDs / Photo trannies. The 4 white "cubes" on the board. Note how far apart they are ! Like an inch from each other !     I guess Metrix were taking their isolation a bit too seriously ! No need for a 10 Mega Volt isolation, calm down Metrix ! 


So that's about it for now ! I am super happy with the meter. Can't wait to have a computer set up dedicated to the work bench. Hopefully later this year. Would like to play with the serial port.
There is a thread on EEVblog about the handheld Metrix MX 53/54/56 series. ISTR a guy said he had a copy of the PC software to calibrate these meters, and he cobbled together an IR serial cable, easy enough apparently. Don't think this S/W can do the remote measurements and configuration though... manual says there is a special S/W for that, called " LabWindows DOS", for MS-DOS computers, and "LabWindows CVI" for MS Windows computers. I guess we are talking Win3.1 here, given the vintage of these meters. I don't know if that's a home made Metrix S/W or if they did it with Labview and just compiled it to get their own standalone executable files that they could distribute as being "theirs"... when in fact it's just made using Labview under the skin.

Will try to find a copy of these, though not holding my breath of course 
However, luckily the manual does detail the protocol used to communicate via the serial port ! Gives all the Hex codes to talk to it etc. So that's really cool. So worst case scenario I could write my own little S/W to handle the meter !    .. or for basic stuff like configuring it, I could just use a terminal emulator and send ASCII commands by hand ! Yeah that would be easy enough to do, low hanging fruits and immediate satisfaction first ! 

[Vince]

....

[AVGresponding]

Sorry, this is a personal pet hate, things that do not have the force of law being sold as if they have by using names like 'regulations'.

We're on the 18th edition now.

Regardless of your personal opinion, mine, Big Clive's, or anyone else's, they are de facto regulations by means of the trouble you can get into if you fail to comply with them.

Quoting the HSE saying portable appliance testing isn't a legal requirement after your employee dies by electrocution while using a toaster in your canteen won't stop you from getting a hefty fine and maybe a jail sentence, if you don't have an audit trail showing you did your legal duty to ensure the appliance was safe to use.

The fact is that PAT regs (I will not apologise for calling them regulations) provide a method for creating a (relatively) simple, auditable paper trail to this end. The BS 7671 wiring regs have the same use, covering the fixed installation parts.

[mnementh]

The only person that'll get 10000W through those will be Photonicinduction. 

David

Yes, well... the rest of us use those numbers to calculate a reasonable overhead... He takes them as a personal challenge. 

mnem
*tzzzzzt*

[Cerebus]

Sorry, this is a personal pet hate, things that do not have the force of law being sold as if they have by using names like 'regulations'.

We're on the 18th edition now.

Regardless of your personal opinion, mine, Big Clive's, or anyone else's, they are de facto regulations by means of the trouble you can get into if you fail to comply with them.

Quoting the HSE saying portable appliance testing isn't a legal requirement after your employee dies by electrocution while using a toaster in your canteen won't stop you from getting a hefty fine and maybe a jail sentence, if you don't have an audit trail showing you did your legal duty to ensure the appliance was safe to use.

Nobody, least of all the regulator who would be prosecuting you "after your employee dies by electrocution while using a toaster in your canteen" (that's the HSE in case you're in any doubt), is saying that PAT testing is not useful as part of a proper maintenance regime, just that it is not required per se by law, that there is no regulations requiring you to undertake PAT testing (as generally understood), or hand money over to a bunch of cowboys who turn up at your door with a C&G 2377 certificate in their sticky mitts and no clue what is actually safe or not, just which button to press, claiming that there are regulations that require you to. (Check back for Robert's (I think) horror story of idiot PAT testers left on their own in a factory for the weekend - do you really want to align yourself with that crowd by advocating for non-existent regulations?)

The fact is that PAT regs (I will not apologise for calling them regulations) [/color][/size][/b]

Well you should, because they are not regulations. I know this because I know if I say "Show me a copy of these 'regulations' then." you will come up empty handed, sans Act of Parliament, sans Statutory Instrument. Calling them something they are not serves nobody except people who try to profit from FUD and is just being Humpty Dumpty. There is no such thing as a de facto regulation, regulations are de jure or they are not regulations. Words matter, ask Victoria Derbyshire; I suspect her mis-naming of Jeremy Hunt caused her no end of problems, not matter how much it amused the rest of us.

[mnementh]

...Quoting the HSE saying portable appliance testing isn't a legal requirement after your employee dies by electrocution while using a toaster in your canteen won't stop you from getting a hefty fine and maybe a jail sentence, if you don't have an audit trail showing you did your legal duty to ensure the appliance was safe to use...

I can see you have your serious face on right now, and I don't want to trivialize the importance of this whole subject... 

But for the life of me I can't help imagining the dead guy with face frozen in an expression of ecstasy, and both hands clutching a toaster that's now welded to his dong.

mnem
In the employee lounge.   

[mnementh]

Just for Vince...   

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32269835499.html

mnem
*enabler-dwagon*

[Specmaster]

New TE in the lab today ! 


My first bench DMM, the Metrix MX 554 we discussed the other day with Spec. Always fancied one of those but Spec was an enabler.

So here it is.

Very happy with it, it's bst described as NIB. Zero dirt no scratch or dent anywhere. It's so perfect that it's almost annoying : the LCD windows is like a mirror, reflect the lab lights like mad, makes it difficult to take a halt decent pic, for starters.

Gut even sent me a printed copy of the manual, how nice. Even a brand new power cord and a brand new set of "Voltcraft" tst leads ! 2mm ones with very sharp tips. Not "SMD work" sharp, but still very sharp. But they are crap none the less. Hard plastic hand pieces, stiff PVC cable, and non-gold plating that make the (unlatched on Metrix TE) continuity tester sound like you are trying to find an AM radio station, when rubbing the probe tips against one another. My sharp "SMD" probes are gold plated and even though they are cheap Chinesium, they make the continuity tester sound pretty much as if it WERE latched, when it is not in actuality. So.. gold plating does make a huge difference, it's not a gizmo. Cheap Chinese works just fine, gold is gold... even Chinese gold works... 
So out with the Voltcraft leads... I salvaged the wires of course, alwyas handy for wiring up power stuff.

Love the meter, glad I bought it. Quality look and feel. Love that large green/yellow LCD with mega huge digits, very easy to read.

From a technical perspective, it's 100% the same as a handheld MX 54, just in bench format but that's it.
So same exact features and pecs, same CPU ( 4 bit NEC, D75P3018) and RMS converter ( 1MHz Analog Device AD636), same everything, no more no less. So all good stuff then.

Quick test drive on all ranges but 10A, seems to work perfectly and agree perfectly with the handheld version.

I think the only reason I got it for much lower price than usual is that although it's in NIB condition... it's not NIB on all sides : the left side has huge dark red stripe on it ! Weird.
Seller clearly mentioned it and took pic of it so I knew what I was buying. Didn't care at all... you don't get to see the sides of a bench DMM anyway, only the front.. and the front looked like new, and is brand new now I can see it in the flesh. So I was more than willing to live with that red stripe on the side, if that meant I could get a pristine front and low price ! 
Stripe is like some thick varnish, nail varnish or something I don't know. I can just try to scrape it off of the plastic case with a sharp blade, then fine wet sand it to buff it out... will be just fine 

So the specs and features are like the handheld version :

- 0.05% +/-2 digits basic accuracy.
- 50.000 counts
- high-impedance mode
- measures AC+DC combined
- Frequency
- capacitance
- Duty cycle
- peaks / min / max / rel / hold
- dB
- °C / °F temperature measurements
- "surveillance" mode, forgot what that does.
- baregraph with zoom feature
- opto-isolated RS-232 at the back to read measurements, configure/setup the meter, and also to calibrate it, cool.

Of course before I powered it up, I took it apart.

They didn't just slap the board of the handheld version into the cabinet no, thank god they redesigned everything from the ground up.
So we have two boards at the front. One that holds the main range switch + the power stuff  ( input protection componentry & current shunts ). Other board hold the LCD and keypad and CPU

The main board carries

1) The delicate analog stuff, all hidden under a shield soldered to the PCB, so I left that alone. The buzzer is there too.

2) The power supply. Mostly surface mount for all the small components. A lovely, big mechanical mains switch. Simple linear thing. through-hole fuse soldered to the PCB, then a small molded transformer, then full wave bridge rectifier made of 4 discrete diodes but, it's a first for me : made of 4 big ass surface mount MELF diodes ?! First time I see a bridge made like that ! Looks neat though  . Then a single filter cap, then a 3 terminal adjustable linear regulator, good old LM317, again SMD, 8 pin SOIC.

3) The circuitry for the opto-isolated serial port. Opto isolation hoe made using 4 discrete LEDs / Photo trannies. The 4 white "cubes" on the board. Note how far apart they are !Like an inch from each other !     I guess Metrix are taking their isolation a bit too seriously ! No need for a 10 Mega Volt isolation, calm down Metrix ! 


So that's about it for now ! I am super happy with the meter. Can't wait to have a computer set up dedicated to the work bench. Hopefully later this year. Would like to play with the serial port.
There is a thread on EEVblog about the handheld Metrix MX 53/54/56 series. ISTR a guy said he had a copy of the PC software to calibrate the meters, and he cobbled together an IR serial cable, easy enough apparently. Don't think this S/W can do the remote measurements and configuration though... manual says there is a special S/W for that, called " LabWindows DOS", for MS-DOS computers, and "LabWindows CVI" for MS Windows computers. I guess we are talking Win3.1 here, given the vintage of these meters. I don't know if that's a home made Metrix S/W or if they did it with Labview and just compiled it to get their own standalone executable files they could distribute as being "theirs"... when in fact it's just made using Labview under the skin.

Will try to find a copy of these, though not holding my breath of course 
However, luckily the manual does detail the protocol used to communicated via the serial port ! Gives all the Hex codes to talk to it etc. So that's really cool. Worse case scenario I could write my own little S/W to handle the meter !    .. or for basic stuff like configuring it, I could just use terminal emulator and send ASCII commands by hand ! Yeah that would be easy enough to do, low hanging fruit and immediate satisfaction first ! 

Glad to have been the enabler for you on this aspect of your bench and I would say with reasonable certainty that this will not be your last bench meter, what about 4 wire measurements and even a better accuracy, note accuracy and digits are not always the same. My Fluke 8842A bench meter is supposed to be .006% +/- 3 digits basic DC accuracy 5.5 digits and also front and rear 4 wire jacks for enhanced readings etc.

By the way, those meter leads are not total crap, they are pretty reasonable, but better ones are available for sure and the probes are 2 mm is true, but the plugs are 4 mm as are the sockets on the 554, but the lack of a 4 wire test for resistances is not really a major concern, while I have that on 3 of my bench meters, I don't use it, the normal 2 wire is sufficient for all but the most critical applications.

[TERRA Operative]

....

Hey Vince, that TDS544A you got...

Go add a 47uF, 80V (or more) LOW-ESR cap you your next parts order, along with 4x 1000pF (10mm pitch) X-class capacitors to replace the Rifas (double check if yours has them first, I believe the 544A PSU does...).

Replace C13 C17 on the power supply board ASAP, it's a ticking timebomb and will take out a bunch of parts when it decides to go off.
It's a weak point and will kill your standby power, meaning a dead scope until you replace a handful of parts.

[xrunner]

New TE in the lab today ! 


My first bench DMM, the Metrix MX 554 we discussed the other day with Spec. Always fancied one of those but Spec was an enabler.

So here it is.

Very happy with it, it's bst described as NIB. Zero dirt no scratch or dent anywhere. It's so perfect that it's almost annoying : the LCD windows is like a mirror, reflect the lab lights like mad, makes it difficult to take a halt decent pic, for starters

Congrats. I saw the old 25 pin port on the back and was wondering why they used it. But in fact we can see they don't really need all those pins. Any guess why they stuck the Macho size on there?

[Vince]

Just for Vince...   

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32269835499.html

mnem
*enabler-dwagon*

Maybe for X-mas.... we shall see....

[Vince]

....

Hey Vince, that TDS544A you got...

Go add a 47uF, 80V (or more) LOW-ESR cap you your next parts order, along with 4x 1000pF (10mm pitch) X-class capacitors to replace the Rifas (double check if yours has them first, I believe the 544A PSU does...).

Replace C13 on the power supply board ASAP, it's a ticking timebomb and will take out a bunch of parts when it decides to go off.
It's a weak point and will kill your standby power, meaning a dead scope until you replace a handful of parts.

Oh, thanks for the warning, will look into that soon !

I love that scope, I would hate to see it go bang, no money to buy another one !

[Vince]

New TE in the lab today ! 


My first bench DMM, the Metrix MX 554 we discussed the other day with Spec. Always fancied one of those but Spec was an enabler.

So here it is.

Very happy with it, it's bst described as NIB. Zero dirt no scratch or dent anywhere. It's so perfect that it's almost annoying : the LCD windows is like a mirror, reflect the lab lights like mad, makes it difficult to take a halt decent pic, for starters

Congrats. I saw the old 25 pin port on the back and was wondering why they used it. But in fact we can see they don't really need all those pins. Any guess why they stuck the Macho size on there?

No, idea ! Other than well, the serial port was originally using a DB25 when it came out, so we can't blame Metrix for using what is a standard.
smaller DB9 came only later, on desktop computers, but maybe on test gear it took some manufacturers longer to switch to DB9. I don't know ! 

I remember in 1993 or something, was 16yo, I spent all my pocket money to buy that new fancy ergonomic Microsoft Mouse. It used a serial port interface not PS/2 IIRC, and it came with a DB25 to DB9 adapter... This Metrix meter though it was manufactured in 1997 (according to the date code I found on the RMS converter chip on the main board...), was older in design, so early '90 just like the mouse.

So... no, it does not feel terribly weird that the Metrix was still using a DB25 

[TERRA Operative]

....

Hey Vince, that TDS544A you got...

Go add a 47uF, 80V (or more) LOW-ESR cap you your next parts order, along with 4x 1000pF (10mm pitch) X-class capacitors to replace the Rifas (double check if yours has them first, I believe the 544A PSU does...).

Replace C13 on the power supply board ASAP, it's a ticking timebomb and will take out a bunch of parts when it decides to go off.
It's a weak point and will kill your standby power, meaning a dead scope until you replace a handful of parts.

Oh, thanks for the warning, will look into that soon !

I love that scope, I would hate to see it go bang, no money to buy another one !

It's not the end of the world if it does pop (a couple of TVS diodes and a transistor will die), but replacing the cap before-hand is cheaper and less stress.

Also, go unlock options if you have a GPIB-USB adapter!

[Vince]

New TE in the lab today ! 


My first bench DMM, the Metrix MX 554 we discussed the other day with Spec. Always fancied one of those but Spec was an enabler.

Glad to have been the enabler for you on this aspect of your bench and I would say with reasonable certainty that this will not be your last bench meter, what about 4 wire measurements and even a better accuracy, note accuracy and digits are not always the same. My Fluke 8842A bench meter is supposed to be .006% +/- 3 digits basic DC accuracy 5.5 digits and also front and rear 4 wire jacks for enhanced readings etc.

By the way, those meter leads are not total crap, they are pretty reasonable, but better ones are available for sure and the probes are 2 mm is true, but the plugs are 4 mm as are the sockets on the 554, but the lack of a 4 wire test for resistances is not really a major concern, while I have that on 3 of my bench meters, I don't use it, the normal 2 wire is sufficient for all but the most critical applications.

Yes ! As as I explained earlier when we were discussing this, the main reason historically that kept me from buying one of these Metrix bench meters is because from day one my goal was to get a "real" bench meter, which is expensive, so "wasting" money on a low end / rebodied handheld meter, would just steal money from the "real" meter budget.

Yes as I said the bare minimum I want in my future real bench meter, is just what you said.  top notch accuracy, so as to be much better than my best DMM, Metrix MX56 at 0.025 +/- LSD. and also 4 wire measurement because I just want it. I just want to be able to measure my low ohms power resistors, measure cables/wire resistance, make my own shunts using calibrated resistive wire, whatever it's called, and measure the resistance of current shunts, PCB traces, what have you, anything.  A handheld DMM no matter how good, just does not cut it.

To begin with I have an old linear lab power supply from Chauvin-Arnoux that my dad gave me from his work, that I kinda blew when I tried to put the two floating outputs in // .... didn't like it apparently.
Now it still technically works, I can adjust output voltage, it's fine, but the am meters movements just read garbage, does not make any sense. I know the PSU itself works fine because of course I can monitor voltage and current using DMM's, but the internal meter movements in the PSU are shot. I suspect that when I put them in parallel, too much current damaged the shunts at the back of the galvanometers.

So I would like to take these galvanometers out, and measure the resistance of the shunts on them, accurately, to compare them, and to calculate what value they should be, based on the sensitivity / FS deviation current of the galvanometers. A bit of educational TE fun.. because that's what I like !

[tautech]

Sorry, this is a personal pet hate, things that do not have the force of law being sold as if they have by using names like 'regulations'.

Quoting the HSE saying portable appliance testing isn't a legal requirement after your employee dies by electrocution while using a toaster in your canteen won't stop you from getting a hefty fine and maybe a jail sentence, if you don't have an audit trail showing you did your legal duty to ensure the appliance was safe to use.

Some industry in NZ especially construction has embraced PAT testing with a vengeance and spawned a complete support industry and while doing so only lumped additional cost onto many projects. 

At one time we used mains isolating trannies however they have been long made redundant by RCD's which on their own do a fine job of protecting the portable appliance user.

However there will always be muppets on job sites that know no better than to use a dangerous flex/extension lead where we once just cut them where they were damaged so couldn't be used and handed them to the foreman.
Unfortunately PAT testing here involves not only the electrical test but physical inspection of leads/cords to ensure they are still safe to use whereas poor old Darwin now never gets the opportunity to rid the world of a few stupid and unsafe muppets.

[Vince]

....

Hey Vince, that TDS544A you got...

Go add a 47uF, 80V (or more) LOW-ESR cap you your next parts order, along with 4x 1000pF (10mm pitch) X-class capacitors to replace the Rifas (double check if yours has them first, I believe the 544A PSU does...).

Replace C13 on the power supply board ASAP, it's a ticking timebomb and will take out a bunch of parts when it decides to go off.
It's a weak point and will kill your standby power, meaning a dead scope until you replace a handful of parts.

Oh, thanks for the warning, will look into that soon !

I love that scope, I would hate to see it go bang, no money to buy another one !

It's not the end of the world if it does pop (a couple of TVS diodes and a transistor will die), but replacing the cap before-hand is cheaper and less stress.

Ah phew, good to hear it's not THAT dangerous.... but I want / need this scope to be dependable and turn-key,  so if I can do a bit of preventative maintenance to avoid problems to begin with, I am all for it indeed !!! 

Also, go unlock options if you have a GPIB-USB adapter!

I don't know what I can do via GPIB on this particular model scope ?
And I don't have a GPIB-USB adapter !  ... I have a REAL National Instrument ISA interface card and the MS-DOS and Windows 95 S/W to go with it ! 
I  set up an old IBM Aptiva Pentium computer solely to be able to use a PCI  or ISA NI card.
Used it 5 years ago when I bought my TDS544A and wanted to clear the error log using a little S/W someone in the TekScope forum wrote.
Worked well. Then I had a bit of GPIB fun, see below ! 

[Zucca]

Yes, that address is a public v6 address too.

Yes I can confirm it works!

Again thanks mansa for pushing me in the right direction! 
I had just to reboot the pfSense Box and voila the prefix where honored.

Now I have a philosophic dilemma.

Why we need DHCPv6?

[Zucca]

BTW, I am the only one that can't see the picture?



First I thanked him, and then I looked up the HTML code to fish out the pic. 

[Vince]

Varta Battery.


The am meter in the lab supply has not enough resolution to show me what the current is. It just display zero all the time... so I have no idea what's going on.

Want an am meter in the circuit... but don't want a digical one as it would turn off all the time automatically, and I don't have to to turn it back on all the time whenever I want to look at the current to see how things are going. Could use my new bench DMM then... mains powered, never turns off. Yes... but don't want to waste expensive electricity with it all the time on. especially since I am soon going to bed and having it burn electricity while I am sleeping is... silly, wallet wise.

So... how do you solve the problem ? I dug out one of my analog meters of course !  Display / needle is visible at al times, never turns off, does not burn electricity nor batteries... it's perfect !!!

I just love my old little analog meter, so happy I have here an excuse to dig it out and give it some use and see its pretty face ! I just love the look and feel of this thing. It was my very first meter 30 years ago when I was a boy. Daddy gave it to me. He got it from a work relation ship that owned a business that sold electrical supplies to professionals. Made by Chauvin-Arnoux. It was available both in kit form, or pre-assembled.  I got the kit version. Was so cool soldering all the components myself and build my own VOM ! 
It's also got a handy 1000 Volt range !!! So handy to measure 500 B+ on some of my glowing Tek scopes, now me think !

I am not too sure about the max voltage that my little Fluke 11 or my fancy Metrix MX 53/54/56 can handle.. don't want to blow them so not taking a chance !
Will check specs to know the exact safe voltage they can handle, but it's even more safe to use a 1000V rated simple basic analog meter !   

[Zucca]

That a porcellain pan prevents some electrons to spill all over on the table...

Smart move.