Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

...I'm seeing now some very interesting cylindrical cells showing up at the pack-recycler shops...

https://batteryhookup.com/

mnem
 

That's an interesting site. How do they ship "10 pounds of mixed used Batteries" and "possibly loose cells"? Sounds like a fire waiting to happen  . It would certainly be illegal to ship it by air.

I bought a couple medical packs off them in the before time to bust up for cells; they came packed in double-walled cartons with cardboard between the packs and enough bubble wrap to make the bundle tight in the box.

These guys do quantity to e-vehicle and powerwall DIYers, and have years of great feedback. I'm pretty sure they pack even that mess so the "loose cells" are safe, just as when they sell used cells in bulk.

There's a whole industry of bespoke cardboard cartons for this market now; sized exactly right for specific size cells in specific quantities. I'm certain that when they have "loose cells", they just fill one of those cartons with random cells and throw it in the box to make the weight.

I'm totally thinking about getting into some of those Headway cells for my e-bike... I just need to educate myself about LiFePO4 first.

mnem
*tzzzzzt*

[Robert763]

Quick question (I hope), what type of crimp terminal do I need to search for here?



From a haul of test leads and grabbers I scored the other day, this one fits the HP and Tektronix grabbers, it's just a round crimp with heatshrink on the outside. The cheaper ZeroPlus and TTi grabbers all use a square DuPont type. As you can see, the Mtutoyo says an OD of 0.087" give or take.

Probably a contact from / for a military circular connector. Various types and sizes. The mil-dtl-26482 series is most likely. A #20
Series one is M39029/32-247 or M39029/5-115  Other option is various 38999 contacts eg M39029/57-357 or M39029/56-351

EDIT:
@AVGresponding
How many do you need? If used ones with a few inches of wire tail will do I have some you can have.

[factory]

And literature, what about the literature.
(and some I don't understand even with google)

Ah yes I forgot a couple of lots, the pile of databooks that didn't sell in the last PPauction, thought I would take a punt on them as the description mentioned HP, which as none of the books are HP, must mean that the trio of folders have something HP in them (I had a PM that they might be HP journals).
The semiconductor data books will be useful too, kind of miss not being able to use the library at work, much prefer paper for this; than crappy unreadable scanned pdfs on the phone, or data archive websites that promise but fail to deliver. 

P.S. Other lots I forgot, were another Systron/Datapulse pulse gen type 88, the cox 303 TV related coder thingy for opening price and the HP storage normalizer, no idea if it has the card for the Spec An or Network An, but it does have the interconnect cable, think Ice Tea got the 180T SA with the matching connector on the back (went way above my bid limit), no idea if any of the 180/182 frames on the parts heap lot have this. 

David

So Cox was a TV thing, my google was all over the place.
Storage normalizer at least had hits that hit, but practicalities of unknown area are difficult, even with manual.
My spectrum analyzing have been merely spotting a transmitter around generally accepted frequency and receiver being DVB TV-dongle with usual "dipole" antenna of stripped coax adjusted with pliers.

BTW,
Maybe the monitor has a V-lin pot you can still twist a bit.
Is it special?
Flat screen would be more practical.

BTW2,
I'm sure Vince disappeared before the storm.

Yeah pretty much nothing on the web for the Cox coder thing, it's got to be TV related looking at the controls, claims to have a manual with it too.

Re: the PC with built in small monitor, only the regular picture controls; size, position, contrast, brightness etc. are on the front, I didn't have time or space to pull it apart to look for the others, plus that won't fix the fault, which gradually improves starting with about 3/4 of the picture, I suspect a few hours of operation would have it back to normal, as it hadn't been used for a few years.
I only had a day in there & had to get the programming done in my breaktime. Worst case I could unplug the monitor cable from the video card and use an external monitor.
Oh did I mention it's not mine.

Wondering what's happened to Vince too, has he found a job or maybe got computer problems?

David

[mansaxel]

Stomp update:

It bleeping works! As soon as we had wiggly waves on the scope and some semblance of signal through, we quick-bodged some wires on the PCB, tacked the switches on the PCB too, and went testing.

Result: Lush modulation! Very happy. We've got 5cm fresh snow and a clear blue sky, so going for a walk while the pulled pork cooks itself in the oven, and I've not been past my parents for a week so Middle Boy and I are going for a walk to them, and to the store.

Tomorrow: Drilling and wiring loom properization.

Edit: To the list of instruments used, we add TTi 830 counter and Tek Series 500 sine gen/distorsion analyser combo.

[factory]

The semiconductor data books will be useful too, kind of miss not being able to use the library at work, much prefer paper for this; than crappy unreadable scanned pdfs on the phone, or data archive websites that promise but fail to deliver. 

There are still some data collections available in the dead-tree form. Disadvantage: they are a bit outdated (2010/2011):
ECA books

ECA homepage

Newer Versions are available as DVDs or online access only (valid for one year):
DVD versions

Online databases

The DVD version is longer usable than one year. I have here a version from 2014 and I still can use it offline.

And, as always: NAWTS

Outdated in fine for me, as most of my TE is. Actually have a few old ECA books here.
Often web pdfs keep getting downgraded with removal of obsolete parts, happened with the ELMA catalog, lucky had an older one to help someone on one of the forums a while back.
The other big problem is finding data for older/ancient semiconductor parts, often web search will give lots of hits, which all turn out to be false links, to get you to look at the various crappy supposed datasheet archive websites, think Dave had this problem in one of his videos. Wasted lot too much time this way. 

David

[Specmaster]

You, you ... labeller enablers ... I'll stick it to ya!
(For anyone else in the GWN, these labellers are half price this week at Staples.  Unfortunately, the label cassettes are regular price.)   

Guilty as charged. 

Yup... this was exactly the case when I bought mine... $12 for the labeler, $26 in cartridges.  Using Princess Carly's printer/ink cartridges business model, I'll wager...   

mnem

Well maybe not quite, over this side of the water feature we can get printers free if we accept the cartridges that they offer with them, (normally not OEM ones, but are excellent), I have used this system from Morgan Computers for my last 3 printers and then usually, subsequent ink / toner orders are 50% discounted, win win.

https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/582/Printer-Deals/ 

[Cerebus]

Back in the day, Oxy-Hydrogen welding was used a lot in critical work, as Acetylene doesn't burn as cleanly.
It was also used underwater below a certain depth.

The first time I encountered it was back in the 70s in its use for making rods of artificial ruby for ruby lasers, presumably to avoid the possibility of including any carbon in the finished product.

[Cerebus]

Also idle reading of catalogues could alert you to possibilities, parts and ideas you could mentally file away until you had a use for them. A website oriented to parametric searches does not make an interesting distraction when you're having a cup of coffee. I wonder if this kind of skill is disappearing along with others that don't fit a "digital first" world?

Yes, I miss browsing too; searching isn't the same. I remember reading the entire RS catalogue and finding the characteristics of different capacitors.

Worst offender: Phoenix Contact. They replaced excellent (free) catalogues with a stinking pile of horse shit (their website).

Oh god yes. Last time I had to find a Phoenix Contact part (the mating plug for the back of HPAK 60W supplies with the remote sense connections) I took hours to find the correct part. If I have a de novo requirement and think "Phoenix Contact are bound to have something suitable" I don't even have the luxury of an exact specification to match when searching and so it takes even longer.

[Cerebus]

Quick question (I hope), what type of crimp terminal do I need to search for here?



From a haul of test leads and grabbers I scored the other day, this one fits the HP and Tektronix grabbers, it's just a round crimp with heatshrink on the outside. The cheaper ZeroPlus and TTi grabbers all use a square DuPont type. As you can see, the Mtutoyo says an OD of 0.087" give or take.

I'm gonna piggyback on this.

Who makes crimp terminals suitable for sliding over round posts in a range of sizes? I frequently come across a requirement for an odd one-off connection on the end of a length of wire.

e.g. Slipping a connection onto a 4mm socket like this:



with a single crimped lead like this:



Better still would be a range like that and a range of matching single posts that can be soldered into boards. Sometimes it would be electrically nicer to drop a connection neatly into the middle of a board, not take it through a multipole connector (e.g. a very high impedance node).

Coincidentally, this is one of those things that exactly meshes with my frustration at trying to find things online rather than flipping through a good old fashioned paper catalogue.

[mnementh]

Currently downloading some Engineering Journals (as Scotty would say  ) to peruse on the ride out to Ohio. Copying 120GB of Rockford Files to a just-acquired 400GB SD card over USB3.1 while downloading Picard's latest adventures. All 8 cores on the old FX-8350 at 40-60%, running 50°-ish with the stock cooler, and 7200RPM spinning rust at 100% utilization. 

Also, just replaced the battery in the Rav4 as PM; it failed load test at the dealership yesterday (IRL too; I noticed it turning over slowly the last few cold-cold mornings we had), so shopped a new one at COSTCO while we were stocking up. 3-year INTERSTATE battery for $99 was a huge win, IMHO.

mnem
*toddles off to fill the cooler*

[TERRA Operative]

Nice 

[AVGresponding]

Quick question (I hope), what type of crimp terminal do I need to search for here?



From a haul of test leads and grabbers I scored the other day, this one fits the HP and Tektronix grabbers, it's just a round crimp with heatshrink on the outside. The cheaper ZeroPlus and TTi grabbers all use a square DuPont type. As you can see, the Mtutoyo says an OD of 0.087" give or take.

Probably a contact from / for a military circular connector. Various types and sizes. The mil-dtl-26482 series is most likely. A #20
Series one is M39029/32-247 or M39029/5-115  Other option is various 38999 contacts eg M39029/57-357 or M39029/56-351

EDIT:
@AVGresponding
How many do you need? If used ones with a few inches of wire tail will do I have some you can have.

Thanks, but I've been playing around with them and it looks like I could use normal female dupont crimps with heatshrink on. They fit the same male headers with the same force.

A lot less than this I might add...




Now I just need to get some..!   
I need to buy some to use in the bags of empty shells that came in the lot anyway.



Just been watching this:




He is one hilariously grumpy old man!

[BU508A]

The semiconductor data books will be useful too, kind of miss not being able to use the library at work, much prefer paper for this; than crappy unreadable scanned pdfs on the phone, or data archive websites that promise but fail to deliver. 

There are still some data collections available in the dead-tree form. Disadvantage: they are a bit outdated (2010/2011):
ECA books

ECA homepage

Newer Versions are available as DVDs or online access only (valid for one year):
DVD versions

Online databases

The DVD version is longer usable than one year. I have here a version from 2014 and I still can use it offline.

And, as always: NAWTS

Outdated in fine for me, as most of my TE is. Actually have a few old ECA books here.
Often web pdfs keep getting downgraded with removal of obsolete parts, happened with the ELMA catalog, lucky had an older one to help someone on one of the forums a while back.
The other big problem is finding data for older/ancient semiconductor parts, often web search will give lots of hits, which all turn out to be false links, to get you to look at the various crappy supposed datasheet archive websites, think Dave had this problem in one of his videos. Wasted lot too much time this way. 

David

That is one of the nice things with those ECA books: they keep the old and outdated data.
They also have some parts with kyrillic letters, probably russian types.
Here are some examples from my vrt books from 2000:

[mnementh]

Hmmmm... am I sure I want to be doing this right now...?   

mnem
On the road again...

[THDplusN_bad]

new from the toy shop: "my first Siglent" 

(Attachment Link)

Immediate help required - let's send the local SAR team over to Martin. He has gone to the dark side of non-Tek and non-vintage T&M instruments!  

Cheers,

THDplusN_bad

[TERRA Operative]

Does anyone besides Tektronix even make scopes?   

[Saskia]

Assembled my dust sucker ...


One to arouse Vince's envy

[Cubdriver]

Yeah, I've been on a Festool kick lately, too.  My CC is not happy.  Currently waiting on a Domino (on backorder) and one of the cyclonic separators.   

-Pat

[AVGresponding]

Quick question (I hope), what type of crimp terminal do I need to search for here?



From a haul of test leads and grabbers I scored the other day, this one fits the HP and Tektronix grabbers, it's just a round crimp with heatshrink on the outside. The cheaper ZeroPlus and TTi grabbers all use a square DuPont type. As you can see, the Mtutoyo says an OD of 0.087" give or take.

Probably a contact from / for a military circular connector. Various types and sizes. The mil-dtl-26482 series is most likely. A #20
Series one is M39029/32-247 or M39029/5-115  Other option is various 38999 contacts eg M39029/57-357 or M39029/56-351

EDIT:
@AVGresponding
How many do you need? If used ones with a few inches of wire tail will do I have some you can have.

Thanks, but I've been playing around with them and it looks like I could use normal female dupont crimps with heatshrink on. They fit the same male headers with the same force.

Now I just need to get some..!   

Orrrrrrr... I could just pop the shells off some of the many 1-way to 1-way dupont ended ones that came in the lot and put some heatshrink on them...   

[AVGresponding]

Hmm I'm getting a "divide by Discord" error message...

@factory, was it you that was interested in that TDR that keeps getting relisted? The current price is giving my trigger finger twitches...



EDIT: Yes Specmaster, it's Saturday, now stop painting yer bleedin' banister!

[dl6lr]

Also idle reading of catalogues could alert you to possibilities, parts and ideas you could mentally file away until you had a use for them.

Totally agree. Idle reading a catalog shows you must-have-items you didn't even know you are in need of them!

[tautech]

Hmm I'm getting a "divide by Discord" error message...

@factory, was it you that was interested in that TDR that keeps getting relisted? The current price is giving my trigger finger twitches...



EDIT: Yes Specmaster, it's Saturday, now stop painting yer bleedin' banister!

Sunday morning here. 
Helping Larry Minor today with a set of eyeballs for drilling retaining wall holes correctly. Correct lean back and right depth required for tomorrows concrete pour.
Waiting for the c'mon pop need you now.

[McBryce]

Hmmmm... am I sure I want to be doing this right now...?   

mnem
On the road again...

I'd put that in the "Probably not" category.

McBryce.

[Cerebus]

Also idle reading of catalogues could alert you to possibilities, parts and ideas you could mentally file away until you had a use for them.

Totally agree. Idle reading a catalog shows you must-have-items you didn't even know you are in need of them!

Thinking about it, my ideal job would probably be reading catalogues all day and ordering anything I thought was interesting, useful, or fun, without a budgetary limit. I'd need a warehousing assistant, and another assistant to keep track of what we'd got. Also an "unboxing room and recycling centre" and the laboratory/test-bench/play-room. Oh, and the firing/blast range for any products felt to have not met minimum standards or to contain features that are so frustrating that their continued existence is an insult to nature itself.

[BU508A]

Also idle reading of catalogues could alert you to possibilities, parts and ideas you could mentally file away until you had a use for them.

Totally agree. Idle reading a catalog shows you must-have-items you didn't even know you are in need of them!

Thinking about it, my ideal job would probably be reading catalogues all day and ordering anything I thought was interesting, useful, or fun, without a budgetary limit. I'd need a warehousing assistant, and another assistant to keep track of what we'd got. Also an "unboxing room and recycling centre" and the laboratory/test-bench/play-room. Oh, and the firing/blast range for any products felt to have not met minimum standards or to contain features that are so frustrating that their continued existence is an insult to nature itself.

You need to become Jeff Bezos ...