Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Just spotted this on eBay well in there are 2 of these from this seller and the same price  to say it's a bit salty is an understatement Geez. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394214568387

[tggzzz]

Just spotted this on eBay well in there are 2 of these from this seller and the same price  to say it's a bit salty is an understatement Geez. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394214568387

The seller's name is, wait for it, "saveonkit"!

Also selling a "Tektronix 2465B 400MHz 4-Channel CRT-Display Portable Oscilloscope 48Hz-440Hz"!

[TERRA Operative]

Haha, they read the input mains power frequency range.

[alm]

I have seen the same for adjustable power supplies from 105-125V, like this Keithley 230 voltage source , although it does 50 uV - 101 V, so they're not complete wrong. It's not a bad price, by the way, if you can deal with the mechanical damage with another brown case Keithley as parts donor.

[Ice-Tea]

What? You never order a fan or two? 

Now you're officially a Fan Boy

Excellent dad-joke. I'll add it to my dad-a-base.

[capt bullshot]

What about a fan blade?



Or maybe better - a fan saber

[Peter_O]

... to move some air behind the TE?!

[Ice-Tea]

What about a fan blade?



Or maybe better - a fan saber

I was think more like repair the stack of lambda 1500W PSUs ;-)

[TERRA Operative]

Well, the OP77 opamp wasn't the problem in the Advantest R6144... Replaced it with an OP177 and exactly same result.

I made a new thread for the repair, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know!  

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/advantest-r6144-voltcurrent-gen-bad-output-on-lower-ranges/


I also need a precision 2 ohm resistor, something like a vishay foil resistor type thing, the ones in the black epoxy square, anyone got one laying around?

[Peter_O]

What about a fan blade?



Or maybe better - a fan saber

I was think more like repair the stack of lambda 1500W PSUs ;-)

Not likely do these fans fit into that one. And the dealer I bought mine from told me, that such unit will survive the owner most probably.   

[Vince]

I have enough scopes, 45 of them. Almost enough Nixie frequency counters...OK maybe not, but getting there.

I think it's time to redirect my GAS to something different. Seeing as I like vintage programmable chips, why not collect a few old programmers ? I loved them back in the day.
They were so crazy expensive I was sure I would never ever be able to even just lay my hands on one, never mind own one. Look were we are now 30 years later...
And tehy just look so cool and "pro". I like these things...


So ! Look what wjust popped up today !

It's a bit dusty but looks in good nick. conditin unknown but sper cheap so I am tempted to get it just for the fun of owning it. Tearing it down, trying to get it to do something at all.... I don't know, I find it cute.

It looks the business too ! Quite chunky, take interchangeable test fixtures it looks like. Here it comes with a DIL ZIF socket.
Above the socket there is a large black rectangle... maybe there are a bunch of LED displays underneath to show you stuff hmmm.... sexy.
Looks like it's got a built-in 3.5" floppy drive as well ! See, I told you it was a fancy one...
So maybe it's kinda autonomous, so I might not even nee dto chase an elusive software to get it running, it might be able to run as a standalone programmer who knows.
I am sure it can be connected to a computer as well... it's got tow DB25 serial ports at the back.

At the back it says "Made in France ". I guess back then we actually still made stuff over here...

The brand looks like it was called " Micropross Instrumentation ", and the model is " ROM 3000U ".

Does anybody know this thing and can tell me anything about it ?

It's cheap so I think I will buy it no matter what, but if you can help me learn more about it, what it can do, where to find the PC Software for it, a list of devices it can program etc, .. anything I can learn about it would be great ! 

BUT.... here I am assuming the seller is willing to pack and ship it.... I don't know about that ! Need to ask him....

[TERRA Operative]

That's the sort of thing you get fully working, then become 'the guy' that everyone uses to program their weird chip that no-one else can do for some side cash.

[Vince]

Sounds like a plan ! 

[TERRA Operative]

Looking at the size of it, I wouldn't be surprised if it's either empty space inside, or has some sort of computer system built in.
It's pretty huge for a programmer.

I think you need to investigate further.

[capt bullshot]

Programmers ...

What the heck
This thing reminds of the one I've still got sitting around here, waiting for a repair:



It's full of stuff, three storeys of PCBs, and one pin driver is defective:



Additionally, one needs a special ISA board and an old computer that is able to run the prehistoric DOS software to control it. Needless to say, I've got both of them buried somewhere ...

[Ice-Tea]

(Attachment Link)

What about a fan blade?



Or maybe better - a fan saber

I was think more like repair the stack of lambda 1500W PSUs ;-)

Not likely do these fans fit into that one. And the dealer I bought mine from told me, that such unit will survive the owner most probably.   

Yep. Got a stack with OTP errors that turn out to be dead fans.

[Vince]

Programmers ...

What the heck
This thing reminds of the one I've still got sitting around here, waiting for a repair:



It's full of stuff, three storeys of PCBs, and one pin driver is defective:
Additionally, one needs a special ISA board and an old computer that is able to run the prehistoric DOS software to control it. Needless to say, I've got both of them buried somewhere ...

Oops, forgot about that possibility... if "mine" is the same, it's a brick then. Still...wanna get it anyway. The fact that the only conenctors are the back are jelly bean RS232 ports lead me to hope/believe it does not need any ISA card to work.... which would be wonderful.

Wow... that looks like resistor arrays heaven to me !

[Vince]

Wonder if DHL understands this address label 

DHL just found me today, look !

I was wrong it was not a pizza !

Lots of chunky caps instead, Danke schön Cap'tain !!   

[Vgkid]

I also need a precision 2 ohm resistor, something like a vishay foil resistor type thing, the ones in the black epoxy square, anyone got one laying around?

Would one of these work.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284200791717?hash=item422bafeea5:g:AOUAAOSw8kFgOvYU&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4M8m0HCjIpqLMzFbysG6XDbgy0tcKhRtGkgEra3ViRgf%2Baw2NeykVFDIuQHxnVB7qTeztw%2BSOT2zPRJtIdM3%2BEBE8yX4B38t6ZVM777ylYPoPxzJQk%2BMjcv%2FVeE73FhIZHyvQpwKhBWeLUKEs21OmvlXOk1HGClP7UOdo9DwMcp0SOEUdMedjcv1Sd4zgxTw1diwPLMcGtNkzcyNlu7ln7cemHd7rZfEiynWZMLpyO7YX%2FzHXBWKKKVhlUS2f79xme4sh58xDrINLkCgPafAD5f%2F6goBR6DaUp0qNAkPKpsl%7Ctkp%3ABFBM-IK89fxg

[capt bullshot]

Lots of chunky caps instead, Danke schön Cap'tain !!   

Bitte schön, gern geschehn

BTW, the content of the package didn't look that cluttered when I put it together - guess it was shaken well on its way to frogland. Took long enough, anyway.
Too bad you've got a real job now, it's a nice sorting task 

[Vince]

Yes it sucks having a job, not much time to sort components now, you are right !

... but I will sort those caps anyway, shouldn't take all that long.
They all look lovely, I want to sort them and inventory them.
Then I think fairly soon I will scrap all my hundreds, hundreds of tiny and smallish electrolytic caps, 40/50 year old salvaged ones, and buy some new ones.
I will keep only all my big ones because they would cost way too much to replace, and are still plenty good enough for debugging / troubleshooting purposes, and also to store lots of energy to make cheap explosions and big sparks ! 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Programmers ...

What the heck

Thanks but no thanks would have been my answer. But if anyone sees a stray Dataman S4 looking for a new home...

[Vince]

VINTAGE CD PLAYER REPAIR TIME

Just created this repair thread for those who might know these things :

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/vintage-cd-player-repair-gt-technics-sl-pj25-(linear-motor-inside-(c)-)/

It's the last one I had not yet scrapped, a Technics SL-PJ25 I am trying to fix it because it features an interesting, exotic / uncommon, cool technology to move the pick-up / laser : a linear motor.

I am trying to fix the player so I can see that linear motor in action... but don't want to spend 200 hours troubleshooting it.

Failed at fixing it and created that thread out of despair, before I resort to scrapping it.

Symptoms : when I insert a disc if fails to spin the disc, but the motor itself is alive and all the analog circuitry driving it looks good as well. Problem seem to be the two pins of the big signal processing chip, that operate that motor : they show no sign of activity... yeah, not looking too promising is it !   

[Neomys Sapiens]

BTW, the content of the package didn't look that cluttered when I put it together - guess it was shaken well on its way to frogland. Took long enough, anyway.

Of course they shook it - they thought it is a pizza!
 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Just when you think you've seen it all...

'You know, boy, when I was young you could not just go into a shop to buy a optocoupler! You had to make your own - and there was carpentry involved!'
.
.
WTF?
(Found by a friend in a discarded drawer full of unspecific DIY supplies and brought to me)