Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

Picked up some sort-of TE. It's a Heim/Racal/Thales digital instrumentation recorder. Model is DATaRec A480. it was obviously intened to replace the huge multi-track FM and PCM instrumentation recorders that used 2" tape on open reels made by SE Labs etc.
As you can see it is reasonably small. Whwt is not obvious is it is very dense! There are more slots on the back for a total, with the modules fitted, of 32 channels. Each of these has a 24 bit ADC and 48 kHz sample rate. As well as a bunch of analog IC's each module has a Motorola DSP and Altera FPGA.
I can't find any manuals so far. Unfortunatly the product range seems to have been subject to a lot of mergers and takeovers. Currently seems to be under the Thales group so getting info may be a problem. It records to a Sony AIT-2 8mm data cartridge. There are options for replacing that with Compact Flash but no point looking if I can't get a manual.
I switched it from 115V to 240V, plugged it inand it lit up. It then ran self-test and internal calibration routines and it all passed. The bargraphs respond to signals at the input.

If I can't get manuals it will have to be scrapped which would be a shame. It must have cost tens of thousands when new 20 odd years ago. I have a lot invested in it. It had been re-listed on ebay at least twice due to no bids. I won it with a maiden bid. Collection only and about 8o miles away.
BUT: only a 3 mile detour from a trip I was making anyway and my bid was 1p. Yes £0.01 

[Robert763]

Another recent TEA was a Wandel & Goltermann DT-10. Looks like a RS-232 dreakout box on steroids. It's actually a fully fledged RS-232 tester with BERT etc. I've seen them before but could not find a manual and most had no PSU.
This one was in the carry case with manual and charger. Even the NiCad cells are OK (C size Sanyo Cadnicas). The mark by the screen is not as bad as it looks in the photo. Functionally similar to a Tek 83x but easier to use a proper display and much smaller.
Not an absolute bargain but I thought £35 including postage was OK.

[factory]

Re: Tek 516 repair thread on the other place.

https://teanonymous.com/f1/viewtopic.php?p=5747#p5747

Med, Tek disagree on oiling aluminium air filters....



.... as do HP (from 175A manual)



David

[Vince]

Yes.. what's the point of Tek and HP making top notch manuals, if people don't read them 

I guess in practice though, to be fair, not oiling it is not issue given how few hours a year these scopes get in our hands. They gather more dust from sitting than they get from actually operating 

Back in the day when working potentially 24/7 for years,  in some test bench in some factory....yes I guess you better maintain that air filter strictly 

[factory]

All true, the scopes are very much in retirement mode and to be fair the Tek manual doesn't mention the "filter coat" spray is oil based, as the HP one does, I haven't checked to see if it's still available.

David

[tggzzz]

Yes.. what's the point of Tek and HP making top notch manuals, if people don't read them 

RTFM? Now that is a novel concept. Ought to publicise it

[factory]

Went out today to pick up two HP items I won on eBuy last weekend (5340A counter & 183B scope), returned with far more than I expected.   



Other items are a 8640A, a 180C with 1810A sampling plug-in (very happy to find this), a Venner counter and not pictured are two 8445B, one of which might be unused.







The 5340A counter was advertised as "blew the circuit breaker", I was expecting it to be a later LED version with Rifa madness, but I was completely wrong and the fuse is not blown. 



Option 001, has been replaced with a newer oven at some point.





Maybe Sprague madness... 



The serial label had me playing guess the age, never heard of California Microwave before, option 002 is rear input, 003 is remote programming/digital output.



P.S. I got a bonus freebie, a Dataman S3 EPROM programmer, the catch is it's very corroded from internal batteries, might be a challenge to get this one going. 

David

[med6753]

Re: Tek 516 repair thread on the other place.

https://teanonymous.com/f1/viewtopic.php?p=5747#p5747

Med, Tek disagree on oiling aluminium air filters....



.... as do HP (from 175A manual)



David

I assume that's some sort of "dry" lubricant. This filter was saturated with what appeared to be plain motor oil which is obviously not the right stuff.

And I do RTFM.....not just every last freaking page. Does anyone?

[Vince]

P.S. I got a bonus freebie, a Dataman S3 EPROM programmer, the catch is it's very corroded from internal batteries, might be a challenge to get this one going. 
David

Oh great, do post about it when you start working on it 

[tggzzz]

And I do RTFM.....not just every last freaking page. Does anyone?

Oh yes, assiduously. After I've exhausted all alternatives

[factory]

Re: Tek 516 repair thread on the other place.

https://teanonymous.com/f1/viewtopic.php?p=5747#p5747

Med, Tek disagree on oiling aluminium air filters....



.... as do HP (from 175A manual)



David

I assume that's some sort of "dry" lubricant. This filter was saturated with what appeared to be plain motor oil which is obviously not the right stuff.

And I do RTFM.....not just every last freaking page. Does anyone?

Not always, it's just something I remembered, I was looking for info on one that had a missing filter and found that years ago.

Seems Handi Koter (or is it Handi-Coater ??) oil is still a thing from Research Products: https://www.researchproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/super-filter-coat-filter-adhesive-spec-sheet-1666.pdf
It's described as "45% adhesive, 55% water" with a "Grease-like consistency (after application)."

David

[Vince]

Wow thanks for that David, am tempted to get a bottle of the stuff now ! 
It says it's water soluble, just rinse to clean, marvelous.

[TERRA Operative]

Ooh nice a nixie 5340A. I got a a couple of those, one is nixie too (the good one )

A bit jelly on the OCXO, mine needs that. I got the transformer for it from a parts unit, but the PSU board and OCXO were already pilfered (I have made replacement PSU PCB's, but haven't bothered building it until I get around to finding an OCXO).

[TERRA Operative]

Anyone who has any Yokogawa gear, or interest therein, I've just set up a shiny new groups.io for Yokogawa stuff.

https://groups.io/g/Yokogawa-Test-Equipment

I just expanded the group to include a few more Japanese brands, because why not?


https://groups.io/g/Yokogawa-Hioki-Anritsu-Kyoritsu

[Robert763]

The oil sold for K&N automotive air filters might be a good alternative.

[AVGresponding]

Hmmm, not sure about that, it's designed for a cotton substrate and also to work best (in terms of airflow) once it's got some dirt on it.

[med6753]

My experience in restoring fan cooled 500 series scopes is that the vast majority of the dust/dirt/debris enters via the ventilation slots while stored in poor conditions. Here's an extreme case. Clearly that sawdust didn't enter through the filter.

 

Given that my lab is clean and the actual power on hours will be low I consider any additional oil or whatever on the filter unnecessary.

[AVGresponding]

Ooh nice a nixie 5340A. I got a a couple of those, one is nixie too (the good one )

A bit jelly on the OCXO, mine needs that. I got the transformer for it from a parts unit, but the PSU board and OCXO were already pilfered (I have made replacement PSU PCB's, but haven't bothered building it until I get around to finding an OCXO).

I just bought 10 reclaimed OCXOs on AliX. Bought that many on the expectation half of them would be toast, however all 10 work fine.   

Not bad for <£20 shipped, they came pretty fast too, less than a couple of weeks.

[Vince]

Anyone who has any Yokogawa gear, or interest therein, I've just set up a shiny new groups.io for Yokogawa stuff.

https://groups.io/g/Yokogawa-Test-Equipment

I just expanded the group to include a few more Japanese brands, because why not?

https://groups.io/g/Yokogawa-Hioki-Anritsu-Kyoritsu

At this point you might as well call it something generic like "Japanese TE" so that you don't have to rename it every other months when adding another brand 
It would also be easier to remember the name of.

[Vince]

Back from work, looks like there is/was an interesting ad for a change today :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/collection/2429897723.htm

An 8 digit Neek-c HP counter, a 5245L.

200 Euros, guy says it's for parts or repair, as it fails to count anything.
Way too much, for me anyway, but admittedly it looks in good nick, the tubes all light up, and there is an uncommon top notch... 18GHz plugin in it ! 
PLUS... the pics show a whole collection of plug-ins to go with the counter, 8 in all.

So yeah.... maybe overall it is actually a good deal.. but 200 is too much, and it's already sold anyway, of course. It got posted 3 hours before I saw it. 3 hours is like a century when it comes to good deals on this website. You better click the Buy button within 5 minutes.

[factory]

That's a fair price, the HP DVM module goes for at least half that price on it's own.
Last one here that wouldn't count required the multiplier board adjusting, exactly the same as CuriousMarc found.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit, Extra pictures for Dataman S3 post below.

David

[dl6lr]

The -hp- 5257A Transfer Oscillator is nowhere uncommon. It is a very well known piece of RF magic from 1968. And it can be used in various ways, you can use it i.e. to see a repepetive GHz signal with a standard oscilloscope, as it has a 18GHz sampler. This is what CuriousMarc demonstrated too.

[Vince]

OK OK....

I wonder what the heck was running at 18GHz back in 1968 ?! 

I mean today we have wireless this and that, GPS, cell phones, Wifi and XYZ, that run in the GHz zone... but back in 1968, what area of technology was running at 18GHz ?
Experimental voodoo magic hidden in secret underground labs ?
Hugh tech Fundamental physics experiments  ? Particle physics ? some types of radars ?

It's startling that one was able to do stuff at nearly 20GHz in the '60s...

[factory]

P.S. I got a bonus freebie, a Dataman S3 EPROM programmer, the catch is it's very corroded from internal batteries, might be a challenge to get this one going. 
David

Oh great, do post about it when you start working on it 

Forgot take pictures yesterday, there is a lot of green crud on the connector and what might have been a display contrast adjustor on the side. 







Inside is quite a mess, death by Yuasa  , hopefully I can fix it, guessing all the pots & switches are trash, some track repair needed at the edges.
Can't seem to get the mainboard to separate from the display board, looks to have lots of surface mount bits underneath. 









More pictures below, couldn't find any internal pictures of the S3 last night, Dataman don't give out circuit diagrams either. 



David

[Vince]

Thanks for the piccies, looks bad indeed ! 

... but most likely repairable, just a handful of easy to work on through-hole components, wide tracks with generous spacing.... not a 5 minute job for sure, but doable... keep us posted 

Let's have a look at the other side of the board.... most likely in much better shape I would guess.

A cute little unit, compact, useful... worth having a go