Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[TERRA Operative]

New scope day!

The Siglent SDS2104X HD arrived! 

Next step, hack ALL the options!

[Peter_O]

Just a fast grab from the 'E... Kleinanzeigen':

A Keithley 199 for 119 Euro incl. shipping has arrived today.

Seems to work fine and I do like the LED display which shows even more contrast live than in the picture.



Next step will be a cleaning.

[Robert763]

Nice. I have a 199 and it's my favorite bench meter. I'd like a second one....

[EggertEnjoyer123]

Hmm, the boot process now does not throw an error, but it gets stuck at three LEDs lit. Not sure what is happening, but removing stuff like the front panel and the floppy disk reader had no effect, so it's probably not one of those. Might be corrupted ROM? Not sure.

There are two EEPROMs on the processor board (28C64). Last time I checked, the processor was trying to write something to the EEPROM but it was failing because one of the data pins was not soldered correctly. Perhaps that caused bad data to be written to the EEPROM?

I looked up information on PA-RISC systems and I found this page: https://www.openpa.net/doc/led.html
The site claims that the three LED code means "INITIALIZATION and TESTING". Not sure why the CPU is getting stuck at that step, but it may be bad ROM potentially. Might need to get a logic analyzer. The good thing is that the CPU can be powered by itself (with a +/- 12V, 3.3, and 5 volt supply).

[GraXXoR]

Found a working Yokogawa Ag4100 400MHz, 12bit AWG on sale in Tokyo for about $60+$12 postage (too heavy to carry home on the train).... It's about 30 years old from what I gather but the screen is really clean with zero yellowing, scratches or cloudiness.
Same can't be said for the ABS casing which has yellowed somewhat so I'm going to disassemble it and give the case a good going over with my wife's H202 which is amazing at whitening old ABS.

As usual for things of that vintage, it comes with a 3.5 inch floppy and this is no problem because I still have a floppy on a couple of my vintage PCs to transfer the programs... but the problem is the signal definition language itself.  I have no idea what it is. .. The Japanese pamphlet that came with it (No instruction manual grrr!!) loosely translated says that it can largely use the same programs from other generators without much refactoring.
So I guess it's something Yokogawa specific.



Looks simple enough, but without a reference guide, I'm basically stumped.
Any of you wizards on here able to point me in the right direction?

I've been totally unable to find a manual either online or printed.

Any help appreciated. Cheers!

[factory]

I hope it's a got direct drive FDD, the scope I have does, but a slightly older one (same model) at work was belt driven, belt in now in many bits of course.

Don't waste your time trying to fix a belt drive FDD, I never found a source of new belts that would stay in place.

David

[zepto]

Looks simple enough, but without a reference guide, I'm basically stumped.
Any of you wizards on here able to point me in the right direction?

I've been totally unable to find a manual either online or printed.

Any help appreciated. Cheers!

Try varying the size parameter.

[GraXXoR]

Try varying the size parameter.

I have successfully set the timebase and I can set the amplitude or add a second sin wave either offset with a (T+something) or a different frequency (2T).  But I see no variables besides T so not sure how to define them.

According to the pamphlet there are things like concatenating repeating loops and calling saved waveforms hierarchically to create complex patterns. But not sure whether that is programmed or more GUI based. lots to explore.

I hope it's a got direct drive FDD, the scope I have does, but a slightly older one (same model) at work was belt driven, belt in now in many bits of course.

Don't waste your time trying to fix a belt drive FDD, I never found a source of new belts that would stay in place.

David

I haven't opened it up yet, but from the outside it looks like a standard slimline toshiba or nec drive laptop (with drive horizontal, the button would be top right and the led bottom left.)  Need to dig it out and take a look.
I hope, but doubt that it is a standard interface. It looks standard from the front but Yokogawa love to do things their own way, like with their HDDs: The lack of hard drive in this using means it lacks the proprietary (4*12 pin) to 50 pin adaptor so I will never be able to fit a new drive to this without the Unicorn grade ASSY-B9966MW daughterboard.

You don't have any manuals for it, do you?

[BU508A]

Just a fast grab from the 'E... Kleinanzeigen':

A Keithley 199 for 119 Euro incl. shipping has arrived today.

Seems to work fine and I do like the LED display which shows even more contrast live than in the picture.



Next step will be a cleaning.

Ah, you grabbed it. Good! 
Had it on my watchlist since it showed up in the Kleinanzeigen.
Have fun with it.

[TERRA Operative]

@GraXXoR

You might have luck with an email or two to Yokogawa Japan and Yokogawa USA.

Sometimes they have some info in their archives...

[Peter_O]

Just a fast grab from the 'E... Kleinanzeigen':

A Keithley 199 for 119 Euro incl. shipping has arrived today.

Seems to work fine and I do like the LED display which shows even more contrast live than in the picture.



Next step will be a cleaning.

Ah, you grabbed it. Good! 
Had it on my watchlist since it showed up in the Kleinanzeigen.
Have fun with it.

Yea. There were a bunch of 199s recently.

Very interesting was a set of two with the multiplexer cards.
I was a bit too slow for them, contemplating about having no use for the multiplexing. 

So this one for half the price was just right.

[factory]

Some fuses for the Wavetek DMM arrived, not sure if RS think France & Tunisia are the same country or not? 



David

[factory]

Try varying the size parameter.

I have successfully set the timebase and I can set the amplitude or add a second sin wave either offset with a (T+something) or a different frequency (2T).  But I see no variables besides T so not sure how to define them.

According to the pamphlet there are things like concatenating repeating loops and calling saved waveforms hierarchically to create complex patterns. But not sure whether that is programmed or more GUI based. lots to explore.

I hope it's a got direct drive FDD, the scope I have does, but a slightly older one (same model) at work was belt driven, belt in now in many bits of course.

Don't waste your time trying to fix a belt drive FDD, I never found a source of new belts that would stay in place.

David

I haven't opened it up yet, but from the outside it looks like a standard slimline toshiba or nec drive laptop (with drive horizontal, the button would be top right and the led bottom left.)  Need to dig it out and take a look.
I hope, but doubt that it is a standard interface. It looks standard from the front but Yokogawa love to do things their own way, like with their HDDs: The lack of hard drive in this using means it lacks the proprietary (4*12 pin) to 50 pin adaptor so I will never be able to fit a new drive to this without the Unicorn grade ASSY-B9966MW daughterboard.

You don't have any manuals for it, do you?

You don't need to open it to see if a belt is/was used. It should be visible in one piece or many bits if you look through the FDD door, might need a light to see, they have a motor in the rear left corner and a belt to the disc pulley.

Rather crap picture of the Citizen drive from the Toshiba T4400C, with the new belt from German ebay seller that was supposed to be correct.  Now replaced with a direct drive variant, had to make a flat flex PCB to use it.


Another of these horrid things, thankfully the previous owner drowned it (ex dead IBM laptop), the 2 Nichicon caps at the rear right pee'd themselves too make sure it will never work again. 


I've no manuals, Yokogawa TE is quite rare to find in the UK.

David

[EggertEnjoyer123]

Turns out I am stupid. The wires connecting my benchtop power supply to the board were too long, and it was causing a brownout at the processor side when the processor tried to draw more current. My benchtop power supply was also limited to 5 amps, and I found out from testing that it needed 6 amps. I ended up connecting another power supply in series, and I was able to get the processor board to boot. (It is outside the rest of the instrument, which is why there's nothing on the screen).

Looks like I actually need to design the power supply first instead of using a messy bench power supply setup. Should be rather trivial (the hard part is going to be finding an ATX PSU which fits inside).

Here's the boot log if anyone is interested:

Code: [Select]

Firmware Version  3.1

Duplex Console IO Dependent Code (IODC) revision 1

Memory Test/Initialization Completed



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   (c) Copyright 1995-1998, Hewlett-Packard Company, All rights reserved

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Processor   Speed            State           Coprocessor State  Cache Size

  ---------  --------   ---------------------  -----------------  ----------

      0      150 MHz    Active                 Functional          64 KB



  Available memory (bytes)    :  268435456
  Good memory required (bytes):  268435456


  Primary boot path:    FLASH

  Alternate boot path:  SESCSI.5.0

  Console path:         GRAPHICS(0)

  Keyboard path:        FRONT_PANEL



CPU 0

WARNING:  Self tests have been disabled as a result of FASTBOOT
          being enabled.  To enable self tests, use the FASTBOOT
          command in the CONFIGURATION menu and reboot the system.




Processor is starting autoboot process.


To discontinue, press any key within 2 seconds.


2 seconds expired.

Proceeding...


Trying Primary Boot Path
------------------------

Booting...
Boot IO Dependent Code (IODC) revision 0


HARD Booted.

ISL Revision A.00.38  OCT 26, 1994

ISL booting  rtboot -a -r ramdisk :HPRT
Secondary Loader 9000/700

Revision 03.00

Booting disk(8/28.0.0.0;):HPRT

1151280 + 1015808 + 725856 start 0x13fc0



Flash Driver Version 2.01. Total=48Mb. Boot=2432Kb. FFS=46720Kb.
Front Panel Driver Version: 2.2.2Natasha Driver Version: 2.3.2
Natasha Driver Version: 2.3.2
Natasha Driver Version: 2.3.2

(c)Copyright 1983-1997 Hewlett-Packard Co., All Rights Reserved.
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(c)Copyright 1980, 1984, 1986 Novell Inc.
(c)Copyright 1986-1992 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
(c)Copyright 1985, 1986, 1988 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
(c)Copyright 1989-1992  The Open Software Foundation, Inc.
(c)Copyright 1986 Digital Equipment Corp.
(c)Copyright 1990 Motorola, Inc.
(c)Copyright 1988 Carnegie Mellon
(c)Copyright 1987-1996 Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc.
(c)Copyright 1984-1991, Wind River Systems, Inc.
(c)Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 SNMP Research, Inc.

                      RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND

Use,  duplication,  or  disclosure  by  the U.S. Government  is  subject to
restrictions as set forth in  subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in
Technical Data and Computer Software  clause at  DFAR  252.227-7013.

                       Hewlett-Packard Company
                       3000 Hanover St.
                       Palo Alto, CA  94304 U.S.A.

Rights for non-DOD U.S. Government Departments and Agencies are as set
forth in FAR 52.227-19(c)(1,2).

HP-RT/PA-Risc Version A.03.01

HP-RT startup options: Auto-boot
vsa
Network interface configured
Lan timeout: External loopback test failed
add net default: gateway 0.0.0.0: Network is unreachable
Lan timeout: External loopback test failed
/etc/inetd started
/etc/unfsio started
/bin/portmap started
invoking /etc/localrc...

HP-RTOS 03.01-PL00021  Build: 200107251804
Flash Driver Version: 2.02 Build: 200107251802
Floppy Driver Version: 2.00 Build: 200107251802
"Front Panel Driver Version: 2.2.2"  Build:  200107251802
Natasha Driver Version: 2.3.2 Build:  200107251802
Flash System Files: 1.1.3 197005232046
Operating System Version: A.01.02

Lan timeout: External loopback test failed
AUTO login as arcturus
NEW LOGIN -- pid=48
@

user name:arcturus
Stub X Keyboard
Stub X Pointer

[Vince]

Some fuses for the Wavetek DMM arrived, not sure if RS think France & Tunisia are the same country or not? 

David

Well, the "manufactuer" is French but they get them made in Tunisia... which scares me.

At work / Airbus, we get some airframe large subassemblies from a plant in "Rochefort" in France... but that plant outsources to another plant of theirs, in Tunisia.
Then it gets shipped to us here in Saint-Nazaire...and I have to deal with their shit.
If you knew the state of these Tunisian airframe bits, their work "culture'"/professionalism there, or lack thereof, the magnitude of their incompetence and absence of the most basic tools to control their work, like calipers, or how to use those... you would likely refrain from boarding an airplane...

The only thing that saves the passengers is quality control here at my plant... we try to repair all the shit we get from Tunisia, and make it work somehow when putting the plane together.

For your own safety, I sincerely hope that the Tunisian people make fuses better than airplanes parts. In doubt, better not tempt the devil when measuring stuff with your Wavetek meter. Wear thick rubber gloves and safety goggles...


Granted, we also get structural parts made in other countries like Morocco, and it's just as bad. But well, it's cheap labour so... you can't have it all.

To be 100% fair, the plant I work at here, is also incompetent, they just can't machine a windshield frame without XXX non-conformities.
Either the machines are not high-tech enough, or we have incompetent workers, or a bit of both, I don't know...
I think incompetence is a world wide disease of our times...
Without quality control as a safe guard, I would not touch a plane with a barge pole. It's the only thing that keeps the plane from falling apart.

Trouble is, even quality control people are getting more and more incompetent, which means we are doomed...

Sorry for this slightly pessimistic contribution, I shall now go to bed...   

[TERRA Operative]

As I'm halfway through a layover on my way back to Japan.....

Thanks Vince! hahahaha

[Vince]

Maybe you can get a refund and complete your journey by boat instead ?! 

[K0ELB]

Some fuses for the Wavetek DMM arrived, not sure if RS think France & Tunisia are the same country or not? 

David

Well, the "manufactuer" is French but they get them made in Tunisia... which scares me.

At work / Airbus, we get some airframe large subassemblies from a plant in "Rochefort" in France... but that plant outsources to another plant of theirs, in Tunisia.
Then it gets shipped to us here in Saint-Nazaire...and I have to deal with their shit.
If you knew the state of these Tunisian airframe bits, their work "culture'"/professionalism there, or lack thereof, the magnitude of their incompetence and absence of the most basic tools to control their work, like calipers, or how to use those... you would likely refrain from boarding an airplane...

The only thing that saves the passengers is quality control here at my plant... we try to repair all the shit we get from Tunisia, and make it work somehow when putting the plane together.

For your own safety, I sincerely hope that the Tunisian people make fuses better than airplanes parts. In doubt, better not tempt the devil when measuring stuff with your Wavetek meter. Wear thick rubber gloves and safety goggles...


Granted, we also get structural parts made in other countries like Morocco, and it's just as bad. But well, it's cheap labour so... you can't have it all.

To be 100% fair, the plant I work at here, is also incompetent, they just can't machine a windshield frame without XXX non-conformities.
Either the machines are not high-tech enough, or we have incompetent workers, or a bit of both, I don't know...
I think incompetence is a world wide disease of our times...
Without quality control as a safe guard, I would not touch a plane with a barge pole. It's the only thing that keeps the plane from falling apart.

Trouble is, even quality control people are getting more and more incompetent, which means we are doomed...

Sorry for this slightly pessimistic contribution, I shall now go to bed...   

I work in aircraft as well, and we get a lot of assemblies from Mexico and it’s the same story. I refuse to go anywhere that requires flying. If I can’t get there by driving or walking I’m not going.

[EggertEnjoyer123]

Should I even bother with frequency synchronization of the switching power supply for the Agilent?

There is a pin on the power supply connector outputting 244kHz +/- 10kHz, with an FM rate (whatever that means) of 10 Hz. This frequency is divided by 2 inside the power supply, so the actual switching frequency is 122 kHz. Most switcher designs nowadays work in the megahertz range. It doesn't look like there's anything inside that would be negatively impacted (the device downconverts 7MHz to 4 GHz to 321.4MHz, then 21.4MHz, then 7.5MHz). The final IF signal goes from 2.5 to 12.5 MHz (10MHz bandwidth). Considering that spread spectrum power converters are basically everywhere at this point now, it seems like there's no point with trying to do frequency synchronization.

[Neomys Sapiens]

As I'm halfway through a layover on my way back to Japan.....

Thanks Vince! hahahaha

And he is telling you the sunny side of the story! No one mentioned Boeing yet!

[Robert763]

Well the Airbus A350 that hit a DHC-8-300 in Japan stood up very well.
I don't think a conventional airframe would have held together that well.
Just because a part has non-conformities does not mean it is dangerous. That is why there are concession processes to check. I guess Vince deals mainly with the non-conforming parts and does not see the millons of parts that don't have concessions...

I'm also in aerospace and have no problem flying. I've even done some test flying. The only thing I draw the line at is non essential flying in rotary wing aircraft. Far too many single points of failure with catastrophic outcome.    That said, I have flown on helicopters. Mostly for flight testing, some for essential transport (North sea oil rigs) and once for medevac.

[wolfy007]

Just got the lot pictured below (among a few other items from a scrapper) for cheap because never heard of the brands and thought it might be interesting to check out.

But I cant seem to find any manual nor documentation for the RiS Supercal XT (Model CL6100). I believe they were bought out by Ametek but there are no manuals there either for this thing.

PS: All items appear to work, after some quick testing and quick wipe down, which is a nice surprise.

[wkb]

As I'm halfway through a layover on my way back to Japan.....

Thanks Vince! hahahaha

And he is telling you the sunny side of the story! No one mentioned Boeing yet!

Heaven forbid.. the Osprey comes to mind.

[tggzzz]

As I'm halfway through a layover on my way back to Japan.....

Thanks Vince! hahahaha

And he is telling you the sunny side of the story! No one mentioned Boeing yet!

Heaven forbid.. the Osprey comes to mind.

Isn't the motto now "if it is Boeing, I ain't going"?

[AVGresponding]

As I'm halfway through a layover on my way back to Japan.....

Thanks Vince! hahahaha

And he is telling you the sunny side of the story! No one mentioned Boeing yet!

Heaven forbid.. the Osprey comes to mind.

Isn't the motto now "if it is Boeing, I ain't going"?

Doubly so if it's a Chinook