Products > Test Equipment
The worst products from HP and Tektronix.
MadTux:
--- Quote from: Wallace Gasiewicz on January 17, 2023, 08:24:49 pm ---How about the Hp 8165 "Signal Source"
They did not even call it a function generator.....
--- End quote ---
Similar garbage like all instruments from the HP 80xx and 81xx series from Germany.
Unlike 8112/8116, this one is phase locked at higher frequencies, but with horrible phase noise
And with some kind of DDS below something 1kHz or 10kHz or something.
Microprocessor is stuck at some kind limbo, if battery fails, then you have to set every fricking control parameter on the front panel, before it comes back to life again.
And it's a huge box with very little electronics inside and of course lots of custom chips that fry and make repairing it a miserable experience.
Had 2x 8165A, 2x 8116A, 1x 8112A and 2 8082A some years ago, swapped parts to make most of them work again and then sold all the shit.
One of the few great HP pulse generators is HP 5359A, fully synthesized, designed in USA and without parts that fail for no good reason.
There are real, great, beautiful HP instruments, like HP3456A, HP3325A, 3326A, 3335A, HP8566/8568, HP856x, 3585(A)B, HP8662/8663A, E3615/6/7.....
Instruments that are fun to work with and a beauty to look on.
And there is 80xx/81xx series garbage, sell it on ebay for good money while it works, so other people can get rid of the trash, when it breaks again.
jhormilla:
--- Quote from: TERRA Operative on January 17, 2023, 03:31:14 pm ---I'll go even one more step back to my 2235. I just calibrated it and it works great. Super simple to use and after the usual service upgrades, it's rock solid.
I'll be eventually selling off all my 24xx series scopes and keeping this 2235. No weird chips or RAM backup batteries or complicated functions, just a few dials on the front and a nice sharp trace. :)
Oh, talking about crappy scopes, the Tek TDS694C..... Due to manufacturing 'reasons', the trigger chips often aren't thermally bonded to the PCB so well, and Tek neglected to install heat sinks, so these unobtainium chips that run reaalll hot tend to die.
Luckily, the seldom used 'Other' (or External) trigger chip can be taken out and swapped with the faulty chip if one doesn't mind the small loss in functionality.
A shitty failure point for a screamer of an early 2000's 3GHz, 10GS/s scope, all for the want of a little heat sink...
--- End quote ---
Which ones are the trigger chips you are referring to and where on the board on the TDS694C, I don't have any schematics for the one I have. Any information would be helpfull.
TIA
TERRA Operative:
There's some info here at Tekwiki:
https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/TDS694C
I don't have one of these scopes so I can't provide more info (My fastest scope is a currently a TDS794D)
If you have one of these scopes, I recommend installing some heatsinks on the trigger chips with some thermal epoxy before they fail...
tooki:
--- Quote from: H713 on December 14, 2022, 10:28:06 pm ---I think the 491 makes the list of Tek dogs, though I've never actually seen one in operational condition (I have seen a few dead ones though).
From the Tekwiki:
"Due to severe performance limitations, the 491 was replaced by the completely redesigned 492 in 1980."
Ouch. Double ouch if you spent the equivalent of $40,000 one one back in the late 70s.
--- End quote ---
I wonder if that “severe performance limitations” description is really fair. It was on the market for 14 years, so I can’t imagine it was that bad.
coppercone2:
the precision power supply from HP (6000 series) has the absolute worst switch ever.
I mean the one you dial up with the buttons that everyone was raving about. Great supply, but that switch bank is just awful awful awful.
And they don't put flanges on anything, its just a bunch of crap sandwiched together like a garage door.
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