Search found 347 matches

by AVGresponding
Sat Jun 27, 2026 7:47 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread
Replies: 4454
Views: 12949737

Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

I'm not familiar with DAB and I don't know what it stands for. I suppose Google will tell me but I'm lazy. :P I'm also not aware of any steps to eliminate VHF FM (88 - 108MHz) and there are still many stations across the band. Even AM broadcast isn't dead although many stations have gone silent ove...
by AVGresponding
Wed Jun 24, 2026 4:23 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Post a picture of a cat
Replies: 431
Views: 1099334

Re: Post a picture of a cat

cattitude.jpg

Edited because the original source was deleted, fuckers
by AVGresponding
Tue Jun 23, 2026 5:05 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread
Replies: 4454
Views: 12949737

Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

Splitting anything across multiple organisations encourages finger pointing and wasteful legal activities. The BBC is definitely under financial pressure now. Some would say it has been for 40 years. Oh absolutely; Thatcher started the squeeze, Major continued it, Bliar didn't really do much to rol...
by AVGresponding
Thu Jun 11, 2026 8:44 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Interesting findings on the internet
Replies: 1224
Views: 2185305

Re: Interesting findings on the internet

Must be one of those days... https://vocabowl-870366514258.us-west1.run.app/

Tests you and estimates the size of your (English) vocabulary
by AVGresponding
Thu Jun 11, 2026 7:57 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Interesting findings on the internet
Replies: 1224
Views: 2185305

Re: Interesting findings on the internet

This popped up in a thread in the other place. Haven't watched it yet myself, but there were plenty of (surprised) positive replies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PyGwQfdfmQ Some further information: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158217301225 https://www.nature.com/artic...
by AVGresponding
Thu Jun 11, 2026 7:35 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread
Replies: 4454
Views: 12949737

Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

The early ones were powered by a couple of car batteries in series iirc, SLAs on later versions, so nominally 24VDC
by AVGresponding
Wed Jun 10, 2026 9:50 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: BlackStar 4503
Replies: 10
Views: 6482

Re: BlackStar 4503

With battery backup on my mind recently (planning a dual battery mod for my 3478A's, to enable safe hot-swapping), I decided to have a look at the 4503 schematic, to see if there's any possibility for improvements. There's a few oddities, or bad design choices, depending on your POV. The battery is...
by AVGresponding
Wed Jun 10, 2026 8:02 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread
Replies: 4454
Views: 12949737

Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

Yeah that's from the early 1990's, earliest. It's for testing the integrity of the various circuits on the arm (position control, a couple of firing circuits for controlled detonation etc); you don't want to be in the middle of prodding at something only to have one of them not work. The LEDs are a...
by AVGresponding
Fri May 29, 2026 11:24 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Type of plug/socket
Replies: 5
Views: 1173

Re: Type of plug/socket

Hi Graham. Looks very much like a Tamiya connector, but with the latch on the side
by AVGresponding
Wed May 06, 2026 5:10 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Interesting findings on the internet
Replies: 1224
Views: 2185305

Re: Interesting findings on the internet

BU508A wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 2:49 pm It is the current that kills, not the voltage.
I guess it's time to link this video again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGD-oSwJv3E&t=10s
by AVGresponding
Fri Apr 24, 2026 5:11 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: New Lab Fit Up
Replies: 112
Views: 51993

Re: New Lab Fit Up

Yep, I'm aware of that. But lately you guys have had some nasty heat waves which aren't typical for you. I'm not sure what the stats show, but there have always been summers with a week or two when it's been too hot to sleep. I remember 1976. Air conditioning is common in office blocks and similar ...
by AVGresponding
Thu Apr 23, 2026 5:07 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: New Lab Fit Up
Replies: 112
Views: 51993

Re: New Lab Fit Up

BT 5.3 max bitrate is 576kbps, so it can deliver decent audio, but video is out of the question, at least HD quality anyway
by AVGresponding
Wed Apr 22, 2026 5:07 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: BlackStar 4503
Replies: 10
Views: 6482

Re: BlackStar 4503

They're a decent meter. The SRAM battery is very problematic though; I'm contemplating binning off rechargeables on mine (I did do a 2x AAA mod but prolonged lack of use results in cal loss) in favour of hot-swappable lithiums of some sort. EDIT: Oh, btw, if yours has the GPIB, TheHWcave is looking...
by AVGresponding
Tue Apr 21, 2026 5:49 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Marconi TF2700
Replies: 18
Views: 7995

Re: Marconi TF2700

Interesting. The DCA75 Pro uses a single AAA, and internal boost reg to get up to 15V (iirc) for curve tracing purposes.

I will agree that the clips seem fragile; I am super careful, I do not want to have to repair those.
by AVGresponding
Wed Apr 08, 2026 10:52 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: HP/Agilent 8664A Synthesized Signal Generator
Replies: 14
Views: 8590

Re: HP/Agilent 8664A Synthesized Signal Generator

I foolishly didn't dig further, figured it was a NiCd and didn't notice until after installing it that it is in fact NiMH. Of course to complicate things, this instrument is from HP's later "no schematics included" generation, so this will be a PITA. (And of course I also have since found...
by AVGresponding
Wed Apr 08, 2026 10:49 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: HP/Agilent 8664A Synthesized Signal Generator
Replies: 14
Views: 8590

Re: HP/Agilent 8664A Synthesized Signal Generator

Not always: take the Tek1502, which uses a PUJT to stuff pulses into the 9-cell NiCd battery. Mean current might be OK, but the crest factor is ridiculous. Even Tek had to issue a note saying "don't charge continuously for more than 16 hours" (and recharge once/month, because even when sw...
by AVGresponding
Tue Apr 07, 2026 12:20 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: HP/Agilent 8664A Synthesized Signal Generator
Replies: 14
Views: 8590

Re: HP/Agilent 8664A Synthesized Signal Generator

The battery charging circuitry in these sorts of applications is usually quite primitive, which has the upside that they are also usually easily modified to treat NiMH more kindly, and even for Li-rechargeable cell use, for the adventurous.
by AVGresponding
Thu Apr 02, 2026 9:13 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: AIM-TTI PL303QMD-P Bench Power Supply
Replies: 17
Views: 23492

Re: AIM-TTI PL303QMD-P Bench Power Supply

I see that EEVBlog post speculates about current limiting being done in software rather than hardware. I've wondered the same, particularly in light of my PSU having OVP and OCP in firmware. It's not speculation, the manual hints at it, and the tech support that they spoke to explicitly stated it t...
by AVGresponding
Wed Apr 01, 2026 8:24 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: AIM-TTI PL303QMD-P Bench Power Supply
Replies: 17
Views: 23492

Re: AIM-TTI PL303QMD-P Bench Power Supply

Oh, it's newer than I thought.

At least it's not one of their switchers: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/ ... msg6101225
by AVGresponding
Tue Mar 31, 2026 4:43 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: AIM-TTI PL303QMD-P Bench Power Supply
Replies: 17
Views: 23492

Re: AIM-TTI PL303QMD-P Bench Power Supply

I think it's fair to say they're a decent basic linear supply. Some of their later stuff comes in for criticism due to control loop issues, but these don't have any of that
by AVGresponding
Tue Mar 17, 2026 6:24 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread
Replies: 4454
Views: 12949737

Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

True RMS meters were preferred for THD measurements as they dealt accurately with noise as well as the mainly harmonic residual. Older distortion analysers didn't have them and spent a page in the manual apologising for it. They are used for accurate measurements with all sorts of power electronics...
by AVGresponding
Mon Mar 16, 2026 5:37 pm
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Interesting findings on the internet
Replies: 1224
Views: 2185305

Re: Interesting findings on the internet

ISTR Big Clive mentioning a control circuit to prevent simultaneous motor startups, in one of his vids. He did a stint as a refrigeration electrician
by AVGresponding
Sun Mar 15, 2026 11:44 am
Forum: Test Equipment
Topic: Interesting findings on the internet
Replies: 1224
Views: 2185305

Re: Interesting findings on the internet

My free-standing worktop height one uses less than 100W with the compressor motor running. Be careful if you plan to run one on a UPS; the motors don't like modified sine or square waves, they cause too many I 2 R losses and consequently overheat. I'm guessing 1kW is a momentary inrush? Most UPS's/...