Test Equipment Anonymous

DRL's are front only without rear during the day for good physiological reasons. In daylight conditions the PERCEIVED difference in brightness between rear lights and brake lights is much lower than at night. This running with rear lights on in daylight increases the reaction time of following brive...

Always nice to see a wandering trace snap into sync as a Rb locks

Just be careful about lighning protection. I know of one case where a GPSDO was connected to a rack of expensive equipment and it took the lot out when the antenna took a direct attachment.

Not TE directly but I went to look at a PDF manual yesterday and could not access my NAS drive. It's a WD and I found out today that WD have been hacked and shut down their servers. The frustration is I can't access MY LOCAL drive without WD's systems being up. Nothing about that in the instructions...

Where I have trouble with packing TE is the logistics of boxes for 19" rack size equipment. The correct size box for say 3 or 4U is not easily available so you have to cut a bigger box down in height and have excess space. Even then the minimum pack size at a sensible price is 5. Even then they...

The WOW screwdriver offer (I only got $2 coupon) comes to £28 (~$35) shipped and tax paid to the UK. I don't do enough work with that size screw to make it worthwhile to me. However the UK price for the same drivr is £45 so still worth shipping from the USA if you want one.

Thanks for the Python opinions.
Just wanted to check I wasn't whinging without reason.

Sorry wasn't clear. Building a partially hardware commercial item and using Python running on some kind of *inux OS on SBC to control HW. Also doing mission critical software tasks with Python. Not low cost. I'm on the fence with that if I'm honest. Python can be used to make reliable software but ...

Sorry wasn't clear. Building a partially hardware commercial item and using Python running on some kind of *inux OS on SBC to control HW. Also doing mission critical software tasks with Python.
Not low cost.

Talking of software, what is the collective view of using Python for controlling hardware for commercial products?

I've done that. The biotech instrument comany sent me on some lab courses. You use a virus to intoduce the the relevant strand of DNA into the eColi. Mine worked. Normally you ony do it for a antibiotic that isn't used on humans and a strain of eColi that isn't virulent. You then use the eColi to mu...

Must stop looking at ebay when I'm bored. Just blew £25 on a AVO 8. It's in a NATO case but looks like a mark 5.
And £16 on a 19mm 13in-lb torque wrench (for precision N types to go with my HP 20mm one).
The wrench was the better buy I think.

Robert.

Zenith said "I've stayed with friends and been asked to fix something. I said a multimeter would be necessary and a soldering iron would probably be needed. I may as well have asked for a magic wand and book of spells. How can civilised life possibly exist without these basic necessities? They ...

Compared to the frequency of open circuit test leads I'd say this is down in the noise as a risk. Reflects well on Fluke to address it though. A lead continuity test would pick it up and should be essential before any critical use. When I use any meter to verify a dead circuit I check it on a known ...

If a diode has gone short it is just as likely a diode failed first and blew the cap.
Very hard to tell.

I'd be very surprised if the transformer winding for the 5V output was more than 9V RMS so a 16V capacitor is reasonable. It has 20% "headroom". That said, with the size of modern electrolytics A 25V one will probably be a better match physically. Next rating up on voltage is seldom a prob...

On my microscopes, the distance, X, between the objective lens and the subject can't vary very much. The position between internal lenses is fixed and the objective lens is moved to X, i.e. being in focus. Correct. Conventional microscopes are fixed focus. you have to move either the object or the ...

Pedant alert!
As you got the deoxit into them the pots are clearly not "completely sealed". Fully enclosed with no access maybe.

Robert.

You are welcome

eBay-666.png So I went to see if I could leverage my eBay account for cheaper shipping on a large box I have going out, and look what I just noticed... mnem Dumber than advertised. Look what I found when searching for your listings www.ebay.com/itm/204229182200? mnementh.jpg Not quite a dragon but ...

There are scopemeters and there are scopemeters.The original Phillips models are OK (screens are poor by modern standards). So are the Fluke 199C onwards. I presume you are refering to the 123 scopemeters which would be beter named Meterscopes.

Oh and BT had their own version of the 8021 complete with odd sockets that don't take standard leads

YOU GUYS ALL MISSED THE POINT! there is only one criteria for choosing any one meter over all others. if you are in the fortress of solitude and a large rodent runs across your neat and tidy bench.......which meter will kill it in one shot? we all know the answer to this question. Yes, but it is th...

I paid list for my pre-release 87 when I worked for Philips Lighting. Over the course of 6 paychecks, yes, but I still paid it because after using it for a month as my issued meter, I wanted to keep it that much. It was my daily driver and first at hand; whatever the gig, when it was set up on my b...

Fluke DMMs?
8010A
8022A
8022B
8060A Four of these, my favorite.
8845A
8920A
8922A
89IV
99 'ScopeMeter
25 x Two
10
11
16
Plus a few spares units.
I make that 17
Then there are HT probes, shunts, current clamps, differential voltmeter....

At least that is just a matter of judgement. I see many items of TE listed as tesed and working dispite having obvious serious defects in the photos, missing critical separate parts or accessories (often matched to a specific instrument). There are also the items listed as tested when it is clear fr...