Test Equipment Anonymous

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2024 2:29 am As for what’s wrong with me… want a list?

For me the inverse list is easier to enumerate.

Daughter knows someone who buys ice cream from her in the local farmers' market. She swears we must be related since we both like old scopes and the Waverley.

I counter with the two interests not being orthogonal, so it isn't a "p=p₁*p₂" probability.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2024 7:45 am

mnementh wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2024 3:15 am ...What, and murder the joke? NEVER!

mnem
you should know by now that there are no depths I won't sink to for a good laugh.

Good response

Jealous about the HP85, though. Seems the rubber in the tape transport is a traditional failure mechanism.

Yeah, it's worse than that; the rubber in both the drive and the cartridges goes to hell, so you have to refurbish not only the drive but also every cartridge you want to use in it.

After you refurbish the thermal printer, you can do this:


and this:


and seek out ROMs, RAM expansion and ROM drawer... or you can:


for $170 and max out your RAM, plus you get ALL the ROMs and a emulated Winchester drive.

I gotta think it doesn't take long to get to that kind of money or even more when you're trying to refurbish shit that needs machine-shop work...

mnem
https://www.curiousmarc.com/computing/h ... c-computer

Going to be pretty toasty around these parts for the next few days.

Sizzle, burn! Already 81 here according to my outside thermometer. I much preferred the mid seventies we were getting last week.

Cubdriver wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 2:58 pm Sizzle, burn! Already 81 here according to my outside thermometer. I much preferred the mid seventies we were getting last week.

Up to 19°C/15.2ºRé and 60% RH here. Quite comfortable.

mnementh wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2024 2:26 pm for $170 and max out your RAM, plus you get ALL the ROMs and a emulated Winchester drive.

But can you play the skiing game?

Any file you can load to/from tape can be plopped onto the SD card in the thing.

mnem
tzzzt.

Remember the Simpson 635HV I picked up back between Christmas and New Year's that had been disassembled by the lady who was selling it to check for corrosion? I finally got it out of its box today and assembled it. She wasn't kidding about it being corroded. It's actually in sadder shape than I thought. I tried shooting video of the assembly and if it's any good, I might post it somewhere. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures:



I did a very fast check of the DC 12 volt range. It's pretty accurate put up against the Keysight U1252B but the meter movement sticks mid-scale.



No action on any of the AC ranges.



Really, there wasn't any need for the lady to take it apart to see if there was corrosion inside. Not with the case looking like this. I'm on the fence about whether or not to put any effort into restoring this meter vs. putting it on the shelf given I have another 635 that's good and several other VOMS from Simpson, Triplett, and AVO.

Seems a shame to just abandon it, when I have its brother on the shelf, also collecting dust.

Is there any way to get it tooya without customs raping you on it as if it were a working gazillion-dollar meter?


mnem
yes, you may touch it.

Continuing a bit more with paddle steamer, The Waverley, I came across this short video and listen to that distinctive sound.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/CySAx8LPD7MJG97o/

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 4:36 pm

Seems a shame to just abandon it, when I have its brother on the shelf, also collecting dust.

Is there any way to get it tooya without customs raping you on it as if it were a working gazillion-dollar meter?


mnem
yes, you may touch it.

Fine shooting target range you have there!

Surprise and a close call. This is my Moto 2021 Android phone. The rear case started separating. And the reason is clearly visible. The Lithium battery has swelled. Holy shit. I bought a new phone today. I'm leaving the old phone powered up but NOT charging until the battery goes completely discharged before disposing it.

Update: did some reading and it was recommended that the phone be shut down and if possible the battery removed. I also found an Office Supply store that will take it for proper disposal. The sooner I get rid of this hazard the better.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2024 6:55 pm Surprise and a close call. This is my Moto 2021 Android phone. The rear case started separating. And the reason is clearly visible. The Lithium battery has swelled. Holy shit. I bought a new phone today. I'm leaving the old phone powered up but NOT charging until the battery goes completely discharged before disposing it.

Update: did some reading and it was recommended that the phone be shut down and if possible the battery removed. I also found an Office Supply store that will take it for proper disposal. The sooner I get rid of this hazard the better.

my old phone did the same thing. the young lady at the local at&t store wanted nothing to do with it. although she did point out that if you place a battery on a flat surface and are able to spin it......you need to get a replacement. while that is probably good advice, it seemed pretty obvious to me that any prismatic cell that has assumed a pillow shape is dorked.....spinning or not. allowed it to discharge and then dropped it in the battery recycle bin at lowe's.

immediately switched to mint mobile.

Thats why I love the lower spec and also the older type of phones as they often have easily popped off back covers and replaceable batteries like many Samsung phones do, just unclip the back with your fingernail, lift out the battery and pop a new in, snap on the back cover and you're good to go again. Done that operation many times, not like the iPhones where the back covers don't like being removed ad then you find the battery is also glued in place making the battery very hazardous to remove when they are bloated like that.

Replaced the battery in my son's iPhone a couple of years ago, it was glued in, bloated, but after a struggle was able to remove it and popped in a replacement battery without glueing it in, and he has not any problems with it, so they make the batteries non-replaceable to get people to buy new phones all the time.

Some corrections here...

Firstly, they aren't glued in. It's double sided tape like 3M contact strips and it's dead easy to get out. You just pull the strip and they come right out.

As for sealed phones, I'd rather have them. They are pretty heavily bomb proof these days and get a lot of abuse including immersion and fine dust. The trade off is an inconvenient battery replacement every 3 years or so. It's a poor engineering decision to add more unreliable mechanical devices and seals which are operated every 3 years or so. And the flat battery problem is solved by carrying a power bank or piggy back now if you really need it, which I doubt it seeing as everyone drives large power banks here.

Mine have been through hell and you know what? The moment they got rid of replaceable batteries and rolled out IP67 everywhere, these things have been considerably less trouble and I've had ZERO handsets fail on me (unlike the replaceable battery Nokia Lumia and Moto G phones which both failed on me due to liquid ingress despite being "water proof")

As for inflated batteries, this is ALWAYS because someone put the replacement off way too long. They degrade pretty rapidly way before that happens and start slinging battery warnings out (both Android and iOS). If you ignore the check engine light, it's your funeral.

Thirdly, the hilarious complaining about replacing the battery in a phone yourself versus the 99% of the time paying a car place to replace the one in your car just does my head in. It's almost as if the thing gets special treatment because it's smaller.

The finest one is where you regularly get some moron complaining about replacing his phone battery when their yearly dealer service bill for their Merc they only drive to Tesco in is twice the cost of a new phone...

Humans! I don't think people can see the forest for the trees. I only consider people are ignorant cheap arses who like moaning about things rather than leveraging them to do stuff.

Chris, I never got any warnings on the phone that the battery was failing. The only indication I got was when the rear cover seal broke.

and that's why I went with an at&t phone......because they had a brick and mortar presence here in town (next door to where I buy beer). but when the phone started looking fat they told me to take it 45 miles to the other side of york to replace the battery.

am much happier with my mint mobile plan and Nokia phone with non replaceable battery. when it goes tits up, will probably keep the plan and have them mail me a new phone.

battery warnings? battery warnings? we didn't get no stinking battery warnings.

bd139 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 9:18 pm

mnementh wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 4:36 pm

Seems a shame to just abandon it, when I have its brother on the shelf, also collecting dust. Is there any way to get it tooya without customs raping you on it as if it were a working gazillion-dollar meter?

mnem
yes, you may touch it.

Fine shooting target range you have there!

Ye know, there are times when I'm glad there's a ocean between us, ye sick fucking cunt...

mnem

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2024 10:55 pm Some corrections here...

Firstly, they aren't glued in. It's double sided tape like 3M contact strips and it's dead easy to get out. You just pull the strip and they come right out.

As for sealed phones, I'd rather have them. They are pretty heavily bomb proof these days and get a lot of abuse including immersion and fine dust. The trade off is an inconvenient battery replacement every 3 years or so. It's a poor engineering decision to add more unreliable mechanical devices and seals which are operated every 3 years or so. And the flat battery problem is solved by carrying a power bank or piggy back now if you really need it, which I doubt it seeing as everyone drives large power banks here.

Mine have been through hell and you know what? The moment they got rid of replaceable batteries and rolled out IP67 everywhere, these things have been considerably less trouble and I've had ZERO handsets fail on me (unlike the replaceable battery Nokia Lumia and Moto G phones which both failed on me due to liquid ingress despite being "water proof")

As for inflated batteries, this is ALWAYS because someone put the replacement off way too long. They degrade pretty rapidly way before that happens and start slinging battery warnings out (both Android and iOS). If you ignore the check engine light, it's your funeral.

Thirdly, the hilarious complaining about replacing the battery in a phone yourself versus the 99% of the time paying a car place to replace the one in your car just does my head in. It's almost as if the thing gets special treatment because it's smaller.

The finest one is where you regularly get some moron complaining about replacing his phone battery when their yearly dealer service bill for their Merc they only drive to Tesco in is twice the cost of a new phone...

Humans! I don't think people can see the forest for the trees. I only consider people are ignorant cheap arses who like moaning about things rather than leveraging them to do stuff.

I agree 100% here, even tho I use a cheap android handset. A sealed shell on a phone is far more good than bad in almost every use case; today's phones are smarter than more than half the population who uses them, and more complicated than most people's entire existence.

Just because you use it for a flashlight more than anything else doesn't mean you should expect to be able to just shuck a couple new AA cells in there when the battery dies; keeping IQ100 penis-fingers from fucking around in there is a good thing, FFS.

mnem

mnementh wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 4:06 pm ...today's phones are smarter than more than half the population who uses them...

That's effect and cause.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2024 11:13 pm Chris, I never got any warnings on the phone that the battery was failing. The only indication I got was when the rear cover seal broke.

The usual warning is the battery doesn't last as long suddenly. That is always noticeable.

bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2024 10:55 pm Some corrections here...

Firstly, they aren't glued in. It's double sided tape like 3M contact strips and it's dead easy to get out. You just pull the strip and they come right out.

As for sealed phones, I'd rather have them. They are pretty heavily bomb proof these days and get a lot of abuse including immersion and fine dust. The trade off is an inconvenient battery replacement every 3 years or so. It's a poor engineering decision to add more unreliable mechanical devices and seals which are operated every 3 years or so. And the flat battery problem is solved by carrying a power bank or piggy back now if you really need it, which I doubt it seeing as everyone drives large power banks here.

Mine have been through hell and you know what? The moment they got rid of replaceable batteries and rolled out IP67 everywhere, these things have been considerably less trouble and I've had ZERO handsets fail on me (unlike the replaceable battery Nokia Lumia and Moto G phones which both failed on me due to liquid ingress despite being "water proof")

As for inflated batteries, this is ALWAYS because someone put the replacement off way too long. They degrade pretty rapidly way before that happens and start slinging battery warnings out (both Android and iOS). If you ignore the check engine light, it's your funeral.

Thirdly, the hilarious complaining about replacing the battery in a phone yourself versus the 99% of the time paying a car place to replace the one in your car just does my head in. It's almost as if the thing gets special treatment because it's smaller.

The finest one is where you regularly get some moron complaining about replacing his phone battery when their yearly dealer service bill for their Merc they only drive to Tesco in is twice the cost of a new phone...

Humans! I don't think people can see the forest for the trees. I only consider people are ignorant cheap arses who like moaning about things rather than leveraging them to do stuff.

Nah, I've never had a phone with replaceable battery die on me due to water ingress, you just need to treat the phone with some respect, you wouldn't just go driving your car through flood water without taking some basic precautions first, like checking the depth of said water etc, would you? Most of my phones have been ones with a snap rear cover and replaceable batteries, never had any issues whatsoever. Phones are like computer keyboards, treat them with respect, and they last for ages, provided you do due diligence in the first place and buy wisely.

Batteries in those flaming Apple phones have those blasted double-sided tapes, and I've changed many Apple batteries and never once have I succeeded by pulling the strips, the damn things just stretch to the point where they snap, and you then have to risk the fireball by the application of bleeding tools to try and prise the battery away from the remaining double-sided tape buried on the reverse side of the battery and noway to get the battery out other than thin bladed splodges hoping that you don't brick the phone or rupture the battery in the process. Compare that to a Samsung battery designed for user replacement, all encased in a nice metal case that does not need any force to remove from the phone so you get to see the battery bend like a banana because the double-sided tape refuses to let go.

Paying a car place to replace a car battery is also today for most cars essential as there are 3 types of car battery (4 if you count the Li-On ones in some EVs) as it is important to get the right battery, and also they will require having the ECU being recoded to ensure that the battery receives the correct charge currents. ECU's these days need to know the battery type, make, capacity and serial number in order to maximise the longevity of the battery. As the battery ages, the ECU and BCU units try to compensate for the effects of ageing by adjusting the charging characteristics. That means if you simply replace the battery yourself, even with the correct battery, the system will treat it as on older battery and thus shorten its life to maybe as low as 1 year. Of course, if you have the correct equipment, you can change and recode the management system in order to supply the correct amount of charge without knackering the battery. I can do myself, as I have a version of the manufacturer's computer diagnostics software and the interface to allow me to do that correctly.

Phones that are classed as waterproof are much like watches that sport a WR200 logo, really only meant to be treated as splash proof. I love Citizen Eco-drive watches, and they have as a standard a rating of WR200 meaning water-resistant upto a depth of 200 metres. This is fine for the odd accidental immersion in water, but is not 100% waterproof warranted. Whereas a Citizen or other equally good make divers watches are rated as 200M which 100% guaranteed waterproof at depths of upto 200 metres.

In short if you want a phone or watch to be 100% waterproof, pay the extra for one that is guaranteed to be so and has the correct certificates to back up the claim.

My Fitbit Versas (Gurrgle/Android) are water-resistant and advertised as safe for full-immersion/swimming safe to 30 meters; newer models are advertised the same to 50 meters, having a "swimming mode" which engages automatically by means of a barometric sensor.

I know this because I've had aboot a dozen of this model apart kit-bashing them to make several good ones and installing new batteries. All failures appeared to be either cracked screens or corrosion caused by old batteries outgassing; I only had one in all my lots that was still usable with a "barely 2 days" battery life.

Now if a ham-fisted clod like myself can take these apart and put them back together so they maintain integrity (I have worn mine swimming and bathing) I'm pretty sure that a modern iPwn is far closer to waterproof than splash-proof.

mnem

mnementh wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 9:31 pm My Fitbit Versas (Gurrgle/Android) are water-resistant and advertised as safe for full-immersion/swimming safe to 30 meters; newer models are advertised the same to 50 meters, having a "swimming mode" which engages automatically by means of a barometric sensor.

I know this because I've had aboot a dozen of this model apart kit-bashing them to make several good ones and installing new batteries. All failures appeared to be either cracked screens or corrosion caused by old batteries outgassing; I only had one in all my lots that was still usable with a "barely 2 days" battery life.

Now if a ham-fisted clod like myself can take these apart and put them back together so they maintain integrity (I have worn mine swimming and bathing) I'm pretty sure that a modern iPwn is far closer to waterproof than splash-proof.

mnem

So are my Citizen watches, but I would never like to put them to the test, but a proper true diver's watch, well that's different.

Recently, I was asked by my father-in-law, who is an electronic engineer who worked in broadcast TV and video why I keep buying test equipment and what is it that I want to measure? I told him it was sort of like those people who build or restore steam locomotives. That evening I did a bit of Googling for the person who tends to buy any HP gear that I take to rallies and put it in his Merc. It turns out he has a celebrated steam railway in his garden. Now a bit worried that I might become a train obsessive but my garden's about 12 metres long so no chance of a ride-on railway.