Test Equipment Anonymous

I periodically state that I have all the test gear I need. So, at 11:00 this morning a Keithley 2400 sourcemeter arrived from Fleabay. Very well packed, box within a box, and within a box. It will have spent the night in a cold warehouse, so it's on the top shelf but unpowered until any condensation has evaporated. It has already been plumbed into the GPIB bus. Now that I have two 2400, I can do curve tracing on semiconductors.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 2:11 pm I periodically state that I have all the test gear I need.

And that's why you post on here.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 2:11 pm So, at 11:00 this morning a Keithley 2400 sourcemeter arrived from Fleabay. Very well packed, box within a box, and within a box. It will have spent the night in a cold warehouse, so it's on the top shelf but unpowered until any condensation has evaporated. It has already been plumbed into the GPIB bus. Now that I have two 2400, I can do curve tracing on semiconductors.

Exactly.

It flies. All looks good except for the display which is a bit patchy; dim and dingy in places. That won't really matter much as I will only ever use it under computer control (yep, that works). It seems that the state of the (vacuum fluorescent) display is something to watch out for in beige (as opposed to grey) Keithleys that don't have "A Tektronix Company" under their front panel Keithley legend. I expect someone here can give chapter and verse on what that description means in terms of age. I'll probably whip the covers off at some point to determine its exact age. Having said that, the Tektronix rep (when quizzed) conceded that boards were populated way before a collection of boards was assembled to become an instrument for delivery, explaining why my "new" 2400's lithium coin cell died only five years after I bought the instrument from Tek.