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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- In this video we take a look at the Victor VC3165 frequency counter. Channel A does not work and Banggood sent us a replacement. We will repair this counter and send to one of our viewers as a giveaway.
VICTOR VC3165 110V-220V Frequency Counter Meter --
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Schematic:
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This give a way has ended
It is SO much fun to watch an expert like you in action. Thanks for bringing us along. I always look forward to your next video.
Thanks Buddy. As an old man getting back in the Ham radio and electronics I enjoy all your vids and you have refreshed my memory and enjoyment of the hobby. Keep up the great vids. Carl
Thanks Carl for your comment. Always glad to help.
It's amazing how new equipment can have such problems and that they can be so simple to fix to those who are careful observers. Nice job as usual. Sure, I'd like to have a counter that goes that high. Enjoy watching your videos!
Agreed. Thanks and good luck
Well I'll throw my hat in the ring. I've been a ham since 1978 and I'm now kinda sorta retired. (I'm 62) but now that I have time I'm slowly getting serious about troubleshooting my equipment.
I've got some older test equipment I've slowly been accumulating (antique like me). I do enjoy watching your videos and now that I've time I'm starting to learn something!. I was in the cell/broadcast tower construction industry and my knowledge gained in the amateur radio world did me well when I started troubleshooting broadcast/cell antenna systems. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for sharing Wayne.
Always nice to see a linear power supply in test equipment. Nice fix. Karl
A simple repair - one very obvious fault and another not so obvious, but both easily fixed ... once they've been located. It's a nice bit of kit that would suit many a hobbyist's bench.
Looks like a typical issue, the second unit was a bit better than the first one. Thanks
Nice repair. Surprised to see through hole parts on a new machine. I wouldn't mind a nice new counter. Thanks for all the great videos.
Thanks Joseph. It is an old design and been on the market for a while.
Looks like a nice little counter. I'd love to have it as my 20 yr old counter died on me. Keep up the good work!
Sorry to hear about your counter. Good luck in the drawing
Nice fix. It's always nice finding a simple fix. To bad it was a quality control issue. Thanks and keep p the good work. I will be watching.
Thanks for this video Buddy, it’s probably the only piece of test gear I haven’t had apart.LOL I’ve got several counters and this one is always spot on. You keep all that cold weather over there mate, I think we got to 32F for about 30mins once this winter. Also only one day it never got above 20 C. You can’t beat the weather here in Queensland Australia.
Take care Buddy.
Cool deal Peter. Always good not to have to take it apart. Yes the cold is upon us now. I hate cold weather. Thanks for the comment
Easy fixes are always satisfying. As always, thorough and informative. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the kind words.
I love your channel,have been subscribed for awhile and look forward to your videos. I tinker with a few radios so you really help me learn how to troubleshoot problems. Thanks Don.
Thanks for that nice reply Don.
Wow! Up there for quality control!
Another great repair video Buddy. I wouldn't turn this frequency counter down! Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks Larry.
I am glad to see you back again. Look forward to your homey explanations and valuable teaching.
Thanks Ron.
thanks for such a useful site, love learning from guys like you and Paul. keep it coming!!
Well I'll be. I was having the exact problem with mine. I got it at a pawn shop for 40$ so I risked it. Both cans are lifted on mine.
I'm so glad I found your video. Too bad I can't attach a picture!
Yes Sir Nice repair job. I would be tickled to use that counter for a few years till time to pass it on to another deserving tech. I've been using my leader LDC 822 since back in that day. Keep thinking I'll get around to upgrading that unit but there's always something else like one of the daughters prom dresses that requires more than what I have. Thanks for all your great vids.
“Lemme give you an idea of whats going on here” @13:45. That just made me laugh! 😂
excellent troubleshooting and repair video, as a retired two way tech and now a cb and ham repair hobbyist that would be great on my bench
Thanks John
I've got this counter also on my bench, and like yours the secured area was totally open on the opposite side on the BNC connectors, and touched the potmeter contacts. so the counter was running crazy. Got the secured area soldered on the pcb. Had to finetune the counter and ready. Pretty good counter for the money, although the owner brought it over as a gift. So it's now between the rest of my gear. Thx
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I sure enjoy watching your troubleshooting process. Thank you.
Thanks
Love your videos Buddy! Don't need the counter though. Do need a scope lol mine died today! Will have a look at it in the next couple days. Keep it up I've learned alot from you.
Enjoyed the repair video. The high frequency option would be a plus. Would appreciate my entry in your contest. Kudos to Bangood, I have ordered from them in the past and have had good results.
I'd love that counter. I Was a bit surprised by the random soldering with virtually all the resistors at weird angles on the board but I suppose that's what you get when working to a price point with, I guess, unskilled labour. Nice fix.
You are probably correct on that. This is what we see in cheaper products. At least we could fix this one. Thanks
That ranked nowhere on my mental list of possible problems. At least it was a quick fix! Thanks for the video Buddy, that counter would make a great addition to my growing electronics bench.
Yep, simple problem easily fixed. Thanks
Thank you kindly for your video. I also have this frequency counter, I reseated the top and bottom of the metal casings and re-soldered them. The top metal half of the case was not shorting out the resistor like you showed in your video. My problem is the counter is quite a bit off frequency. Closer on the low bands and further from center on the higher bands. Quite possibly an issue with the crystal oscillator.
I got an AA degree in electronics back when I was about 20. Now that I am retired I am taking classes in electronics to catch up on the new technology. I am slowly accumulating my stock of measurement instruments. That looks like it would be a great addition. I enjoy your detailed explanations on your videos.
Good deal on the catch up Gilbert. I never had any formal education in the field, just something I picked up when I was young. Thanks for the kind words.
Hi Buddy! Good to see you back! Nice find and repair of the counter and explanation of the assembly error. I learn a lot just by following your line of reasoning. You wound have been a good detective. Could use the counter. Hurry back if you can! Dr. Stan KZ8G
Thanks Stan. Thanks for stopping in. I need to get busy with videos.
Thank you for the excellent video. I have also had this device for several years. Unfortunately, my article was not very accurate from the start. Since I am not nearly as well prepared, I calibrated it as follows: I bought a used GPS module "NAVMAN Jupiter 21" on Ebay for about 10 € and a suitable antenna for about 5 €. This results in an atomic 1 s TTL pulse with very small jitter, which I used to calibrate the gate time with the trimmer near the crystal furnace. Unfortunately, the adjustment range of the trimmer was not enough. I had to swap the 22pF parallel capacitor for 12pF, then it went wonderfully. Now the counter is accurate to the last digit.
I like the style of your videos.Very easy to follow and understand. Nice video quality. 4:30am! 32 degrees! Better you than this FL. boy. keep up the great work and thanks for all the great information.
Thanks for that nice comment Steve. I am glad you like the style of my videos. Yes 32 and below freezing this morning. Brrr. I need to move to Florida.
I've been trying to find a decent counter for cheap, I'd like to give this one a try. It looks like a winner. Such an awesome thing you do with the giveaways like this... I'd hate to be one of the 2 miserable souls who gave this video a dislike.
Thanks the kind words. It is not a perfect counter but gets the job done.
Nicely done Buddy. I do not need a counter. Thank you for your time and sharing. 73s Joel
Thanks for watching Joel, good to see you.
Good to see you back and good review of counter . Yes I could use one . Keep up the good work .
Thanks Mike.
I got this one from a friend last week, it counts like random nummering, not the signal I feed, now I've seen this video, I'm pretty sure I also have to open it and trace where it goes wrong. Thanks for this review/ repair. And I keep in mind it's just cheap stuff. But it will do the time when I'm finished with it.
Great Fix! Where I work, I'm always bringing engineers out on the floor for design flaws. To much cut and paste with the computer programs. Thanks for the video.
Thanks Mike, we do that quite a bit also Show them paper works differently lol.
Love your videos and repairs, and yes I could put the counter to use. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the opportunity to win this counter. Great repair...
Thanks for the review - I could really use a better frequency counter, so "count me in"!
Another great video! I can certainly use one to align my vintage TS-430S.
Thanks
I'll be happy to give that counter a good home. Thanks for the informative video!
Thanks for watching
Great job in troubleshooting! Nice video.
I would enjoy have an Frequency Counter! Thanks for giving one of them away!
Thanks Jason
I'd love to have that! I design and build QRP transceivers... with a horrible $5 flea bay counter. haha. Thanks for the videos
Thanks
Yet another great video Buddy....good job and thats a nice unit by the wat,in my opinion...heck i would make use of one of those for sure!!
Thanks Jeff and good luck
thank you i also checked ruoshui counter .had same fault so once again thanks all the best
Not a bad counter for the price, need to update the vendor on the problem of leaving the resistor up off the board. The board looks like it could be from old stock and needed the input circuit changed for the new counter. Looks great after the repair.
Agree, this is an old design. Not much has changed since 2009 on it. Thanks
Probably already given away, but if not, I wouldn't mind having something like this! Great channel BTW.
Yep, been gone for a while.
Great repair video! Count me in to receive this VC3165!! Thanks
Once again a very nice video and a job well done. Thanks Buddy.
Yet another great vid, and who couldn't use a new freq counter!
I would love to have that frequency counter. I have wanted to create a bench to work on electronics and a counter would be a great start. Always enjoy watching your videos regardless of whether I win it or not, and thanks again.
Thanks. It would be a good starter unit. Good luck in the drawing.
I could use a good, accurate counter. I learn a lot from your videos since I'm entirely self taught at restoring radios!
Thank you.
Buddy, they do have some cheap interesting items, but as you demonstrated they have very good customer service. Glad it was a somewhat easy fix. QC must have overloaded the front-end trying to get it to count?? Where I work, we have quality checks by 4 or 5 different employees and we still occasionally have quality returns.
Thanks James and I agree. I too work in the quality department for a global company.
In the schematic, Channel A is actually Channel B and vice versa. I have one of this counters too. Have to check mine. Nice video...
Love your videos. Currently collecting junk box parts and test gear to homebrew some ham radio gear and antennas.
Thanks. Keep collecting my friend.
Long time subscriber, first time commenter. Always informative videos, Buddy. A counter is certainly lacking on my bench.
This is a really brilliant video. I was concerned that I had bought a 'pup'. It does not operate exactly as I would like (tuning organs) but I can see that I can make use of this machine away. I use a Fluke 17B to read frequency but it has only a 4 digit display.Interesting, as you adjusted the LH counter, the display of the RH count increased from 9.999999 to 10.00000 as soon as you applied pressure to the trim.
Really like your videos. They have helped me fix a few of my things.
Appreciate that Kenneth
Always learn so much from your channel, thank you!
Thanks
Nice video. I always enjoy thumbing thru Banggood's site.
Thanks, yes they have a lot of stuff.
Thanks for Video, Mike is right about a Quality control problem. Nice little counter,,
Nice video again. I have really enjoyed your bench activities. Keep it up. Thanks
Thanks and I enjoy that you watch them.
Thanks for the video. Interesting to see Bangood standing behind their product.
Been dealing with them for a few years now. Really great service. Thanks
Hey Buddy, As always, thank you so much for all the time you spend putting these educational and entertaining videos together! I continue to learn more from you each time I watch your videos. I'm just starting to get my hobby lab put together and have been very blessed to be able to purchase a few used pieces of equipment and a new Weller soldering station. I would love to receive the frequency counter to help me start working on my Yeasu FT107M. Thanks again and 73, Heath N4TWT
Heath, So good to hear this comment. Thank you for watching and good luck in the drawing.
Thanks Buddy for the video , hope your health is ok.
My best regards Carl.
Thanks you Carl. Doing pretty good and thanks for asking. Just not sleeping good.
Banggood is a great site for low cost kits and electronics. This Victor looks like it had some QC issues but otherwise seems to be good value for the money ($80). I would be tempted to replace the front BNCs with front mounting versions if they would fit and go ahead and clean up the front end board and solder down the shield, although looking around my workbench I don't see a single front mounted BNC. As always great video.
Thank you. I have a few of those bnc with the mounting nut on the front. May change them out. Agree not to bad a unit for the price.
Thanks for the video! Simple error but very smart root cause analysis!
Thanks
Nice repair job! It looks like a nice counter for the money.
Thanks, not bad at all.
I can make a useful use of that . So i am in too! Thank you The Radio Shop
A 10 turn pot would make calibration easier. Nice little counter. I look on Amazon.
Little late to the party, thanks for the review.
No problem, thanks for watching.
Great video Buddy, I'm glad it turned out to be a service repair video. Always enjoyable to see you get things back to working condition. I wasn't aware you could purchase a high resolution counter for this low price. I may consider this down the road. 73's Buddy and by the way how is your remodel going. Dale kg7ssb
Nice video Buddy, perhaps,they are under pressure at the factory,I've been looking at the Victor for a while,nice looking unit,you did another good job.
Paul de M0BSW
Hi Paul. Yes not a bad little counter for the price. It really surprised me. Thanks
Always an interesting video very relaxing, not sure why!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Buddy!!
Same to you Aaron. Thanks
Good video looking for a relatively inexpensive counter thanks for the input
Thanks
Nice counter, I can sure put that counter to good use.
Thanks
Nice repair as usual buddy big thumbs up mate
Thank you allan
Bought some things from Banggood, they have been very good to deal with. Looks as though they might need to sharpen their quality control. Board stuffers can get get pretty sloppy.
Yes they are not bad at all. And the unskilled labor does good at time.
I am very interested in the counter Buddy. The only one I have now is a BK that's a little off.
Another nice video, Buddy! I always look forward to them. Keep up the good work. I am still looking forward to your video on the Heathkit TX1. (I have not started on mine yet either. )
de: Chris, N9WHH.
Thanks Chris. I have to get back on that one. So little time.
Another great video. keep it up Buddy!
great repair job. thanks for your videos.
I must confess, I feel kind of slimy entering the giveaway, with this being the first video of yours I've seen.
However, I plan on investigating further, and expect that your channel will be added to my regular watch list.
Dont let that bother you. Have to start somewhere. :)
Very good error finding and extra knowledge for the assembly line. Keep on informing, I would like to be invited in the lottery.
Regards, Franco.
Nice video ! they are really not that bad for the money and you can set them up against a GPS disciplined oscillator. Mine had a cold solder join on the large electrolytic cap that would cause the unit to get flaky after warming up. The bottom line for $90 its a nice meter if you are a tinker.
Thanks. They are pretty decent for the money. I upgraded to the 6800 now. 60Mhz
Getting ready for mikes electronics course would be very useful.
It sure would.
The counter would come in handy on my bench.
Good luck
Nice counter, great video!
Appreciate it Barry.
I have just bought one of these and it didn't work on Functions 1 and 2 but did work on Function 3. Functions 1 and 2 showed continually varying data. The seller offered a big discount rather than return so I agreed as I think it can be repaired. What I notice is that the input board cannot be removed unless it is un-soldered from the BNC sockets but to get to the pads you first have to remove the two metal casing shields - mine has one above and below the input board. Since the input board was pushed too far forward the shields were left like an open clam and only soldered at the rear location. When I finally took them off I could un-solder the input board. This is very problematic. I see on some other models that the input board is located in the main case and connected to the sockets by coax - a much more sensible arrangement.
I found the schematic online as you have shown in the video but it is unreadable. I have checked the input board diodes, transistors etc but nothing seems to be defective. I now need to try and repair the unit. Since it works in Function 3 I suspect something is wrong on the input board.
1. Does anyone have a better schematic?
2. Any clues as to what could be wrong here?
3. Is there any description of how the counter works, I understand the general principles but need to know what this model is doing?
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE AFTER FIX
Schematic has A and B channels reversed. Installed coax to move input board back about 20mm. Identified all IC's and transistors, connectors. Checked all components on input board, no defects founds. Used oscilloscope to trace the signal back to the PIC on the main board, all looked ok. No obvious defect found. Used FY3200S to generate 4V signal 1MHz to 7MHz. At some point the readings started being correct, not sure what I did to fix it. Shields were then closed. Basically - Function 2 and 3 for Channel A only, Function 1 for Channel B only. Any other combination gives random readings .When no signal or input shorted you get random readings! The manual says so too. But when you apply a signal the device works correctly. This is not a sane instrument.
Interesting review and repair. Thank you.
thanks
I could really use the counter . Thx for the vids .
Cool and good luck my friend. Thanks
Well, no matter what, it's still a quality control problem. And pretty bad mounting of parts. But as you say, it is what it is :)
Thanks for another good video :)
That is true Dennis. The designers need to remember to change things around a bit due to unskilled assemblers. That way the mistakes are minimum. Thanks for commenting.
Another great video. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to your next videos.
Dan
Thanks Dan.
Great video. Well done!!
Thanks Jack
nice unit I been looking for a counter on ebay But cant trust any ones any more,, good video
Thanks Dennis. Good luck my friend
I could use this as well great video
love the teardown
I too could use an accurate counter to calibrate my other stuff to. So enter me as well and best of luck to us all 👍🏻