Interesting. Quite embarrassing for them to have....dropped the ball on that connector omission. We have so many great choices in connector design in the last 10 years. AND in a many thousand dollar unit! It's good to show these simple issues as well. Thanks.
Shahriar, do you ever get all nerdy and turn all the instruments on (even if they are just on "default" screens) and dim the lights or turn them off and just marvel in the glow of all those instruments!
I'm pretty sure if he did that it would cause a neighborhood power outage (like when Clark Griswold flipped on the Christmas lights in Christmas Vacation).
Thanks for sharing. Nice that you can use the older sensor heads with an adapter; my old HP437 still chugs along and it is nice to be able to memorize the sensor correction factors now vs. the older boxes.
Keysight should be thankful to you! Showing all those repairs, price of their used equipment on ebay skyrocket, so lot of folks go and buy new instead!
Interesting construction of the instruments housing. Haven't seen that plastic housing with the conductive finish on the inside yet. It looks like its made very versatile.
Made in Germany explains why it seemingly has 5 times the number of components as it probably needs. Amazingly complex piece of gear. Looks like a separate design team was involved for each section.
Wow, a llab tour would be sick, theres a metric Shitton of money on that table overr all that highend testgear. And what i can take from your videos you have gotten alot of it on a very decent price. If only i had the means to repair such gear like you do. I need more testgear to be able to get deeper in to electronics, as i am really interested in the subject. Anyways, your lab looks awesome
Nice instrument, haven't seen one of those before. I am pretty sure, that the plug is a costum LEMO connector We were using a lot of LEMO connectors at work, but only the standard versions, no fancy mixed coax types, but even those are pretty expensive....
Those connectors are either manufactured by LEMO or ODU. From the design of the plug I would say ODU. However, Yamaichi now also makes these kinda connectors.
Hi Shahriar, As always excellent videos with methodical diagnosis and repair. May I know from where you are purchasing these used/faulty test instruments? Thank you very much.
the front panel interface/buttons look unusual for HP/Agilent/Keysight. For example the layout and the typefaces/fonts of the text on buttons, use of abbreviated terms... it seems as if decisions were made without input from their usual industrial design style guide.
Do you have some air purifying system? How do you clean so many instruments from dust? There is nothing more annoying, than getting everything covered in dust after a week or so.
Man you are the luckiest person I the world when it comes to fixing eBay purchases. There are always tons of things that could be wrong with these that would be a show stopper.... But nope... Loose cable.... Bad capacitor..... :) :)
It's funny how when I have to reverse engineer an unknown synthesizer board, or trace an LO signal through a large microwave PCB, etc. people never say "Oh you are so unlucky to get such a complicated problem!". The fact is that when you fix a hundred instruments, some of them are bound to have simple problems. That is not "luck", that is law of large numbers.
The Signal Path hmm. Maybe its just that you're talented enough to make everything seem so straightforward and simple that it is hard to tell when a problem is complicated. I didn't mean to offend you but my original comment.
Thanks and no I am not offended. It is just that when you look at a repair in isolation, it can seem like luck. And it would be luck just by itself. But consider that naturally some instruments will have simple problems and some very tough problems. I have on my bench now 5 microwave instruments waiting for repair. I am sure two of them will be very simple and two very complex. That is what I would expect on average. :)
Pretty sure that is a mixed signal Lemo - $$$$$ I used to terminate mixed fiber/electric LEMO's and they usually require special tools and training. Fantastic stuff if you can afford it.
very good video. however, you seemed to make a criticism of the original manufacturer decision about the cable being hardwired to the pcb and yet during the refresh you did the same hardwire instead of the jack/plug setup you suggested would have been better. why? was it to keep the device as original? otherwise , great delivery of interesting content. thanks.
Also the original soldering job was pretty sloppy. I'm sure he tried his best with this fix to get nice shiny solder joints and cleaned the flux afterwards.
What's the purpose of a power meter? Couldn't you just use a spectrum analyzer or a scope to measure the amplitude of the signal? I will make a guess: When complex modulation formats are used a simple amplitude measurement is not possible in the time domain. But you could still integrate the power density shown on a spectrum analyzer to obtain the total signal power.... Maybe the accuracy of the power meter is better...but then there is another question: When do we need such a high precision in the power of a signal?
Interesting. Quite embarrassing for them to have....dropped the ball on that connector omission. We have so many great choices in connector design in the last 10 years. AND in a many thousand dollar unit! It's good to show these simple issues as well. Thanks.
Sometimes it's nice when repairs turn out to be simple mechanical issues like this.
Allan, Yes it is! What other electronics channels do you watch ?
I love that my two favorite RF/test equipment RUclipsrs watch each other's videos
Nice to watch you work through the repairs even when it is some simple in this case. Nice bit of gear.
Shahriar, do you ever get all nerdy and turn all the instruments on (even if they are just on "default" screens) and dim the lights or turn them off and just marvel in the glow of all those instruments!
I'm pretty sure if he did that it would cause a neighborhood power outage (like when Clark Griswold flipped on the Christmas lights in Christmas Vacation).
I have only a small percentage of the equipment he does but I have done this:) :)
I am doing this as I type. It is glorious.
The Signal Path a quick video of the glory would be aweosme!
I would rellay love to see that on video! :D
Thanks for sharing. Nice that you can use the older sensor heads with an adapter; my old HP437 still chugs along and it is nice to be able to memorize the sensor correction factors now vs. the older boxes.
Shahriar is building a wall of instruments. And this is a good wall.
That's why I really love HP->Agilent->Keysight instruments.
Keysight should be thankful to you! Showing all those repairs, price of their used equipment on ebay skyrocket, so lot of folks go and buy new instead!
Interesting construction of the instruments housing. Haven't seen that plastic housing with the conductive finish on the inside yet. It looks like its made very versatile.
The last time I saw so many flashing LEDs was on a MIPS-based arcade board from Midway.
Very nice repair thanks for showing it.
Made in Germany explains why it seemingly has 5 times the number of components as it probably needs. Amazingly complex piece of gear. Looks like a separate design team was involved for each section.
Wow, a llab tour would be sick, theres a metric Shitton of money on that table overr all that highend testgear. And what i can take from your videos you have gotten alot of it on a very decent price. If only i had the means to repair such gear like you do. I need more testgear to be able to get deeper in to electronics, as i am really interested in the subject. Anyways, your lab looks awesome
Nice instrument, haven't seen one of those before. I am pretty sure, that the plug is a costum LEMO connector We were using a lot of LEMO connectors at work, but only the standard versions, no fancy mixed coax types, but even those are pretty expensive....
Mechanical issues rule!
Nice repair, anyhow.
Those connectors are either manufactured by LEMO or ODU. From the design of the plug I would say ODU. However, Yamaichi now also makes these kinda connectors.
Thank you for the great video!
Hi Shahriar, As always excellent videos with methodical diagnosis and repair. May I know from where you are purchasing these used/faulty test instruments? Thank you very much.
EBay.
He founds it all in the dumpster.
the front panel interface/buttons look unusual for HP/Agilent/Keysight. For example the layout and the typefaces/fonts of the text on buttons, use of abbreviated terms... it seems as if decisions were made without input from their usual industrial design style guide.
You need to tear it down again to install that connector!
Hehe... ;)
Do you have some air purifying system? How do you clean so many instruments from dust? There is nothing more annoying, than getting everything covered in dust after a week or so.
Man you are the luckiest person I the world when it comes to fixing eBay purchases. There are always tons of things that could be wrong with these that would be a show stopper.... But nope... Loose cable.... Bad capacitor..... :) :)
It's funny how when I have to reverse engineer an unknown synthesizer board, or trace an LO signal through a large microwave PCB, etc. people never say "Oh you are so unlucky to get such a complicated problem!". The fact is that when you fix a hundred instruments, some of them are bound to have simple problems. That is not "luck", that is law of large numbers.
The Signal Path hmm. Maybe its just that you're talented enough to make everything seem so straightforward and simple that it is hard to tell when a problem is complicated. I didn't mean to offend you but my original comment.
Thanks and no I am not offended. It is just that when you look at a repair in isolation, it can seem like luck. And it would be luck just by itself. But consider that naturally some instruments will have simple problems and some very tough problems. I have on my bench now 5 microwave instruments waiting for repair. I am sure two of them will be very simple and two very complex. That is what I would expect on average. :)
Pretty sure that is a mixed signal Lemo - $$$$$
I used to terminate mixed fiber/electric LEMO's and they usually require special tools and training. Fantastic stuff if you can afford it.
Do you know if the issue was a solder joint or the crimped cable? If it was the crimped cable it could happen with a connector too.
Nice video
very good video. however, you seemed to make a criticism of the original manufacturer decision about the cable being hardwired to the pcb and yet during the refresh you did the same hardwire instead of the jack/plug setup you suggested would have been better. why? was it to keep the device as original? otherwise , great delivery of interesting content. thanks.
He said he didn't want to wait for connectors to arrive, and he also said the vertical space is constrained.
Also the original soldering job was pretty sloppy. I'm sure he tried his best with this fix to get nice shiny solder joints and cleaned the flux afterwards.
I'm so jealous of you, I wish I could find and buy those equipments without going bankrupt
The connector for the power sensor look like a LEMO
That would also be my guess.
serie EEG3B.856 or ECG3B.856 for the receptacle and FGG.3B.856 for the connector
The connector could be also from "Fischer Connectors".
I'm pretty sure this is an ODU connector www.odu.de/
What's the purpose of a power meter? Couldn't you just use a spectrum analyzer or a scope to measure the amplitude of the signal?
I will make a guess: When complex modulation formats are used a simple amplitude measurement is not possible in the time domain. But you could still integrate the power density shown on a spectrum analyzer to obtain the total signal power....
Maybe the accuracy of the power meter is better...but then there is another question: When do we need such a high precision in the power of a signal?
All those BGAs to come up with that *one* value?
👍👍
How to activate back power reference?
Dont yu think that maybe there used to be a connector and that someone changed the cable and removed it during a previous repair?
ben12801 That is not likely. The original warranty stickers were intact.
The Signal Path Fair enough thank you or replying. Fantastic channel BTW
Those connectors are most probably LEMO
3:15 I'm not quite sure, but could those cable connectors be designed by Amphenol?
Dyaxxis looks to me like a LEMO connector. Back when I used to design medical equipment, these where the defacto standard connectors to use
It looks like planned obsolescence, rather than oversight!