Wavetek 23 croaks, anyone know of "notorious" falure areas?
in [Design]
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From: Paul Hovnanian P.E. on 7 May 2010 18:08 Joerg wrote: > > So here I am, doing variable line frequency test and ... phssss ... PHUT > ... *BAM* ... followed by a stench wafting about. I looked at what was > supposed to be 265V/50Hz sine and found a totally distorted 1Hz, plus > lots of heat in my amp which luckily survived. > > Turns out the Wavetek 23 function generator became totally "loose" in > frequency. Have to wrap up some stuff today so I tried and was able to > goose it to 50Hz by cranking it to 995Hz (above 1kHz it completely loses > it). But that's a white-knuckle ride because the test runs mostly > unattended. > > Does anyone know whether these things have a typical pathology that can > be fixed? Like this or that cable always comes loose, etc.? I have > re-seated the EPROM, battery is fine, re-seated connectors, nada. I do > have the manual but diagnosing it from synthesizer to the end will take > hours because it's a uC driven instrument. It sounds like its still working, but way off frequency. What sort of clock does it have? Perhaps the crystal is bad, or some nearby component is causing it to go out of spec. -- Paul Hovnanian mailto:Paul(a)Hovnanian.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't anthropomorphize computers. They hate that.
From: Joerg on 7 May 2010 19:03 Paul Hovnanian P.E. wrote: > Joerg wrote: >> So here I am, doing variable line frequency test and ... phssss ... PHUT >> ... *BAM* ... followed by a stench wafting about. I looked at what was >> supposed to be 265V/50Hz sine and found a totally distorted 1Hz, plus >> lots of heat in my amp which luckily survived. >> >> Turns out the Wavetek 23 function generator became totally "loose" in >> frequency. Have to wrap up some stuff today so I tried and was able to >> goose it to 50Hz by cranking it to 995Hz (above 1kHz it completely loses >> it). But that's a white-knuckle ride because the test runs mostly >> unattended. >> >> Does anyone know whether these things have a typical pathology that can >> be fixed? Like this or that cable always comes loose, etc.? I have >> re-seated the EPROM, battery is fine, re-seated connectors, nada. I do >> have the manual but diagnosing it from synthesizer to the end will take >> hours because it's a uC driven instrument. > > It sounds like its still working, but way off frequency. > > What sort of clock does it have? Perhaps the crystal is bad, or some > nearby component is causing it to go out of spec. > This Model 23 generator is very sick. The PLL works but the uC control seems to be on the fritz. Above 1kHz where it cuts in the 2nd (faster) AC path it's missing half the sine wave. That would be easily fixed but there seems to be a whole lot that croaked. I had done a 12h test with it and this thing is IMHO poorly engineered from a thermal POV. Lots of stuff in there gets very toasty. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Nico Coesel on 11 May 2010 04:30 Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Joel Koltner wrote: >> <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in message >> news:ejr3u5h2l42rj28hkmbkkhcu5ol9s2egk4(a)4ax.com... >>> While I'm certainly not a Carly fan, HP was on that trajectory long >>> before she >>> came on the scene. >> >> Being able to largely just go with the status quo ought to help her >> qualifications as a political candidate too? :-) >> >> Point taken, though -- Tektronix largley imploded as well, without any >> one particular CEO to serve as whipping boy... >> > >They should start talking to their customers more. I've filled out >numerous surveys for them. From those, they could have seen that I >haven't bought a Tek product in a long time. The smart thing would have >been to pick up the phone and have a chat, ask why. But no ... so I >don't participate in their surveys anymore, makes no sense to me. > >They could have found some interesting things. For example that it >doesn't make sense to sell a DSO with a paltry 4k sample memory where >Asian mfgs are already eating their lunch by providing several times more. I agree. Yesterday I clicked on an advertisment for Tek scopes on Farnell's website. It turns out their TDS1000 and TDS2000 series only have 2.5kpts of memory. Even my old 2230 has more memory (4kpts). I really don't understand why they cut back on the memory depth. The 2430 and the TDS200 series have to do with 1kpts which really cripples the usability of a digital storage scope. Anyway I ended up buying an Iwatsu analog/digital scope from Ebay to replace the 2230. -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico(a)nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joerg on 11 May 2010 12:24
Nico Coesel wrote: > Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > >> Joel Koltner wrote: >>> <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in message >>> news:ejr3u5h2l42rj28hkmbkkhcu5ol9s2egk4(a)4ax.com... >>>> While I'm certainly not a Carly fan, HP was on that trajectory long >>>> before she >>>> came on the scene. >>> Being able to largely just go with the status quo ought to help her >>> qualifications as a political candidate too? :-) >>> >>> Point taken, though -- Tektronix largley imploded as well, without any >>> one particular CEO to serve as whipping boy... >>> >> They should start talking to their customers more. I've filled out >> numerous surveys for them. From those, they could have seen that I >> haven't bought a Tek product in a long time. The smart thing would have >> been to pick up the phone and have a chat, ask why. But no ... so I >> don't participate in their surveys anymore, makes no sense to me. >> >> They could have found some interesting things. For example that it >> doesn't make sense to sell a DSO with a paltry 4k sample memory where >> Asian mfgs are already eating their lunch by providing several times more. > > I agree. Yesterday I clicked on an advertisment for Tek scopes on > Farnell's website. It turns out their TDS1000 and TDS2000 series only > have 2.5kpts of memory. Even my old 2230 has more memory (4kpts). I > really don't understand why they cut back on the memory depth. The > 2430 and the TDS200 series have to do with 1kpts which really cripples > the usability of a digital storage scope. > I bought an Instek GDS-2204 instead of Tektronix. 25k memory, no nickel-and-dime games on the software (all a free download), its control codes are public, and so on. You simply can't do serious pulse-echo work with 4k or less. Not even have a good look at SPI/I2C/RS232 hickups. What were they thinking when writing the specs? Or, were they thinking? > Anyway I ended up buying an Iwatsu analog/digital scope from Ebay to > replace the 2230. > Did the 2230 die? Those were from the good old days, stuff lasted an eternity. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM. |