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Re: Wanted: HP 3458a DVM in non-working condition
George,
Thank you again for your detailed answers. On the subject of a voltage reference upgrade, I do have a couple new LM399s laying around that could potentially be a drop-in vref replacement, I¡¯m sure I could find adequate voltage rails inside the 3468A for the heater, and the battery life wouldn¡¯t be too much reduced, but I don¡¯t have the time to properly age a voltage reference nor the equipment to properly recalibrate the meter after (my university research is in SMPS design; not exactly the most demanding of single digit ppm accuracy). This will be a nice project for when I have time to do it, as it should in theory give it most of the stability of a 6.5 digit DMM. I just hope the thermal gradients from the heat given off by the LM399 won¡¯t cause thermocouple effects within the meter that can¡¯t be nulled out. The 40 k Vishay resistor seems mighty expensive, but I understand precision isn¡¯t cheap. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade once I find a way to properly calibrate the resistance ranges. You¡¯ve got me curious; how exactly would I ¡°cheat¡± the meter into the locked out ranges? I¡¯m okay with installing switches or signal relays to add these functions to my meter, and I can just move the decimal point in my head. I currently am playing with various homemade thermocouples, so a 30 mV range would definitely help better measure them. In addition, a 30 ohm range would make roughly characterizing super low Ron power transistors less cumbersome. Thank you for your explanation of the 0.3 and 3 V range high Z upward drift. I¡¯ll try measuring it with an LCR meter and a stopwatch. Sincerely, Dennis Chertkovsky dchertkovsky@... |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
On Fri, Dec 20, 2019 at 10:31 AM Alex <hpagilentgroup@...> wrote: But given the ebay price range for a 34330A being at $130-$300, I went to look at the new price od these, and I find that Newark will sell me a new one at anywhere?from CAD 130 through >CAD 400 (). The price difference is all in the level of calibration and documentation you get with the shunt. I'm not sure that the calibration shipped with a used shunt of otherwise unknown history is much good for anything? |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
Thank you everyone for their input, specially to Yves.
Yes a cheap shunt will give you a current reading as well as anything else but it needs to be wired into the circuit, requires some conversion math unless used with the properly calibrated meter to go with it, and they are not always ideally suited as the resistance element is plainly exposed, let alone if of dubious far east quality. So in my opinion in practical terms these shunts are better relegated to fixed service operation where they will stay in one place for good. My interest in the HP 34330A shunt is because its an elegant, efficient and easy solution for those occasions where one just needs to quickly measure a current just a bit above the usual limits of a portable DMM, which I think was the concept to begin with. I'm placing a watch on ebay limited to a reasonable price limit, and see what eventually comes up. I am in no hurry, so time is not an issue. Thanks again. |
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Re: Wanted: HP 3458a DVM in non-working condition
Siggi,
You are correct.? The Ohms current source and protection that I developed has never been improved upon.? It has been incorporated in every instrument since the 3468A/78A.? ?It is robust, simple with low parts count and very close to an ideal current source as you may ever find.? The dymanic Norton/Thevenin output impedance is greater than 10^15 ohms and can be made even larger with appropriate choice of Op-Amp that bootstraps the output FET and a few other component changes.? Such an output impedance cannot be maintained when integrated into an instrument.? The equivalent output impedance is degraded by moving the current from the ohms converter thru relays and the input terminals of the instrument not to mention all the nodes that touch the PCB that add unintended parasitic shunt impedances. Thank you all for getting me to think about these issues again.? This has inspired me to make a huge effort to finish my design tutorial so others can leverage off the years of blood, sweat, and tears I "suffered" to get to where I am today in designing instrument analog front ends. Wish you all a productive new year in 2020 George Hnatiuk. PE |
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Re: Wanted: HP 3458a DVM in non-working condition
I remember admiring the Ohms current source protection in the 34401A, looks like it derives directly from the 3468A design. |
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Re: Wanted: HP 3458a DVM in non-working condition
Dennis, Unfortunately,? I have no way to give you to access those ranges on the 3468A.? That would require a firmware change and these is no spare memory in the Intel 8048 and external chips to hold the required code.? If there was space, we would have put some "back door" way of doing it for testing etc. but we could not.? You could "cheat" the instrument into providing those ranges but that would require external jumpers between Input hybrid pins and would require you to be inside the instrument to manually move the jumpers around.? Besides the display would not position the decimal point in the correct place if you did that so other than to play and have fun, it has no practical use. |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
There are low cost Chinese shunts available on ebay. For a few dollars more you can get an LED voltmeter/ammeter with a shunt. I haven't tried them.
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Regards, John -----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve - Home Sent: Friday, December 20, 2019 3:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] HP Agilent 34330a current shunt I got mine les than a year ago on the auction site, less than $30 and free shipping. New condition, too. If you¡¯re not in a rush it pays to watch for a while! Love it and although it doesn¡¯t get used often, it works for me. I rarely use it for more than 10 or so minutes at a time so no worries about overheating. Steve On Dec 20, 2019, at 11:52 AM, Alex <hpagilentgroup@...> wrote: |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
I got mine les than a year ago on the auction site, less than $30 and free shipping. New condition, too. If you¡¯re not in a rush it pays to watch for a while!
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Love it and although it doesn¡¯t get used often, it works for me. I rarely use it for more than 10 or so minutes at a time so no worries about overheating. Steve On Dec 20, 2019, at 11:52 AM, Alex <hpagilentgroup@...> wrote: |
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Re: HP8753D Test 53 Sampler Magnitude and Phase Correction Constants fails
Hi all again, keeping the monologue alive :-)? Last night I had help of a friend doing some more tests and measurements. We did several tests and measurements of the pulse generator and samplers. Most signals looked like the service manual pictures but up to 10dB lower. However we could add 19dB to the R sampler input before the phase lock was lost so we concluded that these parts worked fine. Like many other parts. But one thing bothered us and that was the bad S11 and S21 measurements without calibration. How about 9-17 dB amplification in just a cable? :-) So we played around with poking different values to the samplers, default is 46, not until -27 the S21 became negative. So our conclusion is that I still had some garbage in my EEPROM that messes up the calibration tests. So next steps would now be to copy my EEPROM with the programmer. Do an erase thru test 58 and then do each correction test in order and after each step take a new snapshot of the EEPROM to see what has changed. Also one mistake that I've previously done was to not do preset between each performed step. Also skipping to next step test after a failing one is not recommended. So 13 EEPROM snapshots later I eventually today got to test 53 again, and it ran all the power measurements on both ports and since I once again was too eager so I forgot to measure the cable loss initially so when its was time for the finale of the test with the thru cable it failed. However the EEPROM was anyway filled with a large bunch of data I have not seen before and now my uncalibrated S11 and S21 looks reasonable. I have also verified that the sampler constant is 42, so my next step is to write 46 instead and rerun test 53 again, this time doing it exactly as instructed, the cable loss measurements and all. However I hope the test will be fine with not having APC-7 cables and can settle for APC-7 -> N-adapters and then N->SMA adapters, then good quality SMA cables. Also from EEPROM dumps I see that the sampler value is really a 16-bit value just like the 8753E version service guide says. And this value is not cleared by the EEPROM erase test. So lessons learned on how to restore lost EEPROM data, besides learning a lot more about the inner workings of the 8753 are: 1. Do a preset between every performed test. 2. Do not skip to the next test if one fails. 3. Read the test instructions and perform each test thoroughly. 4. Having a socketed EEPROM and a EEPROM programmer is essential. I'll post later details about the EEPROM layout. Next update will be more than a week away due to travel and holidays. Cheers, Marcus |
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HP 70210C Spectrum analyzer
I've decided that my HP 71210C analyzer is way more than I will ever need anymore so I've decided to sell it.
This is a 100Hz to 22GHz unit, works great passes all self tests and calibrations. Consists of: 70004A color display and frame 70001A frame 70908A RF 70902A IF 70903A IF 70310A reference osc with ext power supply 70900A controller/source all interconnecting cables included. Also with the working unit go these extra modules I acquired. These modules may or may not work without calibration or some repairs: 70004A color display and frame 70205A display and frame 70004A color display module only 70902A 70310A 70900A 70900B 70907B 70902A And some original manuals $1,500 takes it all, I won't ship, pickup only southeast PA north of Philly. Contact me off list for any questions or pictures of the unit. Chuck www.myvintagetv.com |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
One thing to note about the 34330A is that it is only rated at 30 amps for 15 minutes. Another option is to buy an industrial panel meter shunt and put it in a box. In europe 60mV is a standard for panel meters so a 60A one will give the same 1mV/A and addtional capacity. Nort American ones tend to be 50mV so go for a 50A one. About 1/3 the cost too. ? A hall effect current clamp has even lower burden voltage and yu don't have to break into the circuit, but you will hae to pay four times as much to get similar accuracy s a shunt. If 1 to 4% is OK then the Pico technology TA018 is worth a look. mA to 60A for about the same price as the shunt. |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
On 12/20/19 11:05 AM, John Griessen wrote:
Here's a quick 4 wire connected way to make it:The nichrome heater wire can be salvaged from any kind of space heater, and will have a normal current of about 15 amps to get red hot. So, with big lugs for 8 gauge wire you can cripm together 4 of them to notn get it to go so hot with 30A you want to measure. Another way could be to use a less resistive wire like a steel coat hanger -- I have not tried that. Long ago on a production test line for a govt contractor we used kanthal wire for such resistors as part of the product instead of precise component shunts. Kanthal wire is not very available though. |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
On 12/20/19 9:31 AM, Alex wrote:
I was wondering if this 30A external plugin shunt adapter would be a cost effective addition to keep on hand,The way I look at high current measuring setups is I'm going to be doing some wiring anyway, so hooking in either a current transformer or shunt involves some clamping tight of connections, and breaking circuits to put those in place. So, if I'm already doing all that I can use a bit a nichrome wire. A bit of wire previously compared to a ref standard resistor at low amps. Here's a quick 4 wire connected way to make it: Split core current transformers for power meter use can be gotten off ebay for much less than $100, and would be the least intrusive 20 Hz and up method I can think of. |
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Quantity Correction Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] FS: sets of NOS concentric control knobs
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýBrad Thompson via Groups.Io wrote on 12/18/2019 7:48 PM:Hello-- please note... ***Henceforth, if you have any questions regarding this or any other FS offers that I may make, please reply directly to my e-mail address. Thank you for your consideration.*** Brad Thompson via Groups.Io wrote on 12/6/2019 10:29 A |
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Re: HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
Hi,
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I have a 34330A, and I do not regret this purchase. At Keysight, it's $ 132 CAD or $ 101 US. I bought this product because it was specially designed for voltmeters, including a standard plug, easy to use and of a size suitable for these instruments. I bought cheaper from Digikey other shunt, but for use with the oscilloscope mainly. Just like you I hesitated with making the purchase mainly because of the price, but today I am happy to have bought it. Yves -----Message d'origine-----
De?: [email protected] <[email protected]> De la part de Alex ·¡²Ô±¹´Ç²â¨¦?: 20 d¨¦cembre 2019 10:31 ??: [email protected] Objet?: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] HP Agilent 34330a current shunt I wanted to ask what is the opinion on the 34330A current shunt. Occasionally one needs to measure current somewhat above the 10Amps which is the maximum that my 973A/974A handheld DMMs allow. So I was wondering if this 30A external plugin shunt adapter would be a cost effective addition to keep on hand, of course considering that this would also require beefier connecting test leads that are current rated accordingly. But given the ebay price range for a 34330A being at $130-$300, I wonder if these numbers realistically make sense, not that I would even consider buying one just for occasional use at those prices anyhow. Since all of them have been listed for months now, and perhaps they are just the leftover overpriced bunch waiting for a desperate buyer, what would be a realistic lower price expectation for a working one in decent shape? Or perhaps would other alternatives like a current probe adapter (34134A/34135A) be a better alternative? On the other hand I already have a FW-Bell GC-100D 200Amp AC/DC stand alone clamp-on "current gun" but it has a single range 3.5 digit readout up to 199.9, so measurements towards the lower end of that scale are not ideal, although still workable if need be. The gun also has two separate output jacks which I tried to use a couple of times but the output voltage never did make much sense in comparison to the actual measured current indicated on the display, which was correct. Maybe I was doing something wrong there, but the clamp by itself works fine when it gets used once in a while. Of course yet another alternative that comes to mind would be to just buy a sturdy precision 0.01 or 0.001 ohm resistor at Mouser/Digikey and mount it inside a small metal enclosure with in/out jacks to use as a stand alone shunt, so it does not even need to stay attached directly or even near to the DMM. I really don't have any very high precision needs, which are usually satisfied with either one of the multiple 4.5-digit 974A's on the bench, and certainly nothing beyond the capability of my "higher end" 3468A/3478A pair of not-calibrated for a long time DMMs. But still the idea of having a plug-n-play 30Amp quick expansion for the handheld DMM like the 34330A shunt when occasional needs arise still sounds interesting, specially when it is an HP product. I am open to comments and suggestions. Thanks. |
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HP Agilent 34330a current shunt
I wanted to ask what is the opinion on the 34330A current shunt. Occasionally one needs to measure current somewhat above the 10Amps which is the maximum that my 973A/974A handheld DMMs allow. So I was wondering if this 30A external plugin shunt adapter would be a cost effective addition to keep on hand, of course considering that this would also require beefier connecting test leads that are current rated accordingly. But given the ebay price range for a 34330A being at $130-$300, I wonder if these numbers realistically make sense, not that I would even consider buying one just for occasional use at those prices anyhow. Since all of them have been listed for months now, and perhaps they are just the leftover overpriced bunch waiting for a desperate buyer, what would be a realistic lower price expectation for a working one in decent shape?
Or perhaps would other alternatives like a current probe adapter (34134A/34135A) be a better alternative? On the other hand I already have a FW-Bell GC-100D 200Amp AC/DC stand alone clamp-on "current gun" but it has a single range 3.5 digit readout up to 199.9, so measurements towards the lower end of that scale are not ideal, although still workable if need be. The gun also has two separate output jacks which I tried to use a couple of times but the output voltage never did make much sense in comparison to the actual measured current indicated on the display, which was correct. Maybe I was doing something wrong there, but the clamp by itself works fine when it gets used once in a while. Of course yet another alternative that comes to mind would be to just buy a sturdy precision 0.01 or 0.001 ohm resistor at Mouser/Digikey and mount it inside a small metal enclosure with in/out jacks to use as a stand alone shunt, so it does not even need to stay attached directly or even near to the DMM. I really don't have any very high precision needs, which are usually satisfied with either one of the multiple 4.5-digit 974A's on the bench, and certainly nothing beyond the capability of my "higher end" 3468A/3478A pair of not-calibrated for a long time DMMs. But still the idea of having a plug-n-play 30Amp quick expansion for the handheld DMM like the 34330A shunt when occasional needs arise still sounds interesting, specially when it is an HP product. I am open to comments and suggestions. Thanks. |
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Re: HP8753 VNA step attenuator model and replacement
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýFor the manual?: ? Yves ? De?: [email protected] <[email protected]> De la part de Don Bitters via Groups.Io ? Here is the description: ?
The 33321 series of attenuators are all very similar. ?The differences are in the frequency range, programming voltage, input/output connectors and the programming voltage connector. Internally they are 4 sections (10dB, 20dB, 20dB, 20dB). ?There exists an E-manuel that describes the options, specs, etc. ?I will post it when I track it down. ?Do check the Agilent, Keysight websites with a search for ¡°33321 manual¡±. Don Bitters |