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Bad Focus on CRT

 

First time poster here. I¡¯ve been reading many posts and learned a lot from you guys.
I got a 465B from eBay and I¡¯m having a problem with getting the trace to focus properly. Even after checking and adjusting all CRT circuits outlined in the service manual, the trace still looks ¡®fuzzy¡¯ on the horizontal top and bottom segments of the square wave calibration signal.


tektronix AFG1022

 

Dear friends, after several years I participate again in this forum about tek instruments. It's been several years since I posted here the last time. This was referring to the well-known scope 2465B. Unfortunately, the repair was not completed due to lack of time for work; I asked to finish the topic.
Well, now I have more time and I would like to ask you to help me with my Tek afg1022. It is not a scope, therefore, is it allowed to deal with this instrument in this group?
In any case, the fault it presents are three error messages on the screen followed by the message "Enter USB-download-Mode from USB"
Could you please tell me how this message is interpreted? How do I proceed next?
The main board was somewhat dirty, I washed and cleaned it. I measured all the caps in-circuit and they are all good.
Since I don't have the service manual, I don't know how to proceed further.
Please, I will be grateful for any suggestions.
Greetings
73!
Rafael


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

I can¡¯t seem to be able tonpinpoint the location of the X cap in the manual.
So as to save me some time, anyone knows which one it is?


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

Hi,
forgot to add:

in the Netherlands, Germany en Spain, they use wall sockets in a originally German model, meaning you can plug in both ways.

Devices are supposed to be designed so there is no difference no matter how you plug it in.

Eg in France they do use a keyed plug. The ground pin is the key.


Saludos,

Leo


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 4:15 PM Stephen <stephen.nabet@...> wrote:

Exactly the same results...

If anything, the trace is cleaner, and what appeared to be a short line in
XY mode, now is clearly 2 sharp dots...
Hehe, so you've eliminated one possible cause. As we know "Once you
eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must
be the truth".

I'm still concerned and/or confused by the weird voltage readings you got
from your outlet.


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

Hi,

Originally I'm Dutch, and in the Netherlands it's like this:

Live and neutral carry 230VAC between them.

At the powerplant the neutral is connected to a ground at the powerplant.

When the live and neutral arrive at a house, the house will have its own ground pin.

As a result there will be still 230VAC between Live and Neutral, and only a few volts between neutral and the local ground.

Now I live in Spain, and there it should be the same, however.....

I've seen situations where the Live and Neutral come from a local, nearby transformer and the power company "forgot" the ground the Neutral...

In that case you can see a proper ground, meaning low resistance between ground and eg. waterpipes, but..

If you have divided conbected that have RFI netfilters with capacitors between Live and the ground connection and between the Neutral and the ground connection these filters will "lift" that ground connection to about half the grid voltage.

So, there still might be a problem with the wiring in the house.

My 2 cents,

Leo


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

Maybe I¡¯ll just go ahead and replace the 55V cap. I didn¡¯t want to do that, because, as you all know, these things are a pain to replace. At least they are for me...
Maybe also replace the X safety cap in the process...


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 10:07 AM, Siggi wrote:

Interesting, I can't explain why this would be.
For giggles try and plug the scope into the bathroom outlet and see whether
the noise goes away?
Yep, I just did that... See my last post.


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

I moved the scope to the bathroom and tested it on a ??better?? outlet, and guess what...
.
.
.
Exactly the same results...

If anything, the trace is cleaner, and what appeared to be a short line in XY mode, now is clearly 2 sharp dots...


Re: 7104 out of focus/astigmatism

 

Francesco and Michael,

Measure the heater voltage first. If low, go to the second paragraph. If you know it sat a long time before you started using it, read below.

You scopes might have been sitting unused for some time, usually some years, and the crt will look weak when it is not. I have done this to TVs many times by removing the socket and putting a CRT checker on it, raising the heater voltage to about 7-8V for 10-30 minutes. That "cracks" the cathode. I was told by TV techs that a crt that sits for a long time unused will do this, new or used and that raising the heater voltage for a short time helps remove gas. I do not know how it get gas that way when it is still good. After the time is up, the original socket was put back on the end, unit powered up and it looked fine. If a checker was used to test it, it showed in the good region.I do run heaters of crts that have not been on for a long time before powering the unit up to make sure the screen lights up properly. Usually the heater is run at the regular voltage for some time, e.g. 30 minutes. I know that some transmitting tubes that have sat for some time need their heater/filament run for a while before any B+ is applied. Those are run at the rated heating voltage.

Another thing that will cause the problems you two have is the heater voltage is too low. Check the heater voltage where it goes to the socket. It should be 6,3V. The resistor from the heater winding could be high causing the heater voltage to be too low. Usually if the high voltage is right then the heater voltage is right. The meter used here should be a good VOM or DVM that will respond to the frequency of the oscillator circuit. I use my Simpson 260 for this test. If the heater reads 6,2 or 6,4V, that is close enough. Something like <6V or 6,9V is too far off. These heaters are 60mA so use Ohm's Law if needed to adjust the resistor value if necessary to change.

Mark


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 3:51 PM Stephen <stephen.nabet@...> wrote:

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 09:19 AM, Siggi wrote:
This means you know ONE outlet in your house is definitely grounded. What
is the AC voltage you measure from live/neutral to ground in that outlet?
What I meant is that I tested all the sockets in the house, with several
extended cables, against this pipe and the ground lug in the bathroom, and
they are ALL properly grounded. They all pass the continuity test.

HOWEVER, I found out that, unlike the other sockets in the house, the one
in the bathroom read 0.003VAC between Neutral and Ground, and 233VAC
between Hot and Ground and/or Hot and Neutral. BIG DIFFERENCE in wiring,
apparently...
Interesting, I can't explain why this would be.
For giggles try and plug the scope into the bathroom outlet and see whether
the noise goes away?


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

Hi Steven,

Very interesting and thoughtful approach. Will definitely test that as well.

Thank you.


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 09:19 AM, Siggi wrote:

This means you know ONE outlet in your house is definitely grounded. What
is the AC voltage you measure from live/neutral to ground in that outlet?
What I meant is that I tested all the sockets in the house, with several extended cables, against this pipe and the ground lug in the bathroom, and they are ALL properly grounded. They all pass the continuity test.

HOWEVER, I found out that, unlike the other sockets in the house, the one in the bathroom read 0.003VAC between Neutral and Ground, and 233VAC between Hot and Ground and/or Hot and Neutral. BIG DIFFERENCE in wiring, apparently...

Hmmmm


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

Hi, All - this has been an interesting thread, but no resolution (yet).

I am neither an EE nor licensed in EU or Europe voltages. While I don¡¯t have any 465B or 466 scopes, I have several 2445 sets that need repairs, and as a technician, having read this thread, a few things come to mind...

First, whatever leads are on your DMM, short them, and measure the baseline resistance (like 0.2 ohm).

1) I believe most Tek Scopes have 3 wires leading to an AC 3 prong plug or a NEMA Socket and plug-in cord. With the problematic 465B scope unplugged, measure the R between each pin from the AC Plug to a convenient internal point inside the scope, if a factory attached wire, effectively measuring the conductor end to end. Mark these numbers down.

2) Measure the same thing on the 466 scope that also may have a problem, write those numbers down.

3) Now, measure the same three things on one or two of the other scopes that does not have the problem.

This could find a bad line cord, shorting X Cap, bad connection to ground lug, etc. Physically move the wire around at both ends to see if the readings deviate. Any deviations or major differences?

4) If there is a line filter after the line cord, inside the various scopes, take readings again on the 465B, 466, and a good scope, also check the line filter for smell, or variations in R readings, on the input and the output after the line filter. Any noticeable Differences between the sets?

I once had an amplifier where from the AC plug to a point inside the amp, the R reading was >>100 ohms! It should be more like < 0.2 ohm on a properly working line cord, or ~ 0.1 ohm on a 14 gauge Line Cord.

Maybe something useful will show up from these readings, also visually inspect the X-caps on the PS Board inside the scope (if any).

Steven


Re: Which probe is better suited for 2465B?

 

Jean-Paul wrote:

Here is a set of two like new with all access, that I just found on epay, $199 the pair:

There are no pictures of the probe tips without the witches hats, so I would assume the worst (that the tips are busted).

I would stay away from this sale unless I were in the market for specific parts (that we can see are included and undamaged). It would be a lot to pay for two compensation boxes, a pair of witches hats, and assorted bits (though the witches hats for the subminiature probes are a bit hard to come by, they're not worth $100 each).

-- Jeff Dutky


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

Siggi wrote:

This means you know ONE outlet in your house is definitely grounded.
Also, grounding the outlets in the bathroom is probably the highest priority for any construction company, so even if they did a terrible job on every other outlet in the residence you might expect that the bathroom outlet would be done properly (or, at least, that the ground would be correct. There's still a question of hot and neutral being right).

-- Jeff Dutky


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 3:10 PM Stephen <stephen.nabet@...> wrote:

I have tested the voltage between a water pipe and the ground lug in my
bathroom. 0.007VAC. And, as expected, the two pass the continuity test.
All the ground lugs are connected as well.
They are tied to earth. Can we now say this ground thing is a non-issue?
Or am I missing something...?
This means you know ONE outlet in your house is definitely grounded. What
is the AC voltage you measure from live/neutral to ground in that outlet?


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

I have tested the voltage between a water pipe and the ground lug in my bathroom. 0.007VAC. And, as expected, the two pass the continuity test.
All the ground lugs are connected as well.
They are tied to earth. Can we now say this ground thing is a non-issue? Or am I missing something...?


Re: 465B strange ripple

 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 12:11 PM Stephen <stephen.nabet@...> wrote:

But it doesn¡¯t explain why none of my other scopes do that...
If the outlets were the problem (and I¡¯m not saying they¡¯re not),
shouldn¡¯t all my scopes show that same behavior?
It's undefined behavior. Some scopes may incidentally be better protected
from noise infiltration under these circumstances than others. There are
scopes that have known noise issues when grounding is poor, screws are
loose, etc, and I believe the 465B is one of those. I don't own one,
though, so I haven't followed the threads here that closely.

This is also all speculation still, though the facts fit the hypothesis so
far.

Can you carry the scope over to your kitchen or bathroom and plug it in
there, see whether the noise goes away?


Re: Which probe is better suited for 2465B?

 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 10:25 AM, Jean-Paul wrote:


Here is a set of two like new with all access, that I just found on epay, $199
the pair:
But the seller clearly states, in both the ad's header, and in the item's description... that "Condition:For parts or not working."
And the definition of that on Ebay is,

An item that does not function as intended and is not fully operational. This includes items that are defective in ways that render them difficult to use, items that require service or repair, or items missing essential components. See the seller's listing for full details.

That means the seller is telling one "up front" that they are not working. And if they don't work... then the seller already told one that.
Does anyone think that the seller should give one's money back, if one purchases these non-working probes, because they actually don't work?
Give to charity.