EEVblog #450 - Ebay Unboxing

Dave unboxes a random bit of gear from ebay. What is it?

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[tehPwnzor]

8:45 "You can program those in, just in case the fundamental constants change"

[EEVblog]

The lab is 50sqm of floor area, with 8ft vertical height if needed!

[therealjammit]

Parts are heating up and drifting. First thing to do is replace all caps before even troubleshooting. After replacing the caps, test it. It just might work. The other thing is to test and see if any transistors are getting hot. Before you replace transistors, check the power supply voltages and bias resistors. If not transistors but tubes, test to see if the tube voltages drift. Old tubes sometimes get gassy and need replaced.

[EEVblog]

I can't remember what I searched for in this case, but I wasn't targeting this. Either it was for Stanford Research gear specifically (which I do occasionally) or it was just a general browse in the Oz test gear section.

[bmanthree]

That's what ebay is for: "I just got something from ebay, I don't know what it is or what do with it, but hey!"

[douro]

These instruments have all kinds of uses in applications where you need very accurate and fast counting of trigger events. It stores the events and produces statistical data based on frequency versus time. One of the most common uses is in the characterization of radioisotopes.

[EEVblog]

The LED idea is interesting. How exactly? photodiode? I thought LEDs were ns fast?

[HLSDK]

You can use a reverse biased base emitter BJT transistor operated in avalanche mode to simulate a 'dark count' photon counter. It will vary with temperature. I'm currently working on similar devices and I built a circuit that attempts to emulate this particular instrument!! Sure wish we had one though, SRS is the bomb!

[tmurphya]

Fundamental constants... Lovely. You can program in the fundamental constants just in case they change!

I love your videos - I believe I have a similar sense of humor as you Dave. I am a recent subscriber, and really enjoy your videos! Keep up the great work, from Canada!

[EEVblog]

Sounds plausible, I might have to try this!

[squawkBirdies]

If it is a photon counter, could you hook up a photomultiplier tube to it? Then, you could use to count the photons per second that you get in various "dark" locations: ex. a room with the lights off, inside a box, outside at night, etc.

[MetalPhreakAU]

The tested label is just an electrical test (ie PAT - Portable appliance testing). Every piece of mains powered equipment at my uni has one of those labels. 5yr intervals are not uncommon. Seems redundant when the computers are replaced before then anyway. Anyway, label has nothing to do with calibration ;)

[wndy]

My old Texas Insruments Computer from 1979 had an RS-232 Port running Extended Basic. Talk about old school...way cool.!

[WickedEngineer]

i think it it might be used to get counts from a pmt.
pmts are used in all kinds of particle physic experiments to detect single photons, for example, when a particle hits a scintillator crystal.
i have some experience in making scintillator detectors because i used to work for gammasonics in five dock/sydney ;)

nice piece of kit you got there mate.
try looking for how to go about updating the SRS EPROM/EEPROM Data with a new Version (Not Sure What the latest Version is as of yet).

[KX]

when my pm3217 scope came from an ebay user, it was wrapped much better than this but i opened it up and the power plug had completely shattered as at some point in shipping it had been between the weight of the scope and a hard surface. The front panel also isn't attached properly on one side, but I don't think that's from shipping. Still worked with a new plug though. :D

[camerongray]

I seriously received a laptop wrapped in nothing more than 2 layers of gift wrap with the (wrong) charger just wrapped in with it. AMAZINGLY it worked fine and just had a minor scratch from the plug sitting on top. The seller was probably annoyed at the fact that I won their Compaq nc6400 for £10!

[ArchieD]

I assume you can directly connect a photon counting head (like Hamamatsu H7360) to this device?..

[TheManLab]

I bought an old school 20A Zenith Variac from a few hrs away in the old dart. And it was wrapped up in a cardboard box with the bakelite knob smashed to bits and, as you can probably guess.
I told the seller and he couldn't give a shit. And what you've got there, is a LOT lighter than a 20+ kg Variac.

[generalne]

Send it to Photonicinduction.  Maybe he could count something with it lol