One of THOSE days

[avocollector]

I had a spare hour before the news came on at 6pm so I nipped out to my shed, set the timer on the clock by the workbench and got on with repairing a dual fluorescent camping lamp. Basically one florescent tube is not working and they both light up happily when in the HV supply so it's the inverter circuitry (powered off 4 x 1.5 volt D cells). Had previously checked out the switch, batteries, wiring and all OK so today pulled out the inverter board and started checking a few DC volts with my handy (el cheapo) DMM but something is wrong? cannot get a consistent readings, replace battery, check leads and still wonky readings. Check mains voltage with it and it happily tells me it's 475 v ac. Now NZ power regulation can be a bit off but NOT that much!

So grab the next handy meter - a spare autoranging Fluke DMM knockoff and measure a couple of things, but what's this?? ohms range giving all sorts of weird things. Check battery OK then notice PP3 battery clip is broken and corroded so desolder and repair. Finally get it back together, ohms reads zero with leads shorted - and immediately the rotary switch on the front gives up the ghost/refuses to turn. So put that aside and grab the real thing - an old Fluke 8008B 'push switches on the side' DMM

Wierdo readings again?? Check battery and OK so fiddle with it but eventually give up hope, put it to one side to pull out best 1970's vintage Hioki brand analogue meter. Ohms range dead so pull apart, replace batteries, and all works happily. Just about to resume work on the invertor board when 'bing' the alarm goes as it's now 5 to 6pm and time to scoot inside to watch the news.

if only I'd pulled out the vintage Hioki first and got some actual work done - sigh! .

as it's now 5 to 6pm and time to scoot inside to watch the news.

Aw, get a radio in the shed! I often tinker away in my workshop (or tip as the unkind call it) and then the shipping forecast music comes on. Luckily SHMBO likes an early tea so I don't feel hungry. At least you have diagnosed a couple of faults and not wasted time.

[mark pirate]

You are not alone! I wanted to carry out an alignment on a set, but my signal generator refused to work properly.
I spent nearly two hours repairing it, by which time I was too tired to do the radio

I should have just used another signal generator, but I was determined to find the fault!

Mark

[Lloyd 1985]

This happens to me EVERY time I decide to go do something in the workshop!! Something goes wrong, or I spend all my time looking for something for a project that I'm sure I'd got, but probably haven't.

The other favourite of course is spending time trying to clear a space to work on, only to find that I've put all the junk in front of a cupboard that has the elusive part I need!

All good fun... (is it?!)

Regards,
Lloyd.

[unitaudio]

Yep, all so reassuringly familiar...

Regards,
Paul

[reelguy]

Who does that sound like ? My wife said after I read out the messages.
I am glad I'm not alone !��
Peter W...Reelguy

[G6Tanuki]

We all have 'those days' now and again: my most recent being an afternoon's frustration eventually tracked down to a cheap mini-croc-clip-to-croc-clip patchlead where the wire was ineptly crimped to the croc-clip. I was using it to provide the earth-connection between two boards - sometimes it made proper contact and othertimes the signal-level earth-return between the boards was by way of the two separate power-supplies, their transformers' interwinding-capacitance and the AC mains supplies.

Results were, shall we say, 'deeply inconsistent', and my frustration-level hit 110%.

[Billy T]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

We all have 'those days' now and again: my most recent being an afternoon's frustration eventually tracked down to a cheap mini-croc-clip-to-croc-clip patchlead where the wire was ineptly crimped to the croc-clip.

That is an all too common failing, along with croc clips that don't mate accurately, or worse, skew sideways under normal usage. First thing I do with new croc leads is slide the covers back from the clips and re-terminate them so that the wire-clamp does not serve any electrical purpose, then I terminate the conductor properly with solder.

Works a lot more reliably than 'play, hope and pray'.

Cheers

Billy

[G6Tanuki]

I've learned my lesson - and will not be buying cheap [8 for £2.99] mini-croc-clip patch-lead sets again! This one was, I admit, a "distress purchase" - I was working away from my usual den and had to get some kit quickly from a well-known national electronics store.