Re: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

2015-04-11 Thread Poul-Henning Kamp

In message 5528ac6f.3030...@williams-net.com, new writes:

QUESTION - will this kill the 3458 or its display somehow?

Unlikely.  Unfortunately it doesn't really help the display that
much either, as long as the filament is powered, the wearout mechanism
works, it's just faster for pixels turned on.

-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp   | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
p...@freebsd.org | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer   | BSD since 4.3-tahoe
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
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Re: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

2015-04-11 Thread Chuck Harris

Hi Poul,

In my experience, there are two very significant wear
mechanisms: 1) cathode emission, 2) phosphor fatigue.

They seem to both run at about the same speed.

-Chuck Harris

Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:


In message 5528ac6f.3030...@williams-net.com, new writes:


QUESTION - will this kill the 3458 or its display somehow?


Unlikely.  Unfortunately it doesn't really help the display that
much either, as long as the filament is powered, the wearout mechanism
works, it's just faster for pixels turned on.


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Re: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

2015-04-11 Thread Poul-Henning Kamp

In message 00bc01d07473$7a7344a0$6f59cde0$@gmail.com, Don@True-Cal writes:

DISP? 3 (Clr) is the one in question rather is removes power to
the display filament providing some help for display life.

As far as I can see from my reverse engineering, it just prints a
blank string.


-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp   | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
p...@freebsd.org | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer   | BSD since 4.3-tahoe
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
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Re: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

2015-04-11 Thread Don@True-Cal
The 3458A DISP? command, rather entered from the front panel or via a GPIB 
Command is not adequately discussed in the User's Manual IMO. There are four 
numeric values 0,1,2  3 plus the ability to enter a string value as mentioned 
below. All four values are supported via the GPIB, but only 0,1 2 are valid 
modes for the front panel DISP? command - the front panel DISP? 3 seems to be 
accepted and interpreted the same as DISP? 1 (On). The value 0 (Off) seems 
somewhat pointless and simply places dashes across the display. The value 1 
(On) is the default and normal mode. The value 2 (Msg) displays control 
messages only. These three modes would obviously offer no help to prolonging 
display life since the display filament would need to remain on. The 
interesting DISP? 3 (Clr) is the one in question rather is removes power to the 
display filament providing some help for display life. I'm not sure without 
actually getting inside and testing if filament voltage is present or not. 
Checking the
  schematics for a display filament voltage interrupter might also be a clue, 
but would still be firmware dependent. I use Agilent VEE for 3458A control and 
plotting and have provided a dynamic display control using DISP? 0-3 modes and 
I often leave the display in mode 3 (Clr) for long plot cycles (sometimes 
weeks). In this mode, the display is completely blank, including no enunciator 
(sampling) indicators at all. My hope is that the display filaments are off. 
Anyone know for sure?

Don

-Original Message-
From: volt-nuts [mailto:volt-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of new
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 12:09 AM
To: volt-nuts@febo.com
Subject: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

Hi, again...

  Now that I have the keysight connection expert running my two sick 3458s, I 
don't need to look at data on the displays. To keep them from burning out, I 
wanted to turn them off.

   I found a workaround of:

DISP 0,'  (16 spaces) .'

This put a period on the bottom of the blank screen and moves it 16 spaces to 
the right.
right off the screen!

So now the display is dark and only shows things like the 'err' message.

QUESTION - will this kill the 3458 or its display somehow?

Willy
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Re: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

2015-04-11 Thread Chuck Harris

From visual inspection, the filaments in these
vacuu-fluroescent displays look like bare wire,
which would make them some sort of doped tungsten
alloy.. which doesn't really ever wear out.

The only problems I have ever seen is due to
phosphor fatigue.  The display stops glowing
on whichever digit is on all the time... and
you see this as unequal brightness between the
digits.

I have never seen a vacuum fluorescent display
just fade away in any reasonable time.  They
seem to go for years and years.  I have alarm
clocks and ovens, and microwaves with these
displays some of which have been glowing for
around 40 years now, and still going strong.

I have seen vacuu-fluorescent displays that
have gone dark, and found that the reason is
the filament supply has quit...usually due to
a bad electrolytic capacitor.

-Chuck Harris

Don@True-Cal wrote:

The 3458A DISP? command, rather entered from the front panel or via a GPIB Command is 
not adequately discussed in the User's Manual IMO. There are four numeric values 0,1,2 
 3 plus the ability to enter a string value as mentioned below. All four values 
are supported via the GPIB, but only 0,1 2 are valid modes for the front panel 
DISP? command - the front panel DISP? 3 seems to be accepted and interpreted the same 
as DISP? 1 (On). The value 0 (Off) seems somewhat pointless and simply places dashes 
across the display. The value 1 (On) is the default and normal mode. The value 2 (Msg) 
displays control messages only. These three modes would obviously offer no help to 
prolonging display life since the display filament would need to remain on. The 
interesting DISP? 3 (Clr) is the one in question rather is removes power to the display 
filament providing some help for display life. I'm not sure without actually getting 
inside and testing if filament voltage is present or not. Checking t

h
e

   schematics for a display filament voltage interrupter might also be a clue, 
but would still be firmware dependent. I use Agilent VEE for 3458A control and 
plotting and have provided a dynamic display control using DISP? 0-3 modes and 
I often leave the display in mode 3 (Clr) for long plot cycles (sometimes 
weeks). In this mode, the display is completely blank, including no enunciator 
(sampling) indicators at all. My hope is that the display filaments are off. 
Anyone know for sure?

Don

-Original Message-
From: volt-nuts [mailto:volt-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of new
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 12:09 AM
To: volt-nuts@febo.com
Subject: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

Hi, again...

   Now that I have the keysight connection expert running my two sick 3458s, I 
don't need to look at data on the displays. To keep them from burning out, I 
wanted to turn them off.

I found a workaround of:

DISP 0,'  (16 spaces) .'

This put a period on the bottom of the blank screen and moves it 16 spaces to 
the right.
right off the screen!

So now the display is dark and only shows things like the 'err' message.

QUESTION - will this kill the 3458 or its display somehow?

Willy
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[volt-nuts] Seminar: Fundamentals of Low Current and Ultra-High Resistance Measurement

2015-04-11 Thread Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)
Google that and you should find a seminar sponsored by Keysight,
scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 2015 1:00pm ET / 10:00am PT (I'll
convert to GMT later)

Trouble is, it is streamed in a Windows format.

Dr. David Kirkby Ph.D CEng MIET
Kirkby Microwave Ltd
Registered office: Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Althorne, Essex, CM3 6DT, UK.
Registered in England and Wales, company number 08914892.
http://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/
Tel: 07910 441670 / +44 7910 441670 (0900 to 2100 GMT only please)
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[volt-nuts] RE Tek 5111A horizontal amp problem

2015-04-11 Thread Richard Moore
Solved — bad capacitor between the bases of the upper pair of cascode 
amplifiers on the horizontal output amp. Whew. This 5111A has a deflection  HV 
amp board from a 5110, which certainly made troubleshooting more difficult….

Dick
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[volt-nuts] Need help with old Tek scope

2015-04-11 Thread Mark Sims
Probably a wonkey electrolytic cap...  In the old TV days,  this was usually 
caused by a coupling capacitor, not a filter capacitor. 
 
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Re: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

2015-04-11 Thread Didier Juges
I have fielded two dozen pieces of equipment with 2x16 VFD from Noritake. These 
are on 24/7 and they were shipped over a 4 year period starting in 2000. In 
normal state, there are 4 digits always turned on on the first line. The other 
digits are rarely turned on.
The displays start being noticeably darker after 2 years and barely usable 
after 3-4 years. The digits that are not normally used seem to last much longer 
but they eventually get darker, just at a much slower rate. It may be due to 
contamination rather than the filament itself wearing out. By now, most have 
been replaced at least once, with a different part number because the old one 
has become obsolete.

Didier KO4BB


On April 11, 2015 11:37:49 AM CDT, Chuck Harris cfhar...@erols.com wrote:
 From visual inspection, the filaments in these
vacuu-fluroescent displays look like bare wire,
which would make them some sort of doped tungsten
alloy.. which doesn't really ever wear out.

The only problems I have ever seen is due to
phosphor fatigue.  The display stops glowing
on whichever digit is on all the time... and
you see this as unequal brightness between the
digits.

I have never seen a vacuum fluorescent display
just fade away in any reasonable time.  They
seem to go for years and years.  I have alarm
clocks and ovens, and microwaves with these
displays some of which have been glowing for
around 40 years now, and still going strong.

I have seen vacuu-fluorescent displays that
have gone dark, and found that the reason is
the filament supply has quit...usually due to
a bad electrolytic capacitor.

-Chuck Harris

Don@True-Cal wrote:
 The 3458A DISP? command, rather entered from the front panel or via a
GPIB Command is not adequately discussed in the User's Manual IMO.
There are four numeric values 0,1,2  3 plus the ability to enter a
string value as mentioned below. All four values are supported via the
GPIB, but only 0,1 2 are valid modes for the front panel DISP? command
- the front panel DISP? 3 seems to be accepted and interpreted the same
as DISP? 1 (On). The value 0 (Off) seems somewhat pointless and simply
places dashes across the display. The value 1 (On) is the default and
normal mode. The value 2 (Msg) displays control messages only. These
three modes would obviously offer no help to prolonging display life
since the display filament would need to remain on. The interesting
DISP? 3 (Clr) is the one in question rather is removes power to the
display filament providing some help for display life. I'm not sure
without actually getting inside and testing if filament voltage is
present or not. Checking t
 h
e
schematics for a display filament voltage interrupter might also
be a clue, but would still be firmware dependent. I use Agilent VEE for
3458A control and plotting and have provided a dynamic display control
using DISP? 0-3 modes and I often leave the display in mode 3 (Clr) for
long plot cycles (sometimes weeks). In this mode, the display is
completely blank, including no enunciator (sampling) indicators at all.
My hope is that the display filaments are off. Anyone know for sure?

 Don

 -Original Message-
 From: volt-nuts [mailto:volt-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of new
 Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2015 12:09 AM
 To: volt-nuts@febo.com
 Subject: [volt-nuts] dark display for 3458

 Hi, again...

Now that I have the keysight connection expert running my two sick
3458s, I don't need to look at data on the displays. To keep them from
burning out, I wanted to turn them off.

 I found a workaround of:

 DISP 0,'  (16 spaces) .'

 This put a period on the bottom of the blank screen and moves it 16
spaces to the right.
 right off the screen!

 So now the display is dark and only shows things like the 'err'
message.

 QUESTION - will this kill the 3458 or its display somehow?

 Willy
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