A fine and accurate observation. I've been slowly replacing the loud 110v fans in my test equipment with new, higher cfm, quiet 12 vdc fans that probably won't last as long but make it possible to hear in my workshop.
On Oct 21, 2010, at 11:59 PM, Perry Sandeen <[email protected]> wrote: > Gents, > > Over the years I’ve purchased 15 or so pieces of HP 3XXX and HP 5XXX series > of test equipment. > > All has worked well until a week ago my HP 3568B which had worked for years > smoked when I turned it on. I had moved and had not powered it for a couple > of years. Looking at the PS board I had failed to remove the long-dead NiCad > memory battery for some inexplicable reason since I had removed them on the > other six I have. Several burned 1/10 tiny resistors and board lands. This > will not be a fun fix. > > I then stared to look at the various electrolytics in it and then in a few > other HP pieces. Most seem to use computer grade screw terminal caps as the > initial PS filter. But I noticed that on many of the daughter boards HP used > the familiar axial lead type of caps. All seemed original. > > Most of my HP stuff is between 25 to 40 years old. These original > electrolytics are on borrowed time. That it works so well is a shining > tribute to the quality of the HP organization. > > However I plan on replacing all the axial types in all of my HP equipment, > except for the tantalums, with new 105C, low ripple, high reliability types. > Fixing some HP boards is a PITA. > > My logic is this. The large amount of reasonably priced HP equipment that is > for sale is the result of the American electronic industry becoming almost > non-existent. > > After WWII (the big one), sorry I couldn’t resist that, all major American > cities had Surplus Row’s and there was a booming mail order business also. > We had seven major makers of Ham radio equipment. It’s all gone. > > So now on epay the low priced older HP equipment are the final remnants. In > a few years they will be gone. None of us can afford the new stuff. > > To invest between $25 to $50 in new caps plus perhaps more or better cooling > fans to extend the equipments operation for another 20 or 30 years is fine by > me even though I probably won’t be around or care by then. > > Regards, > > Perrier > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
