Barbouri's Electronics Projects
Restoring vintage electronics along with designing and building new circuits. One eye looking into the past, the other looking into the future.
I finally decide that I had pushed my luck far enough with my battery backed NVRAM in my Tektronix TDS 380 oscilloscope. The specifications for the Dallas Semiconductor DS1644-120 Timekeeping RAM state that it is good for at least 10 years at 25°C, and mine had just turned 28 years old.
I decided to take a gamble on purchasing a Power Designs Inc. TP330 triple output power supply. It was a bit rough looking with a bunch of stickers on the front panel, but no scrape marks from past sticker removal visible. The seller stated that the bottom analog meter was non-functional, but the output terminals measured voltage that changed with the voltage knob.
Several decades ago I owned two Beckman / Berkeley model 7360–20 Universal EPUT® and Timer’s. Because of their size and weight and an upcoming move, I gave them away to a friend. In the past few years I have somewhat regretted that decision, even though it was probably for the best. So when I saw this 7360 up for auction, I decided to make an offer on it. I was able to purchase it at a reasonable price, but as expected the shipping was a bit high due to it’s size and weight.
I found a great deal on a Hewlett Packard 3314A 20 MHz function generator that was non-functional, but overall looked to be in good shape. It arrived in great condition and was well packed for a nice change. The seller clearly stated the issues with this unit such as errors when started up cold, which worsened over time until it finally lost the display and LED’s.
I had the need to match a batch of transistor pairs for a project, so I designed a circuit board based on a circuit by Ian Fritz.
I have had my used Keithley 2015 THD multimeter for just over six years now, and have finally decided to perform some maintenance on it. I purchased it as a fully tested and working unit back in 2016. After it arrived, I did a visual check of internal components and a good cleaning of the exterior.
After the acquisition of my Power Designs 5015D power supply, I really wanted to upgrade the display module so that I had an extra digit of resolution. I already had a few ADC/LED meter boards left over from previous projects, but needed a display board to pair with it.
Repair and cleanup of a Power Designs Inc. 5015D power supply that I purchased on Ebay.
This was one of the better looking 5015D power supplies that I have seen on Ebay, that was not overpriced or included an overpriced shipping charge. The listings condition description said ” fully operational and functions as intended”.
Cleanup and mechanical repairs on a 1996 vintage HP 1662C Logic Analyzer to add to my test equipment collection.
Adding a new HP 34700 series module to the collection. This time it is the 34721B BCD interface plug-between module, which converts character serial data from the 34740A or 34750A Display Module to parallel character information for output to a printer.
Checking out a HP 3551A sold as “For parts or not working, will not power on”, that I actually purchased for parts.
My original intent on purchasing this unit was to salvage the knobs and connectors for repairing some of my other HP gear. I did manage to swap out four of the knobs before my curiosity got the better of me.
Cleanup and repair of a Hewlett Packard (HP) 8012B pulse generator purchased on Ebay as “Untested does not power on, sold as is”.
The 8012B was originally produced by the HP Gmbh Boeblingen Divison, Germany, but this later model was made in USA. It provides variable transition times down to 5 ns and the repetition rate can be adjusted from 1 Hz to 50 MHz.
After spending many hours working on my Hewlett Packard 5300 series measuring systems, I decided to remake my own version of the HP 10548A diagnostic service kit.
Cleaning up and photographing a Hewlett Packard 5301A 10 MHz counter plug-on module for the 5300 series modular measuring system.
Cleaning up and looking at a bunch of plug-on modules for my Hewlett Packard 5300B mainframe modules, after purchasing a new unit. It seems that I am starting to collect quite the range of modules for my HP 5300 systems since my original 5300B Measuring System back in 2017.
After five years and a few prototype revisions of the Version 2.12 Programmable Voltage reference, I decided it was time to update the project based on many requests and lessons learned from prototypes over the years.
