[time-nuts] Re: HP / Agilent 53132A

[Bob Camp]

Hi

The power supply in the 5313x counters was made by who knows who 
( = HP bought it from the low bidder). They are very much the weak point
in the device. Will yours fail tomorrow? Who knows …..

The “cheap answer” to the replacement issue is to buy a 53181. They are
not a popular item. They don’t fetch much compared to the other counters 
in the series. They *do* share the same power supply. We  swapped a 
*lot* of supplies between the 181 and 131/132 counters. (as in dozens …).

Bob

> On Apr 29, 2023, at 3:21 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On 4/27/2023 4:34 PM, Brett Fanoga via time-nuts wrote:
> 
>> equipment leasing company for around $1100 US.  I have only had one problem with mine, the fan failed.  It runs all the time, if the unit is plugged in to power – even if the unit is off on the power switch. Called HP and they do not sell the fan, they want to sell you the whole power supply which they wanted a small fortune for.  But, I found Digi-Key carried the exact fan, and I bought 2 units for just under $50 US about 10 years ago.  And now if I am not using the counter,  I unplug it.
> 
> I worked for the HP Santa Clara Division during the era of these instruments, which were code named "Major League Baseball" (MLB).  I suspect
> (based on other HP instruments) that the fan is necessary to keep
> the power transformer from overheating due to its own core loss.
> And the power transformer is connected to the AC line at all times,
> to save the hassle of a line level on/off switch, with all the
> safety problems.  Fans running 24/7 are well known not to last for
> more than a year or so.
> 
> And yes, vacuum fluorescents are famous for wearing out.  My N8LP
> digital vector wattmeter puts the VF display to sleep after a
> few minutes to extend the life.
> 
> Add on prescalers using dynamic flip flops are fairly fussy about
> about broadband noise floor, etc.
> 
> This reminds me of a humorous anecdote.  I was in a meeting with
> the designer of the MLB FPGA and Len Cutler.  The MLB engineer
> offered his opinion about some technical issue, after which
> he appended it with a self-deprecating remark along the lines
> of "of course I've only been here for 30 years".  As if on
> cue, Len angrily fired back with "well, I've been here 40 years".
> This was classic Len behavior.  I kind of felt bad for the
> MLB engineer.
> 
> Rick N6RK
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