TSP #175 (I) - Teardown & Repair of a Fluke 744 Documenting Process Calibrator (Part 1)
19K views
September 19, 2020 5:16 PM
In this episode Shahriar attempts to repair a Fluke Documenting Process Calibrator. The device does not power on with neither a battery nor an external power supply. Although the schematic of this particular instrument is not available, an older model schematic shares many of the design aspects.
After close examination of the circuit and various testing of power supply sub-circuit, real-time clock and main processor, it becomes clear that the problem is with a corrupt firmware. The repair is put on hold until a firmware upload method is determined.
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TSP #174 - Teardown, Repair & Analysis of an Agilent 4.5GHz E5071C ENA Vector Network Analyzer
21.9K views
September 13, 2020 8:15 PM
In this episode Shahriar repairs an Agilent E5071C ENA Vector Network Analyzer generously loaned by AllTest. Please visit their website for all your measurement, calibration and service needs:
sales@alltest.net
https://alltestchambers.net
https://alltest.net
The network analyzer is missing the main HDD which initially prevents it from being tested. An image from a donor E5701C instrument is used to boot the unit and gain access to the instrument firmware. The unit shows an inaccurate S11 with an open Port 1 while S22 shows a perfect reflection. This indicates a potential problem with the Port 1 T/R module.
Teardown of the module reveals catastrophic damage to the resistive front-end coupler which has been mostly likely caused by a large RF input power incident. After cleaning the PCB area, a replacement coupler is constructed. The repaired unit is checked for full self-test and used to measure a YIG tuneable filter.
You can may check the Andostar microscope lineup here: (Direct Link / Not-tracked)
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/900802?spm=a2g0o.detail.100005.2.4d4f407ekYxi5H
More information about Wheatstone Bridge:
https://www.mwrf.com/technologies/test-measurement/article/21849280/the-wheatstone-bridge-how-does-it-impact-vna-measurements
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TNP #1 - Teardown & Repair of a Z-Wave GE ZW4005 Home Automation Wall Relay Switch
30.9K views
August 30, 2020 7:48 PM
In this episode Shahriar repairs a faulty Z-Wave ZW4005 wall paddle switch. These devices are used in conjunction with a Zigbee hub for home automation. The failure symptom is a blinking LED indicator light which can sometimes be accompanied with relay clicks.
The teardown shows a switching power supply IC responsible for providing power to the Zigbee module. This switching IC requires external diodes, capacitors and inductors for operation. A failed capacitor on the feedback path has caused a startup failure of the switch. A replacement corrects the problem.
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TSP #173 - Teardown, Repair & Analysis of a Noise-XT 2MHz - 7GHz Ultra-Low Phase-Noise Synthesizer
20.5K views
August 4, 2020 11:47 PM
In this episode Shahriar repairs a Noise-XT 2MHz – 7GHz Ultra-Low Phase-Noise Clock Synthesizer. The instrument’s history indicates that it has suffered a fall from a work table. After a lot of difficulty, the instrument control software was found so that the unit can be tested.
Initial tests reveal that a very small output is present, however nearly 40dB below the desired value. The unit teardown shows an architecture based on dual Analog Devices DDS 14-bits DACs in conjunction with a Z-COMM VCO and a series of dividers & frequency multipliers. A detailed analysis of the unit is presented.
RF and analog measurements indicate that the RF connector is not making adequate contact with the final trace of the RF output. This explains the low output power. This problem is resolved by replacing the SMA connector entirely. The device output power, frequency accuracy, stability as well as cross-correlation phase-noise measurements are presented.
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TSP #172 - Tektronix 6-Series 4-Channel 25GS/s 8GHz MSO Review, Teardown & Experiments (Part 1)
37.3K views
July 27, 2020 12:19 AM
In this episode Shahriar reviews the top-of-the-line Tektronix 6-Series Oscilloscope:
https://www.tek.com/oscilloscope/6-series-mso-mixed-signal-oscilloscope
This 4-channel instrument offers 8-GHz of bandwidth at 25GS/s on all channel independently. Tektronix has made great strides in offering low-noise front-end custom ASICs combined with hardware digital down-conversion built into the core of the 6-Series. This enables advanced triggering across in both time and frequency domains as well as multi-domain correlated measurements.
This review is organized as follows:
00:00 – Introductions
01:42 – Instrument design, front and back panels
03:34 – Full acquisition board teardown, analysis and architecture
18:11 – PLL Experiment: Spectrum View, advanced triggering, PLL characterization and debugging
38:33 – Backplane Communication: Jitter analysis, eye diagrams, jitter composition, cross-talk
49:24 – Concluding remarks
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