[Noisebridge-discuss] New Multimeter needed....

[Dr. Jesus]

As I've said before, there's something in the hacker psyche that
become irrationally upset when confronted by a lock.  It happens more
to some than others, but for some members it makes them very, very
angry.  We all have to live together, so installing a locked cabinet
is probably not worth it.

Besides, I made arrangements to safely keep safety-critical gear
elsewhere in the building out of Noisebridge's control.  I can show
anyone else who needs to keep nice things at 2169 how that works when
I'm there on Tuesday.

On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 11:17 AM, John E <neurofog at gmail.com> wrote:
> Jim,
> I was under the impression borrowing any equipment, books etc. from
> noisebridge was considered unexcellent, especially when people are "sloppy"
> about returning it.
> Perhaps we should consider having a lockable "crate" with the expensive test
> equipment and dev boards, so that random people can't walk off with it.
>
> Regards,
> John
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 11:06 AM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>    Holy Moly! Thanks for the link to the $6 MPJA meter!
>>
>>    For me, el cheapos work great, but i do power supply
>> and audio work where most of the measurements are
>> discovering catastrophic failures and continuity.
>>    I'd love to know detailed criteria for assessing a
>> multimeter. One approach might be to point to the specs
>> of a good model (fluke 17{5,7,9}, which i looked up).
>>    But it'd be really helpful to understand the why of
>> each criterion: in measuring capacitance, what are the
>> use cases and acceptable tolerances? For me, if the RC
>> figure allows, I can look to see if the "needle" moves
>> to know if it's working (can't do that with pfs, of
>> course); cap tolerances for me are +-50%, give or take....
>>    Is there a need for a does-all meter or is it
>> acceptably useful to have a reasonably good VOA meter
>> along with separate cap and L measurement tools (maybe
>> a frequency generator and scope...)?
>>
>>    As to "Why We Can't Have Nice Things at Noisebridge",
>> that issue makes me furious!
>>    It's horribly inconsiderate to take things away: I'm
>> guessing mainly it's a sloppy, selfish mentality to the
>> effect that "I'll just use it and bring it back after
>> I'm done", which very often fails to "I'll just use it
>> and let it sit around unused and forgotten somewhere at
>> my house forever more after I'm done."
>>    Possible approaches include
>> * We Can't Have Anything Nice at Noisebridge
>> * People can bring in their personal nice things and
>>  label them and put them in their member shelves and
>>  loan them out when/if they see fit.
>> * Have a checkout system for some things--probably a
>>  signout sheet: probably a fair number of people will
>>  sign stuff out before they take things home and leave
>>  them there, and when asked, they'll probably be able
>>  to find the things and bring them back.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 2011-01-24 at 09:11 -0800, Jonathan Foote wrote:
>> > Hey Zach, thanks for noticing! But I'm with  Dr. J. here.
>> >
>> > I wouldn't get a Fluke, it will just walk like the last one. (Another
>> > demonstration of Why We Can't Have Nice Things at Noisebridge.) Sounds
>> > like you could use one for yourself, though!
>> >
>> > I have a spare El Cheapo I can donate. I'll bring it tonight and slap
>> > some stickers on it.
>> > For the price of a Fluke we can get a few of these $6 ones which will
>> > work great for 99% of anything we want to do at NB.
>> > (How many people not doing power engineering really need accurate
>> > capacitances > 400 uF?)
>> >
>> >
>> > http://www.mpja.com/Category/Test_Equipment/Digital_Multi_Meters/LARGE_CHARACTER__LCD_MULTIMETER_17191_TE.asp
>> >
>> > As Dr. J mentioned we can loan ya an expensive one should you need it.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 10:52 PM, Dr. Jesus <j at hug.gs> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > I've noticed that the people who need a trustworthy DVM just bring
>> > > their own.  I have a pretty nice one you can borrow if that will help get
>> > > some of the LCDs working.
>> > > On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 10:46 PM, Zach . <organic_unity at yahoo.com>
>> > > wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >> Hey folks,
>> > >>
>> > >>    Zach here and this is my first attempt at posting to the email
>> > >> list.  I'm writing this because I believe we desperately need a new
>> > >> multimeter to work with and am not sure how to go about the process of
>> > >> noisebridge getting one.  But allow me to explain first...
>> > >>
>> > >> noisebridge used to have a very nice Fluke multimeter that went
>> > >> missing some months ago.  I have looked all over for it but it has yet to
>> > >> turn up.  I am in the process of repairing some LCDs for noisebridge (got
>> > >> one working already) and could be saved a great deal of time and effort with
>> > >> a better multimeter.  The best one we have now is a "Vichy" brand.  I
>> > >> personally find it incredibly low quality and a very large pain to use.  And
>> > >> its capacitance readout maxes out under 400uf...which is a joke.
>> > >>
>> > >> I recommend we collect donations for this very important electrical
>> > >> tool for the benefit of noisebridge and everyone else at the space.  Great
>> > >> Fluke meters are inexpensive these days and a quick ebay search pulls up one
>> > >> at a good price:
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> http://cgi.ebay.com/FLUKE175-TRUE-RMS-MULTIMETER-EXC-CONDITION-CASE-/190484916097?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c59c92781
>> > >>
>> > >> the Fluke 175 is a superb meter measuring capacitance to 10,000uf or
>> > >> TWENTY TIMES higher than our current best meter.  This will make repairs far
>> > >> easier.  It also has RMS frequency reading, high voltage (600v), and is far
>> > >> more accurate.  It also reads more than twice as fast.
>> > >>
>> > >> so....what do people think?  sorry I don't know how this process is
>> > >> supposed to work, people just told me to post to the list so here I am...
>> > >>
>> > >> best,
>> > >> Zach
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> _______________________________________________
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>> > >> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> > >> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> > >>
>> > >
>> > >
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