All posts by Simon

Generators - High Frequency

Micro-Tel SG-811 Swept Signal Generator: another dead LH0021, and a design issue

Leave a comment

After only a few hours of use since the last repair, the unit started to play up again. Simply, no output on all bands. A quick check revealed the issue, fortunately, no failure of the power supply, but again, the driver board for the oscillators, and again, the LH0021 power opamp isn’t delivering current.

By removing the wire that connect the LH0021 output to the YIG tuning coils, and feeding current from an external supply, all working great – fortunately. With no other stock at hand, I decided to move the power amp LH0021 from the (not normally used) filter driver board to the oscillator board, these boards are essentially the same design.

After that switch, it worked again – but only for another 30 minutes, then it failed again, another LH0021 burned out. How can it be??

No, I took all apart, including the mica washer, suspecting some short through the mica or similar issue (the heatsink is ground, but the case of the LH0021 is output). The mice is OK, but there is an issue with the screw hole and its plating. On the top side, is is plated as much as that it contacts the heatsink just slightly, probably, when it expands with heat, it causes the deadly short. Noteworthy – the driver board has the top side of the screw hole completely unplated!

Anyway, too many defective LH0021 yet, and this time I couldn’t find a cheap source. And not willing to pay USD 20 and take more chances for these parts to fail.

As luck would have it, there are some audio amps in my stock, quite common in lower-cost stereo amplifiers. About 20 W audio power, in an easy to use TO220 case, and despite being obsolete, these are ubiquitous, and low cost.

Normally, these are AC-coupled at input and output, and I didn’t find much reference to DC coupled uses. So I set up a little test circuit, and in fact, it provides a nice power opamp (unity gain stable).

Furthermore, the TDA2030 has both short-circuit and thermal overload protection. I wouldn’t call it indestructible, but chances are, that it would survive some adverse conditions.

Only trouble, there is no good space to mount the TO220 case to the heatsink. But a temporary setup will do for now.

With no other change of the circuits, all seems to work well, and also the frequency response seems OK. The LH0021 has about 15 kHz bandwidth, this can be easily met by the TDA2030A.

And in fact, it works well in the SG-811. All working and no need to align anything. Still, I would like to make sure the device has a proper heatsink. So, from a piece of scrap aluminum alloy plate, I machined a heat distribution plate, about 10 mm thick.

That’s the ready-machined parts, degreased with a bit of alcohol.

The distributor mounted well to the board, I cut threads into the metal block, so it is easy to affix to the board without any additional holes or modification.

To be not again trapped by some strange things, I also did some testing of the inrush current, power-on behavior and such (a current spike or reverse voltage may also damage the power amplifier). Also, mounted two more caps to the rails, and a dual-diode 48 V limiter.

However, the startup of the 18 V rail is good and clean.

Same fix applied to the filter board – there is enough space to fit the amplifier without any trouble.

Running at 18 GHz for a while, the temperature stabilized at about 60 degC, well in the range of good working conditions. A few hours later, the SG-811 is still working. So, with some luck, hopefully, a permanent repair.

Attenuator calibrator (objective: a really precise and accurate apparatus)

ADF41020 PLL: mysterious failures, and a not so mysterious fix

Leave a comment

For years I have been building PLL microwave frequency stabilizers using the marvelous Analog Devices ADF41020 circuit, however, while in all permanent installation there were never any issues, occasionally the inputs failed in my attenuator calibrator setup – essentially a set of two microwave receivers, a microwave source, and a ultra-precision directional coupler (Narda 5082) and a HP transfer switch.

A EIP counter is used to monitor the rough overall power level of the incident radiation, as well as to check the correctness of the frequency and providing the 10 MHz reference to the PLL system. Each PLL has a ADF41020 board as the key input element.

One day, I noticed some ground loop currents, and again, one of the boards failed. So I decided to dig into it and solve it once and for all. Strangely, the board of the generator had never failed.
Looking at the datasheet, there are input diodes that may be easily destroyed by DC current flowing into the ADF41020 RF input.

It can’t tolerate voltages below ground or above 3 V much, so it is quite clear that some ground loops or other potential shifts can destroy it.

Further investigation showed that the RF sample output of the Micro-Tel SG 811 generator actually is AC-coupled (there must be some decoupling within the directional coupler that is getting the signal out, or in the switch leading to the sample output – which is quite possible because there are PIN diode switches inside that normally need DC blocking caps to work). The Micro-Tel 1295 receiver however have the center pin of the RF sample output connected to ground via a 50 Ohms resistor at the other side of the directional coupler taking some power off the line. So it is at least clear that the DC current from the center pin caused the ADF41020 to fail. Easily solved, added some 2.2 pF microwave caps. These are tiny parts, 0402 size, and remarkably cheap for their performance.

Soldering needs a steady hand, and definitely you don’t want to put a lost of stress on the board, which is mounted by the SMA connector only. Probably it could be made more rigid with epoxy, but I rather like to treat such PLL equipment and microwave gear with great care, because these are solid structures, but don’t handle impact and bending well.

After put all back together, so far no failures at all.

Precision Timing

Siemens Electric Master Clock: after some years, a little repair

Leave a comment

My trusty Siemens master clock, after some years of service without any trouble, it needed repair. The electromagnet coil that charges the weight, it is triggered by contacts that got dirty over time. So I cleaned all well with contact cleaner and some ultrafine abrasive paper.

With these little repairs complete, the clock showed another issue. It just stopped after some random time, and that is no good for a Master Clock. Generally speaking, pendulum clocks that stop oscillation randomly are difficult to fix. It may be dirt in some gears or bearings, it may be incorrect adjustment of the escape wheel, it may be some local disturbance.
Fortunately, the full clockworks can be removed without touching the Invar pendulum.

There are connectors at the top, well large in size, and with some silk spun wire.

Upon closer inspection, one of the main gears, which also drives the minute hand, showed issues. It is not fixed in position, but moved in and out. How can it be? When it gets out too far, there won’t be any reliable force transmitted to the pendulum, so it will eventually stop.

There is a washer, brass, on the back side of the movement, and this is supposed to hold the axle in a fixed position, while allowing it to spin freely.

Somehow, this washer had worn out. So I just rotated it.

Giving the clockworks a good clean and oil (only special clock oil made for medium-heavy clocks supposed to be used!), but without a full disassembly.

Now it is ticking away again, and showing the time, day and night.

Various

HP 4140B pA Meter / DC Voltage Source: Special low currents, special connectors, and various FETs

2 Comments

It is another great auction score, a HP 4140B meter, used widely in the semiconductor industry and automatic test stations. Also handy in the lab to test all kinds of diodes, Zeners etc.

It has two +-100 VDC voltage sources, and a ultra-sensitive pA meter built in.

The pA meter seems to work, but one of the voltage source current limit LEDs flashes, although nothing is connected. This will need some repair. The other voltage source is working just fine, so there is no issue with the control board or DAC at least (one DAC is sourcing the voltage for both voltage outputs).

The current input is using some very unusual and high value range resistors… megaohms, gigaohms! Rarely seen before…

The range resistors are switched by reed switches, but not very common design. The coils are actually at the underside of the board, and no physical contact to the reed case, which could lead to leakage currents in the picoamp range.

There are some (plated) iron rods going through the board. These will get the magnetic field to the reed contacts.

These precision resistors, they don’t seem to come cheap. Maybe HP got a discount at the time… at least it doesn’t appear recommendable to start building such pA meters from scratch yourself… rather get some old used units.

The input assembly uses a dual FET to sense the null current, and the FET is a U401, rather common device. Maybe some nice experimentation or null detector can be done in the future with such designs.

The FET is mounted in the board, within a ground plane, and shielding between and around.

From the top, although there is not much heat generated, generous utilization of space, it could probably made fit to 1/4 of the volume?

The defect of the voltage source, it could be easily traced to the A5 board. This has a track and hold circuit, with a FET input opamp. The 4140B is one of the few instruments that I only touch with gloves inside! Better don’t leave residues and fingerprints on these gigaohm resistors and teflon standoffs.

Turns out the input to the amplifier is good, but the output is defective. A simple LF256H opamp, quite a common part.
Waiting for the spare… but pretty sure that replacing the opamp will fix the A5 board.

Another difficulty, the main connector. Originally, the 4140B came with a set of cables and a connector assembly, but this is mostly lost in some drawers of the previous owners.
So I did a test with a rather temporary assembly, but it is showing the correct currents, so all is good in general.

Finally, I found a cheap triax cable assembly.

The connector, it is gold plated inside, and better don’t touch!

Miscellaneous

Delicious Apple Muffins

Leave a comment

This a well time-proven recipe, and will yield 20 mid-size muffins.

500 g wheat flour
3/4 package baking powder (about 10 g will be sufficient)
165 g sugar
a little bit of salt
1 small and flat teaspoon of ground cinnamon

All the dry material, mix them well, and best pass all through a flour screener.

Cut two large apples into small pieces, or use 3 small apples. Don’t store them for a long time, as they will turn brown. Best use some firm apples, not overly ripe or soggy.

Heat up the oven to 180 degC.

To the dry mixture, add 250 mL milk, 90 g of neutral taste oil (also works with 90 g of soft margarine). 2 Eggs.

Mix the dough well. Then add the cut apples, and mix well again.

Fill the dough into muffin papers (in some holders of metal form), fill to almost full, but don’t spill the dough (use 2 spoons for best results).

Immediately bake in the pre-heated over, for about 30 minutes.

Let cool down. You may apply some heated/liquified jam or glazing, but I just eat these plain, and also kids like it that way.

Oscilloscopes

HP 54750 Digitizing Oscilloscope: a CARE package, and a scratched disc

2 Comments

Faster than expected I got the spare power supply from the US, it is in good shape, not dusty or anything. Well packaged.

First, I studied the circuit and the burned/unreadable diodes, because I will be trying to repair the defective supply later, just to have a spare. The diodes are 3.9 V and 11 V Zener diodes, fair enough.

Also dissected some special thermal fuse protected resistors, 22 Ohm, about 5 Watts, and a 130 degC thermal fuse in a ceramic package, an inrush current protector.

Probably going to replace these with discrete 22 Ohm resistors and thermal fuses. Actually, both the thermal fuses and the resistors were shot.

After fitting the power supply, some issues. The instrument starts up, and the screen initializes, showing a gray square, but nothing else. It just doesn’t boot up. Fiddling around a bit, I thought that maybe the battery protected memory got corrupted, or some other issue, so I set the dip switch to force-update and rom-unprotect, and started it twice, without actually loading firmware, but hoping that it would set some bytes or something to make the machine start at least. And it did. Also took out the video and cpu cards, reset all connectors. But finally I believe it was just some memory hickup.

Accidentally, found a stamp – made in 1996 – fits the datecode of the semiconductors.

The machine has been on for quite a while, no wonder the power supply eventually gave in. For precision timebase and jitter measurements, it is recommended to leave these instrument always on, or run it several hours before the critical test (3 picoseconds/div resolution, we are talking about mm distances at the speed of light…).

The firmware is a bit dated, and with the startup issues (that actually completely resolved once it started), I decided to update the firmware. Easy work with a 3.5 inch disc. Trying and trying – always getting read errors on my USB 3.5 floppy drive. EEE??? Some inspection – there is a big scratch in the disc.

I had been harsh to this disc, the only one in my possession in Japan, by storing it in a box with electronic parts and all kinds of things and dirt could easily get into the disc. In the late 80s, I kept these discs in a specially design box, etc.

Now, where to get such a disc it the city of Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan? A quick ride to the recycle store (2nd hand store) – no discs for sale, but I found an old network card, including an unused driver disc! 200 yen!

=”490″ class=”alignnone size-large wp-image-4682″ />

The disc is working just fine, and the update proceeded with no problem – version 7.12.

Final critical tests of the 54751A plug in – the samplers are working great, no issues at all!

The new firmware disc, I will keep it in a well sealed ZIP bag, for later use!

Oscilloscopes

HP 54750A Digitizing Scope: it ain’t work with no power

1 Comment

At the famous Yahoo auction, in Japan, I found this great instrument, a 54750A with a 54751A plugin. This is no less than a 20 GHz bandwidth(!!) sampling scope. I used to own one before, but have sold it some years back. At the time of introduction, these were the top instruments, in the 1995 to 2000 years. Still today, a 20 GHz scope doesn’t come cheap!

Normal issues with such unknown, non-working units are broken plug-ins, shot samplers, or other various difficult to fix issues. The samplers tolerate no ESD, and no more than 2 Volts! So please don’t let just any kid play with it. Not sure what happened at some companies in the past, when the engineer shot the 10 kUSD plug in… the whole unit traded for about 50 kUSD at the time, not too long ago.

This unit, it just won’t power up at all. No sign of any activity. So I took out the plugin, and started troubleshooting. The power supply.

These supplies were purchased from YOKOGAWA, a really high end supplier, and there are protection circuits for all voltages, including interlocks for the fans! But this unit has no need for any interlocks, because there is absolutely no power.

A little bit of examination shows discoloration and defective diodes.

The diodes overheated, because they are short. These are primary side diodes.

Also one of the transistors around this area of the supply failed. A 2SC3866 high voltage transistor, nothing too special, but none at hand at the moment!

Some analysis of the circuit – it is clear that this is the startup (auxiliary) power supply that will start up the main power supply. Also the input current limiting resistors (2 units that have 22 Ohm and a 130 degC thermal fuse each) are blown, no wonder that there is no action at all.

So I tried to connect an external supply, but there seem to be some other functions and details, so I can’t get the unit to start up. At least the red LED that indicates the auxiliary power, it is lit. But nothing else. Better not to proceed without schematics – which aren’t available.

So I have two options – wait to be able to go to Germany again, where I have a 54720A mainframe that has the same supply, and do some tests and investigations on that supply, or, see if there is a spare supply available somewhere. Kindly enough, a US enterprise offered a spare for USD 25, a great price!!! Plus 70 USD shipping to Japan…. Well, I purchased it and now waiting.

The 54751A module – even if the mainframe won’t work again, it is great find. These usually go for USD 1.5k, working condition. And I do have spare samplers back in Germany, in case it is a damaged unit (but as the mainframe has a power supply failure, I suspect that the module is fine, and that the unit was taken out of service because of the non-working power supply).

Some current offers…

Generators - Low Frequency

HP 3335A Synthesizer/Level Generator: Unlock issue, soldering issue?

4 Comments

The recently fixed 3335A, it still has some issue with the reference input. From time to time, or when touching the BNC cable connecting the 10 MHz OCXO output with the reference input, the *UNLOCK* light comes on.

First I thought it has to do with the low cost and cheaply made BNC cables, but even with very good BNC connectors, the issue persists. So, let’s open the thing up another time. I don’t like partially fixed instruments – even though this error could probably be solved by just not touching the cable….

Fortunately, the BNC connector has a long cable internally, and can be disassembled without destroying the crimping.
Checking it, the center wire has no connection. Looking at it in magnification, it seems that only ever the very tip has been in touch with solder, but inside of the golden BNC center connector, there is no solder. So it is clearly a HP manufacturing issue, someone didn’t solder it quite right.

After soldering it again, with plenty of solder, and removing the excess, all is working well! Finally!

Various

Force compensating precision balance: a few very interesting, very rare schematics

2 Comments

With the recent repair of a Mettler AE analytical balance, I never thought that the schematics would be available and obtainable anywhere. Maybe even the Mettler corporation only has some dusty copies in their Swiss secret archive. But, as luck would have it, a very kind reader provided some of the schematics to facilitate repair and understanding of the working principle.

At the time of the balance, like, 40 years back, it was still a challenge (maybe it is still challenging today), to build a mechanical system and ADC converters that are stable in resolution and drift to 1:10E7 counts and similar.

The basic working principle of force compensation and precision balances has long been known from the relevant patents, Sartorius, Mettler, Shimazu and similar. There is position sensor that can very precisely detect the position of the balance, to better than a micron. Then, there is a force coil, a magnetic system similar to a loudspeaker to compensate the force. Various levels and hinges may be involved. Then, there is a current regulation, a current reference, and a ADC to deal with the conversion to digital information. There are also normally temperature sensors to compensate temperature drift. Normally, the balance is continuously measuring the reference current and the coil current, and for best results, always leave it plugged in. Inside, there is some quite heavy aluminum case not only as an electrical shield but to avoid temperature imbalance. Accordingly, even when “switched off” by the front panel switch, these balances are actually internally on, doing their thing.

Key part is the position sensor. It works by a differential pair of photodiodes, and the total photocurrent is kept constant by active regulation (the left opamp), both diodes work vs. ground in essentially short-circuit current mode. Note that at the red point, the currents of both diodes add up (as total flux reaching the diodes) and need to cancel out the current from the 680 k resistor to 15 V rail. One diode, of course, has a resistor in the feedback loop of the right opamp (transimpedance amplifier) that will drive current through the 680 k resistor in its feedback loop to cancel out any differential current of the two diodes (to keep the negative terminal at virtual ground). More precisely, both diodes are keep at constant bias (short circuit) even if the photo current various or is unbalanced. Such setup has very linear response over several tens of micrometers. Rather than the BPX48 diode, you can use better Hamamatsu parts. Normally a small slit is used to illuminate the diodes, say, 30 um. You don’t want to make it too small, otherwise, there will a lot of light needed with associated heat and drift, and you don’t want to make the slit to wide otherwise sensitivity will be less. Certainly good to use a high efficiency light source like the SFH401-2 (15 degree emission angle, IR emitter).

The ADC, it works by an integrator, a reference current source (based on a LM399 high precision reference in some balances!), and a few current switches.

The magnetic coil current is simply regulated by a control loop that has some lead-lag elements similar to a PID regulator (otherwise such loop won’t be stable because of the nature of the electromagnet and phase angle).

Such system is integrated in a custom ASIC. Probably the best solution at the time.

Generators - Low Frequency

HP 3335A Synthesizer/Level Generator: a good fake transistor? at least, a working unit!

2 Comments

Recently, I got a very nice but non-working HP 3335A, with a defective power supply.
After a little wait, the spare PNP power darlington transistors arrived. 2N6052, pretty general purpose power transistors.

The look very shiny and heavy chromium plated, I got 4 pcs, and two had some marks of screws, and 1 had irregular connection wires. Doesn’t look like a genuine Motorola, but well, it is no rocket science anymore to make PNP darlington transistors.

After installing the transistors (I checked the contacts on the board, they seem to be good), some quick test with the load transistor showed perfect regulation of the power supply both on the -15 V and -5 V rails.

With the module assembly connected, unfortunately, the -15 V rail goes up to about -3 V, by current limit regulation.

No other way to find out than by checking module by module. The 3rd last checked turned out to be the faulty one – A7 assembly, mixer.

A little shorted 2.2 uF cap…

At the far lower left.

Replaced it with a 10 uF ceramic multi-layer capacitor.

To check the quality of the transistors, I sacrificed one piece, and cut it open – seems very solid inside, with copper heat spreader, well-mounted die, good bonding wires. So even if it has not been made by Motorola, it seems like decent quality.

Now… doing a proper test…. several hours on, to see if there are other weak links. The attenuator at least is working, and the output is good!