Alan Parekh of Hacked Gadgets writes: If you are doing any electrical work, one of these Non Contact Voltage Test Pens can be quite handy. Just touch the wire that you want to make sure isn’t live and check that the tester doesn’t beep and start flashing. This test pen is on all the time […]
Category Archives: Teardowns
Multicode transmitter teardown
Jaanus Kalde did a teardown of a Multicode transmitter: I got my hands on a broken Satel OY multicode transmitter. It is an transmitter used to get information from remote sites – alarm codes, telemetry or sensor values. You can attache it to your pump or ground station and it sends a message up to 30 km […]
Black and Decker Gyro screwdriver teardown
Alan Parekh of Hacked Gadgets writes: Thanks to Black and Decker for sending in this Gyro Screwdriver for review, you can see the review here. In this article we are going to tear into it and see what we have on the inside. Opening the unit was very simple since there are just 5 phillips […]
eBay photoswitch teardown
Alan Parekh of Hacked Gadgets writes: I spotted this photoswitch on eBay and had to take a look at the guts (search photoswitch if the link doesn’t work since eBay links go stale after a short time). I now see that the same unit is sold in multiple variations which are 24V and 220V. Not sure […]
Laserworld CS-500RGY laser projector teardown
Jaanus did a teardown of a Laserworld CS-500RGY laser projector: I got my hands on a Laserworld CS-500RGY laser projector. This is the smallest 500 mW one. It is a device that has three laser sources (red, red and green) and mirrors for moving laser pointer. It can be controlled by sound, DMX512 or ILDA interface. So, […]
HP 436A power meter teardown
Kerry Wong did a teardown of an HP 436A power meter: HP 436A is a power meter capable of measuring RF power between -70 dBm and 44 dBm (roughly between 0.1 nW to 25 W) with a frequency range from 100 kHz all the way upwards to 110 GHz depending on the sensor module selected. This power […]
Tear down of a cheap external USB battery
cpldcpu did a teardown of an external USB battery: The device has a USB micro-b socket which is used as 5V input for charging, and a normal USB-A socket as 5V output. The output power can be turned off and on by a toggle button. There are LEDs to indicate active power out (blue) and charging (red) […]
Vintage multimeter – Weston 6000
Teardown and repair of a Vintage multimeter – Weston 6000 by KuzyaTech: Another addition to my growing collection of vintage multimeters is this Weston Schlumberger Model 6000 meter from the mid 1970s The meter was listed as in almost like new condition except for a spot on the front panel. It came with (very rubbery) test […]
HP 6113A teardown And calibration
Kerry Wong writes: A couple of weeks ago I did a teardown of HP 6181C — a precision DC current source made in the late 70′s and early 80′s. This time around, I am going to show some pictures of an HP 6113A precision DC power supply and do a basic calibration using my Keithley […]
Fluke 196B Handheld ScopeMeter repair
Teardown and repair of a Fluke 196B Handheld ScopeMeter: In this episode Shahriar goes through the teardown and repair process of a Fluke 196B Handheld ScopeMeter. This unit, which has been purchased as a “dead” unit from eBay, is examined for faults. During the teardown, various PCB components, architecture and design is presented. The performance […]
HP 6181C DC Current Source Teardown
Kerry Wong did a teardown of an old HP 6181C DC current source: HP 6181C is a lab grade 0 to 250 mA current source manufactured back in the late 70′s and early 80′s. There does not seem to be any pictures on the Internet for this particular model so I thought I would do a teardown […]
HP 3468A bench multimeter repair
HP 3468A bench multimeter repair: There are a number of great older bench meters out there that would be perfect when upgrading from a hand held meter when working on the bench. The HP 3468A meter can be had for under $200 in good working condition and often around $100 for a unit that powers […]
Teardown: Teledyne LeCroy HDO4024 12-Bit oscilloscope
Sebastian voided his warranty and bravely went where others fear to tread, dissecting the Teledyne LeCroy HDO4024 12-Bit oscilloscope. He produced this post detailing his findings. Via the contact form.
Silvercrest (Lidl) TwinTalker 4810 446MHz PMR radio teardown
Joe Desbonnet acquired a Silvercrest (Lidl) TwinTalker 4810 PMR radio and decided to explore under the hood. PMR radios are a European equivalent of low power Family Radio Service and General Mobile Radio Service walkie-talkies used in the USA, but operate on the 446 MHz frequency band. Most use analog FM, though commercially targeted models […]
Tear down of an HP ProCurve 2824 Ethernet switch
Free PCB builder extraordinaire Kenneth did an extensive teardown of an HP ProCurve 2824 Ethernet Switch. He analyzes the PCB piece by piece, explaining the smaller function blocks and how they fit together. So that is how all of the internals of a 24 port managed switch interact with each other at the system level. The processor […]
Weller DS701E soldering-desoldering station repair
Gelbanana had some free time on his hands and he decided to try and repair an old Weller DS701E soldering-desoldering station he had laying around. The problem was diagnosed to a couple of bad capacitors. After a quick replacement, the station started working as expected, with the exception of the desoldering iron heater. While waiting […]
Weller WX 2021 soldering station teardown
Presslab tears down the Weller WX 2021 soldering station. He is hunting for the pinout of the front panel serial connector. He was able to identify the serial IC used, and with it the pinout. Via the forum.
Nexus 7 dock teardown
Anton Gorbunov did a teardown of his Nexus 7 dock and discovered that there are only some passive components on the PCB. He notes that with some pogopins it should be easy to make your own Dock. Via the contact form.
Eight Henry inductors from an old “tube” radio receiver
Kenneth takes apart a few old “tube” radio receivers and finds 8 Henry inductors inside, which is several orders of magnitude more then regular inductors we’re accustom to. He proceeds to hook it up to a 10 uF capacitor, and tests the ringing frequency of this LC circuit. This LC pair resonates at 12Hz, which […]
Analog Discovery teardown
Mat received his open 7400 contest prize, the Analog Discovery bench tool. He was quick to tear it down and find out how it ticks. The brain of the beast is a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA which works in conjunction with a few analog specific IC, like the AD9648 125 MSPS ADC, and a few ADG612 […]