I just watched this again for review. I need to make a battery pack for a HP portable scope I purchased. I wish it only had a few batteries like yours but it is going to take 80 batteries to make the 24 volt battery pack. I think I have decided to make 2 packs like yours but 4 batteries across and 10 pairs long. That will give me a pack with enough current but at 12 volts. I will make 2 packs then joint them in series to get the 24 volts. There are so many different ways to do the job. I could have made 4 24 volt packs and join them together for more current. There is good logic in the way you divided the pairs of batteries and I like that. Thanks again for all your videos, I know how much work it takes to make them!
Watching your channel there are many great "tips and tricks" you pass along - but the one I have really tried to adopt in my own work is the care and consideration you give to every part of the work you do. You approach every task with equal care and consideration and the end result is immaculate.
Just found your channel. I'm impressed. I love the quality. I've been watching the EVBlog and Signal path for years. Not sure why I never found your channel before.
Can you address how these would be recharged once they have been soldered together permanently in their series-parallel network? Does the scope's own recharging circuit, intended for the lead acid batteries, still work adequately? If not, then do you have to remove the whole pack to charge externally from the scope? And if externally, what method do you use for the recharge? It seems to me that these are not intended to be recharged in this configuration...... When you started this, I assumed that you were going to somehow rig up a few AA cell holders, of the type that each hold two cells, with the holders connected series-parallel but arranged so you could still extract the cells for individual recharging in "normal" NiMH charger(s). Would have been a pain, but as you suggested initially you did not buy this for serious use, rather just for occasional demos, so recharging would be infrequent. Or maybe you just figured that the initial charge, pre-networking, would last indefinitely for your occasional demos? As a side note, I used to use one of the similar (and earlier) tiny Tek dual channel ANALOG scopes (which had some kind of analog delay line (as I recall) and a phosphor-type "memory") rather extensively decades ago....maybe 35 years or so ago). I think those had regular BNC connectors for the probes. On that scope, the whole right side had traditional buttons and knobs for control of the two channels, and the battery pack was on the back end. The scope fit into a bag that you could hang from your neck, with the CRT screen pointing up so I could look down to read it, leaving my hands free. I recall the bandwidth was quite low, no more than 20MHz I think. I would not mind having one of those again now, just for show and tell!
Next time try desoldering wick (the one without flux) to join the cells. Flexible and much bigger surface area. Used this for high current discharge packs and it works like a charm
That's an excellent suggestion that I'm going to use in the future, and as anyone who's not been quick enough removing it knows, solder wick sticks GREAT to just about anything!
Like you, I found a friend who had one of these. He had lost the power supply, and it didn't turn on, so he gave it to me. Well, you video showed me how to remove the LAB. It was dead so no wonder it wouldn't turn on. I plugged it into my bench supply and....it works perfectly. This little scope is so amazing! It will never leave my hands. Yes, a little slow, but, it's just so cute. As an aside, he used it twice for a purpose he had. Used it twice and it went to the back of an equipment locker, never to be seen or used since, and I'm guessing, 1994.
Watching this in 2020 was interesting given battery technology, but my mind began to slowly blow as you wrapped up the battery build. The sheer cleanliness of the wrap, the foam blocks, the WEATHER STRIPPING . Nice. Not sure why this channel doesn't have more subs!!
Ahhhh i discovered your channel two days ago and i really like it. Its much better than many other electronics channels. Very knowledgeable and humble, a great ambience, no ridiculous extreme closeups of hand drawn diagrams (Great Scott), a great voice (sometimes i get ear fatigue when i watch EEVblog) and a peek into some enjoyable RF equipment troubleshooting, something i always found daunting and tedious. Kudos for the great content and knowledge you share! Best regards.
Recently acquired the high-voltage version of this, the Tektronix 220PS Power Scope. Of course the battery was dead, so I built one with solder as in this video, and one with spot-welded nickel strips, both with a 3A fuse mid-pack. Both work great, and the welded one with Ikea 2450 batteries ran over 9 hours before the low battery indicator came on. Thanks, Mr. Carlson!
Way to save old obsolete test gear you can’t get parts for! BRAVO!! I done the same thing on my Tektronix TDR, my Sitemaster antenna analyzer, the Tektronix 222 Oscilloscope, and several HT’s that use those “flat” batteries for the memory..... It works great! And I save an otherwise useful piece of electronics from the scrap heap!
I've got the 222. I like to work on arcade and pinball machines and sometimes I want to see a digital signal. This little thing is great for bringing the test equipment to the device under test instead of the other way around!
Another masterpiece Mr Carlson. I did a battery pack like this a few years ago. Didn't have heat shrink big enough to fit but a section from an old inner tube stretched over the assembled pack perfectly.
TEK never shipped a turkey. I used the 224 in the field for a number of years and loved it. Just for simple stuff, but I was on Broadcast towers, way up in the wind and rain. What fun! Anyway, the scope always did what it was supposed to do.
Talking about 60mhz scopes I am in the process of repairing a Trio CS-1060 oscilloscope with an intensity problem. Thought I had fixed it tested last night calibrated it . Put the covers on this morning and the same fault has returned with a smell of ozone. I have removed covers and will let you know what the fault was I am still investigating the cause of the fault. Intermittent faults are a pain. Excellent video on swapping battery packs and a very nice looking scope at that and a very good buy should serve you for years to come.
Interesting project. I like it when people find ways to fix things instead of just throwing them out! If you want something fun to tackle, I have an Icom IC-706Mk2G that I've been troubleshooting (no power up) and haven't found the issue as of yet. Though I am slowly working through the schematic following the "HV" line.
Hi Paul - Thanks for the battery trick. I am an HVAC guy (Formerly a 2nd Class Radio Telephone licensee) and my electronic leak detector battery pack went belly up. Those batteries are 60 clams or so. Anyhow, it turns out there are a quad of "4/5A" batteries in there that I found online for about 6 bux. I was concerned about soldering them even though I have done that in the past. I hear all these warnings, but thought "hey, as long as I do it quick with a hot iron..." Lol, and wouldn't you know it - I am watching your video because I also like that "cute 224" for no good reason really, and here you are giving that great battery tip! The only thing I am a little skeptical about is that super glue idea. I never seem to have a lot of luck with super glue, but maybe, since the battery insulator material is plastic... hmmm. Thanks again for another great video!
I enjoy the facts in these videos. Facts are important. I would have tried to recondition the lead acid battery using an analogue of a Ring Smartcharge or colourably similar..though the argument of Mr Carlson vis leakage is valid. Excellent engineering by Mr C as always.
Good to see the insulation on the links between each paralleled pair of cells, but you forgot to put some on the link between the positive ends on the paralleled pairs! The risk of shorting between the positive cap and the negative case is the same... Enjoyable video all the same, thanks :)
Cute little scope. Has that less is more look to it. Great little scope for doing on sight repairs. And like you said, its a CRT. Double thumbs up on this find. :) What, no tab spot welder? I made one several years ago and love it. Generates almost no heat because it happens in a fraction of a second. You can literally touch the spot weld as soon as you do it. No need to cool the battery and oh so fast.
Paul, After seeing this Great video, I purchased a Tek 222A off E-bay which is a 10 Mhz version of the 224. I m going to make the battery pack. I also found plans for adapters allowing the use of P6100 1M probes. I only have one P400 probe. The Series 222, 222A, 222PS and 224 use probes with a 333K impedance rather that 1M. The plans build a 666K adapter to make the compensation to 1Meg. it also has an adapter using push-on BNC probe tip connectors and connector pin parts to mate to the probe connections used on the scope. Found on the design on the TEK Wiki. Google will find it.
You sir are a wonderful youtuber. I'm sorry you don't have more followers. I like your delivery style more than Dave @eevblog. Please keep up the wonderful work.
Excellent video. Good find, too. Interesting to compare that in size and capabilities to your Tek 555, the one with over 100 tubes. This one is easier on the electric bill. Thanks for so much good useful info.
Jan 2020: I just found a Tenma 32-335 scope at my local electronics recycle center for pennies on the dollar. Of course as-is. Screen about the same size. Hope to get it back in shape with your invaluable tips.
Great little scope and great technique for creating a specialized battery pack. I would like to know more about how you intend to charge this battery. Charging different types of batteries would be a great topic for a future video.
Mr. Carlson, you are first well documented case of osciloscopemania, Congratulations ! And btw. If talk to matchmaker try to find a lady who is either HAM radio or tube amp maniac.. Good luck !
That's a nice scope Paul and a clear sharp display too. Great for some field work as it's so portable. Being battery driven too makes it safe for every circumstance. Nice build with the batteries by the way. I bet that performs better than the PC run Velleman I bought 2 years ago. I now have a Siglent SDS1102CML, WOW what a step up huh? Love your vids, they always have a great quality of delivery to them, Precise information, clearly thought out dialogue and with safety in mind. Please keep them coming.
the battery fix is going to be useful for a very early tube tone generator in my vintage collection.thanks for the vid. very handy.was wondering just how to pull it off without having to hook it up to the power supply.instant solution.
+Mr Carlson's Lab Hey do you know the value in uf of this capacitor 222ks630v np.b48pp its on X SUS BOARD SAMSUNG PLASMA TV PN42C430A1DXZA THANKS IN ADVANCE
I love that scope and it's funny cute is what I said as soon as I saw the thumbnail. Coming from my background I'd have had my soldering cert card pulled if I quenched a joint (or even had a small fan blowing over my work station for that matter) but it's a great tip for doing batteries on personal/non life critical equipment.
Usually it sounds like you have meticulously thought out what to say next in a video. This one sounds a bit more off the cuff, especially when you explain how you got the scope. I like that very much. And nice job on the scope.
Great little video, and great little scope too. I am presently restoring two similar Tektronix mini scopes, a 336 and a 336A. In my opinion, your videos stand out as being the best, or certainly among the very best, on youtube, or anywhere else. Some clowns on a forum said that you were not as smart as you thought you were, when you initially posted on "their" forum, so I told them that I have yet to see anyone making better, more informative videos, and I challenged them to tell me anyone, anywhere who was making as good, or better more informative videos than you. Additionally, I said that if they could not do that, that I would assume that they were wrong. No response, so they must be wrong-----LOL.
Bingo, you got it. They said that you had visited the site briefly, and you left quickly, after learning that you were not as smart as you thought! Right away, I knew that I didn't want to waste any more of my time feeding such pompous jerks on that site. Interesting thing though, was when I posted what I had mentioned, I had several guys send me private emails, naming a few guys on the forum they call "forum queens," who somehow think that they own and control the forum, and know everything there is to know; are way smarter than anyone else in the room, no matter what room they are in. I knew exactly what they were talking about, because i have seen such pompous bums on other forums too, because I collect and repair antique clocks, mostly British, and double barrel rifles, mostly British too, so in visiting forums regarding those things, I have seen exactly what the ARF guys were talking about. I think it has to do with the human condition, childish behavior from some guys who didn't get enough attention when they were growing up, so now are resorting to doing stupid things to get needed attention.
Couldn't have said it better myself Jack. I barely have time to make video's as it is, the last thing I'm going to do is spend time in negative company. Now don't get me wrong, there are great people there as well, but the place needs to be cleaned up.
Dead on, Jack. Bravo for stating this. Paul's videos are an oasis in the desert of bad ones. The other individuals may be very well educated, gifted, and experienced with electronics. But poor sound quality and a constantly moving camera coupled with useless blah, blah, blah in a dull monotone make them miserable to watch.
Hi Paul! Great little project! Reminds me I have to tackle a few rebuilds on some old HT battery packs I have laying around. Hint hint, would still love to see a video on discharging capacitors ( unless I missed it). 73 Scott
Great video and beautiful little scope! Really glad I found your channel, Paul. I'm into vintage computers and some of them have integrated CRT monitors, so any future videos on CRT discharging and safe repair would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Nice find and job on the battery. The scope looks mint ! Interesting to know the use of inductor as fuse. The other day there was a Commodore 64 with a completely burnt out inductor which fed power to the video modulator. Not sure if that was its intended purpose. In the Tandberg Sølvsuper 11 (1973) radio it has a incandescent bulb in series with the zener-based voltage regulator feeding everything except the power amp. It lights up when the stereo indicator bulb lights up. People say it is used as a fuse, but maybe its intention is to burn off some heat and voltage before the regulating transistor.
By using battery holder boxes I believe you can construct a solution that avoids soldering completely. I couldn’t find one that held 7 AA batteries but I did locate a 3 AA and 4 AA enclosed holder on Amazon. They are only slightly larger than the battery pack you built and it appears that they would fit into the compartment. With your solution if 1 battery goes bad it become a big problem finding it and replacing it. My solution also allows the use of a standard charger .
Your solution does not work for 14 series/parallel batteries. One would need a custom designed battery holder, which Amazon does not offer and is also pretty much a desert when it comes to quality, dependability, etc.
re supergluing the cells or anything else with similar instantly bonding properties @ 10:50 the way to do it is line them up or put them together precisely, secure with a little masking tape if necessary, THEN apply the few dabs of glue necessary. the cheaper varieties of superglue can be better for this because they tend to be very low viscosity and the glue will work its way between things before setting. if the shape of the things being glued doesnt allow this, arrange it so your final movement of the objects is as short as possible, introducing less scope for error. this is how skilled modellers will assemble things, where the level of attention to detail is truly insane.
The main problem with soldering batteries is the chance that during a short-circuit event, the solder could get hot enough to melt and then the wires would release from the battery, potentially contacting other things. The proper way to attach tabs/wires to batteries is with a micro spot-welder.
I remember Tek’s little portable scopes back in the early 80s. They were too small and got the crap beat out of them in the military. Most of them stayed broken. A smart crt scope was not roughed enough back then, especially with young military guys.
Just a point that the charging arrangements for lead acid and NiMh differ even when the voltage is nominally the same. Here, the charge limit voltage for 4xLead-acid will probably be too low to give full charge on 7xNiMh. Although it would extend the life to not charge fully anyway. Very neat pack, nice job.
Paul! could you demonstrate the capability of the Tektronix 224 scope with a follow up video? I would be curious to see what this little instrument can do. Your idea of a alternative power pack is superb approach to solving the battery issue making the unit truly portable. "Well Done"
Early 2020: I found a "cute" little Tenma scope for pennies on the dollar recently. I'll refer to your videos as a guide to give me half a bearing on how to approach its dysfunction.
Awesome job as always, one point of concern/confusion is putting rechargeable cells in parallel. Back in my RC days it was considered bad practice to put them in parallel, putting them in series was no problem. I believe it was due to their low internal resistance which if too different between the cells could cause one cell to over charge the other and possibly explode, the rule being if you need more capacity get a bigger cell. Any ways great job and keep the videos coming.
Hi Michael. They are trickle charging in the scope and are not force fed. I have never had an issue to date doing this, (in a trickle charge situation) Your results may vary.
@8m43s: The LADDA AA NiMH cells from IKEA are 2450 mA-hour and 4-pack are only around $9 Cdn. They're the good cells from Japan; top of the line. Four packages, sixteen cells, would be around $36 Cdn.
I am sure you checked but I think I might have tried to use the outer plastic shell and stuff the new pack into it, even more clean and OEM. 2 years ago now so EH it is likely just fine!
Greetings: You mention early that the scope can operate directly on the power adapter that is also used to charge the battery pack when mounted in the charging base. The use of that charging base may mean that the battery is bypassed when the adapter is connected directly to the scope, possibly due to inadequate current capacity to both recharge the battery and operate the unit at the same time. If that is the case, how about a wiring modification to allow internal recharging when the unit is powered OFF.
Good luck with your battery build. This one (in the video) lasts 8 and a half hours on a single charge. It's been charging over night and seem to be fully charged already. I'm not sure about the 222, but the 224 shuts down at around 7.3 Volts.
Replying so far after this original video, it’s likely useless at this point: The thingy in the battery harness is not a resistor or an inductor. It’s a fuse packaged like a resistor. Color bands are similar to decode them. Littlefuse made them and they still can be found. Factory Tek LA as they came were 7Amp. Scope draws 500mA. I built my battery 222 packs with a 3A in the “resistor” package for nostalgia.
Nice retrofit and battery construction technique! I'm wondering how you end-up charging the batteries pack. As far I understand, voltages and cycles for lead-acid batteries and NiMH are different, did you end-up building one or was the original charger good-enough?
I guess everyone has a story where some item was tossed out as obsolete but later regretted not keeping it or not rescuing it. There was a pile of these at work that were sent to the recyclers and no one took any.
A 1971 ancient Tektronix 211 oscilloscope I have uses 10 AA nicads in series for its internal source of power. The unit is about the same size as the one in this video but is an ancestor. It is a 500Khz single channel scope. The 10 NiCad AA batteries are in two packs of 5 cells. The length of each is a tad shorter than a AA battery, it is a tabbed AA variant with no positive button top and one has to be careful that a rebuilt pack will fit. One mine I had Digikey custom make each pack 2 decades ago with the AA variant that is tad less long. The actual service manual I got in teh early 1990's was from Dean Kidd the retired Tektronix employee that knew everything aboyt Tektronix. He passed away at 88 back in 2015. His knowledge of Tek stuff was outstanding.
That is a neat little scope, I have looked for them in the past 2 years and I have never seen one as nice and clean as the one you found. I am guessing you didn't go the Lithium Polymer battery route due to the voltages available.
I wish you had covered charging the pack sir. That opens up a whole new can of worms though I suppose? Without any bells and whistles like auto cut, LED light or auto heat sensor shut off I have charged NiMh batterys for 2 or 3 hrs with a simple wall plug charger until they get warm you just can't forget them. My Revolectrix Cell Pro PL-8 RC charger is smart enough to fast charge, do a delta peak then cut off at the voltage for the total cell count specified 1-21 cells. Then it will start trickle charging at 1/20th of the original charge for a maximum of 4 hrs. It would see your NiMh pack as a 7 cell pack.
I have a yellow Powerscout which has been living in the case for lack of probes. Fashion an adapter? How? If you would rather this went to a home it will be frequently used I could use it. They are very handy
I just watched this again for review. I need to make a battery pack for a HP portable scope I purchased. I wish it only had a few batteries like yours but it is going to take 80 batteries to make the 24 volt battery pack. I think I have decided to make 2 packs like yours but 4 batteries across and 10 pairs long. That will give me a pack with enough current but at 12 volts. I will make 2 packs then joint them in series to get the 24 volts. There are so many different ways to do the job. I could have made 4 24 volt packs and join them together for more current. There is good logic in the way you divided the pairs of batteries and I like that. Thanks again for all your videos, I know how much work it takes to make them!
Watching your channel there are many great "tips and tricks" you pass along - but the one I have really tried to adopt in my own work is the care and consideration you give to every part of the work you do. You approach every task with equal care and consideration and the end result is immaculate.
Just found your channel. I'm impressed. I love the quality. I've been watching the EVBlog and Signal path for years. Not sure why I never found your channel before.
Thanks for your kind words!
oh i got one of those '' SILLY SCOPES'' hoot hoot hoot very funny .. jeff ..
Can you address how these would be recharged once they have been soldered together permanently in their series-parallel network? Does the scope's own recharging circuit, intended for the lead acid batteries, still work adequately? If not, then do you have to remove the whole pack to charge externally from the scope? And if externally, what method do you use for the recharge? It seems to me that these are not intended to be recharged in this configuration......
When you started this, I assumed that you were going to somehow rig up a few AA cell holders, of the type that each hold two cells, with the holders connected series-parallel but arranged so you could still extract the cells for individual recharging in "normal" NiMH charger(s). Would have been a pain, but as you suggested initially you did not buy this for serious use, rather just for occasional demos, so recharging would be infrequent.
Or maybe you just figured that the initial charge, pre-networking, would last indefinitely for your occasional demos?
As a side note, I used to use one of the similar (and earlier) tiny Tek dual channel ANALOG scopes (which had some kind of analog delay line (as I recall) and a phosphor-type "memory") rather extensively decades ago....maybe 35 years or so ago). I think those had regular BNC connectors for the probes. On that scope, the whole right side had traditional buttons and knobs for control of the two channels, and the battery pack was on the back end. The scope fit into a bag that you could hang from your neck, with the CRT screen pointing up so I could look down to read it, leaving my hands free. I recall the bandwidth was quite low, no more than 20MHz I think. I would not mind having one of those again now, just for show and tell!
Thanks mr Carlson for your very engeneus way of making an akkupack 9 v. DC for a portable oscilloscope 224 tektronix
Next time try desoldering wick (the one without flux) to join the cells. Flexible and much bigger surface area.
Used this for high current discharge packs and it works like a charm
That's an excellent suggestion that I'm going to use in the future, and as anyone who's not been quick enough removing it knows, solder wick sticks GREAT to just about anything!
Like you, I found a friend who had one of these. He had lost the power supply, and it didn't turn on, so he gave it to me. Well, you video showed me how to remove the LAB. It was dead so no wonder it wouldn't turn on. I plugged it into my bench supply and....it works perfectly. This little scope is so amazing! It will never leave my hands. Yes, a little slow, but, it's just so cute. As an aside, he used it twice for a purpose he had. Used it twice and it went to the back of an equipment locker, never to be seen or used since, and I'm guessing, 1994.
Watching this in 2020 was interesting given battery technology, but my mind began to slowly blow as you wrapped up the battery build. The sheer cleanliness of the wrap, the foam blocks, the WEATHER STRIPPING . Nice. Not sure why this channel doesn't have more subs!!
Ahhhh i discovered your channel two days ago and i really like it. Its much better than many other electronics channels. Very knowledgeable and humble, a great ambience, no ridiculous extreme closeups of hand drawn diagrams (Great Scott), a great voice (sometimes i get ear fatigue when i watch EEVblog) and a peek into some enjoyable RF equipment troubleshooting, something i always found daunting and tedious. Kudos for the great content and knowledge you share! Best regards.
Thank you for your kind comment Teresa!
Recently acquired the high-voltage version of this, the Tektronix 220PS Power Scope. Of course the battery was dead, so I built one with solder as in this video, and one with spot-welded nickel strips, both with a 3A fuse mid-pack. Both work great, and the welded one with Ikea 2450 batteries ran over 9 hours before the low battery indicator came on. Thanks, Mr. Carlson!
You're welcome Keri!
Way to save old obsolete test gear you can’t get parts for! BRAVO!!
I done the same thing on my Tektronix TDR, my Sitemaster antenna analyzer, the Tektronix 222 Oscilloscope, and several HT’s that use those “flat” batteries for the memory..... It works great! And I save an otherwise useful piece of electronics from the scrap heap!
I've got the 222. I like to work on arcade and pinball machines and sometimes I want to see a digital signal. This little thing is great for bringing the test equipment to the device under test instead of the other way around!
I love the way you make everything so neat. I can appreciate the thought that goes into each project.
Feb 2020: I repainting/resealing my workbench because of Mr. Carlson. It looks abhorrent, and I need to "reset" and make things neat again. :)
Another masterpiece Mr Carlson. I did a battery pack like this a few years ago. Didn't have heat shrink big enough to fit but a section from an old inner tube stretched over the assembled pack perfectly.
Great idea Todd. Thanks for your comment!
TEK never shipped a turkey. I used the 224 in the field for a number of years and loved it. Just for simple stuff, but I was on Broadcast towers, way up in the wind and rain. What fun! Anyway, the scope always did what it was supposed to do.
Nice fix for the battery. It looks like it came with the scope! As I try to learn electronics, I like the detailed stuff.
Very nice score Paul. And that retro battery pack is awesome! Thanks for another cool video.
You bet Buddy!
Mr Carlson that is the cutest Oscilloscope I have ever seen and you did such a neat job of battery building.
Thanks! I will use it in some up coming video's. The battery worked out well, it lasts 8.5 hours on a charge.
What a neat little scope. Great video as always Mr C. Some great tips on soldering a battery pack together. Thanks.
Talking about 60mhz scopes I am in the process of repairing a Trio CS-1060 oscilloscope with an intensity problem.
Thought I had fixed it tested last night calibrated it . Put the covers on this morning and the same fault has returned with a smell of ozone. I have removed covers and will let you know what the fault was I am still investigating the cause of the fault.
Intermittent faults are a pain. Excellent video on swapping battery packs and a very nice looking scope at that and a very good buy should serve you for years to come.
Interesting project. I like it when people find ways to fix things instead of just throwing them out!
If you want something fun to tackle, I have an Icom IC-706Mk2G that I've been troubleshooting (no power up) and haven't found the issue as of yet. Though I am slowly working through the schematic following the "HV" line.
Hi Paul - Thanks for the battery trick. I am an HVAC guy (Formerly a 2nd Class Radio Telephone licensee) and my electronic leak detector battery pack went belly up. Those batteries are 60 clams or so. Anyhow, it turns out there are a quad of "4/5A" batteries in there that I found online for about 6 bux. I was concerned about soldering them even though I have done that in the past. I hear all these warnings, but thought "hey, as long as I do it quick with a hot iron..." Lol, and wouldn't you know it - I am watching your video because I also like that "cute 224" for no good reason really, and here you are giving that great battery tip!
The only thing I am a little skeptical about is that super glue idea. I never seem to have a lot of luck with super glue, but maybe, since the battery insulator material is plastic... hmmm.
Thanks again for another great video!
I enjoy the facts in these videos. Facts are important. I would have tried to recondition the lead acid battery using an analogue of a Ring Smartcharge or colourably similar..though the argument of Mr Carlson vis leakage is valid. Excellent engineering by Mr C as always.
Good to see the insulation on the links between each paralleled pair of cells, but you forgot to put some on the link between the positive ends on the paralleled pairs!
The risk of shorting between the positive cap and the negative case is the same...
Enjoyable video all the same, thanks :)
Dandy find Paul. Your perfection in repair is very admirable.Jim
Cute little scope. Has that less is more look to it. Great little scope for doing on sight repairs. And like you said, its a CRT. Double thumbs up on this find. :)
What, no tab spot welder? I made one several years ago and love it. Generates almost no heat because it happens in a fraction of a second. You can literally touch the spot weld as soon as you do it. No need to cool the battery and oh so fast.
Thanks for your comment Mike!
When this little guy was first released in the early 70’s, I wanted it so badly but couldn’t afford it!
Paul, After seeing this Great video, I purchased a Tek 222A off E-bay which is a 10 Mhz version of the 224. I m going to make the battery pack. I also found plans for adapters allowing the use of P6100 1M probes. I only have one P400 probe. The Series 222, 222A, 222PS and 224 use probes with a 333K impedance rather that 1M. The plans build a 666K adapter to make the compensation to 1Meg. it also has an adapter using push-on BNC probe tip connectors and connector pin parts to mate to the probe connections used on the scope. Found on the design on the TEK Wiki. Google will find it.
Cool little device Paul - really enjoyed the video. I always look forward to another of your episodes. 73, Bill.
You sir are a wonderful youtuber. I'm sorry you don't have more followers. I like your delivery style more than Dave @eevblog. Please keep up the wonderful work.
Hi Paul, Wow, that scope is great condition. I bet you smiled all the way home. A small and useful piece of equipment to have around. Good video. 73
Excellent video. Good find, too. Interesting to compare that in size and capabilities to your Tek 555, the one with over 100 tubes.
This one is easier on the electric bill. Thanks for so much good useful info.
What a great modification to the battery pack. Your videos are very addictive. Thanks for making them..
Jan 2020: I just found a Tenma 32-335 scope at my local electronics recycle center for pennies on the dollar. Of course as-is. Screen about the same size. Hope to get it back in shape with your invaluable tips.
That's a neat little scope. Nice work on that battery pack!
Great little scope and great technique for creating a specialized battery pack. I would like to know more about how you intend to charge this battery. Charging different types of batteries would be a great topic for a future video.
I like to use some plumbers paste (for copper pipe) with "no clean" when soldering cells the solder flows very well, better then some fluxes even.
What a lovely little scope! Now with a new lease of life.
Great attention to detail was always.
Mr. Carlson, you are first well documented case of osciloscopemania, Congratulations ! And btw. If talk to matchmaker try to find a lady who is either HAM radio or tube amp maniac.. Good luck !
That's a nice scope Paul and a clear sharp display too. Great for some field work as it's so portable. Being battery driven too makes it safe for every circumstance.
Nice build with the batteries by the way.
I bet that performs better than the PC run Velleman I bought 2 years ago.
I now have a Siglent SDS1102CML, WOW what a step up huh?
Love your vids, they always have a great quality of delivery to them, Precise information, clearly thought out dialogue and with safety in mind.
Please keep them coming.
Thanks Michael! Glad you enjoyed the video.
What a cool little scope, thanks for sharing!
Another great, interesting and educational video. Thank you.
Cute indeed! It could snuggle up to its great uncle Tek 555 to keep warm in those long winter nights.
What a lovely build - thank you. BTW in New Zealand the white pipe which you used to insulate the wiring is known as spaghetti.
the battery fix is going to be useful for a very early tube tone generator in my vintage collection.thanks for the vid.
very handy.was wondering just how to pull it off without having to hook it up to the power supply.instant solution.
Another good one. Must be nice to have all the toys.
Super cute scope and great batteries replacement. Excellent job Paul Thanks for sharing! 73
Thanks Peter!
+Mr Carlson's Lab Hey do you know the value in uf of this capacitor 222ks630v np.b48pp its on X SUS BOARD SAMSUNG PLASMA TV PN42C430A1DXZA THANKS IN ADVANCE
I love that scope and it's funny cute is what I said as soon as I saw the thumbnail. Coming from my background I'd have had my soldering cert card pulled if I quenched a joint (or even had a small fan blowing over my work station for that matter) but it's a great tip for doing batteries on personal/non life critical equipment.
Excellent video Paul. I love the Tektronic scopes. It would be good to see a picture of the 224 sitting on the 555 for comparison. lol
Brad
Usually it sounds like you have meticulously thought out what to say next in a video. This one sounds a bit more off the cuff, especially when you explain how you got the scope. I like that very much. And nice job on the scope.
Great little video, and great little scope too. I am presently restoring two similar Tektronix mini scopes, a 336 and a 336A.
In my opinion, your videos stand out as being the best, or certainly among the very best, on youtube, or anywhere else. Some clowns on a forum said that you were not as smart as you thought you were, when you initially posted on "their" forum, so I told them that I have yet to see anyone making better, more informative videos, and I challenged them to tell me anyone, anywhere who was making as good, or better more informative videos than you. Additionally, I said that if they could not do that, that I would assume that they were wrong. No response, so they must be wrong-----LOL.
Thanks for the kind words Jack. Hmmm, negative forum? Must be the ARF.
Bingo, you got it. They said that you had visited the site briefly, and you left quickly, after learning that you were not as smart as you thought! Right away, I knew that I didn't want to waste any more of my time feeding such pompous jerks on that site. Interesting thing though, was when I posted what I had mentioned, I had several guys send me private emails, naming a few guys on the forum they call "forum queens," who somehow think that they own and control the forum, and know everything there is to know; are way smarter than anyone else in the room, no matter what room they are in. I knew exactly what they were talking about, because i have seen such pompous bums on other forums too, because I collect and repair antique clocks, mostly British, and double barrel rifles, mostly British too, so in visiting forums regarding those things, I have seen exactly what the ARF guys were talking about. I think it has to do with the human condition, childish behavior from some guys who didn't get enough attention when they were growing up, so now are resorting to doing stupid things to get needed attention.
Couldn't have said it better myself Jack. I barely have time to make video's as it is, the last thing I'm going to do is spend time in negative company. Now don't get me wrong, there are great people there as well, but the place needs to be cleaned up.
Dead on, Jack. Bravo for stating this. Paul's videos are an oasis in the desert of bad ones. The other individuals may be very well educated, gifted, and experienced with electronics. But poor sound quality and a constantly moving camera coupled with useless blah, blah, blah in a dull monotone make them miserable to watch.
Talk is cheap; it does not really matter what they say.
lovely little scope and great condition. .And a very nice battery build. ..
The seller got his wish, it most definitely went to a good home!
As always, a great tutorial Paul.
Hi Paul! Great little project! Reminds me I have to tackle a few rebuilds on some old HT battery packs I have laying around. Hint hint, would still love to see a video on discharging capacitors ( unless I missed it). 73 Scott
Great video and beautiful little scope! Really glad I found your channel, Paul. I'm into vintage computers and some of them have integrated CRT monitors, so any future videos on CRT discharging and safe repair would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks for your input!
Nice find and job on the battery. The scope looks mint ! Interesting to know the use of inductor as fuse. The other day there was a Commodore 64 with a completely burnt out inductor which fed power to the video modulator. Not sure if that was its intended purpose. In the Tandberg Sølvsuper 11 (1973) radio it has a incandescent bulb in series with the zener-based voltage regulator feeding everything except the power amp. It lights up when the stereo indicator bulb lights up. People say it is used as a fuse, but maybe its intention is to burn off some heat and voltage before the regulating transistor.
By using battery holder boxes I believe you can construct a solution that avoids soldering completely. I couldn’t find one that held 7 AA batteries but I did locate a 3 AA and 4 AA enclosed holder on Amazon. They are only slightly larger than the battery pack you built and it appears that they would fit into the compartment. With your solution if 1 battery goes bad it become a big problem finding it and replacing it. My solution also allows the use of a standard charger .
Your solution does not work for 14 series/parallel batteries. One would need a custom designed battery holder, which Amazon does not offer and is also pretty much a desert when it comes to quality, dependability, etc.
That thing is so cute! all I want to do is hug it tight!
Sorry, but...Are you the gay electron that blows the fuse?
...and squeeze it and pet it and call it George? :)
@@MrDoneboy little bit late maybe but this joke made my day
I had the same thought, it would look great on anyones bench and still usefull
re supergluing the cells or anything else with similar instantly bonding properties @ 10:50 the way to do it is line them up or put them together precisely, secure with a little masking tape if necessary, THEN apply the few dabs of glue necessary. the cheaper varieties of superglue can be better for this because they tend to be very low viscosity and the glue will work its way between things before setting. if the shape of the things being glued doesnt allow this, arrange it so your final movement of the objects is as short as possible, introducing less scope for error. this is how skilled modellers will assemble things, where the level of attention to detail is truly insane.
Now I want ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! don't have a digital scop only an Hameg 604 so next on my list is a Digital one :) Great vid as always
Attenuater that's what I was trying to think of earlier on, is that the device that protects your scope from voltage spikes
The main problem with soldering batteries is the chance that during a short-circuit event, the solder could get hot enough to melt and then the wires would release from the battery, potentially contacting other things. The proper way to attach tabs/wires to batteries is with a micro spot-welder.
Good suggestion for to solder batteries without damaged them!Thanks
I remember Tek’s little portable scopes back in the early 80s. They were too small and got the crap beat out of them in the military. Most of them stayed broken. A smart crt scope was not roughed enough back then, especially with young military guys.
finally! Been dying for your next video! Well done! Thank you
That little guy is simply adorable! Nice work on the battery pack! What do you think of 18650's as replacement batteries for this kind of thing?
that's a great little scope, love it! another brilliant video, thanks!
Just a point that the charging arrangements for lead acid and NiMh differ even when the voltage is nominally the same. Here, the charge limit voltage for 4xLead-acid will probably be too low to give full charge on 7xNiMh. Although it would extend the life to not charge fully anyway. Very neat pack, nice job.
Wow, this is the largest cup that I have ever seen..... oh wait, it's the scope that is so tiny.
Cute!
Great video btw. Big thumbs up!!!
LOL, Thanks Max!
Nice neat Battery !!! Cute Baby Oscilloscope !!!!
Paul! could you demonstrate the capability of the Tektronix 224 scope with a follow up video? I would be curious to see what this little instrument can do. Your idea of a alternative power pack is superb approach to solving the battery issue making the unit truly portable. "Well Done"
Another great video Paul. That's a cool little oscope.
"IT'S ALIVE" great video man Thanks for sharing.
Early 2020: I found a "cute" little Tenma scope for pennies on the dollar recently. I'll refer to your videos as a guide to give me half a bearing on how to approach its dysfunction.
There are battereis with solder tabs on them so that will make it safer for the weary.
A cute little scope...it does look mint for sure....
Awesome job as always, one point of concern/confusion is putting rechargeable cells in parallel. Back in my RC days it was considered bad practice to put them in parallel, putting them in series was no problem. I believe it was due to their low internal resistance which if too different between the cells could cause one cell to over charge the other and possibly explode, the rule being if you need more capacity get a bigger cell. Any ways great job and keep the videos coming.
Hi Michael. They are trickle charging in the scope and are not force fed. I have never had an issue to date doing this, (in a trickle charge situation) Your results may vary.
hello Paul,
I've found your channel and I'm impressed.thank you for sharing, i subscribe and like all of your videos.
@8m43s: The LADDA AA NiMH cells from IKEA are 2450 mA-hour and 4-pack are only around $9 Cdn. They're the good cells from Japan; top of the line. Four packages, sixteen cells, would be around $36 Cdn.
Great video. And that's a cute oscilloscope!
I am sure you checked but I think I might have tried to use the outer plastic shell and stuff the new pack into it, even more clean and OEM. 2 years ago now so EH it is likely just fine!
Greetings:
You mention early that the scope can operate directly on the power adapter that is also used to charge the battery pack when mounted in the charging base. The use of that charging base may mean that the battery is bypassed when the adapter is connected directly to the scope, possibly due to inadequate current capacity to both recharge the battery and operate the unit at the same time. If that is the case, how about a wiring modification to allow internal recharging when the unit is powered OFF.
I'm Jealous, I would love to have a scope like that. My birthday is coming up...!!! LOL Great Video Paul
Man, you got a great deal on the Oscope!
Great video, I have the 222 model with fixed leads. I have a almost dead battery myself, so I'll be making a new pack soon.
Good luck with your battery build. This one (in the video) lasts 8 and a half hours on a single charge. It's been charging over night and seem to be fully charged already. I'm not sure about the 222, but the 224 shuts down at around 7.3 Volts.
Replying so far after this original video, it’s likely useless at this point:
The thingy in the battery harness is not a resistor or an inductor. It’s a fuse packaged like a resistor.
Color bands are similar to decode them. Littlefuse made them and they still can be found. Factory Tek LA as they came were 7Amp. Scope draws 500mA. I built my battery 222 packs with a 3A in the “resistor” package for nostalgia.
I so want one!
also I'd love to see that little cro in action.
maybe in your next video Paul?
Nice retrofit and battery construction technique!
I'm wondering how you end-up charging the batteries pack.
As far I understand, voltages and cycles for lead-acid batteries and NiMH are different, did you end-up building one or was the original charger good-enough?
Looks good. I think i would have just put a 2s 5000mah lipo in there though.
I guess everyone has a story where some item was tossed out as obsolete but later regretted not keeping it or not rescuing it. There was a pile of these at work that were sent to the recyclers and no one took any.
A 1971 ancient Tektronix 211 oscilloscope I have uses 10 AA nicads in series for its internal source of power. The unit is about the same size as the one in this video but is an ancestor. It is a 500Khz single channel scope. The 10 NiCad AA batteries are in two packs of 5 cells. The length of each is a tad shorter than a AA battery, it is a tabbed AA variant with no positive button top and one has to be careful that a rebuilt pack will fit. One mine I had Digikey custom make each pack 2 decades ago with the AA variant that is tad less long. The actual service manual I got in teh early 1990's was from Dean Kidd the retired Tektronix employee that knew everything aboyt Tektronix. He passed away at 88 back in 2015. His knowledge of Tek stuff was outstanding.
what material did you use for the battery wrap & where to get it. a link would be appreciated. great vid & a really neat scope
Hi Jim. It's Gorilla tape.
That was awesome! Love that little tek scope
That is a neat little scope, I have looked for them in the past 2 years and I have never seen one as nice and clean as the one you found. I am guessing you didn't go the Lithium Polymer battery route due to the voltages available.
I really enjoy your videos, Mr Carlson!
Thanks Ed!
I wish you had covered charging the pack sir. That opens up a whole new can of worms though I suppose?
Without any bells and whistles like auto cut, LED light or auto heat sensor shut off I have charged NiMh batterys for 2 or 3 hrs with a simple wall plug charger until they get warm you just can't forget them.
My Revolectrix Cell Pro PL-8 RC charger is smart enough to fast charge, do a delta peak then cut off at the voltage for the total cell count specified 1-21 cells.
Then it will start trickle charging at 1/20th of the original charge for a maximum of 4 hrs. It would see your NiMh pack as a 7 cell pack.
I have a yellow Powerscout which has been living in the case for lack of probes. Fashion an adapter? How? If you would rather this went to a home it will be frequently used I could use it. They are very handy
why not a 3S battery for RC models?