"GREAT" Meter! The HP 419A DC Null Voltmeter, [RESTORATION]

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.พ. 2020
  • Lets make this Hewlett Packard, HP 419A DC Null Voltmeter work again! Very useful information regarding the chopper circuit, and how to make it dependable. Also in this video, Mr. C shares his custom designed circuit to replace the original neon chopper board. Click the SHOW MORE tab below to expose links.
    To learn more about electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: / mrcarlsonslab
    The official collectible 2020 Mr Carlson's Lab Calendar is available now, but not for much longer! Here is the link to order: www.bookdepository.com/Mr-Car...
    #learnelectronics #restorationvideos #fixelectronics

ความคิดเห็น • 430

  • @MrCarlsonsLab
    @MrCarlsonsLab  4 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    To learn more about electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab

    • @KaizerPowerElectronicsDk
      @KaizerPowerElectronicsDk 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I got a Danish produced "Type OSG 42b" from Radiometer Copenhagen, if you are interested in a presumably rare scope. (that needs to be fixed)

    • @glynwatkins9968
      @glynwatkins9968 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      good job Paul

    • @BruceNitroxpro
      @BruceNitroxpro 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@KaizerPowerElectronicsDk , I sure would enjoy that restoration!

    • @guadalupe4131
      @guadalupe4131 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@KaizerPowerElectronicsDk que

    • @guadalupe4131
      @guadalupe4131 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@glynwatkins9968 de casas

  • @001desertrat3
    @001desertrat3 4 ปีที่แล้ว +139

    At 73 years of age , I thought that I had seen most everything . . . . and then you show me a Lit Neon Bulb that's Afraid of the Dark . L O L !

    • @urrick33333
      @urrick33333 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Oh yeah. What an anecdote

    • @God-CDXX
      @God-CDXX 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      fear of the dark good album

    • @goldpipe2003
      @goldpipe2003 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I have three of them in a lamp that has a dimmer and they will not work in the dark

    • @teresashinkansen9402
      @teresashinkansen9402 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      What a coincidence, i discovered this by accident about a month ago. On my storage shed there was a plugged power strip with a neon bulb in the switch but i thought it was off, I turned on the light and no light, the light bulb of the shed was dead so I grabbed a flashlight and as soon as I approached with the flashlight the switch started blinking so that caught my attention, i turned off the light and it turned off too! i was quite perplexed and i stood there playing with it like 5 minutes illuminating it and seeing how much light i needed to make it glow. photoelectric effect! so cool

    • @robertc.2465
      @robertc.2465 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Now there are two 73 year olds that thought they had seen it all, almost.. a nyctophobic neon. Plus all the other possible electrical characteristics!!

  • @michaelberry1028
    @michaelberry1028 4 ปีที่แล้ว +128

    As an old HP engineer I really enjoyed this one, a great restoration.

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  4 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      Thanks for your kind comment Michael!

    • @JohnDoe-ce2wl
      @JohnDoe-ce2wl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      I see you haven't uploaded any videos, but I imagine you'd have some interesting stories to share with younger generations of engineers and hobbyists. Give it a thought :)

    • @Satchmoeddie
      @Satchmoeddie 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I really love the old HP gear! Too bad their laptops and desktops are junk! A neighbor gave me a working 1963 HP O Scope that had been converted to a fancy precision "strobotach" for the FAA. Basically they removed the brightness potentiometer from the brightness control and used it as a very precise and fast strobe light. Funny story, it had an old phone number on it from the 1970s, and I called it on a lark. It went to a desk inside of some government lab, and the guy who converted those was still at working that desk. He was very surprised to get a call to say the least. When I told him how I got that number we had a really nice conversation. I have two Fluke differential Volt Meters. I still have that nice old HP O Scope. I thought about pulling the 50+ Phillips made HP ECC88s, but I cannot bring myself to rip it apart. They were never used as they are in a section that did not get used in it's life as a precision timed strobe light. HP/Agilent/Keysight is THE go to for spectrum analyzers. HP computers has destroyed the HP name. The Bill & Dave days are long gone. HP seemed to always play catchup to Tektronix with O Scopes but HP had their own domains no one else could touch.

    • @derkchurk5879
      @derkchurk5879 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Satchmoeddie never had any issue with hp products, like Dell and the rest, sounds like user error to me.

    • @stephenbrough8132
      @stephenbrough8132 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@derkchurk5879 Their brown sauce is good too.

  • @paulpaulzadeh6172
    @paulpaulzadeh6172 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    watch this channel serval time per day , watch this video 3 times , never get tired of you , you are real EE ,

  • @steveyoung8560
    @steveyoung8560 4 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    "Took the neon out of my night light and tried it." Now that's a man on a mission. Great video, Paul.

  • @krz8888888
    @krz8888888 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    It's interesting to see generations of brilliant engineer's work come through your bench. Lots of those are long gone but we can still appreciate their ingenuity and thought process on this channel

  • @ElJohnerino
    @ElJohnerino 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Pro grade comedy timing at the many tested neons segment. Actual lol here.

  • @jwingo7257
    @jwingo7257 4 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Paul,
    You have a gift of explaining such technical engineering in a hands-on tinkering way.
    Your tinkering, building, debugging and inventing would make Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla proud.
    You epitomize the human desire and discipline to learn and to build.
    You are an inspiration for every nerdy, inquisitive kid interested in how/why things work.

    • @BruceNitroxpro
      @BruceNitroxpro 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      J wingo , And for 80 year old guys, too. Just a great guy.

  • @jeremyperala839
    @jeremyperala839 4 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Jeez, you're an expert at testing neon bulbs now.

  • @garbleduser
    @garbleduser 4 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    I absolutely love what you do! This is a perfect example of something I refer to as a "vengeful act of kindness." That is where you find a piece of equipment where a manufacturer tried exceptionally hard to prevent people from repairing it, and decide to share the obscured information with the world.
    Thank you for your vengeful act of kindness Paul!

    • @hullinstruments
      @hullinstruments 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Vengeful act of kindness… I immediately thought of plenty of ex girlfriends that fit that description perfectly

    • @BruceNitroxpro
      @BruceNitroxpro 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@hullinstruments , Hehehe, OMG

  • @hondamanusa
    @hondamanusa 4 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    When retail gives you lemons, he tells them to shove it and makes something sweet. Keep up the great work!!

  • @sonicfuker
    @sonicfuker 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    The degree of competency of this man continues to amaze and inspire me. Thank you for this high level of free content.

  • @CoolMusicToMyEars
    @CoolMusicToMyEars 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The Fluke 845AB Null Detector also had a optical chopper, The Fluke 332A, 335A Calibrator had a mechanical chopper early versions, Keithley made a 148 Null Detector that was also fantastic front end in copper box, really love the Old test equipment, lasts for many years, Fluke 5440B Very nice DC calibrator. :) my UKAS laboratory measured 1V or 1.01856 V to 0.6uV accuracy, Retired UKAS Standards Laboratory manager

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thanks for sharing your story!

  • @johnyoungquist6540
    @johnyoungquist6540 4 ปีที่แล้ว +58

    The neon chopper was a silent breakthrough used in many instruments like the hp-410C VTVM. Other methods at the time were mechanical and used motorized spinning disks or noisy vibrating reeds yuk! Stable low drift DC gain in those days was hard to get without choppers. Now we would use a single monolithic chopper amp. Neon depends on alpha particles from outer space to provide seed ionization to work in the dark, otherwise ordinary ambient light does it. Lamps that had to work in the dark employed radioactivity. A little KR-85 a radioactive isotope of krypton gas mixed with the neon was often used. Some sort of radioactive electrode or green uranium glass might do it too. The exact neon bulb might have been a carefully guarded secret at the time to prevent copying the design. The little bulb was so common at the time who would think it was special? It would look the same as any other lamp. They would not have unlimited life and for something people left on all the time replacements would be inevitable.
    The LED solution is the simplest. The 25% duty drive waveform is easiest to do digitally with logic. Careful frequency selection could improve line frequency rejection. Take away all the pre-made solutions we have today and most engineers would be lost.

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Thanks for taking the time to write John. You know your stuff, that's nice to see!

    • @ciprianpopa1503
      @ciprianpopa1503 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      "Neon depends on alpha particles from outer space" are you sure about that?

    • @johnyoungquist6540
      @johnyoungquist6540 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      @@ciprianpopa1503
      The alpha particles could come from any source I suppose. I did a lot of work on neon plasma displays many years ago, alpha was the prevailing theory at the time, I don't know if anyone cared where they came from. I did get some other radioactive stuff near a dark display and it worked. We considered using uranium glass instead of KR-85 but it wasn't clear we could get that approved. KR-85 was eventually eliminated from the displays because of AEC. It was disastrous. Many changes were made to try and compensate for the loss of radioactive gas none were very good.

    • @ligius3
      @ligius3 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      It's true that we would get lost, this was ingrained during education. I think there is a purpose to it, that people don't design 'magic' solutions that would not be understood once the original designer left the team. I got failed for a practical project in university because my hand-crafted component selection, which got 100x less noise than spec, was not the tried-and-true design. Left a bitter taste in my mouth and decided to pursue a different line of work, where creativity is accepted.

    • @ciprianpopa1503
      @ciprianpopa1503 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@johnyoungquist6540 What you describe sounds like something similar to a spark gap tube and they work by ionizing the gas inside the tube via gamma radiation. It's true that some isotope used emit alpha but they are secondary in importance, and the alpha (He nuclei) coming from outside the valve are not affecting the tube function whatsoever since alpha travels 0 through glass.

  • @michaelrusso7047
    @michaelrusso7047 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Mr Carson's . I love your videos I don't know much but your videos are awesome your voice is calm and soothing and there's nothing better in the morning then to get a cup of coffee and sit back and watch your videos thanks. Mike

  • @markbatten5178
    @markbatten5178 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I'm kinda sick of neon bulbs now (38mins.) !! I choked on my coffee!! You are the best Mr. Carlson!

  • @ke4est
    @ke4est 4 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    The knowledge shared in this video is mind blowing and much appreciated! 73, KE4EST

    • @MrPetrabella
      @MrPetrabella 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I absolutely agree with you, If someone is able to service and even improve old HP T&M equipment he has a deep understanding of electronics and very high bench skills. 73, former HB9ANA

    • @BruceNitroxpro
      @BruceNitroxpro 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@MrPetrabella , You are reading my mind! de KQ2E

  • @HammyTechnoid
    @HammyTechnoid 4 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    If I'm not mistaken, it was a null meter that Bob Carver used in completing his "Tubes vs Transistor" challenge. He put forth that he could, within 48 hours, make one of his audio amps, which were transistor based, sound exactly like any tube amp. Stereophile magazine took up his challenge, and even though he didn't do it within 48 hours, he did accomplish the task. The amp he had to match was the Conrad Johnson Premiere Four. The design of his circuitry went on to be used in production models of his amps, designated by "t" after the model number. Out of this challenge came the Carver M1.0t, a stellar amp. All thanks to null meter technology. If you can find the Stereophile article, it is a very interesting read.

    • @trickyrat483
      @trickyrat483 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      All covered - including restorations - on xraytonyb's YT channel, for those who are interested.

    • @stevefoudray487
      @stevefoudray487 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Hammy Technoid I bought amp back 1988, great home amp, but traded it for live sound equipment.

  • @tunafish3216
    @tunafish3216 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I don’t know a lot about this stuff but I watched the whole video. Thanks

  • @scumminguk
    @scumminguk 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    i have no idea what your talking about but i am now a subscriber.

  • @bobbyvarnell9350
    @bobbyvarnell9350 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I love your dedication to bringing this old gear back to life.

  • @rebelba42
    @rebelba42 4 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    I can't even imagine how many work hours and sleepless nights you had to put into this project! Awesome! In my opinion, only Ben from Applied Science would have similar love to detail making such an intense neon bulb investigation! I never would have the patience to do that but thankfully it dosen't matter: We have you, showing us all those traps and possible solutions! I still remember Fran's videos about YT, monetising and content pushing etc. Making educational videos running over 90 min with this level of quality can't be easy these days. Thank you very much Paul for doing all this hard work! Have a good weekend!

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Thanks for your kind comment Ralf! Yes, this meter was "one of those" projects. Have a good weekend as well!

  • @deathcube2006
    @deathcube2006 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    As an electronic engineer myself, I find all your videos really interesting, as you have a real deep well of knowledge, and always learn something new with your vids!. You should have a lot more subscribers!

  • @rrowan327
    @rrowan327 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    What an incredible meter and design also your time and dedication to this channel and the hours designing and testing the circuits and Neon Bulbs. My favorite part of the video is "Never wanting to see a Neon Bulb Ever again" LOL

  • @thisolesignguy2733
    @thisolesignguy2733 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Oh man, this brings back memories. When I was in college, one of my classes was Electrical Engineering. Every time we had a test, my instructor spent his time working on 419As because we had about 30 of them and something always went bad. So he would spend his extra time scabbing units to build a working one lol. I'll never forget being in the middle of the test and hearing "OH YOU PIECE OF CRAP!!!" and see him grab another one and start removing parts haha. We used to call it our "attention breaker"

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thanks for sharing your story!

  • @MichiganPeatMoss
    @MichiganPeatMoss 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    To roughly quote from another video: "...The magic is in you... (not the instrument)" BEST takeaway ever! Thank You!

  • @hestheMaster
    @hestheMaster 4 ปีที่แล้ว +33

    This was an incredible restoration of a very sensitive voltmeter. The attention to details on rebuilding and re-engineering of it's inner workings
    shows how great of a technically skilled person you are Paul. Thanks for showing how you did it. Much props to you!😍

    • @rtybn2012
      @rtybn2012 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      What re-engineering, all he did was copy an existing design from the original schematic and tested a bunch of neon bulbs. Anyone on this forum could have done the same thing.

    • @BruceNitroxpro
      @BruceNitroxpro 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@rtybn2012 , Sure they could... but didn't and won't... cause they can't.

  • @renatobordin1601
    @renatobordin1601 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you Paul, just recently found one in very good nick with original batteries but not too much of a battery goo mess. Your video is most useful with this restoration of this fantastic instrument.

  • @garybevis8691
    @garybevis8691 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    As always, great videos. You are a special genius electronics guru. Thanks so much Paul, you have a gift
    .

  • @johnlegros1586
    @johnlegros1586 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    yes HP was at the time the best ever made , close to physics ingeenering , very good design by true real good engineers

    • @absurdengineering
      @absurdengineering 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Robert Slackware Postscript is all interpreted, there’s no such thing as a “postscript chip”, real or not. They licensed an implementation maybe from Adobe and stuck it in on whatever processor was their fancy at the time. Nothing special about it. Modern postscript printers do the same, although they may use Ghostscript internally. All modern networked HP laser printers have Postscript AFAIK and there’s nothing “fake” about it, lol.

  • @miguelangelsimonfernandez5498
    @miguelangelsimonfernandez5498 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I always love watching, again and again these videos. You teach me so much. Thank you

  • @Wizardofgosz
    @Wizardofgosz 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'm not surprised at all that any HP device is well made. That's world class stuff.
    CuriousMarc would love this.

  • @burn435353
    @burn435353 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I love these videos, though i'm not an engineer; i work in animation. But i want to say from a strictly aesthetic perspective, these videos are amazing. From the opening shot where you're dwarfed by a room of vintage electronics, to the technical section of the video which is rendered in delicate minimalism. I'm not sure how intentional all of this is, but i can watch it all day, i love it! My only suggestion, and its a minor one, is to cut the sections of audio where you breath in, and replace them with room tone - this is an old broadcasting trick, otherwise 10/10.

    • @BruceNitroxpro
      @BruceNitroxpro 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Don Rumata , Shhhh! Don't give away the magic! ROFL

  • @chefbink61
    @chefbink61 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Another great vid!! This HP Null meter comes from the great HP area when HP was really building good gear!! Thanks for sharing!!

    • @fluxoff
      @fluxoff 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Terminology nitpick: "Rod" should be "electrode" Though I must admit that "rod" accurately describes what the neon electrode looks like, while "electrode" is technically what the circuit element is. As some French guy said, "there is the thing, there is the name of the thing, then there's just what we call it."

  • @Allbbrz
    @Allbbrz 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    "no alignment ! that's incredible ! what's the deal here ? " - of course, hats off to HP .. and your redesigned solid state board. Absolutely fantastic ! (like you would say, right ?)

  • @drstrangelove09
    @drstrangelove09 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Silly me, I thought the chip is a 81112 but it actually says Pin 8, Pin 11, and Pin 12, and the chip is a TL494... of course! Thank you for a very cool and interesting video and design.

  • @jimjimx5418
    @jimjimx5418 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    It’s sooo nice to see you back on TH-cam.
    We love, and need you here too.

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Thanks Jim! I would have been here sooner, but this video took slightly over 1 month to create.

    • @ianbutler1983
      @ianbutler1983 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@MrCarlsonsLab I can imagine that doing this work, and documenting it, then editing it into top-quality videos over an hour long must take a lot of time. But come on Paul, it is not like you have an outside life to live or a family, right...lol.
      Thanks for your efforts, your videos are wonderful.

  • @johnopalko5223
    @johnopalko5223 4 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    The advantage of the neon power indicator is it serves as a reminder to disconnect the line cord when you're measuring on the really low ranges. That's why the front panel is labeled "LINE" and not "PWR" or "ON."

    • @aaronjacquet4283
      @aaronjacquet4283 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      yeah but when you forget the tag the off switch and can not tell when it's off there goes your battery ... it would have been better to have two lights on it ....

    • @johnopalko5223
      @johnopalko5223 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@aaronjacquet4283 I agree, but I can see why they did it this way. This device may be from a time before LEDs were common and a lamp that wasn't powered by the AC line would have had to be incandescent. That would have drained the batteries really fast. And, leaving the unit powered on long enough to drain the batteries would be an inconvenience, but not a disaster. Just plug it in and let them recharge.

    • @BruceNitroxpro
      @BruceNitroxpro 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@johnopalko5223 , Sad but true.

  • @nparbs
    @nparbs 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I always look forward to your videos! They are so relaxing and education. Thank you Mr Carlson!

  • @rkstr9965
    @rkstr9965 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I'm definitely glad I purchased my HP 419A over a year ago - before the rush! When it was still a bargain...

  • @MrGogyimogyi
    @MrGogyimogyi 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thank you, Mr. Carlson! Excellent work and presentation as always!

  • @lambertax
    @lambertax 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That is just...amazing. What a great work. Redesigning such a precision instrument is awesome👍

  • @spiccybaby
    @spiccybaby 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I've watched this twice now, it's that good. Fabulous work.

  • @waynethompson8416
    @waynethompson8416 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    A great device and a wonderful project for you to share! Man, I couldn't have gone through all those Neon Bulbs...no, nope, never!!! It is an amazing device and I do appreciate your sharing it with us! Glad to be one of your Patreons.

  • @KallePihlajasaari
    @KallePihlajasaari 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This is kind of silly, here we have 1700+ people at 1:34:44holding their breath just watching a needle twitch. It looks to be easily over 1000 times more accurate than your regular 3.5 digit DMM made with vintage parts and design.
    There has been little progress at the bleeding edge of measurement because there is no commercial use case. If we all needed to measure nV daily then there would be a US$1.00 IC to do this with an SPI interface that worked out the box with internal compensation and no settling time and built in voltage regulators and references. Certainly achieving this level of accuracy with normal consumer parts is not very easy even today.
    Thank you for the lovely video as usual.

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thanks for taking the time to write Kalle.

    • @absurdengineering
      @absurdengineering 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I think you haven’t played with modern op-amps and ADCs. The performance level of this instrument can be replicated with simple off the shelf parts with very rudimentary engineering effort - because all the hard work was done by IC designers and semiconductor process engineering teams.
      There are ADC converters that can measure nanovolts directly at the input terminals - you connect them directly to the source, no interfacing needed, and they are all parts you can get for a dozen bucks or two in qty 1.
      That doesn’t diminish the brilliant engineering done to make this instrument work at all: it took lots of brilliant engineering to come up with an integrated ADC that has the sensitivity and linearity needed for measurements at this scale while still having full scale reading of 1-2V :) I dare say it took a wee bit more effort than this instrument did.

  • @ottodydaktyk
    @ottodydaktyk 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for all you do, Paul. Checking all those bulbs was a lot of work. It's appreciated.

  • @phillipyannone3195
    @phillipyannone3195 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That was completely amazing in all respects. I would expect nothing less from you.👍🏻

  • @kenhorne5650
    @kenhorne5650 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Had my old radio delco r1153 repaired like you shared. Got new compactors , tubes, and polarized power cord. The radio repair include alignment and knob. I love listening like used to when was a kid..thanks so much.

  • @stclairstclair
    @stclairstclair 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    As a retired mechanic I really get a ton of satisfaction when I restore things, I resurrected A 60's craftsman wood lathe, with some nice upgrades, it came out better than expected, now I use it on other resurrections!

  • @jimgiordano8218
    @jimgiordano8218 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Very impressive, spot on with a home made board and no adjustments of any kind. I don't know how you do it, but keep on doing what you do. I learn a lot from you. Thank you.

  • @andrewspar436
    @andrewspar436 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I am so very sorry not to be able to vote up this video more than once! Your work is just so inspiring, as are some of the devices you are working on, especially those outstanding ones like the 419A.

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thanks for your kind comment Andrew!

  • @sea-ferring
    @sea-ferring 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This is amazing and beautiful. Just breathtaking!

  • @FluxCondenser
    @FluxCondenser 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Your dedication and patience is astonishing, especially for something as potentially infuriating as bulbs! If I have to spend more than three minutes diagnosing a dead Christmas light string I throw the whole thing in the trash and buy a new one.

  • @More_Row
    @More_Row 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very enjoyable watch and info , thanks for sharing Mr. Carlson.

  • @furlockfurli2719
    @furlockfurli2719 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    And again. You did it again. Out of this world.

  • @TrackingWidgets
    @TrackingWidgets 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Commenting on this video as it's the last one I found when looking to see if you were still publishing. What a great library of videos you've produced that cover such a huge array of electronics topics! I'm going to have fun exploring your offerings, will check out your patreon site as well. Keep it up!!

  • @Wes8761
    @Wes8761 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I want to see a team collaboration project with EEVblog, Greatscott, Electroboom, The 8 Bit Guy, MrCarlsonsLab, and all the other electronics youtubers contributing something. I dont care what the collab is for it would just be cool to see a massive electronics collab

    • @Wizardofgosz
      @Wizardofgosz 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      CuriousMarc. I can do without the 8 Bit Guy though. He's not on this level.

    • @Uvisir
      @Uvisir 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      EEVblog + CuriousMarc + Applied Science
      + MrCarlsonsLab

  • @bergarteric5713
    @bergarteric5713 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Good evening ( or morning ) Mister .
    Again a beautiful item by HP !!! The master with Teck 's lab's intruments !!! Inside you smell the State of the art !!! nothing else : a great job by a master factory ...
    Thanks for your explication and the quality of the share !!! have a nice day for you ...

  • @bundylovess
    @bundylovess 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Wow who would of thought there was so much to a neon light 💡 nice job mr Carlson and big thumbs up 👍

  • @derofromdown-under2832
    @derofromdown-under2832 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    An excellent video Paul... WELL DONE!!! 10/10

  • @AiMR
    @AiMR 4 ปีที่แล้ว +54

    Average TH-cam Tech: This meter is worthless, entire Unobtainium boards are missing.
    Mr. C: Hold my beer.

  • @TheAlfieobanz
    @TheAlfieobanz 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Always something awesome with Mr. C

  • @StewartMarkley
    @StewartMarkley 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Paul, being a test equipment geek, I thoroughly enjoyed this. You did an excellent job both on the 419A and your videoing. I only wish I was as smart and skilled as you are. I’m retired now and especially because of the corona virus I have a lot of time on my hands and your videos are providing a lot of entertainment. I was flabbergasted at the calibration accuracy after all your rework. I used a HP nulling voltmeter back in the 70s when I was on a submarine in the Navy. Lots of interesting electronics on the boat.

  • @spankedbywife1018
    @spankedbywife1018 ปีที่แล้ว

    wow incredible, I had one of these meters many years ago from an auction palate of gear, and it worked perfectly like this. You did a great job on the repair and resto work here, good job,

  • @Very_Dark_Engineer
    @Very_Dark_Engineer 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    That is something new! Mr Carlson, please, provide more videos about measuring stuff from 80's, technic solutions in this stuff is not so hidden and still very useful for hobbyists today.

  • @michaelcruz1434
    @michaelcruz1434 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    And I tested these neon bulbs, and these, and these etc etc lol. Another great video Paul!!

  • @anandarochisha
    @anandarochisha 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    You are a true technomancer Paul. Thank You for that..

  • @OleF112
    @OleF112 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great work, Paul. That thing is so incredible sensitive, wow. Made my day to look at the Fluke test. 73 de Olaf.

  • @peep39
    @peep39 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    This has got to be one of your most interesting videos. And that's saying something!

  • @andycristea
    @andycristea 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Awesome video mr. C! Thank you!

  • @TheJamescatlin
    @TheJamescatlin 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    As a old HP instrument R&D engineer (8683, 8684, 8901B, 8902A, 8920) , I take my hat off to you. I would have done HALF the amount of Ne bulb experimentation because a little voice would be screaming in my ear to do the solid state replacement. Still, like you, I enjoyed the exploration into neon bulb land. Who knew that these ionization bulbs were so finicky? Thanks. Love the channel. BTW, our 8902A was an descendant of the 419A using the same chopping approach to allow us to measure over 120dB of RF power over a single hardware setting!

  • @oturgator
    @oturgator 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    This is pure gold right here!

  • @DonDegidio
    @DonDegidio 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Hi Paul,
    It's amazing how well some of the old test gear was designed. Enjoyed this video. Deserves two thumbs up. 73 WB3BJU

  • @WarpFactor999
    @WarpFactor999 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Excellent! I've used this meter when it was brand new...mostly with precision Wheatstone bridges and saturated cells for calibrations. Self heating was an issue. You would turn it on and leave it on in a temperature controlled room. Connect your setup and adjust. Walk away and wait. Tweak. Rinse and repeat. Eventually you would get a precise measurement that was , at the time, truly remarkable.

  • @paulgrodkowski3412
    @paulgrodkowski3412 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Nice TH-cam video. Nice to see guys like this taking an interest in technology.

  • @robertcunningham1542
    @robertcunningham1542 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    All those neon bulbs, reminds me of back in 1961, Popular Electronics had a project of a digital computer using a ladder of ten neon bulbs, for each of the digits and a rotary telephone dial for input. You had to get about three hundred neon bulbs and age them for hours, then match them in banks of ten for turn on voltage and extinguish voltage so a pulse would cause them to increment. I attended a state wide industrial student competition, that year, there was about thirty of them entered. I of course entered something different.

    • @iainportalupi
      @iainportalupi 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Robert Cunningham I’ve got a copy of the article about that computer. I’ve finally acquired all the neon bulbs for it so someday I can build it.

  • @franklynpolster8949
    @franklynpolster8949 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video! Cool to learn about something I've never seen before. Thanks

  • @Greg-et2dp
    @Greg-et2dp 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Mr Carlsons lab your Hp-419A DC Null volmeter is awesome my friend 😅😅😅😅

  • @russ117044
    @russ117044 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Once again, another outstanding video.

  • @richardgoebel226
    @richardgoebel226 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sick of the Neon bulbs? Us mere mortals would have gone crazy before we were even halfway through all of them. No wonder it was so long since the last video. Very well done.

  • @jamesgrimm611
    @jamesgrimm611 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Wonderful repair,very impressed.

  • @andymouse
    @andymouse 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Spectacular work !..cheers.

  • @JurisKankalis
    @JurisKankalis 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Although I don't speak Canadian (as an airport clerk said in a newer episode of Southpark) - and don't understand much of electronics, this was a nice background... uh, sorry, - backgruuund watch. Greetings from Latvia.

  • @deanmartin8784
    @deanmartin8784 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I love your intros where you're surrounded by all that awesome gear.

  • @PNWZombieWatch
    @PNWZombieWatch 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'm impressed by that analog meter on the front as well able to keep it's accuracy after so long too.

  • @nikmilosevic1696
    @nikmilosevic1696 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating, excellent video, very educational.

  • @eddiespencer1
    @eddiespencer1 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I keep marveling at the fact that everything this device does can be done with a single chip in a device that easily fits in your pocket today. Incredible.

    • @chrisw.3077
      @chrisw.3077 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Not as well.

  • @cfb33774
    @cfb33774 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Very fascinating. I've never seen anything like this!

  • @markshaum8364
    @markshaum8364 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I used to work on all the 400 series meters while employed at a HP sales and repair center in the mid 70's. I worked with the "audio" equipment which meant DC to 10Mhz. My favorites were the 400 series meters and 200 series oscillators.

  • @harrystevens3885
    @harrystevens3885 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Never knew there was so much to a neon bulb I will never look at my toaster and kettle again in the same way, I can't recommend this channel highly enough,simply the best on the tube.....

    • @absurdengineering
      @absurdengineering 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      It should be said that the only reason there’s “so much” to the neon bulb in this circuit is because the oscillator was an awful, marginal abomination. You can make an oscillator that would work with absolutely any neon that strikes in darkness in an afternoon, and it will work reliably and reproducibly without any regard to what neon bulb is in it.
      The whole neon brouhaha is the result of a despicably poor oscillator design. It is intrinsically tied to multiple parameters of the neon bulb - parameters that are entirely irrelevant unless you design a circuit that foolishly chooses to depend on them. Maybe it was their way of obfuscating things and preventing direct copies.
      Maybe it’s not obvious but getting a neon to reliably light up is child’s play if you got any reasonable power source for it. The oscillator in this meter is an example of how to never ever design such things. It’s marginally manufacturable and totally unserviceable and that’s not a good thing. It’s objectively absurdly bad of a design.
      Give anyone a low voltage transistor multivibrator, divider, and two little transformers and you can drive any neon bulb with thus 25% waveform, in a predictable manner, with no tweaking. Even the current adjustment is moot: you design the low-side driver to be a constant-power circuit, so that no matter what the neon does, it’ll produce roughly the same light output since the physical process has losses that are not very sensitive. I.e. if you get two neons of similar size and put 10mW of electrical power into them, you may get x mW light out of both of them, and that x won’t vary a whole lot - certainly not enough to need to tweak anything for each neon!
      In other words: the people who put neons into toasters and kettles are not going for the most insanely twitchy and unserviceable way of driving their neons. HP, on the other way… :(

  • @cambo1200
    @cambo1200 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I have Fairchild 5000 and 7000 nixie meters that were sold with different plug in boards based on the options purchased. As a future project I would love to build these option boards. Love the video!

  • @tubeDude48
    @tubeDude48 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Very cool Paul! Nice job.

  • @agoodandy1
    @agoodandy1 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    We used these when I was in the Marine Corps as a radio technician with them on the TH-81 multiplexers for AN/MRC-135

  • @SteverRob
    @SteverRob 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I used Fluke's 845AB quite a bit in the 90s-2000s calibrating automatic cable testers for the Space Shuttle Main Engines. Also had issues with the ni-cads, and had some NiMH batteries made for it. Like your work here, the new batteries plugged right in to the existing charging circuit. Nice work!

  • @saintleibowitz8401
    @saintleibowitz8401 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    around the time he started pulling out his many bags and trays of neon bulbs, i realized Mr.Carlson may have a problem.
    which is great news for us.

  • @mohammadr4372
    @mohammadr4372 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Outstanding work!

  • @rpbale
    @rpbale 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    You have me on the nanos and nulls. Great video. Bravo on the low voltage devices. I have several Fluke null meters 845AB and 845AR's where I've replaced the neons. I never knew how critical the neon bulbs were. I guess I was lucky with my batch. It would be great to see you do a video series on low voltage EMF measurement devices and best practices. I've been restoring a collection of old reference devices from the pre-90's. Guildline, Fluke and HP stuff. There are so few videos out there to help us understand what they we're doing in e-metrology back then. I just ordered an old malfunctioning Solartron 7081 8.5 digit DMM. I don't really know how to use it let alone fix it.

  • @pauliedweasel
    @pauliedweasel 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I used to use these as well as worked on a few when I was an instrumentation repair tech at Hewlett-Packard years ago in a galaxy not so far away.

    • @MrCarlsonsLab
      @MrCarlsonsLab  4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thanks for taking the time to write!

  • @nnnvp
    @nnnvp 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    great restoration
    perfect working

  • @pulesjet
    @pulesjet 4 ปีที่แล้ว +27

    Back in the time HP created Master Peaces of Electronic Test Gear. NOT any more. SAD times. No one build with the same quality any more.

    • @Zonkotron
      @Zonkotron 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Hmm. The latest generation Keysight LCR Meter we got at work is mindblowing. HP was a nicer name, that is true.....only problem I see with modern test gear is the embedded windows.

    • @praestant8
      @praestant8 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      pulesjet Lets be realistic. How many companies are building new analog dc null meters and who would buy them at the price they would cost?

    • @DaleDix
      @DaleDix 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Normally I wouldn't bother but when talking about excellence, it's masterpiece.

    • @pulesjet
      @pulesjet 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@praestant8 No one. We gave away our manufacturing and industrial edges or leads. Hell we did that with semiconductors to start . Our insanely inflated wages and prices have all but killed this country. Maybe that's more then in the works.

    • @absurdengineering
      @absurdengineering 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I’m not so sure. I got a Siglent scope for order of magnitude less than a comparable Keysight unit and it performs no worse, and its internals look pristine. It’s no less of a “masterpiece” as far as I’m concerned: it doesn’t have to be. Such designs aren’t at the edge of what’s possible anymore. Making a 1-2Gs/s digitizer and a proper input stage is run of the mill stuff nowadays. The quality is in the software, and there’s this little thing called software engineering that would like to interject now and have a word or two :)