Racal-Dana 1999 Teardown, Repair and Calibration
Рет қаралды 17,431
10 жыл бұрынgerrysweeney.com/racal-dana-19...
I have been using this Racal counter for a long time and in the last few months it started to suffer from an intermittent fault where it would appear to freeze and stop responding. Banging the unit on the side with the palm of my hand would get it going again, and when doing this it would often restart as if its been powered on. In addition to this fault, the counter suffers from an altogether common problem with the buttons on the front which loose any tactile feel to them and become difficult to actuate - this is a common problem on these counters and thats down to the poorly designed switches Racal used for its frequency counter range.
@OneCoolDude08 10 жыл бұрын
I hope you keep cranking out videos like you have been. You're definetely in my top 3 favorite KZfaq channels. SignalPathBlog has the #1 spot, sorry, lol. Maybe I just love how he refers to himself in the 3rd person, haha.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the comment. Gerry
@LeeKirkman88 4 жыл бұрын
Brilliant counters Racals i have the 1991. Also have a couple of Blackstars which are a little more compact. But work well.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Richard, yes you are right, for my own use thats true but its still nice to have it working well stand-alone. I am going to do an OCXO nod for it too. The cost of them second hand makes it easy to justify.
@Bully000001 10 жыл бұрын
Always look forward to your videos. I agree the oscillator upgrade would be a good video. Can you let me know where you sourced the replacement switches. Cheers
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Thanks Dino, no problem. Glad your having ago at the Rb project, and using a PIC for LED control....great. Can I ask you to post a comment on the blog page relating to the OCXO mod so I have one place to count up all the interested parties. Thanks, Gerry
@OneCoolDude08 10 жыл бұрын
I just love the beauty and craftmanship in older test equipment. I much prefer an LED display over LCD (even in color).
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
I was starting to worry that people would be getting tired of frequency counter vids...I will add it to the list. Gerry
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Hi Jacob, I am not sure thats the right part. The one you point to is a dual-row connector, the one on the OCXO board is a single row connector. The rework of the arduino-style single header female pin header I showed in the video works really well. Gerry
@Richardincancale 10 жыл бұрын
Hi Gerry, Nice repair video! Isn't it a bit pointless trying to tweak the built-in TCXO when you've got an Rb standard - just feed the 10 MHz from the Rb into the external sync port...?
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Hi James, I bought them on e-bay. They are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and the mod is quite irreversible because of the button cutting and gluing, but they are a hell of a lot better than the original crappy broken buttons thats for sure. I can't remember the exact source but the buttons you want are 6mmx6mmx10mm shaft length with two pins. I got the wrong ones I got 7mm shaft length so there was more faffing around than there should have been. Gerry
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Yeah, older equipment is quite often really nicely made. I like the older HP gear for build quality, the Racal is nicely built in most places but some of it is poor - the Timebase board connector for example! Displays are a much bigger thing that vendors often under estimate. A high quality TFT can be really nice, VFD's are great apart from their ageing. Thanks for the comments.
@PapasDino 10 жыл бұрын
Nice repair Gerry, great video...wish they were all that simple! Count me in for a PCB to update my Agilent 5131A with a OCXO (although I run all the boxes off the bench standard it would be nice to have a portable capability with better accuracy than the low-end oscillator). Still waiting for my Rb to arrive via slow boat from China and playing with MPLAB to program the PIC for front panel LED control. Dino
@g1fsh 10 жыл бұрын
Nice one Gerry another great repair and I think the oscolater upgrade would make a good video.
@SylwerDragon 10 жыл бұрын
Hi Gary really nice video. I did enjoy it :)
@OneCoolDude08 10 жыл бұрын
Gotta love the trend of using giant LCD and putting so many icons and menus the actual readout area is tiny, lol. The other "trick" I have noticed is they put a huge bezel around a tiny LCD to make it look big, but in reality you have a small hard to read display. My wish would be for manufacturers to use OLED displays like in the Agilent handhelds. Those are gorgeous.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Might be worth lifting the eprom out and reading it and backing it up - I am not sure how long EPROM's retain data, 25 years seems to spring to mind but I am not sure how accurate that is.
@yellowcrescent 10 жыл бұрын
Connector on the xtal board and front panel looks like TE/AMP AMPUMOD 216604 Series. 10-pin is cat# 216604-4. Digikey has em for about US$3, but might be something else-- probably have to verify pin spacing on the drawing, but looks like it could be 300mils (7.62mm). Good luck!
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Yeah, check out the review/teardown videos I done on the Keithley 2110, thats exactly what they have done - big bezel around a small crappy LCD.
@NivagSwerdna 8 жыл бұрын
Nice video. I have just bought one of these via ebay to be my 1st ever frequency counter... looks like I'll have a few hours fun replacing the buttons too. What dimension are the replacement buttons?
@gerrysweeney 8 жыл бұрын
+NivagSwerdna hi they were 6x6mm, fairly standard buttons, but you need the two-pin versions, plenty of suppliers on e-bay, I think I bought 100pcs for just a few dollars. If you care about accuracy you might also want to have a look at this video: gerrysweeney.com/racal-dana-199x-diy-high-stability-diy-timebase-hack-for-under-25/ Good luck with the repair. Gerry
@SoddingaboutSi 10 жыл бұрын
I have a dana 1998 I just bought. Its great apart for once when it gave an error 4? Is that an eprom error as in the DMM's
@SoddingaboutSi 5 жыл бұрын
You can get extra resolution on these by holding the up resolution button for 2 seconds. Probably no point with a tcxo though!
@ChipGuy 10 жыл бұрын
BTW, you are right with the assumtion that the GPIB bpoard is an option. Mine came without the GPIB card. Have you actually saved the contents of the EPROM to a file? I think I am going to do this with mine. That EPROM is almost 30 years old, so bits could start suffering from "age erasure" and bit's becoming turning from 0 to 1. Would not be the first time I see that happening.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Hi Chip Guy Vids no I did not save the eprom content, I dont have an eprom reader :( good idea to preserve it though. Gerry
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
I just watched the video and you are right 1998 - I believe that is because the 2.6GHz option board was removed, I guess thats the difference in the models then - 1998 is 160Mhz single channel, and 1999 is the 2.6Ghz dual channel. Well spotted. Gerry
@OneCoolDude08 10 жыл бұрын
Haha that is a perfect example. I'm a huge fan of the old brown Keithleys with the red LED display.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Yeah that counter got a fair amount of bangs and bumps during the last few months, thats why I thought I would fix it, I was starting to hurt my hand :) Gerry
@priestblood 7 жыл бұрын
hi Gerry great videos,can you help I have racal-dana 9932 and I can't find any manuals or info what device fits ,I have a 9906 ,do you have any manuals please cheers
@gerrysweeney 7 жыл бұрын
I have never had one of those so I have not tried to get any manuals. Quick ebay search shows up a couple of technical manuals for sale at $15 + shipping, you might want to try there. Gerry
@OneCoolDude08 10 жыл бұрын
Haha that is a perfect example. I'm a huge fan of the old brown Keithleys with the red LED display. Unfortunately my Oscilloscope broke, so I need to replace that before I can think about buying a bench DMM.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
I like the VFD ones...:)
@kuro68000 10 жыл бұрын
Is it me or did it say 1998 when you powered it up after replacing all the buttons?
@OneCoolDude08 10 жыл бұрын
Haha yep, that is a perfect example. I'm a huge fan of the old brown Keithleys with the red LED display. Unfortunately my Oscilloscope broke, so I need to replace that before I can think about buying a bench DMM.
@icsp2 10 жыл бұрын
I have just bought the 1998 with ultra high stability ovened oscillator (04E) option fitted, Ex MOD (RAF) so should be good enough for me as i'm just using it to test and setup radio transceivers.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Hi icsp2 good counter, I also bought one of those 1998 Ex MOD counters with the high stab 04E option, they are really nice counters for the money. Good purchase choice and perfect for what you want it for. If you know someone with a rubidium or GPSDO it would be worth calibrating it, or at least checking its within tollarance that you are happy with. Keep in mind that those 04E oven OCXO's take a good few hours to warm up and stabilise, at least 3-4 hours by my best estimation, for calibration they recommend 24 hours. Gerry
@icsp2 10 жыл бұрын
Gerry Sweeney Thanks for the info, i always thought the idea of these OCXO's was to make equipment stable throughout different temperatures. Some HF transceivers can have what they call temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) fitted as options. Is this basically the same thing and still needs a warm up period. As i always thought they were so you could be transmitting on the dialed frequency without waiting 30 minutes for the radio to warm up.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
icsp2 A TCXO is pre-calibrated and adjusts its self according to the ambient temperature. Much more stable than a standard XTAL oscillator but not as good by far as an OCXO. Gerry
@hdmalpas 10 жыл бұрын
I went into Maplins and asked for a set of timing screwdrivers and found that they did not sell them, in fact they did not know what they were, I had to get a set of CK trimer drivers off the internet. Why are they not standard kit in any electronic lab?
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Yeah I must get some myself one day!
@hdmalpas 10 жыл бұрын
Keep up the good work, I really enjoy your channel saves me stripping my gear down. LOL.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Howard Malpas sure thing, thanks for watching. Gerry
@ChipGuy 10 жыл бұрын
Thanks again for that video, just bought one after figuring out my current counter (Atten) is deceiving me by counting in 256 Hz steps showing a 1 Hz resolution.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Nice one, if you can get them these counters are really good value for money, still very good considering their age. You often get Ex-MOD ones whith OCXO's already in them for less that £200 often... Gerry
@ChipGuy 10 жыл бұрын
Gerry Sweeney I got the 1998 model, for £169, it's an ok'ish price since I am a bit desperate after a decent counter. No LNB adjustments for me anymore, so I don't need the counter to take signals up to 2150 MHz :) 1 or 1.3 GHz will just do fine.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Chip Guy Vids Good value for money I am sure you wont regret getting it, I have a 1998 and a 1999
@ChipGuy 10 жыл бұрын
Gerry Sweeney Got my counter from the UK. Poorly packed but due to its ruggedness it survived without a dent. I didn't even notice that this is a reciprocal counter. That is a nice surprise for a 30 year old item. That's a winner !
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Chip Guy Vids Good to hear you go the counter, they are certainly not bad for the money thats for sure...
@NathonDalton 10 жыл бұрын
First time viewer. Nice subject. However if I could mention some constructive criticism. The camera works needs some improvement. Getting close up shots of chips at higher resolution with good focus and contrast is nice, especially when showing boards. Maybe switch from view of you to close view of the subject matter when talking about chips, circuits, etc. Otherwise very nice job. Appreciate you taking time to look up individual chip's data sheets. Oh, and you commented about 25 year EPROM life. Actually I believe they're spec'd to last until just before you plan to back them up. :-) Cheers!
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Hi Nathon, thanks for watching and thank you for the feedback. Gerry
@weerobot 5 жыл бұрын
Good Button KraftWork...
@Ahmedahmed-rj9ss Жыл бұрын
👍
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
No, it still says 1999 - just checked...:)
@T-Tronix 10 жыл бұрын
great work like always. got idea for your next tear down . how about your rolex . lol. just joking. keep up the good work.
@PlasmaHH 9 жыл бұрын
when no plastic screwdriver at hand, break of and file a toothpick.
@gerrysweeney 10 жыл бұрын
Haha, I dont have the tools or dexterity to do that in a way that would finish up with a working watch :)
@geronimostade8279 8 жыл бұрын
I really would never put my finger on high sensitivity stuff like the option board. Specially when leakage is a big deal. Otherwise i really like your videos. ;) cheers
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