It's been a long time since I used one of those power supplies, probably more than a decade. I like the low noise (acoustically and electrically), but I've never understood why HP built versions without a programmable current limit (I should rather say: I wouldn't want to do without it). I've seen a video (actually, I think more than one) about these power supplies where capacitors leaked badly, destroying traces and causing leakage currents that affect operation. Although I can't remember whether these were HP or Agilent branded, I would certainly inspect/measure and potentially replace the caps if I wanted to keep these supplies. I was really surprised to see these problems, because I rarely had any bad caps in my old HP gear (6060B, 5334B, 33120A etc.). One notable exception is the 53131A (in my case Agilent) with its SMPS - and it's a type of equipment that is common to see many hours of operation.
With all the HP, Agilent, Tektronix and Fluke gear that I have, I have only run into a capacitor issue twice. An HP 3437A and an HP 5328A that had a power supply over volt failure. While I was taking the 5328A apart, I discovered that the main power supply filter caps were only now just barely starting to show signs of leakage around the terminals. Prior to that the 5328A was working just fine. That's pretty good run for something that was built in the late 70's to early 80's. I have yet to run into an issue where there was leakage that resulted in trace or some other board damage. Most of the equipment that I have had been serviced in the last 5 to 10 years, however I do inspect the filter caps and check the power supply voltages on the units that have missing, broken or old anti-tamper service stickers. Thanks for watching!
If you're interested, I've got an extra HP 8920A RF Communications Test Set I would let go inexpensively. It has errors in the RF_Diags tests but does boot up and has all menus working.. Amtronix Instruments Calibrated and upgraded the one I have on my bench. They will also repair the 8920A. Chris S knows who I am if you want more info or to play with it before you buy. Everson Wa.
Thanks for the offer. I originally wanted to find a HP 8920A or Motorola R2600 series communications analyzer, but they were either priced higher than what I was willing to pay for, had seen rough service or had a number of faults. So I settled on purchasing discrete instruments instead of buying an all-in-one solution. I may re-visit the issue down the road, but so far I'm satisfied with the current setup. Thanks for watching!
It's been a long time since I used one of those power supplies, probably more than a decade. I like the low noise (acoustically and electrically), but I've never understood why HP built versions without a programmable current limit (I should rather say: I wouldn't want to do without it).
I've seen a video (actually, I think more than one) about these power supplies where capacitors leaked badly, destroying traces and causing leakage currents that affect operation. Although I can't remember whether these were HP or Agilent branded, I would certainly inspect/measure and potentially replace the caps if I wanted to keep these supplies. I was really surprised to see these problems, because I rarely had any bad caps in my old HP gear (6060B, 5334B, 33120A etc.). One notable exception is the 53131A (in my case Agilent) with its SMPS - and it's a type of equipment that is common to see many hours of operation.
With all the HP, Agilent, Tektronix and Fluke gear that I have, I have only run into a capacitor issue twice. An HP 3437A and an HP 5328A that had a power supply over volt failure. While I was taking the 5328A apart, I discovered that the main power supply filter caps were only now just barely starting to show signs of leakage around the terminals. Prior to that the 5328A was working just fine. That's pretty good run for something that was built in the late 70's to early 80's.
I have yet to run into an issue where there was leakage that resulted in trace or some other board damage. Most of the equipment that I have had been serviced in the last 5 to 10 years, however I do inspect the filter caps and check the power supply voltages on the units that have missing, broken or old anti-tamper service stickers. Thanks for watching!
@@CraigPetersen12f36b one exception are the RIFA caps. These have almost always a cracked case and usually have to be replaced.
If you're interested, I've got an extra HP 8920A RF Communications Test Set I would let go inexpensively. It has errors in the RF_Diags tests but does boot up and has all menus working.. Amtronix Instruments Calibrated and upgraded the one I have on my bench. They will also repair the 8920A. Chris S knows who I am if you want more info or to play with it before you buy. Everson Wa.
Thanks for the offer. I originally wanted to find a HP 8920A or Motorola R2600 series communications analyzer, but they were either priced higher than what I was willing to pay for, had seen rough service or had a number of faults. So I settled on purchasing discrete instruments instead of buying an all-in-one solution. I may re-visit the issue down the road, but so far I'm satisfied with the current setup. Thanks for watching!