HP 83000 Series. What is it good for?! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: schwarz-brot
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2015, 01:57:08 pm
content: Anyone out there who knows about these? Cannot find any information on HP/Agilent/Keysight Websites. Seem to be remarkable huge things, but what are they supposed to do and what is in there?

author: PedroDaGr8
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2015, 03:38:27 pm
content: Quote from: schwarz-brot on June 15, 2015, 01:57:08 pmThey look like IC testers based on the limited descriptions that I have found. A variety of companies make these things, likely one of ou resident IC gurus will know much more about these and how they work.

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2015, 07:48:08 am
content: Do you have one? I'd love to see a teardown of that kind of beast

author: schwarz-brot
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2015, 07:55:48 am
content: Well, there is one on ebay at the moment. Looks completely different than the IC-testers I found by googling...It will probably cost more to ship these beasts than to actually buy them. If I had a possibility to pick them up, I would for shure give them a shot. Anyone willing to do so? This is the auction:http://www.ebay.de/itm/151707753411

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2015, 04:40:46 pm
content: I think this is some kind chemical analysis machine. I definitely wouldn't want it without knowing what chemicals went through it.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2015, 05:36:58 pm
content: This datasheet shows a 83000 system and it is very different from the thing on EBay:http://www.testequipmentdatasheets.com/index_cards/A/Agilent/Semiconductor_Test_Systems.pdfThe current Keysight 83000 series are microwave amplifiers, so the number gets recycled a lot.I wonder where OP got the initial question from.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2015, 06:34:00 pm
content: That is a contactor head fo ic testing. The tester itself is not there. This is basically a box that holds the 'socket' shere the chip goes in, the loca power supplies and a large pin driver /multiplexer. The i teresting stuff like pattern generation, all the analog samplers etc are co tained in another box.. Well two 19 inch racks or more ...Judging from the pictures the machines has been gutted of the pin driver boards. There is very little left ...

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2015, 03:12:15 am
content: Quote from: schwarz-brot on June 17, 2015, 07:55:48 amI seriously don't think it's an IC tester.On the front of the box, the two big stainless pipes' labels are not very visible, but I think they say 'cooling in' and 'cooling out'. There's a kind of plumbing bus visible in the internal pic, with pipes from connectors on it, to boxes on plugin cards.But the black square on the top of the case, I think is just a small fan with dust filter.The case is on a vibration isolating mount (which IC testers don't need), it can tilt (but not as much as actual IC testers can, see pic), and it isn't styled nicely (IC testers are styled to the max.)I'm guessing there's something important on the other end of that case. Perhaps it's some kind of imaging device, with the port being on the unseen face. X-ray? Gamma? Or something really esoteric?The general construction looks like something intended for a physics lab. Never to be seen by the public.In the stuff piled underneath, at the back is that a silvery isolation suit headpiece?Also, what IC tester ever needed an big red emergency stop button? Or a remote operating button box for that matter? If the button box is what's on the end of that big reel of cable, operators need to be far away when running this.In the last pic, the thing in the plastic bag at the front, looks like it might be some kind of source, also on a small tiltable stand. X-ray? It's very small.The pic below is from the cover of a HP 81810S IC design verification system manual. To make the point that IC testers are styled so the test socket is the visual focus of the whole assembly.

author: bktemp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2015, 05:22:08 am
content: The black plastic thing on the top does not look like a fan. A fan would be hidden somewhere in the side, not in the middle of the top. On the last picture it is visible in the open unit and seems to go all the way down.There are two boards with a large number of capacitors visible on the top. They look like sensor boards. It looks like those boards are mounted on a large metal box.At the back of the unit there is the 6000VA input power rating. I do not see anything inside that could draw so much power. There must be something hidden using this power and the cooling water.On the back there is also another number: E7923A. It seems to be a really rare item, there is only one other auction around, describing it as "HP E7923A 83000 SCREEN".My guess: Laser, x-ray or something else interesting. The board at the top could be processing the measured data or at least controlling the unit and forwarding the data. I can see a SIEMENS ic, probably a microprocessor and some memory and probably a FIFO. The orange cables look like optical fibre cables.The black plasting thing is probably the "signal" output and input with a sensor. On both sides inside the metal boxes are sensor input conditioning circuits.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2015, 05:32:15 am
content: You don't need to do any more guessing, look at this document:http://www.fabsurplus.com/sdi_catalog/download?id=19709

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2015, 05:58:58 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on June 18, 2015, 03:12:15 amthat's a 30 year old machine ...todays machines look like this : (which is the actual 83000 system machine ) so , as you can see : that is only the contactor head. but it is useless as all the pin driver cards have been removed ( look in the ebay listing pictures : you will see the metal rack with the millipack connectors in the bottom. the card cage is empty.and yes, these machines need water cooling , hence the pipes in and out. actually the machine has twoo coolatn circuits. one water cooling for the electronics, one air ( or inert gas ) for the device under test. these machines can test the device both cold and hot ( -55 degree c to + 140 degree c )

author: bktemp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2015, 06:41:17 am
content: Why does this unit need 6kW? Is most of this power used for the external cooling unit?

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2015, 06:51:09 am
content: ECL logic families that burn power constantly

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 19, 2015, 03:40:14 am
content: It just gets more mysterious. OK, so you've convinced me it is an IC tester. But FE, your 83000 system pic just makes the same point I was making - the test head is styled nicely but more importantly is on a mount that allows it to move up and down, and tilt a lot. That's what I was saying wouldn't change with time.Same paint colors though, so I guess it is a similar thing despite being a quite different shape.That pdf is interesting. Also nothing in it that looks quite like the ebay item.Maybe the ebay one is on a shipping frame? Which may mean it was never used.That black object in the top middle of the ebay one, on close inspection of the pics is just the top of a hollow tube. So the actual device socket must have a shaft of some kind that goes down into it. I'd love to see how the connections are done.Anyway, it went for EU 56. Cheap for an interesting teardown. Apparently no one on this forum, unless they are taking their time to speak up.