WaveCrest SIA-3600D insides - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 10:56:53 am
content: Forum ate a previous, longer writeup but in the end I just wanted to share two pictures. So, here they are

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 04:44:51 pm
content: Very nice. Is it still functional? Do you have a use for it?

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 05:11:50 pm
content: It's very functional and sold this week. Needed to replaced the CMOS battery before shipping, so I cracked her open.I have three more of these (although not exactly the same): 2 SIA-3000's with clock recovery and one without. One is in good shape minus the floppy, the other two need some work on the LCD that are a bit flaky.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 05:24:33 pm
content: What's your plans for them? Do you actually have a use for them or just wanting to resell them? These things were the Cadillac IMO back in the day.Would make for an interesting video to show one in operation.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 05:39:26 pm
content: No, I have no use for them (well, I'll probably go "God I wish I still had one" somewhere down the line, but not enough to keep them).So the plan is to fix what I can (including one unit with fans that sound like they're grinding coffee) and sell'm.If you're interested in either buying one or taking one for a spin, let me know.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 05:55:38 pm
content: I figured you were doing some really high end stuff for home projects!You should at least hook up a source for the show me your square wave thread. It's pretty impressive what all these things could do.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 05:59:27 pm
content: The... Show me your square wave thread?

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 06:36:56 pm
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on July 01, 2017, 05:59:27 pmhttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/show-us-your-square-wave/

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 06:44:01 pm
content: Ah, something like this?Actually, that connection was made with... wire. Not coax. Wire. And not the SIA.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 06:50:29 pm
content: This was the SIA, but can't remember the frequency.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 06:52:06 pm
content: I don't remember if the SIA had a test signal you could use.I have a LeCroy that the knobs were falling off. Lost a couple moving it.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 06:54:51 pm
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on July 01, 2017, 06:50:29 pmLooks in good condition for the age. Are the others this clean?

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2017, 07:18:10 pm
content: You mean inside or out? The outsides are comparable, haven't checked the insides of the others.I was mightily surprised about the inside of this one. Clean, for sure, but I was expecting a thrown together unit with a lot of patching and board and... This is an incredibly clean and well engineered machine. I have some Tek instruments from this era and they feel a lot more "thrown together".The one thing I can't wrap my head around is it has a stick of "ValueRam". I'm kinda guessing it's an aftermarket thing. I can't imagine a unit that cost the same as a small house would have been sold with "ValueRam".

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2017, 12:01:24 am
content: Both inside and out? Pictures look like it's in fairly good condition. But for the cost of these back then, you would expect them to get treated accordingly.They may have went through someone else before getting to you. I can't see Wavecrest doing some thing cheap.

author: Wuerstchenhund
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2017, 05:49:19 pm
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on July 01, 2017, 07:18:10 pmActually I've seen ValueRAM in quite a few instruments and embedded devices. The "Value" in the name doesn't mean it's cheap crap memory, it just means it's standard JEDEC memory without any fancy features like overclocking. It's also made by Kingston, which isn't exactly a nobody in the 3rd party memory market (its products are generally very good, we've tons of devices that are running Kingston modules) and which generally provides lifetime warranty for its memory modules.And you wouldn't believe what crap memory I've seen in some Agilent gear...

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2017, 12:18:37 pm
content: There's nothing wrong with ValueRAM, I know, but I still can't imagine a sourcing meeting where everybody agreed with "yeah, let's go for ValueRAM".

author: Wuerstchenhund
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2017, 01:52:58 pm
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on July 07, 2017, 12:18:37 pmThere very likely was never such a meeting. ValueRAM is probably certified by whoever made the SBC in these things, which I guess WaveCrest just bought in as a set.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2017, 07:11:19 pm
content: Popped one open to see if the flaky LCD could be helped. So I have more pictures, this time from the bottom. I assume it's a card per function (two channel cards, one clock recovery card and... I don't know. One of the channel cards is connected to another card, first thought it was a trigger card but the other channel can be used as trigger as well.. So, not sure.The other pictures are from the display assembly. It's got a distinct 'junior engineer' feel. Not their best work. Might help to explain why the 3 units I have all have display issues.