Hi to all,
I love electronics, but the test equipment can be very expensive for quality equipment such as digital oscilloscopes, function generators, power supplies etc. To save money and have good quality equipment, I was wondering if any of you know where I could get reasonably priced good quality kits around the neighborhood of $100 to $300. I have a lot of patients and enjoy putting things together. Thank you for your help.

Sincerely:
Maintenance Man

 

Not a kit but a cool little oscope http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/ds...th=174&zenid=64f5be295faace676e9b3be62dd98365

 

You can buy that scope as a $48 kit in 2 versions, one with a bare board requiring SMT skills, or another that has the SMT stuff presoldered for us older folk who can not hold a soldering iron still anymore.

 

Not a kit but a cool little oscope http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/ds...th=174&zenid=64f5be295faace676e9b3be62dd98365

This site has some cool stuff. Have you ever bought something from them?

 

This site has some cool stuff. Have you ever bought something from them?

Yes.. Never had a problem.. I even design/buy raw PCB's from them..
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/services-c-185.html?zenid=ed18a8e3ae8abebdd5bf43a39595d60d

 

As a general rule of thumb kits are more expensive than their manufactured equivalents. More handling involved.

 

Have you considered the used test equipment market?...eBay?...Craig's List?
All of mine is used. If you find something you like, you can probably get some advice on it here. It would help too if you added you're general location in the world to your profile.

Ken

 

Elenco makes some kits, like a function generator and power supply. Built the function generator one, but haven't really used it.

 

The used test equipment market is HUGE and people are selling stuff for 10 cents on the dollar or better. We just got 3 full 7ft racks of -48VDC switch mode rectifiers/distribution panels (1200 Amps capacity total) for $10.. yes thats right 10 bucks for everything.. Cost a few hundred for shipping but for $10 you can't beat it. You can get really lucky when you want it and no one is bidding on it.

We have been bidding on stuff on dovebid, xline assest, branford group auction sites.. Its amazing what you can get.
Zebra 170Xiii barcode printers for $200 bucks, Hakko soldering stations for $5 bucks (some were brand new even), large soldering fume extractors for $20-40 each ($500+ new)

 

http://www.goldmine-elec.com/?utm_s...tm_campaign=1698280656-Feb23&utm_medium=email has some nice times on sale right now.

As to test equipment hit up a ham fest or personally call http://www.techrecovery.com - they've got stuff hidden in their back rooms that can't be beat for the price. Might have a cracked faceplate or needs a knob as they only display the top notch stuff on their website.

I got a perfectly good Tek 2465 from them last year for $165, totally in cal and only needed one of the scale illumitation lights replaced which I have seen no need in doing so.

 

Thank you all for your great advice in which I have new directions to go in. Used equipment or slightly damaged equipment is a good way to go to save money and get good quality equipment. Auctions are another way to save money. I appreciate the help.

Sincerely:
Maintenance Man

 

I have seen some oscilloscopes for reasonable prices on eBay, but I am not sure what is the best deal; dual trace 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 30 MHz, 60 MHz, 100 MHz or more. Also is it best to get a digital oscilloscope .I am going to assume the higher the MHz the better the oscilloscope is to test higher frequencies. Is there an average for the amount of MHz a person really needs to have quality test equipment. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

Once a year in Dallas we have an annual HamCon. These kinds of conventions are really good places to get equipment of any sort. The guys will talk your leg(s) off explaining all the things that is good, is bad, can be done, has been done, wish they had done, etc with the equipment. It is a good crowd to be in.

What part of Oklahoma are you in? My old stomping grounds were Hartshorne, near McAlaster.

 

I live In Enid Oklahoma. I have been to the Dallas area for some Rockwell automation trainiing for RsLogix 500 in the town of Adison Texas.

 

The sellers on eBay are usually way too high.

 

Also is it best to get a digital oscilloscope

In my opinion, no. I'm good to 400 MHz calibrated on 4 channels and it will register far more than that, preamp on the main two channels can display 1 GHz if you don't need the accuracy.

 

Not a kit but a cool little oscope http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/ds...th=174&zenid=64f5be295faace676e9b3be62dd98365

do you own/have you used this? I ran across it when I was looking for a scope and it looked too gadgety to be functional - or - too good/cool to be true. I couldn't find any reviews by anyone who sounded like they had experience with o-scopes so I decided to go with something a little more well established. I got a used but working & calibrated tektronix 2430A off Ebay for 150$. Do you think I made the right choice? Do you think this is still a good gadget to have if I've already got the scope since it's pocket portable?