While most (all?) of you seem to have proper test equipment such as DMM, scope, LA, this little gadget can still be quite handy. It has two analog input channels as well as 2 analog output channels that can be either a voltage source (0 - 5V) or a current source (+/- 200ma). Great for testing components, curve traces, matching transistors etc, and only about $50.
And for the record, no I do not have any affiliation with Analog Devices.
Update: There is also the ADALM2000. It’s a little more expensive but a much more capable device. Dual channel 20MHz digital oscilloscope, dual channel 20MHz arbitrary waveform generator, 20MHz spectrum analyzer, function generator, and 16 channel 100MHz logic analyzer and pattern generator and more. It’s new and should become available in the next week or so.
We think it’s a great low cost device for getting started and will be doing more work with these in the future. It’s probably the best “all in one” device for getting started if you don’t have any equipment on your bench.
I like them because each of the little compartments inside can be taken out individually and reorganized. The bins are all different sizes for different size parts which is nice. And then the really cool thing is you can stack them on top of each other, or do like this guy did and route out grooves in a cabinet to slide them into:
I’ve seen these kinds of bins used by the “Robots and Dinosaurs” hackerspace when i visited Australia. They had a great setup:
They stored lots of various part types in there, which this seems optimzed for. If you have a bunch of valves, it’s possible that you can shake them around without anything falling out, even smaller parts.
I was thinking of using them for through hole components. They’re nice because you can take the individual compartments out and rearrange them however you like inside the organizer.
