The $480 bench tester I bought used is now my whole shop

Snagged a beat-up avionics bench tester at a salvage auction in Phoenix for $480, thought it was a gamble. Fixed a broken solder joint on the power board and it's been spot on for every continuity check since, way better than my old multimeter setup. Anyone else running salvaged test gear or am I the only one cheap enough?

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1 Comment

nancy_miller1d ago

That solder joint fix is classic, those older boards usually fail right where the transformer meets the main plane. Same thing happened with a spectrum analyzer I grabbed for a hundred bucks, just a cold joint on the input jack. One tip though, keep a can of contact cleaner and a good magnifying lamp nearby, these old units collect dust in the switches and it messes with readings worse than a dead battery. Also, check the calibration once a year against a known source if you can, they drift but usually hold fine. Cheap gear that you fixed yourself is always more reliable than something you're scared to open up.