Update – DIY HP/Agilent 53131A 010 High Stability Timebase Option PCB’s Available

By gerrysweeney on October 27, 2013October 2, 2022210 Comments

Following on from the project to build a DIY OCXO upgrade option for my HP/Agilent 53131A Frequency Counter I had a large number of requests for me to make the PCB’s available so others can built there own. I now have some PCB’s and are making them available for sale. I will also be making some fully assembled and tested/verified boards including an OCXO, ready-made cable and mounting stand-off’s, there will only be a limited number of these so if you are interested, let me know, first come first serve and when they are gone they are gone.

Now, someone made a comment on hackaday stating that the reason why these OCXO’s are on e-bay is because they are no good. Well I can understand why one could draw that conclusion but having now played with in access of 50 of these OCXO’s I can tell you that they all pretty much violently agree with each other and they also agree with the Rubidium Frequency Standard I have, so given they are from different sources and all free-running I am pretty comfortable they are good and usable quality devices. I read a lot on the net about “burn in time” and the general consensus seems to be, the longer you age and heat a crystal oscillator the more stable (in terms of drift) it becomes. Now I don’t know how true that is, but if it is true, then by definition, using recovered OCXO’s must actually be a good thing. Of course if you feel the need to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a new OCXO then you can of course do that – but I am pretty sure that it does NOT guarantee you any better performance, it just buys you the right to get compensated if you happen to find it does not meet the performance specifications quoted by the manufacturer and it might make you feel a little more confident. Anyway I guess the results speak for themselves and for a home lab these OCXO’s are more than good enough I think.

Here is a short video showing the various configurations built and working as well as a quick overview of the PCB its self and the configuration options.

The Schematic

53131A_010 Schematic

The PCB

This is the revision “1F” board. When I designed the board, I picked a few of the OCXO types that are available on the second-hand (salvaged) market and designed it to accommodate these. My original plan was to support four types of OCXO, the Oscilloquartz 8663-XS that I used in my own counter, a Datum 105243-002, and Isotemp OCXO-131 and a Trimble 34310-T(2). However, when I laid the board out I did not have the Trimble 34310-T(2) device to hand and made a (wrong) assumption about the footprint – which is a bad schoolboy error I know – the upshot being that while this board has a footprint and markings for the Trimble 34310-T(2) it does not fit, the pins are about 1mm out and therefore the board IS NOT suitable for that particular device. It is feasible to drill holes, the pads are just about big enough but assuming there is some demand for these boards I will order a second batch with the footprint corrected.

The following OCXO’s are known (and shown in the video) to work. Any others might work but thats up to you to verify 🙂

Oscilloquartz 8663-XS
Isotemp OCXO131-100
Isotemp OCXO131-191
Datum 105243-002

Oscilloquartz 8663-XS

This is the first OCXO I used, its more expensive than most and seems good quality and very precise. It works off of 12v and provides a nice clean sine wave output. The voltage control input works on the 0-10V range. I could not find any data on the XS version so I don’t know what its performance specifications are. I have included a download for this device but it does not cover the XS version specifically. The data sheet states that this device requires 0-10v for the frequency control, and testing seems to bear this out too. However, to get the counter to calibrate properly I selected the 0-5v range on the DAC.

Datum 105243-002

This was another OCXO that I included on the board for Andy (who built the first 3Ghz pre-scaller option board), again a nice device but its specified to work on 24V and the Oven and Oscillator have separate power connections. This is the only OCXO that has a built in trim pot which allows you to set the window for the voltage control range. Although this device is specified to run at 24V, I tested its operation at 12V and it works perfectly. I did put a four-pin plug onto the board to allow you to give it a separate 24V supply but it really does not need it. I do not have any data sheet for this device but it outputs a square wave which is not as nice as having a sine wave on the output – but for this application it does not matter at all. The Frequency control input on this device is very sensitive and while it works without problem at +/-10v its centred around 2V and 0-5v works just fine.

Isotemp OCXO131-1xx

This is a small, compact device and comes in two variants, the OCXO131-191 which is a 12V version and the OCXO131-100 which is a 5V version, and while both share the same PCB footprint and pinouts the case for the 5v variant is taller at 18mm high where as the 12v version is a compact 11mm high. These also provide a square wave output. Both versions of the device require 0-5v on the frequency control input although to get the counter to properly calibrate I had to configure it for the +/-5V option.

Kit of Parts

Some people asked me about providing a kit of parts. I am not really geared up to do that in a time-efficient way so apart from the bare PCB, I will not be able to provide individual parts or components.

Fully Built and Tested Option

I am planning to have a limited number of these option boards fully built and tested with all the components and the OCXO pre-installed as well as a suitable cable and mounting stand-off’s, ready to install and use in your counter 531xx HP counter. I do not have an exact cost for these as I still have to source some of the components but they are likely to be be in the £75 to £95 range. I will post an update when I have these available which should be in about 2-3 weeks time.

UPDATE: I now have some fully assembled and tested boards complete with cable and mounting parts needed for a simple plug-and-play 53100 series counter upgrade. I am providing these with a Trimble 34310-T OCXO which is a really high quality, high spec double-oven OCXO, performance compares very favourably to the original high end option offered by HP at 10x the cost

Bill of Materials

RefDes	Part No	Notes
C1, C2, C4, C6, C7, C8, C10, C11	100nF	0805 SMD Jellybean part
C12	1uF	0805 SMD Jellybean part – Could probably use 100nF with no problem
C3, C5, C9	47uF 16v	Electrolytic. Farnell Part No: 197-3305
J2	IDC2X8M	Farnell Part No: 231-0066
L1, L2, L5	100uH	Farnell Part No: 935-8056
L3, L4	1uH	Farnell Part No: 221-5638
R1, R2	100R	0805 SMD Jellybean part
R3, R4	220R	0805 SMD Jellybean part
R8	220R	0805 SMD Jellybean part – This is not needed unless you want to mess with the comparator bias
U1	LM361M	Very fast differential comparator
U4	ADR4550	You can use a REF02 or numerous other 5V reference parts here, the pinout is pretty standard
U5	AD7243AR	This is the most expensive and hard to get part

Bare PCB’s Available

UPDATE: After my first trip to the post office today I have had to amend the pricing because of the outrageous postal charges, I have been told that I cannot send something that’s not made of paper as a letter! that means for my friends outside of the UK the postage is more expensive, sorry about that. The good news is, the postage does not go up with the number of boards. I hope you understand.

UK Orders

If you want more than two boards please contact me directly via e-mail because the weight starts to impact postage.

STILL AVAILABLE 1 x HP/Agilent 53131A-010/GS OCXO Option Bare PCB Rev 1H inc. Postage	£12.50
STILL AVAILABLE 2 x HP/Agilent 53131A-010/GS OCXO Option Bare PCB’s Rev 1H inc. Postage	£23.00
UNAVAILABLE HP/Agilent 53131A-010/GS Rev 1G Fully Built and Tested with Trimble 34310-T OCXO, Cable and Mounting Kit	£145.00 + £10.00 shipping (tracked and signed for)	Contact Me

Non-UK Orders

If you want more than two boards please contact me directly via e-mail.

STILL AVAILABLE 1 x HP/Agilent 53131A-010/GS OCXO Option Bare PCB Rev 1H	£15.00
STILL AVAILABLE 2 x HP/Agilent 53131A-010/GS OCXO Option Bare PCB’s Rev 1H	£27.50
UNAVAILABLE HP/Agilent 53131A-010/GS Rev 1G Fully Built and Tested with Trimble 34310-T OCXO, Cable and Mounting Kit	£145.00 + £18 shipping (tracked and signed for)	Contact Me

DIY HP/Agilent 53131A-030 3GHz Channel 3 Option Board

By gerrysweeney on July 26, 2013July 10, 201713 Comments

As part of the process of upgrading my counter to have a DIY high stability OCXO (Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator), someone who watched my videos had designed a DIY 3GHz Channel 3 53131A-030 option board. The original from Agilent is very expensive (obviously) and there are clones you can get on e-bay which are a quarter of the price Agilent charge which is why he decided to design his own. His name is Andy and when he saw my video’s he got in touch and offered me one of the PCB’s to which I of course said YES PLEASE 🙂

Now as it turned out, when Andy constructed his own board he had enough components left over so also constructed and tested one for me which was a really kind thing to do and very unexpected too. In exchange for this I have insisted that I can build him an OCXO board while I am doing mine to return the favour.

Anyways, I thought I would do a video to show the HP/Agilent 53131A-030 DIY 3GHz Cannel 3 Option board getting fitted to my counter. I also spend some time explaining how the pre-scaller circuit works and in basic terms what MMIC’s are and how they work too. I also make an adaption to my previous hard power switch modification to make way for the upcoming DIY OCXO board, and I measure up to get the exact board dimensions and mounting hole positions I need for the OCXO PCB layout.

The entire work and full attribution for the DIY 030 option board/PCB goes to Andy, so Andy – thank you so much for making one of these for me – I really appreciate it.

PLEASE NOTE: I will not put Andy’s Youtube/EEVblog ID here unless he asks me to, and I will not pass on his details without his express permission so please don’t ask – I respect people’s privacy. If Andy does want to share his details in connection with this project then I will gladly put them here.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE: The schematic drawing below is technically incomplete and is meant as an illustrative block diagram. In the real circuit there is also a resistor in series with each inductor at the top of each MMIC to set up the right DC conditions.

See you next time.

My E3634A Mystery Explosion – WTF!

By gerrysweeney on April 20, 2013July 10, 20174 Comments

This is a short follow-up to a video where I was recently testing a Mayyuo M9711 DC Electronic Load (See Here) and I was using an Agilent E3634A Power Supply (which I previously fixed) as a power source. When I put the DC load into pulse mode within a few seconds the E3634A PSU exploded. What I heard was a loud pop, and a flash followed by a loud vibrating 50Hz hum, by which time I was able to reach the power switch and shut it down. I switched to another supply and continued with the test of the M9711 but today I thought I would open up (once agin) the E3634A and see what damage was done and what I found is a real mystery!

Did I imagine it all? Was there beer involved? Who knows, its a mystery!

Hope you enjoyed the video, catch you next time…

UPDATE – I found the smoke source

While tidying up I thought i would have a look at the two power MOSFET’s that failed and found the IRFP260 has a very small but visible smoke vent! I have added the photo’s below, I had to take these under the microscope x10 and x30 to see it. With the naked eye it looks like a light scratch.

HP/Agilent E3646A Power Supply Teardown & Repair

By gerrysweeney on April 16, 2013July 10, 201714 Comments

So I present the third in what is starting to feel like a long line of Agilent PSU repairs, but before you read on you should know that I have now depleted my collection of broken Agilent E36xx series power supplies so I will need to find another subject to blog about next time! That being said, even though I have blogged about two other PSU;s from the same family, I thought it would be worth videoing the repair exercise and at the same time try to demonstrate how I go about identifying and resolving a fault on this kind of circuit. The E3646A is a different model to the other two PSU’s I have repaired and blogged about – this one is a dual output 0-8v @ 5A / 0-20V @ 2.5A for each channel and the internals are different so I hope this will be of some use for anyone who may need to repair one of these.

Notes and Schematic Parts

You can download the Agilent E364xA Service Manual which include the schematics

I hope you find this useful or interesting. If you do please give the video a thumbs up and if you have any comments or suggestions please post them here and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks for watching and catch you next time.

HP/Agilent E3634A Power Supply Teardown & Repair

By gerrysweeney on April 6, 2013July 10, 201723 Comments

Over a year ago now I repaired a HP/Agilent E3631A triple output PSU and have been using it very often ever since. Recently I bought an Agilent E3634A PSU which is a single output but high power supply, I bought it in non-working condition for not very much money (about $90). It turned out to be a non-trivial task, with physically burned out components and a difficult to track down and understand secondary problem. The components to repair the supply cost less that $20 and the repair exercise was challenging and educational so well worth the effort.

SMOKIN’ HOT…..

I decided that for this repair I would try doing a video teardown and repair which I have not done before. The repair took quite a few hours in the end, although I carried out the repair over about 4 weeks elapsed.

This is a really useful addition to my work bench, the high power nature of this supply makes it very useful for working in low voltage systems like audio amplifiers communications equipment and automotive applications that have high power requirements.

The Agilent E3634A Service Manual with schematics is available on the internet for download, I have provided a link here for convenience.

See you next time…

Fully Programmable Modular Bench Power Supply – Part 9

By gerrysweeney on September 9, 2012July 10, 20179 Comments

After a fairly disappointing start with the 12-bit DAC from Microchip I have chnaged the DAC to a 16-bit resolution part LTC2602 from Linear Technology. The goal of getting a resolution that is as good as the HP3631A Power Supply means getting a programmable resolution of 1mv for the low voltage range and 10mv for the high voltage range. The circuit below achieves these goals with a high degree of accuracy and no missing codes throughout the range. The design also exceeds the dynamic voltage and current range of the HP shown in the table below. Furthermore I made a statement that I would aim to not only achieve the same resolution but I would also attempt to improve on it by a factor of 10, that means getting a resolution of 100µV on the low voltage range and 1mV on the high voltage range. The 16 bit resolution of the DAC was not quite enough to achieve this, there were missing codes so I used the DAC modulation technique I used for the 12-bit DAC and extended the 16-bit DAC to 18 bits of resolution which allowed me to achieve the ten-fold programming resolution with no missing codes across the entire range – marvellous 🙂

Here is a brief video overview of the modified hardware and test environment

And here is a video demonstration of programming, measuring and the achieved resolution.

I focused some more on noise measurements and found that modulating the output of the 16-bit DAC created no detectable ripple – at least with the test equipment that I have. In fact the noise I am measuring swamps any ripple that is being created now. Interestingly, the digital signals from the micro controller driving the DAC (the SPI bus) is now creating more noise than the ripple effect of switching between two adjacent codes. Because the digital switching does impose some noise, there is a compromise to be had – you can get higher resolution but suffer some additional noise. For low-noise applications you can forego the additional resolution and get better signal to noise performance. Thankfully this can be controlled entirely in software so can be easily made a programmable option which is what I will do.

Of course this is just the control circuitry, I have no idea how the noise or accuracy will be represented through the linear regulator part of the design in practice – we shall see.

I have broken the schematic into several pages to make it easer to read.

I am happy that the control circuitry and the firmware is now good enough for a Version 1 baseline – this is what we have now. I have increased each range to show the possible extent of each gain option. In the final design the power and voltage ranges required and programmed in the UI/front panel will dictate the actual upper limits of each range, but this table shows the extent of what is possible.

Volt Range	Volt Resolution	Volt Steps	Current Range	Current Resolution	Current Steps	Regulator Gain
0-8v	1mv/1µV	8000/80000	0-8A	1mA/0.1mA	8000/80000	64W max	x2
0-20V	10mV/1mV	2000/20000	0-20A	10mA/1mA	2000/20000	400W max	x5
0-40V	10mV/1mV	4000/40000	0-4A	10mA/1mA	4000/40000	160W max	x10

In Part 10 I am going to create the first PCB for the project – Whoo-hoo. However, instead of designing the entire PSU printed circuit board at this stage I am going to focus on the digital control circuitry with the ADC, DAC and Analog switch only. I am going to create a small PCB as a module with a simple 0.1″ pin header (Arduino shield style) with the ADC, DAC, Analog switch, PIC micro controller and power supply parts so I can do the first cut of a board layout to make sure the grounding and noise issues are addressed. It’s not my intention to make this part of the final PSU module but it will be a useful module for prototyping other systems and of course I will not waste too much time if I get it totally wrong :/

Catch you next time….