[time-nuts] HP Z3801A Sale

Jim Lux jimlux at earthlink.net
Sat Mar 31 21:01:42 UTC 2012


On 3/31/12 8:21 AM, Eric Lemmon wrote:
> Hal,
>
> The beauty of the header strips is that the Z3801A can easily and quickly be
> converted back to RS-422 in the future, without having to partially
> dismantle the unit and do more soldering- again.


true, but you have to remove the board from the case to solder in header 
strips. you can jumper the pads and remove the 422 jumpers entirely from 
the top.

And let's be realistic, you buy a surplus Z3801 and modify for your own 
purposes to have a RS232.  Are you really going to change it back any 
time in the next 5-10 years?

It's not like if you sell it, someone will desperately need it in the 
stock condition and not be willing to open it up themselves and move the 
jumpers back.  They're buying surplus, after all.

I can't see ever changing mine back.  I could see going in and modifying 
it to put a USB/serial dongle inside, so it would have a USB jack on it, 
since serial ports are become less common.



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