Walking around my local computer/electronics fair today, I passed a stall which sells mainly laptops broken down into baskets containing their individual components, along with a few projectors, other various baskets full of remote controls, Xbox360 controllers, desktop PC PSU's, cables, etc, etc.
I'd had a basket (50) of used Xbox360 controllers off him in the past, for doing LED mods and selling on to friends. Got a great price from him after a little haggling - £2.00 a piece, so I knew he was up for making a deal on items.
These controllers were missing the battery holders though, so when I spotted a basket with a few in today, I made a bee-line for it.
I got 10 decent ones for 50 pence each, paid for them and was about to walk away feeling quite satisfied when my beady eye spotted it....
Sitting alone amongst the random laptop/PC related stuff.........A Tektronix 'scope.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a TDS220 with the Ch1 BNC ripped out of it, but the PCB undamaged.
The stall owner wasn't there at the time, so asking the hired help how much was wanted for it only returned shrugged shoulders, along with a "You'll have to ask him when he comes back."
I got the hired help to power it up and did a self-check, twiddling the knobs, pressing buttons and making sure it responded as expected, then asked the help if he was willing to take an offer, a question which he declined, so I wandered around for a while.
I walked past a couple more times and observed the stall owner still wasn't there, so picked a few other items and visited his stall one last time before heading off for home.
He still wasn't there, so I asked the help if he had been back since I was away.
I was told "Yes and he wants £45 for it." I hung around the stall, messing with my phone as if checking prices and was just about to ask if they could ring him and see if he would take £35 for it, when he turned up.
Before anyone else got a chance to speak to him, I asked him "How much for this?"
"£20"
"Done!" I said and walked away with it.
After getting home and stripping it down, I de-soldered the Ext-Trig BNC connector, cleaned up the holes in Ch1 on the PCB and soldered in the BNC connector, gave everything a bit of a clean up & reassembled, then tested it.
I guess he had absolutely no idea what it could possibly have been worth.....
Would you have felt like you practically stole it?
I'd had a basket (50) of used Xbox360 controllers off him in the past, for doing LED mods and selling on to friends. Got a great price from him after a little haggling - £2.00 a piece, so I knew he was up for making a deal on items.
These controllers were missing the battery holders though, so when I spotted a basket with a few in today, I made a bee-line for it.
I got 10 decent ones for 50 pence each, paid for them and was about to walk away feeling quite satisfied when my beady eye spotted it....
Sitting alone amongst the random laptop/PC related stuff.........A Tektronix 'scope.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a TDS220 with the Ch1 BNC ripped out of it, but the PCB undamaged.
The stall owner wasn't there at the time, so asking the hired help how much was wanted for it only returned shrugged shoulders, along with a "You'll have to ask him when he comes back."
I got the hired help to power it up and did a self-check, twiddling the knobs, pressing buttons and making sure it responded as expected, then asked the help if he was willing to take an offer, a question which he declined, so I wandered around for a while.
I walked past a couple more times and observed the stall owner still wasn't there, so picked a few other items and visited his stall one last time before heading off for home.
He still wasn't there, so I asked the help if he had been back since I was away.
I was told "Yes and he wants £45 for it." I hung around the stall, messing with my phone as if checking prices and was just about to ask if they could ring him and see if he would take £35 for it, when he turned up.
Before anyone else got a chance to speak to him, I asked him "How much for this?"
"£20"
"Done!" I said and walked away with it.
After getting home and stripping it down, I de-soldered the Ext-Trig BNC connector, cleaned up the holes in Ch1 on the PCB and soldered in the BNC connector, gave everything a bit of a clean up & reassembled, then tested it.
I guess he had absolutely no idea what it could possibly have been worth.....
Would you have felt like you practically stole it?
