is it worth to buy an old non working oscilloscope?

[james_s]

You win regularly.  I just won. 200MHz Tek 475 with DM44 module for £30. One duff tant that took me 30 minutes to trace out and replace.

Sure, but you could have also found that the CRT was shot, some unobtanium custom hybrid or any number of other things. I too have won much more often than not, but I've also bought equipment that turned out to be scrap.

[innkeeper]

is it worth getting a broken peace of test equipment, fixing it and using it sure, it is a lot of fun, and gives you great satisfaction.

would i pay money for it, if i were in collage, heck no! if you can pick up a free peace of broken gear go for it. my guess is if you post around that your a collage student looking for broken test gear to repair and use that people will give you stuff .. heck you can probably even get some working stuff that way.

[cdev]

Why is shipping for an Analog Discovery so much to Italy?

That's what I would expect shipping for a boat-anchor to cost, not a solid state device.

[RawCode]

Thank you for all these answers. I really appreciate

I lefted that auction as you suggested

I found some other interesting working oscilloscope.
A fluke pm3370b (seems to have some digital capabilities)60MHz at 175 euros plus shipping and a hp 1742a 100MHz 175 euros without shipping. What do you suggest? They're a bit expensive, aren't they?

I also asked to my professor, and he said that it's a good idea to have an analog oscilloscope rather than a digital one. First of all for the cost, second one because it's more difficult to use it and more instructive.


Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk

[oldway]

PM3370B, I strongly discourage because the printed boards are pluggable and inaccessible ..... it is very difficult for repair unless you have spare printed boards ...

If you want a digital oscilloscope, buy a new and current device, not an old technology.

For the HP1742A, yes, if it works properly only.

[borjam]

I also asked to my professor, and he said that it's a good idea to have an analog oscilloscope rather than a digital one. First of all for the cost, second one because it's more difficult to use it and more instructive.

I am not in any "auctoritas" position, but I strongly disagree with that. A one week exposure to old, analog oscilloscopes can be good, but modern oscilloscopes are digital. And DSOs are indeed superior to analog in many aspects. DSOs are different beasts of course.

On a limited budget even cheap ones like the Siglent SDS1202X-E (two channels) or the Rigol DS1054Z (four channels) can as a bare minimum help you become really familiar with digital scopes and will surely be useful despite their limitations.

Also, although not a panacea, the deep memory in these scopes can really help to sort out digital stuff, which makes them better than old
DSOs with very limited memory.

[bd139]

Those second hand analogue units are both rather expensive!

If you’re going to spend €175, get a credit card and stick a DS1054Z on it and pay it off monthly or something. The value doesn’t depreciate a lot so if you want rid of it or something then you’re not going to lose much cash.

Maybe €50-90 for a working analogue scope. €0-40 for a dead one depending on the model. I wouldn’t spend any more.

While if I had a low budget I’d go with an analogue, the professor is wrong. A digital scope is easy to use, perhaps even easier than an analogue. If you have an analogue scope only there is a ton of stuff you would require external equipment to measure.

[JoeO]

As an instructor at a local Community College, I find the professor's advice very strange.  We use digital Teks in the lab.  I personally bought myself an Owon 7102V.  It is 100MHz, 2 channel digital scope with VGA output. I use it to display traces to students using the projector in the classroom.  I also bought 2 batteries and a carrying case which allow me to set it up anywhere I want without having to worry about a power cord.  The whole shebang was less than $500.

I also have a Rigol 1054Z. 

Digitals have a steeper learning curve especially when you are used to the look and feel of a Tektronix.  But for someone new to the field, digital is the way to go, now and into the future.

[borjam]

Digitals have a steeper learning curve especially when you are used to the look and feel of a Tektronix.  But for someone new to the field, digital is the way to go, now and into the future.

I agree. And the recent availability of really affordable oscilloscopes (I can vouch for Siglent and Rigol myself) it's a no-brainer. With the insane price hikes of textbooks(*) we are talking about an oscilloscope for the price of three or four books.


(*) Curiously The Art of Electronics is not part of that insanity. But the prices of some more fundamental text books has gone insane beyond imagination. Not so many years ago those books sold for maybe 30 - 40 dollars. Now you can't find them for less than $130. To add insult to injury, how many of those insanely priced books are printed in China?

[bd139]

You can thank PH and Pearson for that. They spent most of the 1990s and 2000s inflating the prices like the estate agents did with property in the UK. Everyone is f**ked now.

[NivagSwerdna]

It might be worth getting/upgrading to a more up to date Professor.

[WaveyDipole]

You win regularly.  I just won. 200MHz Tek 475 with DM44 module for £30. One duff tant that took me 30 minutes to trace out and replace.

That was a very fortunate score! Although I am pleased for you, I am also very surprised you found one that cheap! Was this from the UK or the US site? I have never seen one go for as little as that on eBay UK! You don't generally see them with the DM44 module either, unless they are from the US. You do seem to get them that cheap on the US site from time to time, but shipping to the UK/Europe tends to be rather prohibitive. Of course they sometimes start very low and I have bid up to £50 on a couple in thge last 3-4 weeks (I am looking for a repair/parts donor), but they always end up going for at least twice that or more and I always end up outbid. I think more than £40-50 is too much for a non-working one. If its working or only with minor faults then maybe. Still, I keep on looking....

BTW, does anyone ever buy the £200-£250 ones?

[bd139]

UK site. It ended in the middle of rush hour in the morning, was buyer collect, not shown working and was dirty in the picture so it went low. It had a few issues with it, documented in another thread which I have mostly resolved. Only one issue left with the horizontal sweep. To be honest, I'm slightly tired of it as I have a nice digital scope already so it's been chucked back on ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253214365129 (ownership time slightly exaggerated to avoid HMRC attention )

I keep buying old scopes and they keep eating up my time from other projects!

I wouldn't pay £200-250 for one! You can get a far better piece of equipment for not much more than that!

[WaveyDipole]

UK site. It ended in the middle of rush hour in the morning, was buyer collect, not shown working and was dirty in the picture so it went low. It had a few issues with it, documented in another thread which I have mostly resolved. Only one issue left with the horizontal sweep. To be honest, I'm slightly tired of it as I have a nice digital scope already so it's been chucked back on ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253214365129 (ownership time slightly exaggerated to avoid HMRC attention )

I keep buying old scopes and they keep eating up my time from other projects!

It always helps when it is nearby to collect and I guess in the middle of the rush hour is an awkward time to watch the auction so perhaps that would have contributed. Seems to have cleaned up very nicely!

I wouldn't pay £200-250 for one! You can get a far better piece of equipment for not much more than that!

Agreed, but there seem to be quite a few scopes at silly (opportunist?) prices. I just wondered if anyone actually buys them. However, at £100 for the one listed is tempting (might have made an offer!) but unfortunately Isleworth is too far for me to collect.

[bd139]

It did. I'm quite surprised at how Tek stuff usually cleans up. If the controls are intact it usually works!

I've certainly had a few bargains in the scope department. I don't think I've paid more than £30 for a scope on ebay ever.

I would send it but unfortunately while not particularly fragile if well packaged, couriers can break anything here!

[WaveyDipole]

It did. I'm quite surprised at how Tek stuff usually cleans up. If the controls are intact it usually works!

I've certainly had a few bargains in the scope department. I don't think I've paid more than £30 for a scope on ebay ever.

I would send it but unfortunately while not particularly fragile if well packaged, couriers can break anything here!

Yes, I absolutely understand the reluctance to send via courier, especially RM!

[cdev]

Good luck on your studies!

[james_s]

I've long been a proponent of starting out with an analog scope but these days I'd say do that only if you can find one for very cheap or free. Digital scopes have gotten quite good, and even an older one will do things that no analog scope can do. There are certain niche applications where analog is better but when you come across such an application you'll probably know.