What to do with scope probes after use?

[bitshift]

Hey everyone,

Total noob here.... So I recently purchased an oscilloscope.

I was wondering what to do with the probes after use. What I've been doing is just wrapping them up as you can see in the attached image.

Is this good? I feel bad doing it every time.

Whats the best thing to do to ensure the longevity of my investment?

[Fsck]

I usually leave my haphazardly around so they don't interfere with whatever I'm doing.

[taco]

What scope did you buy? Being a newb myself, I'm looking for a low cost learning one that will serve me for a few years. do you like it?

[tautech]

To do the job properly:
http://nz.rs-online.com/web/c/test-measurement/test-leads/test-lead-racks/

[tggzzz]

To do the job properly:
http://nz.rs-online.com/web/c/test-measurement/test-leads/test-lead-racks/

There's a good argument for that, but personally I'd bend up a piece of metal or acrylic!

I'm continually amazed by the number of ebay ads that show probe leads compressed into a figure of 8 by elastic bands. Currently there's an £800 Agilent probe like that!

[bitshift]

The test lead racks look interesting. I never knew they existed. Seems like a bit of overkill for me since I only have 4 scope probes and a 2 for my multimeter though.

So in terms of just leaving the probes lying around, no worries?

Also if you were to continually connect and disconnect the BNC connectors, in your guys experience, do they wear down and if so how quickly?

[Jeroen3]

The test lead racks look interesting. I never knew they existed. Seems like a bit of overkill for me since I only have 4 scope probes and a 2 for my multimeter though.

How many USB cables do you have? Or are they all compressed in the drawer of knotted cables?

I have one of those racks, for my 6 test lead and 3 probe wires. But the rack is full of other stuff. USB, IEC, VGA, HDMI.

[bitshift]

A lot, but USB cables are so cheap and readily available I'm not too concerned with them. I guess they could house my other cables.

Do you always unplug the probes on your scope after use?

[george graves]

If I know I'm not going to be using by scope for a while I hand them up on a Wall Mount Cable Organizer:

At $10 a pop, they aren't bad.  They have some trays for random connectors as well.

Other wise I gently drape them over the back of the scope and let the ends rest on the front panel.  Then when I need them, they are right there, and I can use them straight away.

The one thing that I struggle with is my leads and my soldering iron getting to close to one another. (haven't burned anything yet!  But a few close calls)  I haven't heard many people talk about solutions to that.  Would love to hear some.

[tggzzz]

The one thing that I struggle with is my leads and my soldering iron getting to close to one another. (haven't burned anything yet!  But a few close calls)  I haven't heard many people talk about solutions to that.  Would love to hear some.

At the local hackspace I put up a friendly multicoloured sign warning people of exactly that issue. The scope was used on a shel above a soldering area!

The best solution is to have a large enough worktop that you solder over here and use scope over there.

[Howardlong]

I'm a cheapskate, I use slotted conduit both for storage and cable management. I know it's frowned upon in certain quarters, but I generally leave the probes connected all the time, and use the fingers of the slotted conduit to manage the probes in a kind of first in last out arrangement so they don't get tangled up.

[TimFox]

One of my frustrations at my pre-retirement day job was a tendency of whipper-snapper EEs immediately to lose (or discard) the ground lead on scope probes, followed by loss of the "witches' hat" since they only probed PCBs with the sharp point.  It's a good habit to ensure both are on the probe before you store it in a drawer or on a rack.

[Wh1sper]

I'm using clothing hooks from a discounter.
much cheaper

[Howardlong]

One of my frustrations at my pre-retirement day job was a tendency of whipper-snapper EEs immediately to lose (or discard) the ground lead on scope probes, followed by loss of the "witches' hat" since they only probed PCBs with the sharp point.  It's a good habit to ensure both are on the probe before you store it in a drawer or on a rack.

Totally agreed, I think the only way you can stop this kind of thing is to have people provide their own probes, then they might take a bit more care of them. A bit like chefs who use their own knives.

[bitshift]

That's a nice setup you get there Howardlong!

@Wh1sper How do you keep the wires from falling off?

[katzohki]

Looks pretty much exactly how I store them in your first pic. I don't use expensive probes. Expensive ones sometimes come with a case for storage.

[kezat]

If you have a 3d printer handy you could print one.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:631202

[Alex Eisenhut]

My hairdresser gave me some nice promotional items, just the perfect size. I had the probes dangling from various 1$ plastic clips before, but I found they get in the way or the cats chew on them. Zipping them up also solves the accessory issue, and keeps them clean too.

[tggzzz]

If you have a 3d printer handy you could print one.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:631202

If you search for "oscilloscope" on that site, you will get other ideas which may be more relevant to your circumstances.

[rdl]

Springy clips on a plastic peg board. My work area is in a closet and because of the existing shelf brackets I couldn't mount the peg boards quite as high as I wanted, so some of the longer cables reach down to the carpet. Actually I keep one probe attached to the scope all the time, I shove all the excess cable behind the scope when not in use, just so it's out of the way.

[jpb]

With my expensive 500MHz LeCroy probes I carefully coil them up and put them back in the bag that each came from and keep the bags in a hard "really useful" box inside a drawer in my workbench.

It is a bit tedious taking them in and out but I actually don't use the probes very often as I tend to use cables with BNC connectors instead.

[Matje]

The test lead racks look interesting. I never knew they existed. Seems like a bit of overkill for me since I only have 4 scope probes and a 2 for my multimeter though.

So in terms of just leaving the probes lying around, no worries?

Also if you were to continually connect and disconnect the BNC connectors, in your guys experience, do they wear down and if so how quickly?

As long as you don't make the loop too tight, no problem. I personally would put them on top of the scope, if you don't move it around, frees up space.

I would not connect/disconnect the BNCs all the time. While this will be no problem in the short run, connectors have a maximum number of "mating cycles" for which they are guaranteed to work. It may be less than one expects, see the datasheet (USB would have a quite large number, DVI on the other hand, well...). What I could find for BNC is 500 mating cycles, which is, hmm, less than I would have expected =8^(.

[BurningTantalum]

I have a large-radius half-circle of ply with a thin flange to stop the leads falling off. It is glued to my 'coat-rack' of hooks in the shack. My scope leads, Metcal leads and anything else coaxial are draped over it.
I must confess to not having given any thought to the 'cycle' life of the BNC and F plugs. Now I won't sleep tonight !
Regards, BT

[Howardlong]

Also if you were to continually connect and disconnect the BNC connectors, in your guys experience, do they wear down and if so how quickly?

I would not connect/disconnect the BNCs all the time. While this will be no problem in the short run, connectors have a maximum number of "mating cycles" for which they are guaranteed to work. It may be less than one expects, see the datasheet (USB would have a quite large number, DVI on the other hand, well...). What I could find for BNC is 500 mating cycles, which is, hmm, less than I would have expected =8^(.

At one extreme, when I worked at ESA, we were allowed just one cycle of SMA connectors on flight hardware! I used to think that this was actually self defeating, because if you need to replace both connectors each time you've cycled them, the effect on the rest of the system is worse, such as thermal cycling of the PCB, although cable ends were always crimped, but of they were loomed up, you might end up having to re-loom.

Practically it is a lot more than that: I have a test jig for one of my products, and it takes around 6,000 cycles before the jig's male connector starts to faulter. The failure mode is always the centre pin, it is visibly thinner after 6,000 cycles because of the abrasive effect of the female receptacle. After a while, it no longer makes reliable contact.

[Kjelt]

I always leave them connected so I don't have to search for them when I need them. I curl them up ontop of the scope or now I have a led light i hang them around the light pole.