Is repair a Hitachi v1060 worth it?

[RawCode]

Hi there.
I want to buy an oscilloscope for my summer projects, but a digital one is a bit too expensive for my budget. I found online a hitachi v1060 100MHz analog oscilloscope for 60 euros: the seller says that it turns on, but there is no traces.
I don't get it because in the picture the traces appear. I tried to ask to the seller but he said to me that the scope could be working or faulty

Considering the two problems, no trace shown and no signal shown, it could be worth it try? Are these problems easy to fix?
I don't have so much money(i'm a student), i don't want to waste money in something that i can't fix

[bd139]

That's a nice scope and a reasonable price if it was working. Teardown here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/teardown-hitachi-v1065/

A lot of these issues are user error. I've hauled perfectly good scopes for nothing because the user couldn't work them out. BUT again there are as many dead ones out there.

Scopes are not always easy to fix but there's a good community here who are willing to help you of course.

It's literally half way between easy win and €60 of scrap. Perhaps 80% of the time, skill can move that to the easy win side but you do lose 20% of the time. Depends if you want to take that gamble or not.

[RawCode]

Thanks for the reply.
I asked further explainations to the seller. He said that the tracks are visible, but not bright. One of the two tracks is merely visible, but there is a piece of track in the right side(?). I'll attach a photo so you can see.

I think that this unit is almost dead. What do you think?

[bd139]

This sort of problem is usually CRT bias network problems. Bad resistors or pots or faulty power supply.

I reckon it’s fixable. Anywhere from trivial to medium effort if you can get the parts. Have a look around the internet for similar issues and see if you feel up to it. Look for “low intensity” and “hitachi” etc.

[RawCode]

So do you suggest to buy it?
Isn't it strange that only part of the second track is shown? Should i need special hv equipment to fix this problem? Is my trusted fluke tester enough?

[bd139]

That one is entirely up to you.

You can probably resolve it with a basic DMM if there is a problem. Once you’ve got a limping scope you can usually use itself to debug the rest of the problem if there. You tend not to need high voltage probes or anything fancy unless you’ve got a really sticky problem.

I will say that a broken scope is a good classroom.

Before doing anything make sure you can get a good copy of the service manual and schematics however.

[Specmaster]

That one is entirely up to you.

You can probably resolve it with a basic DMM if there is a problem. Once you’ve got a limping scope you can usually use itself to debug the rest of the problem if there. You tend not to need high voltage probes or anything fancy unless you’ve got a really sticky problem.

I will say that a broken scope is a good classroom.

Before doing anything make sure you can get a good copy of the service manual and schematics however.

Totally agree, it is a good scope, I have the same one in a 50MHz version and is a good performer and it would appear that most of the parts are industry standard ones and as such ought to be available. At least you will be working with a live scope rather than a dead one to start with. Grab a service manual from the Internet, and check first all the supply rails for correct voltages, it is possible that there will be your problem and you may not have to go anywhere near the HT supply.

Looking at the photo it could be as well that the camera had flash on which will wash out the screen traces, and the top trace may also be caught by camera just as the sweep is be blanked. If you have a photo of the controls, check to see the sweep is set in the ALT or Chop mode. If in ALT it will draw CH1 and then CH2, in the CHOP mode it draw both channels together but the traces are going to be noticeably dimmer.

If it's in ALT then it could be just the way  the camera captured the scene.

[Chris56000]

Hi!

Go for it!

Japanese Instrument CRTs are very high quality and vety bright and sharp traces when setup correctly – the poor display you saw is partly down to glare and the trace being partly blanked at the moment the seller's camera caught it!

You won't find another at that price for a while as I found out!

Manuals and schematics are available from Kevin Chant's site, k04BB and Elektrotanya free of charge!

Chris Williams

[Rasz]

do you want a scope? or a time sinking project?