Show your DIY test leads / probes

[sequoia]

Lately I've noticed that I've been mostly using "home made" test leads (granted I've been looking TTL signals and don't have real logic analyzer)...

These were some cheap (eBay/etc) alligator clip leads, that I simply cut of the cheap clips and then crimped on some 2.54mm "du pont" connectors...
Quick and easy, except shaving off the thick insulation, so that the connector fits, can get bit frustrating...

It would be nice to see what kind of test leads others have come up with...

[tautech]

From this thread 2 1/2 years ago:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/suggested-for-a-sticky-part-one-comments-or-additions-please/msg471163/#msg471163





Both are intended for use with a scope probe in order to accomplish connection to POI that would not be possible with a probe hook, SMD etc. More detailed descriptions in the post linked above.

[joeqsmith]

Being a electronics hobbyist, I tend to make (or attempt to make) things rather than just buy them.   

The targets are used to look at ESD events and are 2.0 not 20 ohms. 

I built the upconverter for an old SA I gave away.  This extended the lower range of the SA.   

The two resistive probes never worked very well.  I've made other probes like these but they are not as good as the purchased ones.   

One of the sniff probes is my own design, the other two came from an old EDN article.  These things were well worth making!!

The large HV probe was the last one I made.  It has a fairly wide bandwidth and has replaced my old Tektronix HV probe.   I posted the high voltage probes here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/teledyne-lecroy-waverunner-64xi/50/

I also followed an article on making a high frequency current probe that I posted here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/why-are-current-probes-for-scopes-so-expensive/

[m98]

For debugging SMD circuits, I used to quickly run out of free hands and fingers to hold probes and boards in place. Now I made a few cables with a cheap EZ-Hook clone on one end and a 4 mm banana plug on the other. The lead itself is also some cheap, thin silicone wire off eBay. Works great, moving one end of the cable doesn't pull the other end, and the weight of the hooks is easily supported by the probed pin alone. Only the € 0.30 banana plugs don't really feel too trustworthy.

[georges80]

My msox2024 uses the bnc channels for serial protocol so I made up a little adapter board with appropriate termination to take 4 pigtail coax cables and adapt to use the logic analyser probe head. Easy to connect to the target versus 4 heavy (for full spi etc) full scope probe heads.

cheers,
george.

[GreyWoolfe]

The first pic is a set of inexpensive Kelvin clips for my GW Instek 8251A and the second set is what I modified for the DER EE DE-5000 because the alligator clips were simply too short.

[Vgkid]

How do you like those GW Instek kelvin probes?
I have a set of the ones in the second picture , that have a bad habit of turning sideways.

[GreyWoolfe]

How do you like those GW Instek kelvin probes?
I have a set of the ones in the second picture , that have a bad habit of turning sideways.

I do like them a lot.  The banana plugs are from Frankie's store, the clips came from eBay and the silicone wire I picked up from our local surplus store.  The cost of the banana plugs might be cheap, but they fit nice and tight without any wiggle to them.  They aren't $200 Kelvin clips but they are certainly good enough for anything I might have to measure.  To put a plug in for Frankie, I have bought a few things off of his store and have been happy with everything I bought, especially the gold plated Brymen leads.  I need to be able to fairly accurately measure resistance in the 10-15 Ohm range and under 1 Ohm for thermal fuses, I am doing it with a cheap Velleman DMM because I don't want to carry my Fluke and the Brymen leads really help and gets me in the ballpark, at least according to the service manual.  I will probably get a couple more sets of the plugs when I order another couple more sets of the Brymen leads.

I haven't had a problem with the leads turning sideways on the DER EE probes.  I have been able to test in circuit with them also and get a good reading by simply pressing on the solder points on the caps if there isn't enough lead length to grip.  The only issue I had was on one of the clips the wires were shorted together but I was forewarned of that in another Blog thread so I tested/fixed them before rewiring the adapter.