Tektronix Tds 3014b

[feret81]

Hello all this is my first post and a newbie to the electronic world. I am in the process of buying a used Tektronix Tds 3014B. Only thing is i can not find much info about them or anyone on youtube using them. Not sure of the age either. Are they any good or just to old nowadays. Im picking it up for £250 is that a good price? Any help would be appreciated.
Keith

[james_s]

There's lots of information about the TDS3000 series out there, it's a very popular scope and if it's working properly and in good shape that's a fantastic deal, even a broken one is worth that. These all use the same hardware so you can do a simple hack to upgrade it to the 500MHz TDS3054 for free.

The only real issue these have is the DS1742W NVRAM/RTC is reaching EOL for the internal battery so at some point you will probably find that the clock stops updating when the scope is off and then eventually it will start losing the other settings too. It's fairly easy to carve out the old battery and wire in a new one, or I made an adapter board recently to fit a still available DS1744, just waiting for boards to arrive so I can build one and test it.

[feret81]

So they are the same being a 3000 series. I wasnt sure as there are all different model numbers. Well i might be able to find some stuff now. Thanks for your reply and hopefully everything is good with it and i can start to learn some things.
 

[james_s]

TDS3000 is the series, of this there are multiple sub-models. TDS30x2 models are 2 channels and TDS30x4 models are 4 channel. The 'x' digit is the bandwidth, 1 = 100MHz, 2 is 200MHz and so on up to the top of the line 500MHz TDS3054.

Actually I think the B series has a 600 MHz TDS3064 which you should be able to upgrade yours to.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tds-1000-2000-3000-bw-hack/

[feret81]

Sounds promising. Not that i know how having that much more power will help when i've never used a oscilloscope  Im sure ill soon work things out..

[james_s]

It's not power, it's bandwidth. The higher bandwidth you have, the faster risetimes you can measure. It's roughly analogous to the difference between a blurry cheap telescope with plastic optics and an expensive one with high quality coated glass optics, with the latter you can see more detail and a more accurate representation of what you are trying to look at. Cost rises very rapidly beyond about 100MHz bandwidth, both for scopes and the probes.

Honestly if you have never used an oscilloscope a TDS3000 is probably going to be a bit overwhelming, it's a bit like handing a new driver the keys to an expensive luxury car. Be sure to watch Dave's video on how to not blow up your oscilloscope, and never, ever be tempted to try poking around in mains powered equipment until you really know what you're doing. Watch that video, then watch some videos on how to use an oscilloscope, then read the manual, it can be downloaded for free. If you know someone who can walk you through using it that would also be very helpful. Take good care of it and it should serve you well for many years, the related TDS3054C is still available new and costs over $20k. These don't have the greatest memory depth by modern standards but the bandwidth they can offer blows away any of the hobbyist oriented scopes on the market which typically top out around 200MHz.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to know how to not blow it up, and do not subject the inputs to any signals beyond what they are rated to accept, use of a 10x probe is highly recommended and avoid using the 50 Ohm setting unless you know you need it for something because it's 5VRMS max. If you blow up an input the parts are unobtainium and you'll be looking at spending significantly more than you paid for the whole scope to get a replacement board if you can find one.

[feret81]

  Cheers for info mate