Electronics > Beginners
Is An Oscilloscope Practical
IanMacdonald:
"proper DSO"
DSOs do have advantages, for example storage on an analog scope will cost a fortune and involve a massive unit. However, it's the difference between seeing for yourself and having a computer tell you what it thinks it sees. The latter might sometimes be more accurate, but can also be wildly off and you won't necessarily know. For example with aliasing. Obviously price and quality play a part here!
soldar:
--- Quote from: james_s on January 02, 2019, 08:24:45 pm ---Well don't rush out and pay top dollar for an old scope, but you might find one for little or nothing. I've given away two scopes over the past few years, there are a lot of older analog scopes collecting dust in closets and garages, it's worth a look around.
--- End quote ---
I agree. When you don't really know if you are going to take seriously into a certain hobby then the best course is to buy something used / low cost which can let you begin and give you a feel. If you want to get involved more deeply you can then get better equipment. There are USB oscilloscopes on ebay for very little or you can get a used older model.
The main thing is that a scope is just a tool that will allow you to gain information but it is of no use if you do not know what information you need. If you have an audio amp or a power supply which you are troubleshooting you first need to understand the circuit and how it works and what signals you should expect at each point. The scope is not going to tell you that information. Once you know all that you use a scope to confirm the signals are what they should be or not. The scope does not tell you what they should be. You have to know that on your own. Like a wrench does not tell you how to fix your car, it just allows you to do it if you know how.
Jwillis:
All I have in a DSO is a Hantek 6022BE .It's not bad for some things but the software really sucks and crashes a lot.
GeoffreyF:
I think the Rigol 1054 is a good entry level scope. The two channel version is also fine but you may wish to measure more than 2 points in your circuits.
As a rule of thumb, a scope of a particular bandwidth is most useful for 1/5 of that bandwidth. A 50 mhz scope is of limited use above 10 mhz, which is fine if you are looking at Audio or microprocessor type stuff. The reason for this is that the main value of looking at a trace is the harmonics or capacitive/inductive effects on fast rise times. For that you need the extra mhz.
Above about 200mhz, the skill set to get an accurate reading increases.
As already mentioned, be very careful with the ground lead. If the unit under test is mains connected or grounded, I measure current between the scope ground and the ground of what I am testing before I proceed.
soldar:
--- Quote from: GeoffreyF on January 03, 2019, 01:16:54 pm --- As already mentioned, be very careful with the ground lead. If the unit under test is mains connected or grounded, I measure current between the scope ground and the ground of what I am testing before I proceed.
--- End quote ---
Yup. Before digging into a device study it carefully, especially the power supply part. If anything is not totally isolated from the mains I use an isolation transformer.
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