Electronics > Beginners
Is my oscilloscope broken?
d4n13l:
Hi everyone,
I don't have much practice with the oscilloscope so I'm not sure if it's malfunctioning or I'm missing something, I'd appreciate some help.
I have a rigol DS1054z and I'm trying to see how a capacitor charges overtime by putting it in series with a resistor. I set the oscilloscope to normal mode and set the appropriate scales. But when I press the run button, the status says run and the screen shows the normal background squares but I don't see the yellow voltage line as I see when using the auto mode. At first I thought it was a triggering problem so I pressed the force button and hear a sound but still I don't see the voltage line.
I know it's measuring because I was just pushing buttons trying to make it work when suddenly I saw the voltage line (I set a time base of 20 sec) of what was previously measured so I know my setup is fine. This has happened 2 or 3 times, I've been at it for a while... For some reason it's not displaying the voltage line not sure if that's normal and I'm missing something really obvious or its malfunctioning, any ideas?
TERRA Operative:
What's your voltage (vertical) scale set to, and what voltage are you using in your circuit under test?
Also, is the vertical position set so the trace is on the screen?
d4n13l:
The voltage value per grid is 2V with a horizontal time base of 20sec (the charging of the capacitor takes 10sec) and I'm running the circuit on 5V. As for you last question, I just made sure the screen is centered before starting to measure...
As I mentioned, I know its working because apparently for not reason the trace suddenly appears and its centered, when this happens I see the progress of the trace just fine. This also shows that the measuring is happening its just not displayed on the screen
ataradov:
On long time bases the scope accumulates the data first and then displays it. It looks for a trigger condition.
d4n13l:
But it should display what has accumulated when you push the force button, doesn't it? When I do it the screen stays the same with no trace
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