PCBite Handsfree Oscilloscope Probe!

[LapTop006]

Not seeing a thread for this one yet

[LapTop006]

For my actual comment, it's a shame they don't seem to have a sense pin on the BNCs so my scope would go into 10x mode automatically.

Otherwise, I'm very tempted, for low speed signals I normally just solder a quick mod wire on, but this would absolutely be a better solution.

[cgroen]

I love these, I bought a couple of sets, both the 4 scope probes and a bunch of the SP10 probes (for my Saleae). Also the PCB holders are very nice and gets a very good grip
Highly recommended!
I got all mine from Batronix, not sure if they are the cheapest or not, they had it all on stock

[Doctorandus_P]

Some time ago I saw a simpler version on Ali you can als DIY with a few sticks of wood, some tape and a small rack.

[S. Petrukhin]

Some time ago I saw a simpler version on Ali you can als DIY with a few sticks of wood, some tape and a small rack.

Pogo pins they are very cheap and in the chinese design there is no weakly resistant naked iron that wants to fall and make a short circuit on the board. 

[S. Petrukhin]

I found the video instructions for installing these probes! 

[cgroen]

Some time ago I saw a simpler version on Ali you can als DIY with a few sticks of wood, some tape and a small rack.

Pogo pins they are very cheap and in the chinese design there is no weakly resistant naked iron that wants to fall and make a short circuit on the board. 

I found the video instructions for installing these probes! 

S. Petrukhin,
have you tried the PCBite products, or are you just talking to keep awake ?

[S. Petrukhin]

S. Petrukhin,
have you tried the PCBite products, or are you just talking to keep awake ?

I train my breathing and steady heartbeat to avoid trembling in my hands. 

[tszaboo]

For this 200 EUR for 4 probe+ holder, this is entirely reasonable. For sure I've spent more time soldering tiny wires to the board again and again. I will try to sneak into this year's TE budget.

[Per Hansson]

I have to give a thanks to Dave for the heads up on this item.
After seeing his video last weekend I put in an order, as it is made in Sweden I had it just two days later.
This gave me a good enough reason to start working on a servo I had been holding off on.
It really does help to have a third hand when probing as we all know!

After having an opto replaced and its SMD caps that where truly gone it now just needs some bulk caps.
One of those was truly dead too, read just a few pF!
And a new IGBT module as it was shorted, geez, not an inexpensive repair this one!

[Hydron]

The one thing holding me back from grabbing one immediately is the question of whether it's compensation range can handle the ~9-10pF input of a R&S RTB2004 - the SP200 manual specifies 15pF minimum, but I find often that the range is larger in reality. Has anyone tried one with a low input capacitance scope?

[Per Hansson]

The Fluke 225C Scopemeter in my picture has an input impedance of 1MΩ with 15pF according to its manual.
The probe was already perfectly calibrated when I went into cal mode so maybe they use something like that at the factory for cal.
I also have an analog Tektronix 2215 with 1MΩ & 30pF input impedance, as a sanity check I moved the probe to that and it was off.
So I calibrated it to make a nice square wave and then moved the same probe back to the Fluke and then it was off there, being too high.
Then I screwed the cal screw counter-clockwise till I got a square wave, and then I tried how much further I could go.
It was about half a division, I realize that may not mean much but at least if the specs of the scope is right it means it handles less then 15pF.

[Hydron]

Thanks for trying, good to know there is at least some range to play with.

When you say half a div, do you know what proportion of the waveform that was? (i.e. if it was 4 divisions pk-pk, would be 1/8th). And do you know the proportion that it was under/overshot when you put it on the Tek having being adjusted for 15pF? Only asking in case you recall - please don't feel the need to spend more time on my behalf!

I guess as a backup if I get one and it doesn't compensate then I can always throw some lumped C at it on the probe end - there is access to the PCB where the connector goes, a 0603 or 0402 cap should fit there and bump it up a bit (hopefully being at the probe end vs scope end isn't critical).

[Per Hansson]

The calibration mode on the Fluke 225C Scopemeter is a walled garden: no settings can be changed so I do not know what it corresponds to, maybe it is written somewhere in the manual...
I attached two photos, the first shows the calibration after it has been zeroed for the Tektronix 2215 with 30pF input capacitance.
The second shows the lowest possible adjustment the probe allows.

[bgm370]

The one thing holding me back from grabbing one immediately is the question of whether it's compensation range can handle the ~9-10pF input of a R&S RTB2004 - the SP200 manual specifies 15pF minimum, but I find often that the range is larger in reality. Has anyone tried one with a low input capacitance scope?

FWIW I did not have any problems compensating SP100 for RTB2004.

[cgroen]

I compensated my 4 pcs SP200 on my Keysight MSOX3024T without any problems (14 pF/1M)

[Hydron]

The one thing holding me back from grabbing one immediately is the question of whether it's compensation range can handle the ~9-10pF input of a R&S RTB2004 - the SP200 manual specifies 15pF minimum, but I find often that the range is larger in reality. Has anyone tried one with a low input capacitance scope?

FWIW I did not have any problems compensating SP100 for RTB2004.

I think the compensation range spec is the same for the SP100 and SP200, so another promising datapoint, thanks!

Per Hansson - pics also suggest that another ~5pF of compensation range is available, if 15pF = ~1div, thanks for taking the time to grab them.

Will probably buy some then, looks like eevbloggers have grabbed the immediate UK stock though, so might be a wait (probably compounded by delays due to brexit )

[Hydron]

...and I can now confirm that the SP200 probes cal just fine with a RTB2004, and despite the lack of HF adjustment also have a reasonable rising edge with only a little overshoot (see pics - not perfect but should be good enough).

Cheers for all who helped, and Dave for the video!