Hello,
Intro:
I'm new to oscilloscopes but not electronics. Please be gentle, I have a book on oscilloscopes for newbies from TI, but I'm a student so I need to plan my future so as to save/allocate money for future investments. Therefore, I'm asking here instead of reading through the whole book and hoping it answers my question. I have not searched online for the answer, as I'm not sure what terms to use or who's website produces quality information.
I am aware that I should isolate either the oscilloscope or (preferably) the item being probed from the mains when testing. I have HV gloves rated at 12Kv spike and < 3000v working (For the unaware, those are the better type of common HV plastic-y gloves being sold online.) My oscilloscope is the MSO5074 (I wanted it for so long!
Sadly, I still can't debug PCIe... ) It's limited to 70Mhz until I can hack it.
Details (exhaustive):
My current probes look like they're rated at only 25v at their full BW ( which I'd have to hack my scope to get as I couldn't afford the higher BW version.) I hope to work on projects, in the future, going up to 1Kv. Because of that and that my current probes (not that kind of current
) are only rated at 25v at their full BW, I decided to save up for getting some HV probes.
I have elected to go with passive probes to control the price I'd have to pay to get them and the fact that passive probes have almost nothing that will break on them (they may need calibrated less often too... I'll have to look that up some day soon.)
Highest V / V 1Mhz / 1Kv hz / Highest BW -- Pricing (rounded up)
Mine:
PVP2350 300v 400Khz / 120v 1Mhz / NA / 30v 350Mhz -- $45
High voltge probes:
TX3125a[1] 1.2Kv 700Khz / 1Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 1Mhz / 225v 250Mhz[2] -- $30
TX3225a 2Kv 1Mhz / 2Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 7Mhz / 325v 250Mhz[2] -- $51
CP3308R 2Kv 2Mhz / 2Kv 2Mhz / 1Kv 4Mhz / 50v 300Mhz -- $77
T3100 2Kv 1Mhz / 2Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 7Mhz / 300v 100Mhz -- $15
P4250 3Kv 30Khz / 175v 1Mhz / 1Kv 85Khz / 50v 250Mhz -- $15
P2301C 5Kv 20Khz / 100v 1Mhz / 1Kv 12Khz / 12v 300Mhz -- $50
HVP3000[3] 9Kv 1Mhz / 9Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 10Mhz / 1Kv 10Mhz -- $141 or more
P5100A 2.5Kv 2.8Mhz / 2.5Kv 2.8Mhz / 1Kv 18Mhz / 75v 500Mhz -- $280
PR-55 7Kv 1Khz / 1Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 1Mhz / 175v 50Mhz[7] -- $284
HVP-08 [4]4Kv 1Khz / 500v 1Mhz / 1Kv 300Khz / 175v 40Mhz -- $190
HVP-10R 10Kv 1Khz / 500v 1Mhz / 1Kv 100Khz / 100v 100Mhz[5] -- $351
HVP-18HF 18Kv 1Khz / 700v 1Mhz / 1Kv 400Khz / 150v 100Mhz -- $397
HVP-39pro 39Kv 1Khz / 1.8Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 3Mhz / 400v 50Mhz[7] -- $533
RP1018H 18Kv 3Mhz / 18Kv 3Mhz / 1Kv 50Mhz / 350v 150Mhz[6] -- $604
CT4024 4Kv 1Khz / 500v 1Mhz / 1Kv 275Khz / 175v 40Mhz[7] -- $255
CT4025 10Kv 10Khz / 5Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 10Mhz / 250v 150Mhz[6] -- $319
CT4026 18Kv 10Khz / 9Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 20Mhz / 300v 150Mhz[6] -- $464
CT4028 39Kv 10Khz / 12Kv 1Mhz / 1Kv 30Mhz / 300v 220Mhz[6] -- $783
PPE6KV-A 1.2Kv 3Mhz / 1.2Kv 3Mhz / 1Kv 7Mhz / 14v 400Mhz -- $850
PPE20KV[8] 20Kv 500Khz / 1Kv 100Mhz / 1Kv 100Mhz / 1Kv 100Mhz -- $2.1K
[1]: I think this is the same thing as the a3125 probes on ebay.
[2]: The derating curve only goes up to 100Mhz. I'm assuming it remains a flat line throughout the rest of the curve.
[3]: This is the derating curve for the whole series. I cannot imagine how this is a correct derating curve for the whole series, since they have voltage ratings from 5Kv to 20Kv. This probe series is a Texas instrument.
[4]: This is rated for 8Kv DC, but only has a derating curve starting at 4Kv (although the chart has it listed as 5Kv.) Also, although it has only 40Mhz BW, it's BW spec goes up to 100Mhz.
[5]: Oddly enough, the 120Mhz value is unavailable. Additionally, the slower probes also have entries for values through 100Mhz although they are rated for much lower BW.
[6]: Although it is rated for much less, these probes have derating values through 1Ghz! Why?
[7]: Probes have derating values through 100Mhz, but are rated for 50Mhz or 40Mhz.
[8]: The derating curve does not have any lines in it indicating if it's a linear or logarithmic chart. I'm assuming logarithmic as that's what the other probes are using in their derating charts.
Question:
I've collected information on HV oscilloscope probes. Some of them have really good specs, others get much better at higher frequencies. I'm uncertain if the specs are reflective of the instruments. Of course, if I bought a falsely advertised item, I might be able to get a return if I can prove it's defective or not as advertised. What would be a good passive HV probe for about 1Kv and a 350Mhz scope?
Thanks!
(Edited to make the table more clear and complete and fix some spelling/grammar mistakes.
Added pricing to table.
Added TX3225a probe to the table.
Added HVP-08 probe to the table.
Moved notes outside of the table for ease of reading.
Added a whole bunch of probes, which are mostly out of my prince range.
Added P2301C.
Added HVP18HF. Moved all the pintech probes together.
Confirmed the voltage of my PVP2350 probes that came with my oscilloscope.
Added TVP-39pro.
Updated values for the P5100A probe.)
PS: I'll continue to update this if I get any new info. It's up-to-date as of April of 2023.