Products > Test Equipment
Is 10x more accurate than 1x?
rg2113:
I recently got an oscilloscope, I hardly used one before, and I'm trying to learn the ins and outs. I am just curious if the 10x mode on a probe is more accurate? This is a Siglent scope with the standard 1x/10x probes. Channels 1 and 2 hooked up to the same test points looking at this PMW signal, but the 2nd channel see things a little differently. Channel 1 is 1x, channel 2 is 10x. I can see jitter with the probe set to 10x versus the 1x probe.
ataradov:
1x will have lower bandwidth, and this is what you are observing,
The exact bandwidth values would be specified in the documentation for the probes.
tautech:
Welcome to the forum.
Both channel tabs display a 1x probe but we know looking at the same signal so the one with the higher input magnification is the 10x probe.
Press the channel button and set it correctly. ;)
A 10x probe offers far less circuit loading which matters much for high impedance signals.
Good observation for a DSO newbie and keep the questions coming when you see something strange rather than scratch your head about it.
schmitt trigger:
Also, it goes without saying, that probing a hi-Z circuit node with a 1X probe will load it much more (and therefore have a larger error) than probing it with a 10X probe.
djacobow:
I feel like new folks come on here pretty often and get confusing messages about switchable probes.
Here is the right answer: use 10x.
Later, when you are probing very small signals and the probe loading is not important, the answer changes, but most new folks are not going to be doing this, and by that time you should understand the trade-offs.
Maybe it's just the kind of work I do, but I can't even think of the last time I wanted to use a probe in 1x mode and in fact most of my probes are fixed 10x because I hate it when the switch gets moved.
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