EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: Anthocyanina on March 28, 2021, 10:53:52 am
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Hi! so just to see what shape the mains voltage was, out of curiosity, i decided to probe mains voltage with my oscilloscope, and found it strange that it looked quite blocky, especially when compared with smaller signals, I've read that to get the most out of the adc in the oscilloscope, one should try to fit the signal across the entire display. I tried this with the mains voltage and it was even blockier than it looks in the attached picture. the one with the circles marking the blockiness is the mains and the other one is the probe compensation signal zoomed in vertically and horizontally, and it doesn't look nearly as blocky. So now i wonder, does the oscilloscope have less vertical resolution in the higher voltage ranges? and if not, why am i seeing such a blocky signal? Thank you!
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Leaving aside the very real dangers of clipping a grounded crocodile clip onto mains wires, it's all going to depend on the oscilloscope settings, which we don't know. The DS1054Z has all sort of settings to clean up input signals (eg. "hi-res" mode).
I'd be more worried by the strange square bit in the signal after each peak. Is this real mains or a generator/inverter?
PS: Don't do it again. You can easily damage your 'scope.
does the oscilloscope have less vertical resolution in the higher voltage ranges?
No. Any "blockiness" is due to the input signal and/or the 'scope settings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaELqAo4kkQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaELqAo4kkQ)
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Leaving aside the very real dangers of clipping a grounded crocodile clip onto mains wires, it's all going to depend on the oscilloscope settings, which we don't know. The DS1054Z has all sort of settings to clean up input signals (eg. "hi-res" mode).
I'd be more worried by the strange square bit in the signal after each peak. Is this real mains or a generator/inverter?
PS: Don't do it again. You can easily damage your 'scope.
does the oscilloscope have less vertical resolution in the higher voltage ranges?
No. Any "blockiness" is due to the input signal and/or the 'scope settings.
Thank you! yes, it was actual mains, maybe the deformation is from the things plugged in nearby? i have 5 things plugged in, 3 computer monitors, a pc, and speakers, i thought since only the pc has power factor correction maybe the deformation is because of the other things which don't have it? i measured the mains voltage and the probe compensation signal using the same settings except for the seconds and volts/division, high res mode was enabled, yes. Thanks!