This is going to be another ongoing blog of mine talking about my new oscilloscope and my adventures learning how to use it.

Lets start off with the fact that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing.

Often times in threads, here in the Nerdkits forums, and in other forums it is often suggested that if one had a oscilloscope then everything that was going on in your misbehaving circuits would be clear. As if just having the oscilloscope would solve all of your problems.

Oh by the way I have a very limited knowledge of electronics also.

So I have always thought it would be neat to have an oscilloscope.

If you are like me and just have the curiosity and desire to one day actually have an oscilloscope you should find this thread interesting as I bumble my way through learning how to use a scope. Your questions and comments will be welcome and hopefully we will be able to work out any questions you might have. So please consider this your thread as well.

If you know how to use a scope and in fact think of yourself as being rather an expert than your contribution(S) will be greatly appreciated, to help us knownothings to learn.
You hopefully might help us avoid those catastrophic moments when I could actually do harm (like burning down the house) or at the least blowing up my new toy, oops I mean tool.

So here we go:

I found the scope on ebay but ended up purchasing it directly off the vendors web site. You can save some money by diligently searching ebay. I paid $376.00, the shipping was free (from Singapore) but the scope was out of stock so it took about two months (slow boat from China), before I received it. If the scope was in stock it probable would take a week or so.

The scope:

ATTEN ADS1102C DIGITAL STORAGE OSCILLOSCOPE 100MHz

Model:                      ATTEN ADS1102CAL
Bandwidth:                  100MHz
Rise Time:                  <=3.5ns
Sample Range:               1GSa/s
Vertical Sensitivity:       2mV ~ 10V/div
Equivalent:                 50GSa/s
Scan Time Base:             2.5ns ~ 50s/div Roll:100ms~50s/div 
Memory Depth:               Single Channel:40Kpts Double Channel:20Kpts
Input Impedance:            1MΩ||17pF 
Display:                    Color TFT(480*234) 7" LCD
Input coupling：             DC,AC,GND
Input Max voltage:          400V(Vpp)
Trigger Type:               Edge, Pulse, Video and Alternate
Standard:                   USB Device, USB Host, RS-232
Mathematics:                Add, Subtract, Divide, Reverse and FFT
Language:                   Manifold languages 
Weight:                     2.4kg
Size                        339*110.5*148.5mm
Package Included:

1 X  ADS1102CAL Digital Oscilloscope
1 X  Power Coard
2 X  Probe(1:1 1:10) 
1 X  CD (English User Manual)
1 X  USB cable

Now I have absolutely no idea what these specs mean also I have no way of knowing if the scope performs upto it's published specs. I have seen some post on the internet concerning scopes (and other measurement instruments) in general, that the specs are sometimes exaggerated so buyer beware.

Speaking of buyer beware, unless you read Chinese you can forget about reading the extensive documentation furnished. Also just installing the software from the enclosed CD presents a challenge:

I have allways wanted to learn a foreign (to me) language,so I guess I'll start with Chinese. It's funny but because of the associations I can guess (muddle) my way through installing the software. On the start install shot above I know that "Next" is usually in the bottom right and there is a > arrow so I just clicked on it and actully have a program installed.

Of course once I get the program installed I get this:

and this:

and this:

So like I said buyer beware.

Of course it is great (if not a requirement) in this day and age to be bi-lingual so what better motivation to learn Chinese, I do not have to learn how to speak it but at least learning how to read Chinese would be cool.

There is also a .pdf instruction (I think) manual that possible I could publish as web pages and get Google to translate for me, we will see how that goes.

So does anyone have any reccomendations for books to get? I went to the library and searched the regional libraries for oscilloscope and requested the first how-to oscilloscope book that was listed. There were about ten books listed so I can work my way through them and go to Amazon to get any that I want as a reference.

Now how do I use the darn thing?

Here is the control panel, I figured out how to change the Menu items to Enghlish from Chinese:

I am having problems trying to get TWI (I2C) running so how would I see what is happening on the SDA (data) and SCL (clock) pins? How would I distiguish what the Master is saying from the Slave's response?

Is this the type operation one would use a oscilloscope for? I will be asking a lot of this type question (How do I do this? What does this mean? What is supposed to happen when I?).

I will ask about each one of the specs (Bandwidth, Rise Time, Sample Range etc.) in following questions.

I hope everyone gets something from this thread I sure know I am going to learn alot. Of course when I am learning something it helps me to understand if I can verbalize my questions so you will be seeing a lot of probable simple things being asked and I will be posting what I have done. So if you have anything you would like to to try or ask please let me know.

Ralph

Dam I just figured out that possible one of the options in the ES Easy Scope program install might have been to do a English install.

Can anybody read Chinese? I could post screen shots of the install screens and maybe you could spot something.

I'll try to contact the manufacturer the CD "was" suppose to have a English user manual.

Ralph

I'll give it a shot an try to clue you in on the ops. I use scopes all the time.

Bandwidth: 100MHz

That means you can discern signals up to 100 MHz.

Rise Time: <=3.5ns

Vertical sweep latency. 3.5nS is pretty good.

Sample Range: 1GSa/s

Never had to deal with this one... your guess is as good as mine.

Vertical Sensitivity: 2mV ~ 10V/div

Each division is the height of the little squares. If the trace goes up one line and the setting is at 10V/Div, that would be a 10 volt signal.

Equivalent: 50GSa/s

Another wild guess.

Scan Time Base: 2.5ns ~ 50s/div Roll:100ms~50s/div

That is how fast the trace moves horizontally. it probably has ten squares across. If it was 2.5nS per division, that would be 25 nS for the entire trace. that's .000000025 seconds.

Memory Depth: Single Channel:40Kpts Double Channel:20Kpts

That is referring to the storage capacity when storing wave forms.

Input Impedance: 1MΩ||17pF

That's the normal range. Very light loading on any circuit you might be testing.

Display: Color TFT(480*234) 7" LCD

I think you got this with no help...

Input coupling： DC,AC,GND

Input coupling is how you read a signal. If you have an AC signal but it is on top of a DC signal, you can use AC coupling to bring it to the base line. If you have it on DC coupling, the AC signal will still be there but you might have to find it off the screen.

Input Max voltage: 400V(Vpp)

Not bad. You probably will never see that kind of voltages on it anyway.

Trigger Type: Edge, Pulse, Video and Alternate

This is to lock the wave form in a position so it can be seen in a steady picture. Otherwise, it might move all over the place.

Standard: USB Device, USB Host, RS-232

So it can talk to a PC

Thanks Mongo, that really helps get me started. I understand what you said about the spec much more than the specs themselves.

Well I guess I do not have to learn Chinese. I went to the ATTEN website and found a download. It is in English so I can read the User Guide and the Easy Scope software loaded in English so I am good to go.

I really would like to find a translation of the user guide that came with the scope as it is about a hundred pages with pictures and explanations but of course in Chinese (does a picture in Chinese say the same thing as a picture in English?).

So between the User Manual.pdf and the books I will gather and help from this thread I think I will do pretty good.

WhooEEE Hot Dog I am cooking.

Ralph

I downloaded a English version of the EasyScope PC software, also the English Instruction set for EasyScope.

I could not find a English Instruction Manual for the Oscilloscope. I sent a email to the distributor and to the manufacturer but so far I have not heard form anyone. The Chinese version of the User Manual looks very concise.

The EasyScope program appears to be the same as the program supplied with the Tektronix Oscilloscopes at least it has the same icon ES and name. So maybe if you are familiar with Tektronic EasyScope you be able to help me.

What would I see when I hook up the scope to my Nerdkit Vcc right after the regulator? Would I see a square wave of on and off cycles?

I tried it and I see a straight fuzzy line, is that what I should expect?

I will try sensing the SCL clock signal and the SDA data for the TWI (I2C) project.

Ralph

Vcc should be a flat line. Fuzzy is noise, or failure to regulate. The line should be "higher up" on the display than if you connected to ground. If it's not, the input is probably in AC mode instead of DC mode.

Thanks bretm, the line is up from center (I can move it around) and I am using DC coupling.

Now I have channel 2 connected to a the anode of a led that is on for half a second and off for 1 second.

I am only seeing a solid line.

Ralph

Woops, had my wires crossed I was looking at the wrong line.

So now I have a moving line line up and down as I would expect.

Movin on.

Ralph

Can you guess what you might see on the scope if you hooked up to a 100MHz square wave signal?

I need to make up a signal generator test board. Tektronix has a Oscilloscope test board that I was tempted to buy.

I speeded up the led blink. I would expect at 100MHZ I should see a similar "wave" on the screen. I am learning how to slow and speed up the screen to see the rise and fall.

I have not figured out how to "read" the signal. Right now the signal is rising 12 counts vertical then on for 5 counts horizontal then fall 12 counts vertical and off for ten counts then on etc.

Making counts into voltage and time will be interesting.

While pushing buttons I did have a whole bunch of measurements displayed but that was by accident not anything I knowingly did. Or can redo.

I've got a long way to go, but hey yesterday I had a straight (fuzzy) line today I have a rectangular wave, so that's progress.

It will be nice when I can see something meaningful, or more so being able to comprehend what I am seeing.

Ralph

For a lot of the digital stuff, the signals will either be 0V or Vcc so you often don't have to worry about the specific vertical scale. Just scale it so Vcc fits within some reasonable portion of the display.

A 100MHz square wave will likely look more like a sine wave. The bandwidth of your scope is 100MHz so all of the harmonics will be attenuated and you'll just be left with the 100MHz primary. A brought that up because even at 14.7456MHz things might start to get a little bent.

Dang... this looks way more complicated than my dad's old HP scope. Our thing is so old it still runs perfect on a bunch of vacuum tubes. But its about 3 feet deep and weighs about 20lbs. And the worst part about it is that you have to wait 10 min for the tubes to warm up inside of it. -missle3944

The ATTEN ADS1102C DIGITAL STORAGE OSCILLOSCOPE 100MHz is really a nice package.

It might weigh 7 to 10 lbs and has a convenient carry handle.

I was going to look at the Nerdkit crystal, I remember a early thread where someone mentioned scoping the crystal and being impress with it's quality. I have picked up some crystal (on the cheap) so it might be interesting to compare.

Textronix has some great oscilloscope tutorials which I am reading.

So far I am pleased with my purchase a user manual would be nice.

I think I will put together a 555 timer board just to see if I can learn to predict what signal will be presented under certain circumstances (resistance and capacitance) and compare that to the scope, that would be fun.

Ralph

Well the distributer made a User Manual download available so now I have a User Manual!!

I looked at the Nerdkit Crystal but there was little I could comprehend except I did get a frequency readout.

The graph on the oscilloscope was two sine waves.

Anybody familiar with EasyScope the oscilloscope to pc software? I have the first green light saying they are connected and the Settings Connection Test says they are connected but I can not get the graph display on the screen (PC) is there a switch or setting on the oscilloscope that connects them?

Ralph

Ralph,

1GSa/s

This means "1 GigaSample/second). How many times it can capture a specific voltage per second. mongo knows this mentally and will 'hand-to-face' when he reads this :P

First, a couple of rules:

1. (Added this as it's important too) - MAKE IT A HABIT - to be aware of your probe cords- hook and unhook from your work. Always. Otherwise, you're going to get distracted or interrupted, and you will let go or move and voila-- your work and/or your scope will be on the floor. Yes, been there, done that. Scope too heavy, but the work ended up on the floor.

2. NEVER EVER EVER EVER (again for emphasis) NEVER EVER EVER EVER -- connect your scope to something you're not sure of. Don't scare yourself, just think about it before you do it. And keep your fingers away from probe tips-- those probes are rated to protect YOU TOO from voltage (up to atlest 75% of the maximum scope rating).

3. Always connect the ground lead FIRST, so the scope has a reference, THEN touch the probe to whatever you're testing.

4. Whenever you turn it on- CALIBRATE. Look at the metal connectors sticking out at the bottom right corner (marked 1KHz, and GND). I think I read that right from the photo - this is your calibration tool. Connect probe ground to GND, and then probe tip to the 1Khz connector, then hit AUTO.

5. Some of the buttons:

AUTO - hit this at any time when you want the scope to find a repeating wave-form on the selected trace/channel. Note that if it can't find anything, you may see ripples- this is probably 60Hz line-noise. It's EVERYWHERE, and unless you filter it, you'll always have to be aware of this in your signals.

CURSORS/MEASURE - Pressing these will place either a vertical pair or horizontal pair of indicators on the screen, that you can move around so that you can measure distance between them (let's you precisely measure differences in amplitude or time).

ACQUIRE - This is the mode you will most often been running in- it is ACQUIRING data, and you will see the waveforms scroll on by.

START/STOP - You press this, when you want the screen to freeze. For example, if you have a wave-form up and you want to examine it, without the probe(s) on the piece, you can hit this and that stops everything, and keeps the last image on the screen.

If you only got one probe, immediately get another - same as what you have - don't be tempted to get a cheapy unless you know it's a good one - remember: It is the PROBE that controls how the scope views your work - quality counts. In order to take full advantage of your dual-trace capability, you need two probes. This will let you compare one trace with another, and is extremely educational for understanding how your circuit behaves (and more importantly, how voltage behaves).

Now, here is a first example you can do- to see a couple of neat things with your nerdkit.

Connect ground to one side of your crystal on the ATMEGA168, and the probe to the other (doesn't matter which in this case). Then hit AUTO. Your scope should immediately readjust and show you a nice 14.7Mhz wave. If you flip your connections around, the waveform may look slightly different - that is saved for a later discussion.

Connect it to pins 1 or 2 and then upload new firmware-- you'll see the digital form of the bytes being sent, on the scope.

Hope this gives you a good headstart. I think you got a pretty darn good deal, considering it's new, it's dual trace, and appears to have all the bells and whistles, and is fast enough to be really useful to you.

Last advice- Call your local school, see if they have an electronics department, and ask to speak with the teacher. Let them know that you got a new scope, and ask if they'd be willing to spend an hour showing you how to use it, in exchange for lunch or something. Or your local amateur radio group, or whatever. 1 hour with someone else who knows how to use one, and even an extremely simple circuit to play with, will get you a better start than all the writing we can do.

Enjoy, be careful with it!

BM

Wow, BobaMosfet thank you, that helps to keep me focused. I can picture getting tied up in the cables.

That bit about the calibration rung a bell I had seen somewhere in my readings the steps to do a calibration. So I was wondering where I would come up with a good known 1KHz signal. Now it makes sense.

I got two probes, now that I have the English User Manual I am really excited.

Thanks for the trial samples I need lots of real test samples.

Gee, when I grow up maybe I'll become a electrical engineer.

Ralph

Ralph,

You're very welcome. Hold on, your ride is about to begin.... :P

BM

Ahh! Ralphxyz, thank you very much for posting this. I kept wanting to buy a good oscilloscope, but all I could find were $1000+ which, as a student I never dream of seeing such money... sad

it'd be great to ask my mom get it for my graduation :D

I have some questions about the easyscope software though, can it store the input from the scope for a lengths of time? (1-2 seconds)

It should, however I have not yet gotten the scope and EasyScope to talk with one another.

I tried it on my virtual pc running on Parallels running on my miniMac, but that fails to detect the USB.

I tried it on my Windows 7 x64 and that fails to detect the USB.

I tried it on my XP media Tablet and that detects the USB and connects Easy Scope (I have the first green dot saying "Connected" but I can not get the scope to connect to the Easy Scope. I think there might be a setting or button I need to push on the oscilloscope itself to make the connection.

The Easy Scope software "appears" to be the same as comes with a Textronix oscilloscope so it should be pretty robust and do most everything. Both versions have the exact same "ES" icon so I believe they are the same program. The ATTEN comes with Version 3.0.

You certainly would deserve it, but if you do not get it as a gift all you have to do is prioritize your spending, you would be amazed how quickly you save up $379.00. You make the decision, to get a oscilloscope, and then that is what you do. <-- that's a period

I thought this thread would help others.

Ralph

Hi Ralph

The only experience I have with a scope is a 5 MZ dual trace Heathkit model , about 30 years ago. Those old oscilloscopes had absolutely no capture or memory feature, if something happened only once or very quickly you would never see it. I have a couple of general questions about modern oscilloscopes. Perhaps someone could clear up a few questions I have questions about the capabilities of a scoop like yours. Can I capture and then view a quick short event that may happen only once? Like a data and clock stream timing on a serial connection. How is a short event capture triggered? How long of an event could be recorded to be analyzed? How many channels can be recorded and displayed at the same time? Is a digital analyzer required for this kind of information? Should I look at purchasing a separate digital logic analyzer to capture and analyze digital signals?

Very interesting thread.

Darryl

I have never even been around someone who had a oscilloscope so my only real user reference is here in the forum.

There is all kinds of storage for this particular scope it is a "DSO" (Digital Storage Oscilloscope) so there is some sort of internal storage and play back plus there is a USB thumb drive port that the view can be sent to. I have yet to figure how any of this works but I am slooowly working my way through the documentation. I am also reading material from Tektronix's which has really good documentation (and scopes). The scope usage is really very generic so the Tektronix documentation is applicable to the ATTEN scope I have.

Plus there is the scope to PC software "Easy Scope" which I also have not gotten to work.

I am trying to watch/look at a digital timing signal and a data signal, there are two channels on this scope.

I was/am disappointed as there "should" be a nice distinguished timing square wave going across the screen but that is not what I am getting. I guess I need to read further.

I am looking at a I2C SCL (clock) and SDA (data) wave but they are both identical in structure, plus they age jumping down instead of up so I must have flipped a switch to see the inverse.

Anyone have any other good references? Anyone know how to get Easy Scope working?

Easy Scope is alos the name of the scope pc software that comes with a Tektronix scope so does anyone have a Tektronix scope talking to their pc?

My oscilloscope cost $376.00 I have not seen a digital logic analyzer for less than a thousand.

As most of my digital signals that I would like to analyze, at the moment would be coming from my Nerdkit, I am thinking about seeing if I could make a Nerdkit into a digital analyzer.

When I start messing around with my ZigBee (RF data transfer) modules, I will have signals up in the gigahertz, I know then I would need something more sophisticated, but for right now I just need to monitor if a pin is flipping on off and maybe determine the rate.

Ralph

I bought the MSO-19 last year for around $250. It works especially well on I2C. Not as fast as your scope but fast enough for any of the signals coming out of the ATmega's.

It's easy to save the screen too since it's already on the PC. Here's sample of I2C. You can see all the address and data bits as well as start/stop/ack signals.

Hi Noter, I have not gotten anything that looks like what you are getting on my scope.

That's what I would expect to see.

Are you connected to the pc from the scope?

What steps do you need to do to get connected (scope to pc)?

You might not have the same software (Easy Scope) but the connection steps "should" be similar.

Ralph

My PC is the scope/analyzer display, there is no other. If you look at the MSO-19 via the link above, it's pictured in the middle of the page. That's the hardware, just a little box with colored wires (logic analyzer connections), a scope probe, and a usb connection. The MSO-19 software must installed on the PC before it can be used. The square wave's in my sample pic are captured using the I2C trigger of the logic analyzer. If I look at them with the oscilloscope, they are not nice square waves and probably look like what you see with your scope.

The MSO-19 can show the logic analyzer and DSO on a single screen - I connected the scope probe to the data line and changed the display to capture this screen. As you see the DSO does not show nice square waves like the logic analyzer.

Notor

The MSO-19 also looks interesting. I have a couple of questions about it as well. I assume the rainbow coloured flat cable shown going out of the top of the unit is the input leads for the 8 bit logic analyzer inputs, what type of connectors are on the end of that cable? Did you buy any additional hardware (cables, leads, connectors or probes) to make use of this unit?

Darryl

Noter

Sorry; For some reason I continue to make the same mistakes over and over. As you most have noticed by now, if I have a strong suit it is not spelling, grammar, and keyboarding. Sorry about typing your name incorrectly numerous times.

Darryl

Noter, your last shot is close to what I am seeing except I have both the SDA and SCL on channel one and two and they both look almost identical.

Ralph

Darryl,

I didn't have to buy anything extra for the MSO-19. The only thing I did extra was download the latest software from their web site instead of using the software that came on the cd.

Yes, the colored wires are the analyzer inputs. They have little sockets on the end that fit either included clips or 22awg solid wire. I usually use wire since I'm connecting on a breadboard anyway.

The socket-

Two sockets on wire, probe and yellow clip on 3rd wire-

The clip-

Ralph,

Your scope has two inputs but the MSO-19 only has one so I can only look at one signal at a time with the probe. However, the clock looks a lot different than the data ... below is a DSO capture of the clock.

I don't know how you would get your scope (or any scope for that matter) to trigger in a place where you could make sense of it all. With the logic analyzer I am able to type in a binary pattern up to 4 bytes long and then a match in the signal data causes the trigger. For the sample below I put in the 7 bits of the slave address in the 1st byte and wildcards in the other bytes. The red line with the T on top is the trigger line and that is where the address matched. I moved the trigger to the right (from the left edge) and captured again so I could see the whole packet including the I2C start signal.

Gee wish I had known about the MSO-19. I might have bought one and saved some money.

I have found a logic analyzer that uses a ATmel mcu and two NAND gates to build a logic analyzer for around $50.00.

Well this is interesting. I am surprised one cannot see a timing signal using a oscilloscope.

Ralph

That sounds interesting. Do you have a link for the $50 logic analyzer plan? Maybe you could build one and then use it as a trigger on your oscilloscope? Your oscilloscope must have some sort of external trigger capability.

Well the price went up to $99.00 US. That would be a interesting project and logically it would appear doable but I do not have the time so I just purchased a ScanLogic-2 Logic Analyzer.

This device is made by IKALOGIC they use the ATmel processor and 2 NAND gates.

IKALOGIC has an apparently well attended forum which the developers attend faithfully so it looks like support is well at hand. They have a dedicated forum for the Scanlogic-2 plus Robot Navigation, Motor Control, General Electronics and Sensors.

Looks like I will be hanging out there as well as here.

The Scanlogic-2 Logic Analyzer only has 4 channels but that should be enough for me especially as I am just beginning.

Ralph

4 channels would be enough for me too. That looks like a good analyzer and the price is certainly good. I look forward to knowing how it works out and seeing some captured screens posted.

Here is their do it yourself Logic Analyzer. If I had had the time I would have tried making one myself.

They also have the Scanlogic-2 Logic Analyzer in SMD Kit format if you want to put it together yourself.

Of course you have to do SMD (Surface Mount Device(?)) soldering.

I just went through their forums, the Scanlogic-2 device forum is not that busy but the developers appear to answer quickly which is great.

They are also continuing to upgrade the software to add new protocols.

First thing I am gong to do is to look at the I2C (SCL/SDA) signals. I'll definitely post some screen shots.

Ralph

Ralphxyz, I just got my scope too XD Thank you so much for posting this :D

Hexorg, that's great, please post what you are doing and finding out here. It will be good for all of us to see more new oscilloscope owner posting what they are learning.

Did you get a PC program to go with your scope?

That is the one thing I have not gotten to work.

Ralph

Lucky! I want a real oscilloscope. I am only 16 with no job so I don't have the money get get one. I am stuck using some stupid, not very convenient computer program that reads data from my sound card instead.

So rboggs10, what are you going to do this summer? You might be able to save $376.00 from your earnings.

The sound card oscilloscope probable does a lot, I wish I had had one.

Actually I am getting more out of the Digital Analyzer than the oscilloscope. That cost $99.00 or even less if you build the kit.

So there are lots of things you can do.

The main thing is to determine what you want to do, get focused and then do it.

Ralph

Well, yesterday we were hanging out with friends, so I hooked the oscilloscope to my stereo's speaker output, and got a nice sound visualizer lol

And the other day it helped me to find out that my SPI clock pin wasn't getting a good contact with the breadboard.

I really like the "Single" function of the scope, I'm planning to look at the bouncing rate of the buttons I'm using.

I tried looking at some button bounce but really could not distinguish anything.

Let us know what you see.

Ralph

Ralph, I just fiddled around trying to get the EasyScope program to work. The one that I got on the CD was already in engligh. However, I could not find any good drivers to work with the USB cable under windows 7.

Had Windows XP running in a virtual machine, and the drivers were installed, scope was recognized easy and seamlessly.

However, I didn't like the EasyScope software that much, it doesn't give you much more functions then the scope itself does.

Stan, I have not gotten the scope to talk with my computer so I have no judgement of the quality of EasyScope.

What exactly did you do to get it to work?

On the PC side I have the first green dot on the upper right but I can not get the second dot.

I think the PC is connecting to the scope but the scope is not connecting to the PC.

Of course I have not gotten that far in the owners manual yet, so it probable is explained.

I would not expect more functions from a application running on the PC than what I get from the scope itself.

Ralph

Ralph, Yea, when I start EasyScope, the left circle is green, the right circle is red. Then if you click "Connect" button, or use menu "Panel(P) -> Connect(B)" the second circle turns green, and all functions work.

And I was just hoping it can save a long time of input data (like 1-2 minutes), since computer's harddrive allows it. But I guess not.

It should store 1 - 2 minutes, I would think though I know my Digital Analyzer only stores a micro second view..

Does your scope have a USB port?

My does, I have not tried it out yet.

Ralph

Yea, It does, that's how I'm connecting it to the EasyScope.

Of course, I meant a 2nd USB port on the front. Supposedly I can put a thumb drive in to capture the signal.

Still need to read the darn manual, I found the USB selector in the menu but do not know how to use it.

Ralph

Hi Everyone,

I have just bought a Scope Rigol 1052e. I wanted to view PWM signals or the signals of a stepper motor. The motors carry say 24V at 2 Amps(or more) If I connect the scope to the input of the motors will I fry my scope? Or do I need special probes? It is the current I am worried about.

Thanks Cadiz1

Scope read voltage levels. It doesn't really care about the current draw of a circuit at all. 24 volts is well within the operating parameters of most scopes but if you feel safer to use a 10:1 probe, that is fine too.

The probes have very high resistance, so very little current will flow into the probes.

I am going to take a wild guess. Maybe these are knockoffs of a Tektronix oscilloscope. If so you might want to look at older free manuals that seem to be available at the following link

http://www2.tek.com/cmswpt/mafinder.lotr?cn=discon_scopes_mid&lc=EN

Or just go to the Tektronix site. They have the best documentation.

My scope definitely is a Tektronix clone, they both appear to use the same PC software, which I have never gotten to work.

Ralph

@ Ralphxyz, Do you personally recommend this scope. I definetly need to get an oscilliscope to get deeper into electronics but i am really lost on which one, and i need a reasonably well priced one. Also i do not want to spend $350 dollars on a scope that i will out grow really fast. So since this scope reads up to 100MHZ does that mean if i wanted to test lets say a 315mhz rf transmitter/ reciver circuit that i would not be able to see the signal on the scope? If not, what specs should i be looking at if i want to be bale to have a scope which i can use throughout engineer school for my own projects. Thanks, Kuljot

As a general purpose scope I think the one I got is a excellant value.

That said I am still learning how to use it (starting from scratch without a instructor) so I certainly have not pushed it.

I am not sure about doing RF, hopefully one the more experienced in electronics will chime in.

Ralph

@ Ralph, Thanks. Hopefully someone else will also chime in and add some more details. I am considering this scope, but i definetly dont want to spend so much money on something that i might out grow really fast. Hopefully these things will get cheaper over time like hardrives :)

Yeah, so how about looking at RF with an oscilloscope?

Do you need a gigahertz scope?

Ralph

Thats what i am confused about. If the rf transmitter is 315mhz, i dont think the data coming out of it will be at that frequency so the scope will be able to read it right? IS a 100mhz scope good enough for most jobs? Ghz scopes are like 30,000. Thanks, kuljot Dhami