Good day,

Please forgive me if this is the wrong forum or if this is an improper post, but I am not electronics literate however I need a program for a windows based pc to function as an oscilloscope. The program should be able to handle DC current.

Now, from what I was able to determine on the internet, there are options out there that use the sound card as input into some programs. I don't know whether or not the sound card would be able to handle DC, nor do I quite understand how the leads would be connected to the soundcard, or how I would obtain the leads.

Has anyone used something like this before? Can you recommend any commercial and non-commercial options?

Thanks very much for your time and assistance.

 

Sound cards don't handle DC, they are AC coupled.

__________________
PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

 

OK. Thanks for the information. Are there any other alternatives?

Thanks again.

 

Depends on exactly what you're trying to do?.

__________________
PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

 

I have used VA (Visual Analyzer) from http://www.sillanumsoft.org/ with good results.


Torben

 

My apologies.

The application is largely automotive. I'd like to attach leads to electrical/electronic components of a car to get readings displayed on the pc monitor.

 

try this software oscilloscope

http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/Scope/Scope_en.html

you'll never regret it...

 

You might want to look at CAN bus auto analyzers.

__________________
Bill
Smart Kits build Smart People
http://www.blueroomelectronics.com

 

Whoa. That one recommends a 1GHz machine, at least Windows 2000/XP, and isn't freeware? It also doesn't say how high of an input frequency it will accept. I think I'll stick with VA.


Torben

 

hi,
You could look here:
http://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope.html

They also publish car electronics waveforms.

__________________
Eric
"Good enough is Perfect"

PIC tutorials:
Gramo's: www.digital-diy.net/
Bill's: www.blueroomelectronics.com/

 

Thanks for the interesting suggestions.

VA appears to use the sound card and Nigel says that sound cards are AC coupled, so I don't think that would help me. Picotech looks interesting, but it's expensive.

 

Yeah, I figured you were already off the topic of PC soundcard scopes. I was just responding to another poster.

Does this have to be shown on a PC display inside the vehicle while driving, or just recorded for later?


Torben

 

No, car does not have to be driving. Just in the garage.

 

I think Nigel's got the ticket then. Can you buy or build something to interface to the ODB2 (assuming the car is fairly recent) connector and read the data from there? Or have you already discarded that idea?


Torben

 

I haven't thought of that idea. That would limit the car that I could read, but what would the oscilloscope be able to recognize from that connector?