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portable oscilloscopes

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grim

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I want to take some measurements on my car, while it's on the move, particulalry the sort of waveforms certain sensors are putting out.

There are three options as far as i see it. a full blown fluke scopemeter , a cheaper handheld scope, or a usb device for the laptop.

the scopemeter is very nice, but sooooooo expensive

maplin do a couple, the **broken link removed** is under £80, or the duel with a few more toys is just under £200

or there are several usb ones. **broken link removed** but not a finished item, or more **broken link removed**

the expensive one still only slightly more than the maplin single beam, and you get a storage scope - and it has a better looking bit of software

really wondering if anyone has any experience of these things? I know they won't be as good as a full blown scope, but are they goo denough?

i thank you for your attention:D
 
the end project will be a mpg display. I will be looking at the speedo signal, and the injector pulse. The scope is just for me to 'look' at the waveforms, injectors will be a square wave, of varying frequency and mark space, so that's ok. The speedo is probably also a square wave of varying frequency. just want to check really.

and then have a handy scope for other measurements for other projects

g
 
grim said:
the end project will be a mpg display. I will be looking at the speedo signal, and the injector pulse. The scope is just for me to 'look' at the waveforms, injectors will be a square wave, of varying frequency and mark space, so that's ok. The speedo is probably also a square wave of varying frequency. just want to check really.

and then have a handy scope for other measurements for other projects

g

hi,
With a laptop you could use one of these, not rocket science, but it should be OK for general use.

https://www.picotech.com/picoscope-oscilloscope-software.html

Some sample vehicle waveforms for comparision.
https://www.picotech.com/auto/waveforms.html
 
Actually these adopter type oscilloscopes could be even cheaper as they only have a front end and balance, a suitable interface for PC monitor/laptop. But on the face of picotech prices quoted elsaewhere in Elektor magazine , i wonder why so costly?
 
Yes, I looked at picoscopes, they cost nearly as much as the flukescope meters! if only I had an aston, i could use the waveforms they put up.......if only :(
 
I would think a home-built low bandwidth parallel port one might be a decent choice if you want to spend as little as possible. There is one that I saw that plugs in to your mic input on the soundcard, with free software. You just gotta be careful not to put in too much voltage on the input. I don't think you need more than 50kHz bandwidth, but I can't be sure.
 
hi grim,
If its for a one off road trial, lasting a day or so, you can hire/lease/rent test gear as a cheaper option.:)
 
Ambient said:
I would think a home-built low bandwidth parallel port one might be a decent choice if you want to spend as little as possible. There is one that I saw that plugs in to your mic input on the soundcard, with free software. You just gotta be careful not to put in too much voltage on the input. I don't think you need more than 50kHz bandwidth, but I can't be sure.


aaagggghhhh building my own oscilloscope....... have you not read this thread

;)

renting is an option i guess, but if i can get one to keep for a little more, it makes sense.
 
Fluke Scopemeters are high-end scopes. Here's a selection of portable, analog, battery-operated scopes made by Tektronix that you should be able to get on the used (ebay) market:

211: single-trace, 500KHz BW
212: dual-trace, 500KHz BW
213: single-trace, 1MHz BW, high-end DMM using the CRT as a display
214: bistable-storage version of the 212
221: dual-trace, 5MHz BW
323: Sony/Tek, don't remember the bandwidth
314: Sony/Tek, dual-trace, bi-stable storage
335: Sony/Tek, dual-trace, delayed sweep, 35MHz (no internal battery but has external DC power input

In addition, the 464, 465, 465B, 466, 475 and 475A high-end portables (100MHz for the 46x, 200+ MHz for the 47x) with Option 7 will operate from 12v or 24v or the 1106 battery pack as well as the traditional mains operation.

Dean
 
Velleman makes a rather simple scope kit with display the VPS10 ~$175US
or you could make one similiar to this
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
 
Grim - I've got one of the HPS10 scopes and its great.

If you only want it for a few one off (couple of days) measurements then feel free to pop over and borrow it.

If you're looking for something long term then I can recommend it as a purchase :)
 
thanks for the offer picbits - i would use it for several projects, so it's best to get one.
 
Well if you want to borrow the HPS10 before you decide between the HPS10 and the HPS40 to help you decide then feel free to ask.
 
I'd love to get my hands on a dual channel OWON 25MHz DSO Scope $399US for testing.
That 7" Color STDN (not TFT :() display, looks nice and it's only twice the price of a single channel Velleman HPS10 and not much more than a HPS40
**broken link removed**
 
I don't suppose you have an inverter knocking around? You could power a standard DSO from it. That's the route I'd take, but then I'm lucky enough to own a relatively small Tektronix 3032 so it'd be a practical option for me.

Brian
 
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