Electronic guru advice needed
02-12-2010, 04:49 PM
#1
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Electronic guru advice needed
So it recently came to my attention that if I'm going to be doing any sort of circuit design, I'm really going to need some sort of basic oscilloscope. This guess and try **** is really starting to get old and while I've had reasonable success so far, I've kind of hit a wall with my detcan project that pretty much requires that I see what is going on. I'm also thinking of going back to school here pretty soon which kind of makes cost an issue, so I've come up with two basic plans and I want some help deciding.
Plan 1:
$90
Buy a DSO nano. Looks nice and seems like a quality piece, has onboard data storage via SD card and is easily update-able via USB.
-or-
Plan 2:
$66
Buy two of the original DIY DSO kits to be assembled into a ghetto two channel scope which I think will come in handy in some upcoming projects I'm going to tackle on my megasquirt.
Having to assemble them doesn't bother me, I guess what is holding me up is the storage thing. The DIY scopes only have the ability to save 6 frames which can then be exported in BMP format. But when I think about it, I'm just not sure I need to be able to save 4 gigs worth of scope data at a time, but then again, its always the **** you don't think you need that bites you in the *** later.
Thoughts?
Plan 1:
$90
Buy a DSO nano. Looks nice and seems like a quality piece, has onboard data storage via SD card and is easily update-able via USB.
-or-
Plan 2:
$66
Buy two of the original DIY DSO kits to be assembled into a ghetto two channel scope which I think will come in handy in some upcoming projects I'm going to tackle on my megasquirt.
Having to assemble them doesn't bother me, I guess what is holding me up is the storage thing. The DIY scopes only have the ability to save 6 frames which can then be exported in BMP format. But when I think about it, I'm just not sure I need to be able to save 4 gigs worth of scope data at a time, but then again, its always the **** you don't think you need that bites you in the *** later.
Thoughts?
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02-12-2010, 04:59 PM
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Im gonna saaaay
neither
I dont know about the first one but Ive heard bad stuff about the DIY one, its more of a toy than anything.
Your best bet is to go on ebay and find a used tektronix osciliscope for like 100-300 bucks
get one with at least 2 channels and over 100 Ms and you will be very happy with its capabilities
neither
I dont know about the first one but Ive heard bad stuff about the DIY one, its more of a toy than anything.
Your best bet is to go on ebay and find a used tektronix osciliscope for like 100-300 bucks
get one with at least 2 channels and over 100 Ms and you will be very happy with its capabilities
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02-12-2010, 05:28 PM
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Im gonna saaaay
neither
I dont know about the first one but Ive heard bad stuff about the DIY one, its more of a toy than anything.
Your best bet is to go on ebay and find a used tektronix osciliscope for like 100-300 bucks
get one with at least 2 channels and over 100 Ms and you will be very happy with its capabilities
neither
I dont know about the first one but Ive heard bad stuff about the DIY one, its more of a toy than anything.
Your best bet is to go on ebay and find a used tektronix osciliscope for like 100-300 bucks
get one with at least 2 channels and over 100 Ms and you will be very happy with its capabilities
Hmm, noted. I dont want to just waste money. I've read a few reviews about the first scope that all pretty much say that its a great "hobby" scope, which might suit me for now, but we'll see.
I was just kicking around craigslist and found this: tektronix 454
I just need to figure out how to get my wife onboard with this idea....
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02-12-2010, 05:42 PM
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Also neither.
The DSO Nano is cute, but it's still only a single channel scope. Yes, I know the picture on the website shows two waveforms- one of them is a stored waveform. With this device, you cannot see the relationship between two signals in realtime (such as an input trigger and an output), nor does it support external triggering. It's just a regular DSO with a prettier screen.
The pair of DSOs also isn't much good, as there's no way to synchronize them. So while you'd be able to see two signals at once, you would not be able to look at the relationship between them.
I'm very much with FTB here. I would do one of three things:
1: Buy a used two-channel DSO on eBay. (Tek, Philips, HP, etc)
2: Buy a new Chinese scope from one of the many places that sells such things. Protek, BK Precision, etc
3: Buy a PC-based scope. This is what I currently have, and it has plusses and minuses. It's nice to be able to take screen captures directly, and it has all kinds of cools DSP functions, but the controls are harder to use than those of a real scope, and it can be rather flaky in operation sometimes.
When looking for a cheap scope, bear in mind that $400 is astoundingly cheap for a good DSO. An entry-level scope used to cost >$2,000.
The DSO Nano is cute, but it's still only a single channel scope. Yes, I know the picture on the website shows two waveforms- one of them is a stored waveform. With this device, you cannot see the relationship between two signals in realtime (such as an input trigger and an output), nor does it support external triggering. It's just a regular DSO with a prettier screen.
The pair of DSOs also isn't much good, as there's no way to synchronize them. So while you'd be able to see two signals at once, you would not be able to look at the relationship between them.
I'm very much with FTB here. I would do one of three things:
1: Buy a used two-channel DSO on eBay. (Tek, Philips, HP, etc)
2: Buy a new Chinese scope from one of the many places that sells such things. Protek, BK Precision, etc
3: Buy a PC-based scope. This is what I currently have, and it has plusses and minuses. It's nice to be able to take screen captures directly, and it has all kinds of cools DSP functions, but the controls are harder to use than those of a real scope, and it can be rather flaky in operation sometimes.
When looking for a cheap scope, bear in mind that $400 is astoundingly cheap for a good DSO. An entry-level scope used to cost >$2,000.
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02-12-2010, 05:53 PM
#9
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Also neither.
The DSO Nano is cute, but it's still only a single channel scope. Yes, I know the picture on the website shows two waveforms- one of them is a stored waveform. With this device, you cannot see the relationship between two signals in realtime (such as an input trigger and an output), nor does it support external triggering. It's just a regular DSO with a prettier screen.
The pair of DSOs also isn't much good, as there's no way to synchronize them. So while you'd be able to see two signals at once, you would not be able to look at the relationship between them.
I'm very much with FTB here. I would do one of three things:
1: Buy a used two-channel DSO on eBay. (Tek, Philips, HP, etc)
2: Buy a new Chinese scope from one of the many places that sells such things. Protek, BK Precision, etc
3: Buy a PC-based scope. This is what I currently have, and it has plusses and minuses. It's nice to be able to take screen captures directly, and it has all kinds of cools DSP functions, but the controls are harder to use than those of a real scope, and it can be rather flaky in operation sometimes.
When looking for a cheap scope, bear in mind that $400 is astoundingly cheap for a good DSO. An entry-level scope used to cost >$2,000.
The DSO Nano is cute, but it's still only a single channel scope. Yes, I know the picture on the website shows two waveforms- one of them is a stored waveform. With this device, you cannot see the relationship between two signals in realtime (such as an input trigger and an output), nor does it support external triggering. It's just a regular DSO with a prettier screen.
The pair of DSOs also isn't much good, as there's no way to synchronize them. So while you'd be able to see two signals at once, you would not be able to look at the relationship between them.
I'm very much with FTB here. I would do one of three things:
1: Buy a used two-channel DSO on eBay. (Tek, Philips, HP, etc)
2: Buy a new Chinese scope from one of the many places that sells such things. Protek, BK Precision, etc
3: Buy a PC-based scope. This is what I currently have, and it has plusses and minuses. It's nice to be able to take screen captures directly, and it has all kinds of cools DSP functions, but the controls are harder to use than those of a real scope, and it can be rather flaky in operation sometimes.
When looking for a cheap scope, bear in mind that $400 is astoundingly cheap for a good DSO. An entry-level scope used to cost >$2,000.
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02-12-2010, 06:38 PM
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3: Buy a PC-based scope. This is what I currently have, and it has plusses and minuses. It's nice to be able to take screen captures directly, and it has all kinds of cools DSP functions, but the controls are harder to use than those of a real scope, and it can be rather flaky in operation sometimes.
ness.
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