How to buy an oscilloscope? What/How to look at?

[slayeru2]

Hi Everyone,

Im still very new to Electronics and as i learn more about electronics, i seem to get the oscilloscope word more often.
Well i know what oscillope is used for but i really dont understand the thumb rule of buying oscilloscope: Which is 5x Analog bandwith, 3x Digital Bandwidth and my problem is how to know the analog bandwith? and for the digital I think the bandwidth is the clock frequency i guess so,
So anyone here can please recommend me an oscilloscope for working with arm-m3 or m4 processors and for the analogue part i want to work with power electronics

btw by asking this question, you may understand that im not electronic engineer, actually im not an enginner also but i like electronics very much and its somewhat hard, but funny.

[MAXPAYNE]

I guess your are interested in using oscilloscope for power electronics. Well, I dont know your budget. But you ca start with Rigol DS1102E (100MHz, 1Gsps). If your budget permits more, go for Agilent Infiniivision 2000 Series ...

[Gallymimu]

Learn about Nyquist Theorem.  That is the fundamental basis of sampling bandwidth requirements.

If you are working with microprocessors exclusively you might get away for quite some time with a logic analyzer instead of an oscilloscope.

[slayeru2]

Thanks for replies, btw i like to work with microcontrollers alot but eventually i will also work with non microcontrollers projects also, so im looking to buy an oscilloscope that can make me work most of the electronics projects, i just checked out the logic analysers well is there a guide for what to look at logic analysers, like maybe bandwith or anyother properties/specs?

im just hungry for information and like to try out new ideas/projects and i want to make my workplace so i think i need some staff around the developement boards and debuggers as well. But what i really dont know is how do you chose that you need an oscilloscope/logic analysers/spectrum analysers and how to choose which one is broader range for many things, like i dont think i will work with microwaves but what else should be there in workshop to better understand electronics or debugging electronics.

[Catcatcat]

According to the logic analyzer recommend reading here http://www.saleae.com/logic,  and buy from the Chinese
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3.0.79.fvqffa&id=17867516734&. In version 1.16 supports the Atmel SWI, BiSS C, CAN, DMX-512, I2C, I2S/PCM, JTAG, LIN, MANCHESTER, MDIO, 1-WIRE, PS/2, Async Serial, SPI, Simple Parallel, UNI/O, USB 1.1.

[Gallymimu]

Buy the real Saleae if you can afford it.  They deserve the money for their hard work instead of giving it to the cloners.

But if you must buy a clone it can be had for less than mentioned above.  If you search for CY7C68013 on ebay you can usually find $10 dev boards that are compatible with the Saleae firmware.  They made some changes to try to prevent clones but there are work arounds.

[slayeru2]

Hi Everyone,

I have found a tool for my little workshop :PicoScope 6404B 350Mhz Oscciloscope + AWG (Function generator and Arbitrary Waveform Generator) + Can be used as Logic Analyser with serial decoding staff

For you guys to http://www.picotech.com/picoscope6400-specifications.html check it

Btw this is a usb based oscilloscope and needs a pc to be able to work but for me, i do all my electronic staff/testing near a pc so np for me eighter.
And it has a nice software which i just checked the video tutorials + read some of the manuals about it
So what do you think of it? Is this a good product investment or shall i buy seperate oscilloscope + AWG + Logic Analysers seperately?

[Catcatcat]

For what price is better to buy the instruments separately, and full instrumentation (no usb-top boxes)

[spirakos]

Pay once for a life

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rigol-DS1052E-digital-Oscilloscope-50MHz-1-GSa-sec-2-channels-plus-USB-storage-/270851051021?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item3f0ffb0e0d


Or just pay to play

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Channel-PC-Digital-Storage-USB-Oscilloscope-Probe-CD-/221113773504

[Old_but_Alive]

I recently bought an OWON DS7102 , complete with battery, it works isolated from earth etc.

Its got a big 8" colour LCD, and is good

plenty of suppliers from ebay.

[millegps]

I have an Owon SDS7102V since a couple of months.

Big display, ethernet and also vga out

Posted on: July 01, 2013, 09:08:54 21:08 - Automerged
I have also a chinese clone of Saleae, but they are really 2 different things.

It dependes what you are looking for.
Salee is useful for protocol analysis, but you need to know what you are looking for.

[Gallymimu]

Hi Everyone,

I have found a tool for my little workshop :PicoScope 6404B 350Mhz Oscciloscope + AWG (Function generator and Arbitrary Waveform Generator) + Can be used as Logic Analyser with serial decoding staff

For you guys to http://www.picotech.com/picoscope6400-specifications.html check it

Btw this is a usb based oscilloscope and needs a pc to be able to work but for me, i do all my electronic staff/testing near a pc so np for me eighter.
And it has a nice software which i just checked the video tutorials + read some of the manuals about it
So what do you think of it? Is this a good product investment or shall i buy seperate oscilloscope + AWG + Logic Analysers seperately?

I have a friend who is a veteran power electronics designer.  He said good things about the picoscopes.

[diaz]

There are good few videos on Youtube explaining what to look for, EEVBlog and W2AEW have videos on the subject. They explain the sampling rates and features better than I could.

I will second the mention of the Saleae, it's a very good tool. Also got a Owon SDS7102V and like it, although if I had more money my next step would be the Rigol DS2000 series, the refresh rate and the intensity graded display look like lovely features to have.

Be very careful using a battery powered scope such as the Owon on live mains, the BNC connectors are not insulated, touch one while the other is in a live circuit and it ouch time. In fact touching any grounded part of the scope will result in a shock, even the exposed mains inlet, probably even case screws. Better to get a differential probe, but expensive, look on eBay (£200 ish currently). Or an isolation transformer, cheaper.

I would advice stretching your spending on an oscilloscope and it could be a tool for life. Scopes are worth their weight in gold, even my old analogue 20Mhz Trio scope was the best debugging tool I EVER owned at the time.

[diaz]

Actually if I was in your position again I would buy the Rigol DS2072, and use this hack http://freneticrapport.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/raspberry-pi-rigol-ds2072-200mhz.html (that won't void your warranty) to:

• Increase the bandwidth from 70Mhz to 200Mhz
• Unlock the increased memory depth MEM-DS2 14Mpts to 56Mpts
• Unlock the serial data decode SD-DS2 (RS232, I2C, SPI)
• Unlock the advanced triggering AT-DS2 features (Windows, Nth Edge, HDTV, Delay, Time Out, Duration, USB)

The last three represent an extra value of 580 GBP in the UK. They are simply unlock codes that you purchase and enter in to the scope as I understand it.

It's a hell of a scope on it's own never mind the freebies.

In fact I am seriously considering selling my Owon DS7102V and my Link Instruments DSO-8502 PC scope to fund it.

EDIT: Above stuff sold ! Now waiting for delivery of my Rigol

[Pice]

Now it's finally been done!  Thanks to cybernet and friends from the EEVBlog forum,
there is now a keygen available that turns the DS2072 into a 200MHz DS2202
and enables all the options permanently (extra mem, fancy triggers and serial protocol decdoders).
No need for the solution posted above anymore.

Check out this thread here http://www.sonsivri.to/forum/index.php?topic=53230.0 for more details.

The DS2072 retails for $839 at the moment. For comparison the MSRP for this setup is  $2,404
($1,626 for the 200 Mhz scope + $778 for the options )
IMHO The best bang per buck by far.