Oscilloscope

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

I am thinking of getting an oscilloscope to help me debug the analogue and digital inputs for a BBC Microbit (Similar to Raspberry PI). The following bit of kit seems fit the bill, using a Pc as the display device, but what do the team think ?
Hantek 6022BE 2CH USB Digital Storage Oscilloscope 20Mhz PC-Based 48MSa/s

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Opinions on low cost scopes

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Velleman EDU09 is a USB oscilloscope kit that may meet your needs at a low cost.

**LINK**

Martin

[Mike ClarkeParticipant @mikeclarke87958]

Hi.

I am a fan of Picoscope USB scopes. The software is very good and continually improved across the entire range.

Quite expensive to buy normally but they often have flash sales via their eBay store……so if you're interested save a search on eBay and keep your eyes peeled.

I had a Velleman at uni and it was great, but the Picoscope offers so much. The print feature alone is worth the £££ for me.

Cheers,

Mike

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Ideally at least two channels and make sure it can sample significantly faster than the signals you want to measure.

Other than that even the most basic scope can be incredibly useful.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Not tried it myself but the negative reviews on Amazon are a concern, for example:

"This is a super affordable (and hence basic) DSO. Despite pocket change price it's not a toy but a rather functional device. Probably 10 years ago you would need to shell out at least a grand for a similar device. Heck, my fist oscilloscope was analog, weighted about 25 pounds and had one channel with 1 MHz bandwidth. Sure, it had an external sync input which I used may be two times in 10 years or so and mains sync which I think I never used…
Let's get back to this one… The software is indeed the weakest link here. But latest version 1.0.3 I got from the Hantek web site does the job. Triggering works fine and you can move graphs about both axes. Auto setting and measurements work OK. Sure, it's very basic and there are few advanced features. But hey, it's super affordable, remember?
Here are drawbacks which I find more annoying than inability to change graph colors or 2MB BMP files another reviewer mentioned:
1. Unsigned drivers. This is a BIG DEAL on 64 bit OS. It just won't work unless you disable driver signature verification (don't unless you know what you're doing). I just hooked it to my old laptop with 32 bit OS and it works but that is very annoying and there's no excuse for that.
2. As mentioned inputs are fairly noisy. Short the input and you can see about 8 mV noise with 20-25 mV impulses. Very noticeable at 20 mV/div, gone at 200 mv/div. I would guess it's a power supply filtering issue rather than the amp quality.
3. I found no way to AC couple the inputs. That is, inputs are always DC coupled, you'll need external capacitor for AC coupling.
4. No ADC overflow indicator. If you don't see expected signal check your range. If ADC overflows you get very wild signals.
5. USB is not insulated from the inputs. Completely expected at that price but watch out if you're pocking this scope into power supply or something…
To sum up: this is a basic and affordable DSO which does pretty much everything radio armature needs. Hook it up to your laptop and you all set. Overall construction is of high quality, probes are nice, has built-in 1 KHz/2V generator for probe calibration. Decent bandwidth, acceptable voltage range (300V at 1:10 probe), build it measurements and fairly small size works for me.

Update 05/25/2013: apparently driver is signed but missing some things needed to work on Windows 8 64 bit: .cat file.
I was able to create and sign that .cat file using instruction here:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10832499/workaround-to-skip-driver-signing-in-64bit-windows

First, edit the INF file and add these lines to the [Version] section:

DriverVer=05/25/2013
CatalogFile=Hantek6022BE.cat

Then proceed with CAT file creation and signing as described in the link. Do not sign .sys files, they are already properly signed."

That review is from 2013 and it's possible things have improved since then. Alternatively, this one (also from Amazon) gets less flak and is a bit cheaper.

For £50 with a money back guarantee you can hardly go wrong. Even a basic scope is better than no scope at all.

Dave

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Martin, the EDU09 only goes to 150 khz. There are 1 MHz kits from China and Quasar Electronics for £20 to £50.

Geoff

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It's worth getting one with an opto-isolated connection to the computer (and its own power supply) you really don't want to stuff 240V down a USB cable into your 'puter.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

You might like to have a look at the Bitscope Micro as an alternative. It will act as an 8 bit logic analyser as well as a dual channel scope.

I have one to compliment my Siglent scope.

Russell.

Edited By Russell Eberhardt on 30/10/2016 21:20:54

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Lots of people say these are very good, and no computer needed…

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DSO138-Digital-Oscilloscope-Kit-SMD-Soldered-DC-DC-Converter-Boost-Module-L6D7-/381583918481?hash=item58d82c8591:g:bDYAAOSwxcRW-h-a

You can get CNC machined acrylic cases for about £5

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 30/10/2016 21:38:28:

You can get CNC machined acrylic cases for about £5

You can also 3D print one (look on Thingiverse).

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Yes, Neil, that's the sort of thing. Beware though, some of these kits are counterfeit. I gather (no guarantees!) that the authentic ones are by JYE Tech. They are not much more, see their website, or Google 'DSO138'. I'm told the real ones have 'JYE Tech' screen printed on the PCB. This one doesn't…

Geoff

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Note also that the bandwidth is only 200 kHz. Not much use for anything above audio frequencies.

Russell.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 31/10/2016 04:11:10:

…

I'm told the real ones have 'JYE Tech' screen printed on the PCB. This one doesn't…

Geoff

Did you spot that the Amazon oscilloscope review I quoted mentions "radio armature needs".

I suppose a 'radio armature' must be one of those pirates. Perhaps using counterfeit equipment doubles the thrill obtained from unlicensed wireless naughtiness.

10-4 good buddy

Dave

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

You can get a pretty decent "proper" 50-100MHz dual channel scope for £200-250. One of the boys on here recommended a Siglent model which I bought and have been very happy with. Pretty much a clone of a Tek TBS1052 at almost half the price. Horses for courses but you get a whole load of features for the money – check out the features.

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

I recently (3 months ago ) bought the pc based one you linked to in the OP it installed but it was a bit of a faff so I sent it back and bought the New Hantek DSO5102P USB Digital Storage Oscilloscope 2CH100MHz which is far superior as a stand alone unit.

I also have the DSO 138 kit scope which i tend to use on site jobs for checking encoders etc great little thing for £16 ish

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

You can get an idea of what the spec of truly decent ones should be from here

**LINK**

The sample rate should be around 10 times the analogue bandwidth or more to be pretty sure you are actually seeing what is there. I have one of their 11bit units. The CGM101. It's a bargain price for that. Try Pico as an alternative. It works rather well too. That type is mostly aimed at audio stuff though. Last time I looked some of the Pico usb scopes were far more reasonably priced and do have sensible specs.

I did have the Vellaman one once. It just packed up one day.

You should know what frequency range you want to look at and personally I wouldn't touch a 20mHz scope with a sample rate of 48mb/sec which is probably only that when one channel is in use. For the sort of use you intend I would also make sure it has a roll mode. I'd suggest looking for the bandwidth you need and sensible sampling rates to match. The bandwidth does need to be higher than the signal if you want to make accurate measurements. They usually state the – 3db bandwidth so a factor of 2 on that isn't a bad idea.

When I bought the syscomp unit they did use USPS for shipping but took some persuading. Worth mentioning if some one does buy from them as the cost difference over say FedEx is pretty dramatic.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 31/10/2016 11:17:07

[Alan Wood 4Participant @alanwood4]

Rigel products are excellent both scopes and spectrum analysers but again not as low cost as Pico.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

My own scope is a Hameg, dual trace notionally 50 meg but being analogue you can always push it a bit

Only used a few times a year but invaluable when used – definitely repaid it's £30 s/h many times over.

I've shown my BBC Beeb Scope before (it uses a fast (for its time) A2D chip:

Neil.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Just downloaded this last week. Not tried it yet.

http://xoscope.sourceforge.net/

Geoff

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 31/10/2016 12:26:03:

My own scope is a Hameg, dual trace notionally 50 meg but being analogue you can always push it a bit

Only used a few times a year but invaluable when used – definitely repaid it's £30 s/h many times over.

I've shown my BBC Beeb Scope before (it uses a fast (for its time) A2D chip:

Neil.

Some one was selling a Tektronix 50mHz 1gig sample per sec on ebay. One with EDU stuck on the end of the model number. For some reason it was much cheaper than ones without that and there isn't really any difference other than the EDU has some "lessons" built in. I couldn't resist buying it. It really was cheap.

I used an ATTEN AT7025D before that. 25mhz 100 meg samples per sec. So 4 sample per period at 25mhz but 8 up to 12.5mhz. It's usable but doesn't have a roll mode which is a pain if looking for low frequency signal drop outs. Roll mode usually comes in at 100 msec / division and gives a continuous display. It is a real time scope. Some I believe aren't and work in a similar way to a sampling scope which need repetitive stable signals. The scope was/is in the classified on here.

John

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