i have no idea how to use an oscilloscope as this will be my first one and never ever used one before but i think its about time i invested in one as i'm starting to get more curious as to what is going on in circuits. up until now i have used a dirt cheep and nasty yellow DMM from Maplin.
i have narrowed it down to a Rigol but my question is should i add the extra £70 to the price of the DS1000E 50MHz and get the 4 probe DS1054Z 50MHz.
its a major wad of cash for me and i would rather get the right one now. my problem is i'm thinking that the DS1054Z 50MHz might be a bit OTT and confusing for a noob like myself or do you think that its best to get the functions now and dive in at the deep end?
thanks
i have narrowed it down to a Rigol but my question is should i add the extra £70 to the price of the DS1000E 50MHz and get the 4 probe DS1054Z 50MHz.
its a major wad of cash for me and i would rather get the right one now. my problem is i'm thinking that the DS1054Z 50MHz might be a bit OTT and confusing for a noob like myself or do you think that its best to get the functions now and dive in at the deep end?
thanks
Hi, believe it or not, this guy knows what he's talking about...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh9FNRpta9s
Four channels are handy, but you can do well enough with two. Certainly it's worth the cost difference,
if money isn't too tight. If one channel goes bad after the warranty expires, you'll still have three working.
You should be able to find a reasonable used scope for about half that, locally.
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For audio two channels is enough, but resale would be easier with four channels.
If money is tight, go with two channels. You'll also need other basic test equipment,
like a signal generator, amplifier dummy load, etc.
You PC sound card can do that with some free software.
http://onlinetonegenerator.com/
You'll need a more specialized progam for low distortion
measurements, but this is fine for general testing.
Triangle waves are especially useful for checking operation
and easily seeing clipping.
Virtually all scopes have an internal fixed amplitude
1kHz square wave generator for probe compensation.
For testing power amplifiers you'll also need a couple of
noninductive 8R power resistors of adequate power rating.
These need a heat sink, it appears.
https://www.parts-express.com/8-ohm-100w-non-inductive-dummy-load-resistor--019-020
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Be careful to stay within the capability of the scope inputs, as marked on the front panel,
after the probe attenuation.
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> i dont know why i would want 4 probes
I've spent much of my life single-channel, or 2-ch but one probe bad. Only very very rarely was I motivated to fix the sick probe for 2-ch readings. It IS useful. But for a beginner, 1 is a good start, 2 will take you very far. 4 channels, IMHO, is just added expense and mild complication. Your opinion may differ. (I do know of jobs where 8 channels is not enough, but not really audio.) Be sure before you lay out precious cash, or go-without to save-up.
But just to show my level: my first 'scope wasn't really 0.4MHz, I got a 8MHz but also put together a 0.02MHz which was very useful for learning (dubious for other work). I got another 0.45MHz, but at the moment the only 'scope in the house is a 0.1MHz which serves me very well. BTW, that one is a pocket 'scope.
I've spent much of my life single-channel, or 2-ch but one probe bad. Only very very rarely was I motivated to fix the sick probe for 2-ch readings. It IS useful. But for a beginner, 1 is a good start, 2 will take you very far. 4 channels, IMHO, is just added expense and mild complication. Your opinion may differ. (I do know of jobs where 8 channels is not enough, but not really audio.) Be sure before you lay out precious cash, or go-without to save-up.
But just to show my level: my first 'scope wasn't really 0.4MHz, I got a 8MHz but also put together a 0.02MHz which was very useful for learning (dubious for other work). I got another 0.45MHz, but at the moment the only 'scope in the house is a 0.1MHz which serves me very well. BTW, that one is a pocket 'scope.
Here's my first (5MHz one ch. kit) scope as a teenager. https://www.pa3esy.nl/meetinstrumenten/heathkit/html/IO-102_set.html
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i'll echo what others have said. more is always better, but i have never needed a 4 channel scope on the professional or hobby side. are there times i could use one? sure, but ii's never come close to holding me back on anyting. Of course, other mileage will vary.
learning a scope can be intimidating at first, but it's really not that complicated. understsnd the various limits and procedures and then just play. Make sure you understand the purpose of the ground lift on the scope and when to use it. i goofed on that several times back in trade school.
learning a scope can be intimidating at first, but it's really not that complicated. understsnd the various limits and procedures and then just play. Make sure you understand the purpose of the ground lift on the scope and when to use it. i goofed on that several times back in trade school.
The DS11054Z has a lot more benefits than just the 4-channels. The biggest benefit is that it has intensity grading (aka Digital Phosphor) technology. This makes it behave more like an analog scope, allowing you to see the real signal and variations in intensity from the real signal. This feature alone is WAY more than enough to make up the difference between the DS1052E and the DS1054Z. Additionally, last time I checked, you can hack the DS1054ZA to turn it into a 100MHz scope with full features.
The chaps at eevblog seem very happy with the DS1054z although many noted it has higher noise. AFAIK, Rigol "stole" some of Tektronix engineers. Teardowns and performance tests show it to be a great scope for the price. For audio you won`t need 4 channels (maybe for digital work) - have a look at the Siglent SDS1202X-E - has a faster processor, better screen, separate controls, all features, including serial decoding, come as standard. Most that have bought one say it is close to non comparable in terms of scope performance to the Rigol unit but it still has bugs in its firmware. The Rigol has been turned into an open source scope, you can do about any hacks and cheats with it and fix anything - lower the noise floor, replace the noisy fan, hack it to 100Mhz (it is reported ot go up to 170Mhz)...
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