Maker Pro
Maker Pro

I require an oscilloscope

Anon_LG

Jun 24, 2014
453
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
Messages
453
I need an oscilloscope for serial communication debugging and potentially analogue filter and amplifier experimentation. I understand that audio will be the lowest frequency, but will also require a greater resolution.

I have £170 (~$230 atm!) of my own money to spend. What can I expect to get for this, can I expect anything with the specs required, (bandwidth, sampling etc) required for these purposes? I probably can get by with one with only one probe.

I will only be working with I2C, SPI, RS232 on ucs with clocks not exceeding 8mhz, so baud will not be high at all. As for audio, this will be some basic guitar analogue, so audio frequencies (as opposed to a guitar that plays at radio frequencies!)

I may be able to get nothing of any use for £170, but I am interested in suggestions.

Thanks,
 

Harald Kapp

Moderator
Moderator
Nov 17, 2011
13,700
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
13,700
In terms of bandwidth etc. your requirements are nothing for modern scopes. A low end 20MHz type will suffice.
As to resolution: 12 bit is a typical resolution for digital scopes, higher resolution is in my experience way off your budget.
You may be interested in a little multifunctional gimmick like this bitscope. This is basically a front end for use with a PC where all the user interface lives. From the description:
  • Dual channel digital storage oscilloscope
  • 12 bit analogue sample resolution and high speed real-time waveform display
  • Capture 8 logic/timing signals along with cross-triggers for multi-channel mixed signal measurements
  • Capture SPI, CAN, I2C, UART & logic timing concurrently, solving complex system control problems
  • Display analogue waveforms and their spectra simultaneously in real-time
  • Generate an arbitrary waveform, capture analogue & digital signals concurently
  • Enables creation of programmable logic and/or protocol patterns
  • Record to disk anything BitScope can capture, allowing off-line replay & waveform analysis
  • User programmable, C/C++, Python, VM API

Similar "scopes" are sold under different brands, e.g. picoscope. This evaluation may help you along finding the right tool for you.
 

Colin Mitchell

Aug 31, 2014
1,416
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
Messages
1,416
Always go for dual trace.
All the things such as digital, storage, etc are a bonus.
To see 8MHz you need 15MHz or more because the CRO starts to "taper off" (attenuate - the amplitude gets smaller than it really is) at 7MHz.
You will have to look into the way they rate a digital CRO. Some digital CRO's are only $99.00
 

dorke

Jun 20, 2015
2,342
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
2,342
Here is another option for you.
I think it is a better solution and a much cheaper one.

For audio you can get a PC Software Scope for free.
They are excellent for audio and some also have a function signal generator output.
They utilize the PC audio card for input and output.
A simple adapter may be needed to protect the Audio Card,you can easily build that (Limiter,Attenuator and maybe DC block).
Like this one.there are many others as well.

For monitoring low speed serial communication you can add a
PC based Logic Analyzer which is very cheap - Less than 10$.
Like this one.
It is Saleae compatible(you need to download the free software from their web site).
 
Last edited:

Anon_LG

Jun 24, 2014
453
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
Messages
453
Thanks for the advice.


I like the look of the bitscope very much, I am surprised by the price. What is/are the catch/es, other than the lack of integrated screen? If I do not use scaling probes what is the maximum negative and positive voltages that the scope may accept?

For audio you can get a PC Software Scope for free.
They are excellent for audio and some also have a function signal generator output.
They utilize the PC audio card for input and output.
A simple adapter may be needed to protect the Audio Card,you can easily build that (Limiter,Attenuator and maybe DC block).
Like this one.there are many others as well.

I like this one, but I would prefer something in the hardware that can be portable. Additionally I need to use this at school to work on the flight simulator, and the Pi does not posses a sound card.

Is the software used with bitscope lightweight? My PC takes five minutes to load AVR studio, I can go into task manager and see the RAM allocation being swallowed up.

Thanks,
 

Harald Kapp

Moderator
Moderator
Nov 17, 2011
13,700
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
13,700
Unfortunately I can't answer your questions from first hand experience. I've only been reading about the bitscope. The datasheet should answer the technical questions.

You can download the software ans check how it runs on your computer.
 

dorke

Jun 20, 2015
2,342
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
2,342
I like this one, but I would prefer something in the hardware that can be portable. Additionally I need to use this at school to work on the flight simulator, and the Pi does not posses a sound card.
,

For portability,the ideal solution is a Laptop.
A very old one P-4 running XP should be fine.
You can have the software scope and the Logic analyzer both running on it...
 

davenn

Moderator
Sep 5, 2009
14,254
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
14,254
this will be some basic guitar analogue, so audio frequencies (as opposed to a guitar that plays at radio frequencies!)


??

never heard of any guitars that play at radio frequencies ;)
no one would be able to hear then


Dave
 
Top