My First Oscilloscope

[Spork Schivago]

Hello everyone. I just bought my first oscilloscope. It's a Hitachi V-1065A DC-100MHz 2 Channels 40W oscilloscope. Seeing how I'm going to use it to try and fix TVs I thought this would be the right place to post. It doesn't come with any cables, I've never used one before. I ordered it through E-bay. The link to it is http://www.ebay.com/itm/261258262152...84.m1497.l2649

It doesn't appear to come with any cables. What types of probes should I buy for it? Also, does anyone have any good reading material on how to operate one of these things? If it turns out I bought the wrong one for fixing TVs, I could always resell it. I did a little research and someone said that a 100MHz one would be ideal for TV repairs.

One last question, what exactly do I do with it when I get it? I know they show sin waves and stuff, but what exactly are they for? Reading clock-pulses and stuff like that? Thanks.

[rievax_60]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Hello everyone. I just bought my first oscilloscope. It's a Hitachi V-1065A DC-100MHz 2 Channels 40W oscilloscope. Seeing how I'm going to use it to try and fix TVs I thought this would be the right place to post. It doesn't come with any cables, I've never used one before. I ordered it through E-bay. The link to it is http://www.ebay.com/itm/261258262152...84.m1497.l2649

It doesn't appear to come with any cables. What types of probes should I buy for it? Also, does anyone have any good reading material on how to operate one of these things? If it turns out I bought the wrong one for fixing TVs, I could always resell it. I did a little research and someone said that a 100MHz one would be ideal for TV repairs.

One last question, what exactly do I do with it when I get it? I know they show sin waves and stuff, but what exactly are they for? Reading clock-pulses and stuff like that? Thanks.

You really need to understand what characteristic waveforms that you expect
to see in the various areas of the equipment you are fault finding. No simple way to explain this in detail.
There are inexpensive 100MHz 10:1 probes on eBay which should be ok for most measurements but they tend to be less durable and their voltage rating cant be trusted. Try to measure Horizontal deflection waveforms in a CRT TV and you might damage the probe and oscilloscope.
To safely take measurements in this area, you need a 100:1 probe rated at 2Kv or more.
I like to use genuine HP probes like 10071A. They never fail but the plastic cord covering goes stiff after 10 years of use.
Try searching for "how an oscilloscope works"

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Okay, thank you. Just so I understand this correctly, I can use an HP probe with a Hitachi oscilloscope? And can I use the 100:1 probe rated at 2Kv or more for most of the measurements as well? Or do I need to use the 10:1 for most measurements and the 100:1 probe for areas like the Horizontal deflection waveforms?

Come tomorrow I will check youtube for videos on how oscilloscopes work. I read some wheres there's a 2+ hour video on there that explains everything about them. I definitely don't want to ruin it when I get it in the mail.

[rievax_60]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Okay, thank you. Just so I understand this correctly, I can use an HP probe with a Hitachi oscilloscope? And can I use the 100:1 probe rated at 2Kv or more for most of the measurements as well? Or do I need to use the 10:1 for most measurements and the 100:1 probe for areas like the Horizontal deflection waveforms?

Come tomorrow I will check youtube for videos on how oscilloscopes work. I read some wheres there's a 2+ hour video on there that explains everything about them. I definitely don't want to ruin it when I get it in the mail.

The brand of probe doesn't matter.
You can use the 100:1 probe for most other measurements also but it may be a little clumsy because of its likely larger size and the 100:1 attenuation will be problem when measuring small signals.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Come tomorrow I will check youtube for videos on how oscilloscopes work.

Good Luck...

[Caleb]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Try this video out, Hope you have unlimited internet its a long one.

[RON_CET]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Here's pdf of owners manual for your Scope,Note!!! you might want to use a Isolation transformer when your working on CRT TV chassis which are consider HOT chassis before connection of any test equipment or you could severely damage your equipment the TV and yourself,you can Google (using isolation transformer for HOT or Live chassis) to read more.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

I'll have to google using an isolation transformer for HOT or live chassis because I have no idea what an isolation transformer is or what a HOT is. I've seen it written on a couple motherboards for the TVs I've worked on. Thanks for the help everyone! I'm a bit behind on this and I appreciate everyones help. I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet but I will either tonight or tomorrow. Had a bit of running to do today. I will try and order the HP probes off E-bay now.

Real quick like, any good books to read on how electronics work? DC electronics? Easy to understand. Like a for dummies type book. I took a digital electronics course back in around 99 or so. I can replace broken parts but I cannot understand how they work. I'd love to get into making some of my own circuitry. I've made some before but it was always following schematics.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Hey, I found an HP 10071A 10:1 150MHz oscilloscope passive probe, however, it says it's 150MHz. Would that work? My oscilloscope will be 100MHz. If that works, when I order the 100:1 one, could I use any MHz probe? Or does it need to be at least 100MHz?

What does passive mean? Is that the one I want? Thanks for the manual and the link to the video guys!

[Caleb]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Yes you can use higher frequency probes on a low frequency scope, the rating is based on the limitation of frequencies that the probe can pass. If you put a lower frequency probe on the scope it will only be able to see the frequencies the probe can pass. Higher is better but also more expensive. Buy at least 100mhz as that is how high your scope can go. Passive means the probe is not powered but only sees the voltage from the end of the test lead.

Good starter book on basic electronics is "Electronic circuits for the Evil Genius" Fun to read and easy to understand.

[RON_CET]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Basically, to answer your last question (this applies to passive probes), probes are generally manufacture specific as the probe, if it's an attenuating probe like the standard 10:1, need to be compensated by adjusting a small screw inside the probe that is adjusting a cap. This is done by connecting the scope to a 1 KHz square-wave signal at 300mV to 1V Pk-Pk and there is a small access hole in the side of the probe to insert a tuning tool. You adjust it for maximum squareness of the waveform. When you turn the screw one way, the sides of the wave peak-up and when yo turn it the other way the sides have a smooth curve.



Active probes are generally only needed for circuits that have an impedance higher than about 1 meg ohm. The passive probes (10:1) generally have a 10 Meg Ohm resistive input an between about 7 to 15 pf input capacitance depending on the scope brand. This is why the probes are generally scope brand and model dependent. The problem you get into is that the probe will not compensate as I described it above. You can use another brand or model of 10X passive probe so long as it will compensate to your scope with a nice square (both sides & top & bottom) square wave. Since the 10X probes are generally 10 Meg Ohm, they will not load down a 1 Meg Ohm Circuit much and your measurement accuracy will remain fairly high with about a 10% error on voltage readings on the low side due to the voltage divider effect of the 1 meg ohm ckt with the 10 meg ohm probe. If the circuit impedance is below 1 meg ohm, your accuracy will be even better.

My recommendation would be use a passive probe and use a TP6100 for your Hitachi V-1065A, hope this helps

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Yes you can use higher frequency probes on a low frequency scope, the rating is based on the limitation of frequencies that the probe can pass. If you put a lower frequency probe on the scope it will only be able to see the frequencies the probe can pass. Higher is better but also more expensive. Buy at least 100mhz as that is how high your scope can go. Passive means the probe is not powered but only sees the voltage from the end of the test lead.

Good starter book on basic electronics is "Electronic circuits for the Evil Genius" Fun to read and easy to understand.

Thank you. There's 2 100:1 probes I found. One is a 2KV one at 100MHz, one is a 4KV one at 100MHz. The 2KV should be fine for TVs, right? Would I ever find a need for the 4KV one?

26.41$ for the 2KV, 46.91$ for the 4KV one...

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

... My recommendation would be use a passive probe and use a TP6100 for your Hitachi V-1065A, hope this helps

Thanks for the reply. I found a couple P6100's on E-bay. Was the TP6100 a typo?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

I think I found a pair! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-x1-x10-1...item2580c95723

Now for the 100:1 one, what make / model should I go for?

[RON_CET]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

here's photo

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

here's photo

Okay, those are the ones I just bought. They look identical, minus the rings. It comes with rings but they're not on and the ground is hooked up on the picture of the two I bought, everything else is good though.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Any one have any idea on what 100:1 one I should purchase?

[RON_CET]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

go ebay search for theses two item numbers ( 221004910206) and (281121905213)

[rievax_60]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

Any one have any idea on what 100:1 one I should purchase?

I think the 2KV one will be enough. Any voltages higher than this in a CRT TV are DC which have no need to be checked with an oscilloscope if at all. These voltages are usually measured with a multimeter and 1000:1 probe. Best to avoid these areas for now.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: My First Oscilloscope

go ebay search for theses two item numbers ( 221004910206) and (281121905213)

Thank you. I'm going to go for the 221004910206 I think. The 281121905213 had a few things different. The Input Capacitance was a smaller number (6pF vs 14.5-17.5pF) and the compensation range was 10-35pF vs 15-35 pF. Do those differences matter much?