PC Oscilloscope question

[Drools]

Would a 1MHz dual trace scope be adequate to do testing/trouble shooting for servo and stepper circuits?
Any recommendations on a PC Oscilloscope?

[Al_The_Man]

I would think the Syscomp would be more than adequate for that application.
http://www.syscompdesign.com/Datashe...asheet-4.3.pdf
I see the one I have is legacy now, they now sell the combined multi function one above.
It also looks as it is cheaper to go direct (they are located in Canada), than buy through Active Electronics.
Al.

[TaK]

Motor drivers are very similar to switching power supplies in design and function. The minimum scope requirement for doing professional V&V on these circuits is 500MHz. This bandwidth is needed to properly analyze ringing, overshoot, jitter, transient performance, ripple, etc.

I don't know what you are looking for or exactly what you intend to see with your scope, but if you're using a 1MHz product, you could be missing important information.

[Drools]

Thanks Al, that one looks very nice.
Have you seen this one DPScope - A Low-Cost PC-Based Oscilloscope
It is a little less expensive than Syscomp but it is only 1MHz

I'm not a professional, I was just wanted one for home/hobby use. I was looking at the DSpic-Servo Project and I was thinking a scope might help me to see what is going on in the circuit.

[TaK]

I researched these at one time for work. One of the biggest problems though is that the software was mostly really bad; making them mostly unusable.

The best I was able to find was PicoScopes. They have reasonable software and many models come with an arbitrary waveform generator.

PicoScope PC Oscilloscope and Data Acquisition Products from Pico Technology

[Drools]

I started to did more on the and found yet another. This one comes from China and I have to think hard before ordering from there.
DSO-2250 USB_Hatek Electronic co.,Ltd._http://www.hantek.com.cn

[rlwoodjr]

Originally Posted by Drools I started to did more on the and found yet another. This one comes from China and I have to think hard before ordering from there. DSO-2250 USB_Hatek Electronic co.,Ltd._http://www.hantek.com.cn

I have one of these...It works great for a PC scope. Sometimes it freezes for a second or two, but this might be my computer. It does show that there is a bit of noise, but I hear this is true for digital scopes. I bought mine on ebay.

[rlwoodjr]

One more quick note.... eBay is a good place to buy an analog scope. I have a Hitachi dual trace I got for around $50. I think it is a 15MHz if I remember correctly.

[H500]

Search for the Rigol 1052E scope on ebay. It's a real 2 channel color 50 Mhz, 1Gsa/s scope for less than $400 with free shipping. Unlike many of the Chinese made junk, this one is superb.

[tumutbound]

Originally Posted by H500 Search for the Rigol 1052E scope on ebay. It's a real 2 channel color 50 Mhz, 1Gsa/s scope for less than $400 with free shipping. Unlike many of the Chinese made junk, this one is superb.

+1 for the Rigol 1052E. Easily upgraded to the 100Mhz 1102E model with a simple software hack.

[crust]

Never used the Rigol scopes ... I use a Tektronix TDS3XXX for looking at switching circuits. The TDS2 series have similar bandwidths, but way different build quality and far worse noise rejection. I don't find them good enough for looking at switching power supplies. The 2 series are basically a 100MHz Analog equivalent. They have memory, but the screen (IMO) looks worse. The 3K series do a better job but do not have much memory, so if that is important look elsewhere. Drawback is that they are a little expensive (especially new).