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markk
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 5:40 pm

Hello

Post by markk »

Hi,

Quick intro, I work at an independant further education college in the motor vehicle department as a tutor and we have two 4 channel Pico scopes that no one really has used with any success.
I have come from an automotive Master tech background so DSO type scopes are nothing new to me.

I have used Pico scope at a couple of training establishements and had the same problems with very hazy patterns and poor quality images at each place.

Where should I open a thread with my concerns?

Regards

Mark :D

Steve Smith
Pico Staff Member
Pico Staff Member
Posts: 1581
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:22 am

Re: Hello

Post by Steve Smith »

Hi Mark and welcome. Regarding the patterns you have captured could you upload them here so I can take a look at the settings etc. of your scope, along with a brief description of what circuits were under test?

There are numerous reasons why some traces may have this "haze" or "noise" present along the waveform.

The noise can be induced into the wires under test due to lack of screening in automotive wiring harnesses, especially in engine bay environments with ignition and injection triggers pulsing at rapid speeds.

There are low performing scopes on the market with reduced bandwidth and so do not pick up the "haze or noise" you mention, which may sound like a good feature until you are looking for intermittent glitches at high speeds. What you can be assured of with Pico scope is what you are actually seeing is physically happening and this is a powerful tool to your armoury.

There are however features of the Pico scope that can remove the noise and filter the waveform to a degree where you can see the relevant information without losing valuable results.

Test leads and connectivity are also vital along with grounding of the scope leads to a known good chassis earth.

I hope this is some help and please feedback when you can. Take care......Steve

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