Getting started with my 4425

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Sharpy
TwoWaves
TwoWaves
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:59 am

Getting started with my 4425

Post by Sharpy »

Hi guys just so you know I watched many YouTube videos and tutorials plus read most of the case studies so I thought I was pretty prepared for getting started but I am struggling, maybe it’s just confidence in knowing that I have got everything hooked up and what I’m seeing on the screen is a good representation of what is going on. Also as side note I also have a 2 channel snap on scope that I have used quite a bit so the basic hook up I’m ok with.
I have tried to use the Pico for a few jobs now with limited success so I’m sure I’m doing something wrong, the final attempt today I thought I’d try it on a very simple system that I know how to diagnose easily without the scope so I can verify what I see with what I know but that didn’t go to plan either,
I had a 2005 Mitsubishi L200 with eng code 4d56t with a poor starting complaint so from the chat with the customer I was sure we had a glow plug issue so I set the scope up to check the amp draw on the glow plugs thinking that I can this way verify that the relay and power circuits with also getting an idea how many plugs were working.

I used the 2000amp clamp on the 200amp setting and zero’d the clamp and used the setup via the automotive menu for glow plugs, the thing is the software set up had the amp range at 0-100 for 4 cyls which seems about right as it’s run via an 80amp fuse and I would expect them to be about 10-12 amps each but when turning the ignition on I got a supposed spike of well over 200amps with a low of -30amps and another +200amp spike before it dropped to near zero amps when the relay shut off, because of the spikes I had to alter the range to 0-500amps as it was showing over range initially so it was consistent every time I tried but I’m not sure it’s right so I was hoping someone could give me an idea on where I’m going wrong. If it makes any difference but the car ended up with 2 plugs open circuit which has now been sorted and if I get time tomorrow I will give it another go and see what sort of capture I get and maybe I can figure how to save and post them lol, sorry if I’ve bored you all with my stupidity and thanks in advance :D

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

Re: Getting started with my 4425

Post by Steve Smith »

Hello Sharpy thank you for the post.
Please don't apologise for posting or sharing your experiences with PicoScope as this provides excellent feedback and highlights any concerns we need to be aware of.

You have not made any mistakes here with your glow plug measurement as the Guided Test is incorrect and I apologise to you for our mistake.

Using the Guided Test under the Automotive tab for glow plugs uses the previous 600 A clamp on channel A
The output of the 600 A clamp is 1 mV/A.

You have correctly set your current camp as per the Guided Test image here https://www.picoauto.com/library/automo ... low-plugs/

However the output of the 2000 A Clamp in 200 A mode is 10 mV/A which would result in the over range condition you describe.

I have informed the publication team re the concern and this will be resolved ASAP

In the interim I have included a pssettings file for you to download and open which uses the 2000 A clamp in 200 A mode on channel.
GLOW PLUG 200 A MODE.pssettings
Glow Plug current test (Up to 200 A)
(4.14 KiB) Downloaded 455 times
I hope this helps, take care.......Steve

Sharpy
TwoWaves
TwoWaves
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:59 am

Re: Getting started with my 4425

Post by Sharpy »

Hi Steve,that’s funny I thought I’d use the automotive tab so I didn’t mess up the setup lol, it makes me feel better that I wasn’t being a complete idiot so thanks for that although I did attempt to alter the probe selected to the 2000amp@200 but I believe I made an error myself there as I used the list in the custom probes at the top rather than the one at channel A, sadly the car has been collected already so I’m unable to try again but I’m sure there will be others.

Sharpy
TwoWaves
TwoWaves
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:59 am

Re: Getting started with my 4425

Post by Sharpy »

I thought I give the Pico another go today and I actually manged to get a reasonably good capture although I need to play with the settings to get a bit more detail but I thought I'd try and share the capture on the waveform library. I have labelled everything and filled out all the boxes but when I click save and share it doesn't seem to upload to the library either that or it hasn't landed yet and I've uploaded it 10 times :lol: .
Am I just being impatient or am I doing something wrong?

liviu2004
TwoWaves
TwoWaves
Posts: 472
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2016 8:23 am
Location: Netherlands

Re: Getting started with my 4425

Post by liviu2004 »

Did you log in the library, before upload?

Sharpy
TwoWaves
TwoWaves
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:59 am

Re: Getting started with my 4425

Post by Sharpy »

Yeah, not before the first try but defo for the last 9 :D
It must have been the internet my end tho as it’s worked fine today and I’ve managed to upload 2 and they were much better captures anyway and show good and bad so it’s actually my first successful fix using the Pico 8)

liviu2004
TwoWaves
TwoWaves
Posts: 472
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2016 8:23 am
Location: Netherlands

Re: Getting started with my 4425

Post by liviu2004 »

Nobody is interested in bad captures. I think I have to check my uploads, and delete them as well.
If I need to go to library, I need known good captures, so I can check my diagnostic.

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