New Pico User

Come here to introduce yourself, who you are, what you do, and tell us your
experience with our automotive products.
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vyyarm
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:06 am

New Pico User

Post by vyyarm »

Hello everyone,
My name is Victor. I just recently purchased my picoscope from AutoNerdz and have been having quite a bit of fun with it. I work as an automotive technician in Lansdale, Pennslyvania. Ive been in the field around 9 years and have just recently started learning how to use a scope. My first purchase was a used VantagePro but after an opportunity to return it I did some research about a replacement and heard nothing but great things about the automotive picoscope. So after further research I had a picoscope on the way from a great distributor, AutoNerdz. Even with my limited experience I gotta say I was blown away with the pico. Just the pure power and crispness of a waveform will have you never use another scope. Plus I found it great that you can save waveforms so easily, and while you're looking at your saved file you can zoom in, look at the next buffer, compare it to other saved waveforms, etc. Once I learn all the other features im sure ill be even more blown away. I've been hooking it up to every vehicle I can and it has helped me not only diagnose the vehicle but to learn more every day with the ability to easily save the whole waveform then later study it more closely. I've also used the pico diagnostics, I first hooked the leads up to a newer mini to do a cylinder balance test which had no problems and was getting close to 100% on each cylinder. But ive since hooked it up to two separate v8 jeep grand Cherokees, which had no issues, and had trouble getting any usefull readings. Anyways, sorry for the long post. Just wanted to introduce myself and say besides maybe the Pico Diagnostics software the actual scoping software is helping me advance myself and im very happy with my investment. :mrgreen:

Thank You

-Victor Yarmolyuk

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

Re: New Pico User

Post by Steve Smith »

Hello Victor and thank you so much for taking the time out to post this feedback.
Regarding the V8 cylinder balance test:

I strongly suspect the issue surrounds the quality of the AC ripple evident at either the battery or the alternator, and that's not to say there is a charging issue, just that the ripple does not suit the pattern expected by the software and so a cylinder balance cannot be measured. A V8 engine can potentiality present additional issues to the AC ripple given the smooth output of torque pulsations

One other issue to consider is the fact a misfiring V8 engine may not slow down sufficiently enough during the misfire to effect the AC ripple, as we have 7 other contributing cylinders to carry the engine over the misfire due to momentum and the increased frequency of firing events in comparison to a 4 cylinder engine

The AC ripple test using PicoScope under the pre-set automotive menu "charging and starting" "alternator ripple and diode test" may assist you with cylinder balance evaluation by reviewing this waveform and looking for any anomalies

I hope this helps,.....take care......Steve

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