Looking for Oscilloscope suggestions

[Mattax]

Looking for suggestions on buying a hobbyist oscilloscope. It seems like a pretty useful tool for engine diagnostics and other stuff too. Analog or digital ? Does it matter? Some portability is nice but not crucial. A handheld screen seems like it would be too small for looking at 8 cycles out of coil. Assumedly pickups are typically extra? Can a jumper be used to pickup from a timing light?

maybe this should be in Shop tech, but it seemed like it fits here better.
- Matt

[Cris]

This would be my suggestion. Look at the DS1054Z. Nice display, price is $399, and this company is well thought of in the world of offshore oscilloscopes (just about all are built offshore these days). Even cheaper is the DS0152E, but that is one of their older models. (I do not own one, I still use an old school Tektronix oscilloscope, but have been looking at these and know people that have them. I am a R and D electrical engineer.)

https://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/

[user-612937456]

I think diecent ones under 50 kilocycles can be found second hand in the to the $200 $300 range for a name brand look for a 2-channel or even better 4-channel tektronix is a good brand Hewlett-Packard Phillips and Sony. Analog is okay with some of the older since most of us here are dealing with today's modern stuff I would look for a digital and search eBay and some of the other online sources for a second-hand one that comes with an assortment of probes cuz if you buy stand-alone scope the probes by thereself tend to bring of Premium

[user-612937456]

Unless you're the kinda guy that buys Snap-on just so you can have the premium brand name I'd stay away from fluke they're way overpriced and I don't think they are as functional as the commercial units I mentioned Allegiant is another good brand to.

At a quick glance here is A unit I would consider if I need another one



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-TDS31 ... SwH3NXmsNI

[wyrmrider]

still using my Heathkit
good suggestions

[Circlotron]

This would be my suggestion. Look at the DS1054Z.

I was going to say exactly the same.

[Mattax]

Dealing with older stuff; carburated, analog ignitions.
I haven't used a scope in over 20 years, and when I did it was pretty simple stuff.
Seems like any of those would do and then some.
It looks like minimum need for leads to connect to a to ground, a trigger, and an inductive pickup for ignition. yes?

[jake197000]

i use boyh analog and digital.i like an anolog scope for ignition its real time.i bought a fluke 2 channel scope when they came out.i love it.they dont make it any more.but a digital will have storage features that are very handy.my old sun ignition scopes i grew up on and love but cant take it with you. i wouldnt give up either type.the scope pattern is a window into combustion chamber.with new cars it can b very hard to acssess componants.lots of scanners have graphing but its prosessed data.nothing beats direct hook up but time is money.

[jake197000]

remember secondary mirrors primary.lot of times u cant hook to secondary nowadays.

[rebelrouser]

Check out used snap on modis tools on ebay, not only will you get a good 4 channel scope but a scan tool as well. Snap-on no longer supports updates but the last update is good to 2014 vehicles. Cables are available to use a regular computer monitor to get a nice big screen. I teach automotive and we have one hooked up to a monitor and all we use it for mainly is an ignition scope. They built thousands of them. A digital scope for automotive applications anyway are much better to learn on and capture wave forms, because you can freeze and take movies and play them back. Lots of free technical support on the web as well, since they are such a popular tool.

I bought one for $1,000 a couple years ago for my home shop very happy with it.

[Paul Rig]

Im about to buy one shortly as well
Im told you need 3ch for modern motors, 40mhz as a min rate, digital with as much memory as you can get.
So that would be for me 4ch 70-100mhz digital 2meg would that be about right?
Last time I used one was 30years ago, so anything I know doesn't really apply anymore.

what I will be using it for is capturing the crank 36-1 wheel, the cam reset, and pos feed to coils.
Looking for a pattern to see if timing is miss firing or shifting. voltage range will be between 0 to 16vdc and 2 to 60vac

[midnightbluS10]

i use boyh analog and digital.i like an anolog scope for ignition its real time.i bought a fluke 2 channel scope when they came out.i love it.they dont make it any more.but a digital will have storage features that are very handy.my old sun ignition scopes i grew up on and love but cant take it with you. i wouldnt give up either type.the scope pattern is a window into combustion chamber.with new cars it can b very hard to acssess componants.lots of scanners have graphing but its prosessed data.nothing beats direct hook up but time is money.

First one I ever used was a Sun analyzer. Probably just like this one. Wish I had one. I could really use it right now.



The last one was on the Snap-On Verus Pro but I didn't mess with it much.

[user-23911]

A scope is a scope?
It's a tool.
If you give it to a chimpanzee, he'll use it as a hammer.


So it's really about learning how to use it.

I still use an HP analogue scope model 1742A, only because I've been using it daily since about 1985 and I inherited it from my old employer.
I've used digital scopes, never liked them, never needed them.
Got a cheap handheld LCD digital storage scope, don't like it, don't use it.
I've never actually NEEDED one to hook up to a car.

What is better for a lot of jobs is a probe with LEDs (made my own, 3 LEDs, 3 resistors), connect it up to the battery pos and neg with crocodile clips, the probe will light the green LED with an earth, will light 2 red LEDs with 12V and will light a single red LED with 5V.
It's the best tool for testing pulses to ignition , injectors etc. Finds blown fuses in seconds.

[Circlotron]

A current clamp is very useful for automotive stuff. I've got one of these. There are fancier ones, but this is quite good enough for 99% of car stuff. Will even work with your multimeter using a BNC to banana plug adapter.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hantek-CC-65-AC ... SwBahVOFTg
Allows you to look at coil primary current and dwell time, fuel injector current and pulse width, see alternator output for bad diodes etc etc. Just clamp it around the wire. No need to cut the plastic insulation.

[Calypso]

The current Keysight, previous Agilent and Hewlett-Packard before that, are the same manufacturer changing names after company splits. Currently they have the best technology and usability in the high end scopes. Used, little older but still modern, Agilent 6000-series could be a nice deal.