New Digital Oscilliscope

[lego4040]

So Santa came late but great this year. Its a Hantek DSO5072P. I have ZERO experience with these so I have lots of learning, reading and video watching on the basics. I am interested in trying to find a school for basic electronics in my area without having to spend $$$$$$$. I am a operating engineer in H.V.A.C., I had to pass a few years of apprenticeship school and pass the electrical international test and H.V.A.C.  International test, But we don't use scopes only DMM's. If a piece of equipment needs that far of an examination we phone it in to the electrical engineers. I'd like to be able to do basic functions and I am slowly getting table top gear for my personal use, I'd also like to be able to move onto the next level in my career. I'm going on 50 with 32 years invested hoping to retire in twelve years so let the young kids getting in the field do the manual labor after they learn like we did when we all got in this field.
It would be nice if we could have a subtopic ampTools link just for scopes

[jjasilli]

 
Lots of info if you search this forum topic.  Also lots of info & tutorials on the web. 

[lego4040]

So much information my head is gonna explode. I am going to look into a tech class at a City College here that I found. Itll make my resume that much prettier  . The first thing I tried on it was the non polarized capacitor test, which side is the foil on. Mr. Carlsons Lab on youtube, and RobRobinette website show how to do it but I still have no luck, but Its all good. Im having fun and keeping the brain moving

[jjasilli]

I feel your pain.  The 1st thing I did to gain familiarity was to admit defeat & use the scope as a glorified voltage meter.  Learn to measure some known DC voltages.  Then measure some known AC voltages.  Note: the scope will give a peak-to-peak AC voltage reading, not RMS!!!.  For AC you can use Line voltage, or a filament transformer, e.g.  Learn to locate the trace on the screen; move it around (Position) ; and learn to use the screen Gradations along with the Voltage/Div knob.  Follow tutorials for these things.  You can do this!


Then learn to measure a Sine wave of known voltage & frequency.  Use a signal generator set to a certain frequency & voltage.  Confirm its voltage with a meter; again the scope will show that as 1.4 volts more (2.8V peak to peak) than the meter reads.  Get a clear, stable trace on the screen; and learn how to read off the scope the voltage & frequency that you already know is there.  There are tutorials for this too.


You can still take a class.  You'll get more out of a class if you familiarize yourself with these things.

[sluckey]

The first thing you should look at is the CAL OUT (calibrate output) on your scope. Once you get to where you can get a stable display, measure the voltage and time correctly, and understand what you are looking at, and how the knobs, buttons, etc. affect what you are seeing, then you should move on to looking at something external. May I suggest looking at a 6.3VAC transformer and understand what you are seeing and why.

[shooter]

Note: the scope will give a peak-to-peak AC voltage reading, not RMS!!!

mine measures rms just fine, suspect since his is a digital also there is an rms feature.  Steve's suggestions are exactly right, especially the "understanding why" part.  The users manual is a great read also, over n over n....

[lego4040]

So along with mono amp pulls I grabbed out of the fire alarm communications I grabbed a heavy duty power supply, GPS750 tone generator. The Power Supply I know I can use, not sure about generater tho. Power supply is good for two amps on AC and DC. It cleaned up well and has a nice black mesh cover. If I use it I’ll hook up a digital display I have to it and also some sort of Variable pot so I can vary volts slightly

[bnwitt]

Attached and at the link below are a few documents to assist you.

http://electrathonoftampabay.org/www/Documents/Electronics/XYZsOfOscilloscopes.pdf

Barry