I found one of these in a local 2nd hand store, they didn't want much for it, Would it be possible to diagnose a car ignition system with something like this? It seems to have a 8hz - 10 mhz range and comes with one probe of some sort.
Needless to say I'm pretty clueless about these things but have a car with notoriously problematic ignition so it could be handy to learn how to use something like this.
Any of you own something like this? How do you use it and can you check more stuff than just ignition?
That oscilloscope is pretty old so it's gonna be hard for you to get an accurate reading of phase depending on how close to perfect it has to be. Other than that it should be fine.
>>15047862
>reading of phase
Thx for the reply, senpai. What does this mean? I take it you're not referring to the same sort of phase found in larger AC currents?
Diagnose what? An oscilloscope shows voltage v time, nothing more. Its not some magical machien
>>15048062
If you know what you're looking at sillyscopes can show misfires, grounding, weak coils, low compression, and a lot more. Thing is most people don't know what they're seeing.
>>15048062
It looks very handy for stuff like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFLaRd_5wc8
What car? Sounds like a really complicated way that you're never going to actually learn how to do if you don't already have a decent idea of what you're doing.
Damn what a good day to actually look at 4chan for the first time in years.
I just picked this thing up OP.
It came with a manual of how to read the oscilloscope
If you want I could try and photograph all of the basics for you.
Nothing?
Honestly unless youre an engineer I'm not sure you're get much meaningful use out of it. You'd be better off with a simple multimeter.
>>15049832
Sorry anon. I've had a full nights sleep, just woke up.here.
>>15050025
>>15049160
It's a Jag XJ12 with the Marelli ignition, I've had quite a lot of issues the past year, had failing ht leads, coil, dizzycap, amplifier, immobilizer and the way I've gone about it so far has been to just get bits from my parts car and replace them. I have a multimeter, but I'm not sure how much I can test with it? Say something like a coil, I can test a bit of resistance on it just to see if it's not completely off right? But most of the parts I've replace have kind of been semi-working, they just seem to have some sort of glitch/intermittentness when they operate, or maybe get warm or maybe they fail at higher revs etc. I figured it'd be possible to see these things easier with a scope. Altho as you say, maybe it's too complicated.
>>15049177
Wow, that's magnificent, how much did you pay for it? I actually saw an ad for a Bosch unit (pic related) here, guy wasn't asking much at all but unfortunately it's pretty far away.
>>15049196
If you see this before the thread goes kaput, that'd be most appreciated!
The issue i was told in school with using a scope for things like this is that if you aren't constantly watching the readout you may miss whatever the issue even was/is if it's intermittent.
Good luck senpai.
>>15051311
Thanks for the tip, anon-san!
field engineer here
please RTFM and all supporting documentation before you start grounding your probes to whatever the fuck you feel will work. i've never taken an o-scope to a car but if you ground something when you should be floating the probe instead youre going to have a bad fucking time
>>15051585
Duly noted. Aye, I watched some utube clips and at times it seems even hovering the probe too close in the wrong place can cause trouble.
EE here, an o-scope is good for diagnostics but only if you know what you are doing (or willing to learn). If it is only a single channel scope it will be good for basic tests. More in depth tests require multiple channels. Watch scannerdanner on youtube if you want to start learning.
>>15051259
I paid 350 for the sun tester
Guy's dad died and is selling really valuable shit for cheap.
He has no interest in classic or retro stuff
I bought a Thermador car cooler off him for literally 100 bucks
>>15052243
Cheers, seems to be a lot of other interesting stuff there too.
>>15052301
Sounds like you came across an opportunity there. Guy here passed a while ago too, he had this sawmill and a workshop dedicated to maintain his machinery, it was decades of buying tools and equipment to make everything run as smooth and effective as possible, and now his wife's been selling off everything to the left and right. I got a hydraulic hose press with several rolls of hose and connectors for pebbles, is a bit sad to see a "collection" like that get scattered tho.
