Got a "free" scope - 15Mhz Philips... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 04:29:55 pm
content: It' a Philips PM3206 15Mhz analogue scope from 1986ish.The service manual is still easy to gethttp://bee.mif.pg.gda.pl/ciasteczkowypotwor/Philips/pm3206.pdf$It's asemi-permanentlend from a friendly teacher until I can buy a modern one.He found it, and 9 of it's friends, in a skip years ago! Rescued/repaired them and now uses them when he does epic tests of the stuff that goes into the solar boat.This one is by far the slowest/most basic and he never uses it.But it worksHowever, I did not come here ONLY to gloat, there's a problem, no probes...So to stay in the basic premise of cheap/free that's good for now (if they last 2 years, I'm happy), I was thinking of these:http://www.gotron.be/en/meettoestel/scopemeters/modular-probe-1-1-10-1-15-150mhz-2-pack.htmlOr their internet equivalent.They are cheap and basic, but most of the stuff I'm thinking of doing will be hardly pushing 1Mhz...I need two, so even with a "crying student discount" it's still 50€ and that's a LOT of student money.

author: Halfdead
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 04:31:50 pm
content: Are cheap chinese eBay probes not an option?

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 04:37:39 pm
content: Quote from: Halfdead on February 19, 2015, 04:31:50 pmThe ones I showed are "cheap chinesse probes". I need to be able to adjust them, and I've seen probes with no adjustment or the screw just sunk into the plastic with no electronics - is it worth the risk to get a pair for 30€?So yes, I could get stuff out of China, but if they don't work, I'll won't have money to buy others for a few months and be stuck with a nice Philips vintage analogue paperweight.Edit:Talking a bit out of my arse there...Things seem a little less wild on Ebay since I last ventured there 3 years ago...If I look for euro vendors in Ebay, there's this kind of stuff:http://www.befr.ebay.be/itm/2-X-Sonde-Probe-Doscilloscope-Haute-Voltage-2100-100MHz-/321406269291?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_23&hash=item4ad54e776bBut, I would need the recommendation of someone having bought something from a vendor to risk it.

author: ion54
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 08:45:56 pm
content: I've bought this probe (2 of them) from the vendor in the link(http://www.ebay.ca/itm/P6100-Oscilloscope-Probe-100MHz-1X-10X-e-/251718196020?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a9b92db34)and they work as advertised. Not the best quality, for sure, but they are cheap and suitable for a student.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 09:05:49 pm
content: I'll second the P6000 series probes, have a hunt you might be able to find some 60 MHz ones for a little less.You should expect to land them for less than US$20 a pair.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 09:27:30 pm
content: Darn... Can't get the P6000, I could buy direct but there's a big chance i'd get mugged by the customs (happened on my last try).If I buy it by the legal manner, the price goes up to 20€ per probesecondhand(I think I pay far a dude to open the package and reship to me)...40€ is 45$...BUT, I can get 2 P6100 for 8€ delivered...http://www.befr.ebay.be/itm/Two-P6100-DC-100MHZ-Oscilloscope-Scope-Clip-Probe-100MHz-For-Tektronix-HP-SC-/251751694261?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a9d91ffb5So I think I'll get those,thanks for the tip!

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 09:28:56 pm
content: Quote from: gildasd on February 19, 2015, 09:27:30 pmPerfect.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 09:37:12 pm
content: But before I do that...Our Uni hs got a "piggyback" option for students for electronic stuff:If they are buying, lets say a bunch of probes from China, you can add yourself to the buy at the same price as the school (plus tax, of course).It's rather limited, and you get delivered when they get delivered, but I might get lucky.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 10:26:12 pm
content: Quote from: gildasd on February 19, 2015, 09:37:12 pmThe P6100 (100 MHz) probes are widely accepted as adequate for low frequency work BUT some institutions wouldn't rate them so.As much of the cheap Asian stuff they may barely or just reach their stated specs, your Uni may have them but lecturers can be pedantic beasts re equipment specs.You'd be lucky to source any new probe cheaper than that, let alone a pair.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 10:51:39 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on February 19, 2015, 10:26:12 pmFor the basic class stuff (I can send you the program by PM, it's in English) we use Basic Tectronics Edu scopes and very cheap probes. But we hardly go above 1mhz, so using more expensive stuff is irrelevant. In fact, our function gens only go up to 20mhz...But we are studying to be ships mechanics: the stuff we have to deal with is either 50Hz/megawatts or trouble shooting sensors (more and more digital) and power-supplies on equipment (around 90% of real life failures on boats).You could in theory fool around with VHF, UHF (etc) radios or radars, but in practice, the rules are that you really don't want to touch more than the power supply (except something VERY obvious that's easy to document like a blown cap ) because of overwhelming liability issues.If you decide to take extra classes and/or have your thesis contain electronics, the uni has a few sweet Hameg scopes with their dedicated probes.It's 5 year old stuff, but still nice.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 11:19:30 pm
content: Yes that seems to be standard practice with many EDU's, 20+ yr old Tek scopes that only get replaced when there is enough busted ones not to make a class set.But the principles of scoping a circuit remain the same and pretty much any scope will do in their opinion.However when graduates get into the big wide world, they'll find very few use the old Teks now and should be better preparing graduates with more modern equipment IMO.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 11:26:33 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on February 19, 2015, 11:19:30 pmWe use digital Teks, basic, but, in first year most students can plug a diode the right way...So the scope is really not the limiting factorPlus, on boats, you tend to see handheld scopes that make a 1000 series Rigol seem like heaven. But then again, when an injector is heavier than a motorbike, it's easier to take the scope to the injector...

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 11:11:07 am
content: Got the probes, time to calibrate them! Hope the scope's square wave generator works!