Electrician - Fieldscope - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: BrianB
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 08:08:57 am
content: Hi there,I'm a residential electrician contractor doing highend projects.I get in contact with many different LED dimming systems. The world of lighting is at the moment very volatile, with the major brands trying to push forward.This means i see all possible voltages ranging from 5Vdc, 12Vdc, 24Vdc, 48Vdc and all possible constant current & modulation appplications. All dimmed by either DALI, DMX or native KNX.Over the years when doing huge installations i've had my fair share issues. Most of them have to do with LED's flickering. PWM and Switched-mode power supply's can cause some really weird issues only happening on certain frequency's.My question to you guy's is this. What fieldscope would you suggest ? I need something that can withstand some abuse, but no industrial environment situations.Being able to meassure and log low voltages and going up to max 400Vac(That being our single phase voltage, 400Vac phase and 0v neutral is about EU 230Vac rms)I've had my eyes on some second hand Fluke's but they range from 600 to 2000 euros and that is very expensive for occasional use. Fluke 199C or Fluke 123 i had my eye's on.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 08:38:28 am
content: At just 399 Euro a SHS806 might be right up your alley:https://www.siglenteu.com/handheld-oscilloscopes/shs800-series-handheld-digital-oscilloscopes/

author: BrianB
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 10:51:29 am
content: Thanks,I will take a look at this one. Seems really nice, at first glance.I think we electricians have a certain attraction to the color yellow. I need to get over that. I know it's biased.I see batronix is a dealer for these aswell.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 12:05:59 pm
content: For the sort of frequencies you need, even one of the cheap & crappy $100-200 Chinese ones would probably be fine, maybe add a decent quality x100 probe for high-voltage probing.

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 02:10:23 pm
content: QuoteMaybe a Hantek 2000 series handheld (e.g. 2c42) or the Fnirsi 1013D.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 06:18:50 pm
content: Quote from: BrianB on November 04, 2020, 10:51:29 amYes well we can get close and offer an orange one....these have isolated channels but the price is another jump up.https://www.siglenteu.com/handheld-oscilloscopes/shs1000-series-isolated-handheld-digital-oscilloscopes/

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 07:14:23 pm
content: Quote from: tunk on November 04, 2020, 02:10:23 pmIf you only need 1 channel then a new one just appeared on the horizon (MUSTOOL MDS120M):https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=MUSTOOL+MDS120MFor higher voltages you need to get a fixed x10 or x100 probe (nb. this is true with any 'scope...)

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 07:27:52 pm
content: Quote from: Fungus on November 04, 2020, 07:14:23 pmYes well proper tools for the job already come with appropriately CAT rated probes.See the PB925 probe spec:https://www.siglenteu.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SIGLENT__Probe_Datasheet_V15_Basic_Passive.pdf

author: radiolistener
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 02:54:39 am
content: Quote from: tautech on November 04, 2020, 07:27:52 pmis it available on aliexpress?

author: wizard69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 10:21:29 pm
content: I'd look at the Fluke Scopemeter series. In any case you will want a CAT rated scope. Extech has scopes but they apparently don't have CAT specifications. B&K have CAT rated scopes for this sort of use. The good thing here is that there are a lot of handheld "Scope Meters" out there to consider, I probably missed many of them.Ideally you old want a scope that could decode some of those standards like DMX. Unfortunately I don't know of such a scope.You are working at lower frequencies for the most part so a lower end scope would certainly work. However I'd look for at least 50 MHz and preferably 100MHz bandwidth and as many features as are affordable. That is me of course and a 100 MHz hand held scope is expensive compared to lower end solutions. What you want to avoid those is graphical meters that aren't not really oscilloscopes.