Digital storage oscilloscopes

Malice95

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I keep swearing I am going to learn board repair so the best way to
do that is to spend money on the tools.. and then once commited
I'll typically follow through:) I have read the previous posts on this subject...

I am thinking about a digital storage oscilloscope.. I want something

1. Portable
2. Light weight
3. Color
4. Has the capability to capture data - USB

I'd like to buy new vs a used one.. the new ones are so small these days.

I am looking at...

Owon PDS5022S 25MHz 100MS/s 2 CH DIGITAL OSCILLOSCOPE - $268
Atten ADS1042C 40Mhz 500MS/s 2 CH Digital Oscilloscope - $280
Atten ADS1062CA 60M Hz 1G Sa 2 CH Digital Oscilloscope - $324
Atten ADS1102CA 100MHz 1G Sa 2 CH Digital Oscilloscope - $366
Rigol DS1052E 50MHz 1G SA 2 CH Digital Oscilloscope - $393

I'm topping out at $400 but would prefer lower:) $268 does sound nice

Anyone have any experience with these brands? I know they are all made in China.

How much horse power do I need to handle any board from the 80's?

Mike
 
I don't know much about scopes, but personally I'd probably buy a cheap used one until I learned how they work, and then upgrade as the need warrants.
 
Cheap and Osciloscope dont belong in the same sentance:)

Sure you can get deals on analog scopes.. but I would prefer a digital.

They seem to be pretty straight forward to use. (howto videos on Youtube)
 
You should start with a logic probe first.

I use my logic probe 99+% of the time.
 
You should start with a logic probe first.
I use my logic probe 99+% of the time.

I have a decent probe...

I figure an Oscilloscope will help me visualize what is going on + provide voltage measurements at the same time.

What I really need is 3-4 hours of someone's time in person to work through a couple board repairs from start to finish. That would be a huge jump start.

There are short videos and writeups out there which help.. but
Someone should make a Randy Fromm type series for board repair.. cover boards from the 70's/80's rasters and vectors.

I'd pay real good money for something like that. Something that covers
from the basics like location and function of various portions of a board and how those relate to the schematics to troubleshooting various components, etc.

Ajcrm125 has a bunch of short ones, also Arcade repair tips on youtube.
Anyone know any other board repair videos out there?
 
I'll be covering some of that during the repair party at my place.
 
I'll be covering some of that during the repair party at my place.

To bad you're in Texas! How about setting up a skype video session:) Or do a live broadcast like Richie Knuckles.. we could all watch then and ask questions via the message part. Probably just need a webcam and Justin TV.

Could probably record it for future newbies as well:) Betcha it would be a popular event. Repair Party of the year!
 
A digital storage oscilloscope will only help you if you know exactly what the signals should be doing over time and in relation to each other. Unfortunatly this information is not available for arcade boards and probably never was. So you will be able to capture massive amounts of data but you have nothing to compare it to so it is virtually worthless.

Anything beyong a 100MHz analogue scope is overkill really.

The only benefit of the newer ones to the older ones is size (or lack of it) in terms of useful functionality they don't really add anything relevant to fixing 80s/90s boards. My scope is a high end 1980s model and it is masively overkill for what I use it for too.
 
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I'm topping out at $400 but would prefer lower:) $268 does sound nice
Anyone have any experience with these brands? I know they are all made in China.
How much horse power do I need to handle any board from the 80's?
I've never seen those brands, but wow the price is right for a hobbyist. I'm using a Tektronix TDS210 at home and almost completely satisfied. The only thing I regret is that mine cannot display an FFT. Mine sells for around $500 used on ebay so I'd give serious thought to the units you listed.

You're fine in terms of horsepower -- vintage arcade stuff is well below 10 MHz. But the user interface can be a huge difference. Maybe hold off your purchase until that repair party, get the feel of a few, and see what you like? It's only useful if the knobs and menus are easy to work.
 
The Rigol 1052E is actually what I'm going to be picking up, after messing with a buddy's.

Plus, you can hack them easily into the 1102E, which is the 100mhz version. :)

That aside, if you're not used to one and a $350 investment is a bit much, I'd honestly try and use someone else's (Repair party, etc) to get a handle on how they work. I can't recommend getting a cheap one to learn on, because you'll end up wanting more later.

Edit: I use a TDS360 at work. Nice scope, but the memory depth blows. Early digital scope, barf.
 
There a $70 digital pocket one on ebay shipping out of hong kong. I'm starting with that one...haven't used it yet.

As others had said (and I'm cheap) i'm going to play with this one to see if it warrants paying the big bucks for a real one
 
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