DarrenF
Well-known member
So every probe I've seen has little 6" long ground wires on the probe, with an alligator clip on the end. Well, IMHO, this isn't very useful unless you happen to be working on an old Atari PCB (which has large test lugs all over the PCB). My issue is two-fold: the leads are too short, and alligator clips suck.
As a result, I typically find myself attaching the alligator clip to a jumper wire with mini-clips, and using the mini-clip to attach to the GND pin of some random TTL IC. Even this is an issue, because of the length of the alligator clip, I'm worried about it shorting on something, so I have to hold it in the palm on my hand all the time.
So I'm thinking about cutting of the alligator clips and soldering on another foot of wire terminating with a mini clip. AFAIK, the only reason the ground leads are so short is to minimize noise at very high frequencies... not really a concern for me.
Any other issues with my idea? How do you guys deal with the cheezy little ground leads?
As a result, I typically find myself attaching the alligator clip to a jumper wire with mini-clips, and using the mini-clip to attach to the GND pin of some random TTL IC. Even this is an issue, because of the length of the alligator clip, I'm worried about it shorting on something, so I have to hold it in the palm on my hand all the time.
So I'm thinking about cutting of the alligator clips and soldering on another foot of wire terminating with a mini clip. AFAIK, the only reason the ground leads are so short is to minimize noise at very high frequencies... not really a concern for me.
Any other issues with my idea? How do you guys deal with the cheezy little ground leads?

