Oscilloscope recomendations

[WillyTech]

I have been given the green light to purchase a oscilloscope for our department. I would like to get recommendations.
Thank you in advance.

[s2sam]

Good day WilleyTech,

Sadly, your question is way too vague... i.e. you need consider:

1. Bandwidth requirements, number of channels
2. What are your functional needs (i.e. do you need protocol analysis, math functions, etc)
3. Usage needs (portability, battery operation, etc)
4. Budget... scopes can be had for as little as $100 to well over $50K

In my case I have three scopes... One is a very expensive desktop (but can go portable) Tektronix, one is a moderately priced Fluke (for portable use and is quite rugged), and one is a cheapie that I use for some basic stuff and is stuffed into my tool pouch. Also, what are your scope probe needs? Some are extremely accurate/sensitive, but dainty and very expensive (over $1500 for a single probe), others are more rugged, etc. This is another item you will need to consider.

Cheers,

Sam

[WillyTech]

Thanks Sam,
My needs are a portable scope that can be used to verify readings on customers RS485 trunks prior to integration. I'd like to be able to do screen captures on my laptop. I'm pretty sure a moderately priced Fluke would fir my needs, but would like some recommendations. Price is a concern so I don not want to pay for functions I do not need. Thank you

[s2sam]

Thanks Sam,
My needs are a portable scope that can be used to verify readings on customers RS485 trunks prior to integration. I'd like to be able to do screen captures on my laptop. I'm pretty sure a moderately priced Fluke would fir my needs, but would like some recommendations. Price is a concern so I don not want to pay for functions I do not need. Thank you

Good day WilleyTech,

You are most welcome! Given your needs, then your options are vast... which is both good and bad, as that means there are lots to review/consider. For RS485 applications then your bandwidth requirements will be fairly modest. I would, however, place emphasis on those units that have higher sample rates and sample depths, as this will allow you to see/capture more detail as well as see/capture any transient events that may be present on the bus. As for a recommendation I will leave this for others, as I have not looked at the current scope selections simply because I already have a few and I am currently not looking (except possibly for a really high end one for stuff outside of RS485 needs). That being said, you will also need to determine if you wish to consider or rule out any USB based scopes. There are a variety of these available and are reasonably priced. The issue here is whether or not you wish to have stand alone scope or not. USB scopes are great, but require a laptop which can be a pain to juggle on-site and/or up in the ceiling somewhere... and at times you could be chasing down drivers, etc for various O/S changes. If I come across something I will certainly post up.
Best of luck on your search!
Cheers,
Sam

[control$]

1MHz or greater bandwidth and a sampling rate of at least 5 megasamples per second.

[381engineer]

I've been told a this is a nice unit.

http://www.rigolna.com/products/digi...1000e/ds1102e/

[eyeLON]

There was a thread posted in 2012 regarding USB scopes.
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread....ight=picoscope

[krac]

Rented a Fluke 125S which has a built-in function for testing RS-485 and other serial types. The 125S quickly showed us the bacnet MS/TP bus had issues and allowed us to visual see the results of our corrective actions. Most valubale tool I have used in a long time.

[lwarren]

I have the picoscope. It is a USB scope that you run from your laptop. You can record and save the data. It has proven fine for troubleshooting Lon networks for me.

[controlgeek]

Which Picoscope would work good for both Bacnet and Lon troubleshooting?

[lwarren]

I have the Picoscope 2105, im not sure if they still have that model but if they do I don't see any reason why it would not do what you needed for and RS485 network.

[krac]

The Fluke 125 S is a dual channel 40 mHz scope with a comm diagnostic function that made troubleshooting RS-485 networks for dummies like me real simple. Only problem is the price of $3000. The Pico products like a nice option but it looks like you need a dual channel to test the rs-485 networks so you can measure the differential voltage at the same time.

[lwarren]

The Fluke 125 S is a dual channel 40 mHz scope with a comm diagnostic function that made troubleshooting RS-485 networks for dummies like me real simple. Only problem is the price of $3000. The Pico products like a nice option but it looks like you need a dual channel to test the rs-485 networks so you can measure the differential voltage at the same time.

Good point.

[orion242]

http://www.rigolna.com/

Ditto on that. You cannot beat the 1052E + the ....errr.... 100mhz upgrade, best bang for buck IMHO.

[pepperidge]

Rigol DS1102E (100MHz 2-ch, ~$400), DS1074Z (72MHz 4-ch, ~$600), DS2072A (72MHz 2-ch, ~$900)
Tektronix MDO3012 (100MHz 2-ch, ~$3400)

It's depend on your budget but if you need 4-ch and limited budget, DS1074Z is the best choice. DS1102E is cheap but I do not recommend for main scope. I have DS1102E for field use and Agilent $10k+ scope for lab use.

[orion242]

4 channel seems like overkill for RS-458 field use....unless your also looking to do some reverse engineering also.

Serial decoders and memory depth would be higher on my list.

The 1052 is firmware limited but is the same hardware as the 1102. It can be freely upgraded with the right firmware...

[pepperidge]

The 1052 is firmware limited but is the same hardware as the 1102. It can be freely upgraded with the right firmware...

Somehow DS1102E and DS1052E are almost the same price now and DS1102E is even cheaper from Amazon. I got DS1102E (new) for less than $350 shipped.

To OP. You should check this video
http://youtu.be/_TSr9nFN1GU