My question is about the ground connector on the green lead. For example, take a look at the Kia Sorrento intermittent CAM video @ 19:00. I couldn't get the embedded video to play right at 19:00. :huh: So if it doesn't for you then just go to the 19:00 mark to see what I'm talking about if you're not familiar with the Snapon leads.
What's the purpose of that? Is that purely for protection? As in switching harmful voltage spikes straight to ground instead of going through the scantool? You'll get a waveform just fine without plugging it in. The scope will default to the one ground just as it does for the red and blue leads.
Isn't this just an extra ground on both yellow and green lead. So you can connect them together an use only one ground (as Paul shows) for both channels.
Not a Snap-on user either :S
Andy.MacFadyen wrote: I am not a Snap-on user but I am pretty certain the local earth is there for shielding the signal wire from interference.
Hmm... You're probably right. I've been meaning to do some captures to see the effects of interference on different kinds of leads. Particularly some extra long, homemade leads versus the regular Snapon leads..
Dylan wrote: Isn't this just an extra ground on both yellow and green lead. So you can connect them together an use only one ground (as Paul shows) for both channels.
Not a Snap-on user either :S
With Snapon's scope setup all channels use the reference the same ground. I think pretty well all scopes that use banana plugs are like that. But ya, if it were a shielded interference thing then that would make sense. Otherwise the only reason why you'd need to add anything else to the ground plug is if you're using an amp clamp or sampling an AC signal.
And speaking of interference. Just the other day I had to do a primary current waveform of a coil pack. The only accessible place to put my clamp was near the connector at the coil pack. That meant my clamp was inches away from a plug wire. I got huge feedback into my current pattern. I tried wrapping a rag around my clamp but I doubt that did anything. I'm thinking about trying to get some kind of flexible EMI shielding material for situations like that...
Yeah, I looked at that set. It's on my list of things to get but there are many things much higher on the list. In the meantime I just made an extension cable to use with the regular test leads. Went with bulk flat-4 trailer wiring and threw some banana plugs on the ends. Works well enough for test drives.
The next thing I want off that site is that cool terminal kit!
