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Lab scope scales

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7 years 6 months ago #3031 by randy.martin
Just got a lab scope and was checking a car for a possible ignition misfire and was wondering what's a good voltage scale for looking at coil control waveforms

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7 years 6 months ago #3033 by Rukerin
Replied by Rukerin on topic Lab scope scales
Is that a control from PCM to an Igniter or module ? Or control directly to the coil? If directly on the coil around 50V looks ok to me , and be sure to check if you're lab scope can handle over 100v because these waveforms can spike over 100v .

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7 years 6 months ago - 7 years 6 months ago #3035 by Andy.MacFadyen
Replied by Andy.MacFadyen on topic Lab scope scales
To protect the scope input circuit from voltage spikes when looking a coil primary you should use an attenuator when connecting to the coil primary. Most scopes sold for automotive work have 20x settings for use with 20:1 attenuators, all scopes have 10x settings some also have 100x and 1000x
Automotive scopes tend to have better protection from over voltage spikes but check the specification I have fried an Velleman hand held scope looking at ignition primary voltage so if in doubt err on the side of caution.

For the maximum normal voltage start with 50v per division DC , then try 20v per division but remember the peak spark and burn voltage will be higher on snap throttle test.
For the x axis timebase settings 1ms per division should always work as a starting point for ignition primary, ignition secondary and injectors.
For a trigger setting try 100v rising.
Intital setup voltage settings for fuel injector voltage wave forms are slightly different, try 10v/div, 2 ms/div and a 30v rising trigger.
Don't take these scope settings as carved in stone once you get a waveform adjust the volts/div, time/div and trigger to explore the waveform.

Many automotive scopes have stored pre-sets that will set the scope for the most common automotive tests my own scope has has a an auto-set button that will automatically set the scope to match the input signal.

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Last edit: 7 years 6 months ago by Andy.MacFadyen.
The following user(s) said Thank You: gimmick1

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