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I have a software company and specialize in getting data from electric, water and gas meters. I have a few hobbies including older air cooled VWs. My wife and I co-own a business to sell and repair handheld computers made out of the country.
We have 2 kids and 3 cats and live on the west side of St. Louis.
In business, I use a good solid state oscilloscope and smaller "open source" oscilloscope that I paid $120.00 for. Sometimes I mail the smaller scope to customers and have them connect the leads to something we are trying to diagnose and then send me a cell phone picture of the scope back plus a picture of what is under investigation. Its a clumsy way to solve things but most of my users have no idea about electric signals or what to look for. Sometimes, the equipment is mounted on a water tower with a data cable running down the leg of the water tower. When things aren't working, I have them attach the leads to the data cable and turn the scope on, take a picture and text it to me. It does not matter really what the signals look like other than we can see signals. Can you imagine hiring a tower climber at $1000 per day plus equipment rental to retrieve a unit and discover there was nothing wrong with it and then hiring the same crew to re-install it? Those are very expensive mistakes.
So one of my son's friends brought a Subaru outback with CEL over. My son ran the scan coder to get the codes and we googled them. We stumbled on Paul's video on checking the oil pressure switch and the solenoid for the valve timing. Of course we was using on a scope on it and I was able to follow him his explanation of the sensor.
I started thinking about getting some adapters for my existing scopes and just use those. But on the other hand, I just wanted something that would work quickly and I could get help from if needed. In other words, I wanted a solution solution while I am learning.
So I started thinking about it and just bought the 2 channel Picoscope from AESWave on Monday. I just could not stop thinking about how useful it would be to see what is going on rather than guessing, changing parts and hoping for the best.
I have been able to diagnose some Audi's and get them in th right direction, using RossTech. Unfortunately, there are repair shops that will mis-diagnose Audis or not work on them because they perceive them as problematic or over engineered. They make comments to the Audi drivers like this and it steers the owner to never own another Audi, dump the Audi or take it to the Audi dealer.
So it is important to see the data and the problem and that is what drove me to buying an automative scope though I am not an automotive professional. I want to see the waves. My dad has a lot of power equipment, cars, boats, tractors and we are frequently trying to diagnose the issue and be accurate. I can't wait to see what we can see with the scope.
I am also interested in knowing more what I can find out about systems without OBD like lawnmowers, chainsaws, seedeaters, marine engines, etc.
I have been binge watching Scanner Danner videos even on cars and systems that I am not interested in right now because I want to know the technique and the possibilities.
I look forward to getting the scope this Friday and completing my first scan test on the Subaru Outback.
Thanks for putting all of this together!!! It really means a lot.
I hope to be 1/2 of the educator your are Paul. I train people on systems for pay and your enthusiasm has given me great motivation.
Hi steven, Welcome to the forum!
Man, sending a scope with instructions to have a worker check signal sounds like a great solution to an expensive problem, impressive.
Paul has a lot of scope related training videos.
I'm thinking of the Pico Scope basics part one and two on the free channel for starters.
Wauw I'm impressed! Thank you for sharing this Steven. I hope you'll enjoy the Pico, it's a great tool! And what's cool about it is that anyone can download the software even if you don't have a Pico So feel free to share your waveforms...
And of course enjoy the new website!
So feel free to share your waveforms...