Oscilloscopes

An oscilloscope is an essential item of test equipment for any modern vehicle repair workshop. Many electrical components operate at very high frequencies and can only be tested effectively using an oscilloscope.

Compared to a digital multi meter, an oscilloscope has a much higher sampling rate and can display the shape of electrical signals as a graph on a screen. This enables glitches and spurious electrical faults to be identified more easily. Multiple channels allow an oscilloscope to measure and compare several signals at the same time.

Oscilloscopes may be hand held, PC based or stand alone machines. Many diagnostic scan tools also incorporate an oscilloscope. All have the same basic functions and are relatively simple to use.

The electrical components testing techniques course explains in detail how to use an oscilloscope for carrying out effective testing and diagnosis of sensors and actuators. The following oscilloscopes are featured on the course:

• PicoScope (3000 and 4000 series).
• Carman Scan VG+ diagnostic scan tool.
• Fluke 123 scope meter.

Participants are welcome to bring their own scope along to use on the course.

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