View Single Post
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
[email protected] etpm@whidbey.com is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,163
Default About them 'scope probes

Finally last night I was able to sit down and figure out the probe
adjustment.
I have 5 probes. One 10x Tek probe, one 20x Tek probe, one
Probemaster 1x & 10x probe, and two other 1x & 10x probes from China.
The 10x Tek and the Probemaster probes are 100 MHz rated and made in
the USA. The Tek 20x probe is 200Mhz rated and USA made. The Chinese
probes are 100MHz rated.
I realized the probes need to be adjusted only in the 10x mode. I
didn't know that. That for sure was part of the problem.
Looking at signals from my function generator it seemed that the
voltage was off. Then I realized that my meter displays the RMS value
of the AC signal and the 'scope displays the peak values.
I got all the probes to display a nice square wave in the 10x
setting. I don't know why I got really weird results before but it may
be because I was in my machine shop with CNC machines running. At home
with everything quiet all the probes behaved like they were supposed
to. At the 10x setting.
But with the probes set at 1x the square wave isn't quite square.
The 3 probes that have the 1x setting all act the same, with the
square wave being slightly distorted.
It didn't seem to matter if the 'scope was set to AC or DC
coupling. It also didn't matter if the signal being measured came from
the 'scope or from the function generator.
Is this normal, for the square wave displayed to be perfect in the
10X setting and slightly distorted in the 1X setting?

The 'scope is a Tek465B.
The 20X probe is a TEK model P5120
The 10X probe is a Tek model P6053B
The Probmaster is model 3901-2
The Chinese probes only have a model number-P6100

So, as near as I can tell, the probes are all right, at least they
all act the same. But what causes the distorted square wave at the 1x
setting?
Thanks,
Eric