2 ms·

Products like [1] an oscilloscope probe with ±60,000V isolation. [1] https://www.tek.com/en/products/oscilloscopes/oscilloscope-probes/isovu-isolated-probes ht

• dragontamer 3y ago
  Why would an oscilloscope probe ever draw more than a few mW or even microwatts? I'd expect a normal optoisolator module to work for a probe like that. No need for 180mA+ transferred between circuits. ---------- An oscillator probe is an example where electrical isolation + signal (aka: communications) are useful. But under no circumstances should 500mW of power be sent through such a setup in either direction.
  • duskwuff 3y ago
    The amplifiers in high-speed active probes can use nontrivial amounts of power. I don't have specific numbers as the probe/scope interfaces are proprietary, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the wired (non-isolated) probes draw multiple watts. > I'd expect a normal optoisolator module to work for a probe like that. Absolutely not. "Standard" optoisolators tend to be slow and have analog characteristics which are unsuitable for an oscilloscope.
  • quailfarmer 3y ago
    Active probes can draw several watts. Probably shouldn’t, but no one is optimizing them for efficiency
    • dragontamer 3y ago
      IIRC, leaker and worse-power BJTs handle higher-power and have lower noise. (Though Google says JFETs have even lower noise). But the numbers discussed here is a lot more power than I was expecting. I'm guessing that at the GHz-range, everything uses more power though.