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Mandatory caveat: beware of ground loops when using a USB oscilloscope! Most budget USB scopes share ground with your PC via the USB port. If you're probing hig
by atoav 2y ago
Mandatory caveat: beware of ground loops when using a USB oscilloscope! Most budget USB scopes share ground with your PC via the USB port. If you're probing high-voltage circuits (e.g., mains power, switching supplies), this can create a dangerous potential difference, risking damage to your computer or worse. Some scopes offer isolated inputs, but if yours doesn’t, use differential probes or an isolation transformer. Otherwise, you might end up debugging your laptop’s fried USB controller instead of your circuit.
- analog31 2y agoOn a related note, I once fried the built in audio hardware of my laptop. I even saw smoke coming out one of the vents. The rest of the computer survived.
- burgerone 2y agoOn page 9 of the linked document Rich also addresses this and calls for the use of a full-speed usb isolator
- londons_explore 2y agoit can also be good... only 1 wire to connect instead of two to see whats happening on a pin. Seems like magic.