Pico Technical Support and Discussion Forum

I wanted to take a minute to mention 2 things that have happened while I have had my Pico Quad Automotive kit. Within the last 2 weeks, I have had occasion to see the Pico Quad Module show inaccurate voltages on all
4 channels. I was doing a road test monitoring coil input voltage on channel A among other things with the Pico and noted it was lower than it should be (vehicle is 1990 Ford F250 w/ 5.8 EFI system). The input voltage is supposed to be very close to battery voltage but ends up being approximately 8 volts. It gets "better" from here. That night, I tested all of the leads on all of the channels. The more leads I connected between my battery and Pico module just to see what all the channels read, the closer they all got to 0 volts (in fact with all leads connected, 0 volts was read in all the measurement boxes). I captured what was on the screen and sent it to Tom Roberts @ Autonerdz. He had never seen this before and suggested I try a different PC, USB cable and check all of the other leads I have. There was no change in the readings with any of the above changes I made. Tom, then, wanted to see this module so I sent it to him. (Now enters the intermittent part!) It worked perfectly for him! I am embarrased and Tom now is trying to see the module when it isn't working properly being fairly well convinced the module is at fault. He has graciously loaned me a Pico Quad module to use while mine is on its way to the Pico factory to be disected. Thanks to Tom @ Autonerdz for his first class service AFTER the sale. I have known Tom for the last 4 or 5 years and have found him to be willing to assist his customers from interpretting the Pico waveform for a novice to dealing with problems such as mine. Thanks Tom! PS... The loaner is working perfectly!

Thanks ziggee,

It's our mission at Autonerdz to provide the best PicoScope Automotive experience in North America directly, or through our affiliates in the US and Canada. Price and value are two different things. We don't just sell equipment, we sell an experience.

http://www.autonerdz.com/picousers.htm

We could not do what we do without the stellar Pico factory support behind us. I can't say enough about how attentive they have been to issues that required their assistance. Pico is in a league all by themselves and we are proud to represent them

Tom Roberts
(The Picotologist)
http://www.autonerdz.com
THE PicoScope Automotive Authority
In North America

When running my Laptop on internal battery while testing ignition on a 2007 Z06 Corvette I had strange behavior from 4-channel automotive scope. When connected to wall power supply all seems to be good. I did not try using an invertor running from vehicle +12V to power Laptop.

Curious to know if you were running on batteries or other power source when this occured?

To answer the question from Technoman64: At the time I noticed the first event happen, I had my laptop plugged into an inverter in the cigar lighter receptacle. When I tested all the leads and conferred with Tom @ Autonerdz, I had the laptop plugged into a Uninterruptable Power Supply which was plugged into a 120v AC outlet. There was nothing out of the ordinary (other than what I saw that is) as far as how the scope was behaving or how the laptop was powered. This classifies as one of those wierd occurances that may defy explanation pending an evaluation from Pico Technology. Take care.
ziggee

After I had taken the Autonerdz classes from Tom Roberts, I found him to be a very honest instructor that does not misrepresent his product. The PicoScope does all he says it does. I purchased my 212-3 after taking his classes and after he showed the Pico Quad, I purchased that also and sold the 212-3 to someone else that might benefit from using it. He liked it so much, he also bought the Pico Quad (from Tom) after I showed him how well it performs and all of the tests it will run. I am very pleased with the way I have been treated by Tom and will continue to recommend him to other friends of mine that are techs in the market for a great diagnostic tool.
ziggee

Technoman,

Thanks for your suggestions.

I think we covered everything in our process of elimination. He tried different PCs, USB cables, software, test leads, and the problem persisted. When I got the scope, I could not duplicate the issue. I tried two PCs, different software, running on batteries, tapping and flexing the box and every other thing I could think of.

The same series of events was experienced last March...again I could not duplicate the issue and sent it back to let him run it some more. No more problems until now when the same issue returned in the same way. Never seen anything like this.

As for running on batteries, I have never had a problem doing that with any of the PicoScopes I have. This problem acts like a power supply issue but, if it is, it's not external.

Tom Roberts
(The Picotologist)
http://www.autonerdz.com
THE PicoScope Automotive Authority In North America

Just wanted to let you know I have not encountered any more problems. I did find out that the vehicle I was testing had the ignition coils relocated and the sparkplug wires were running in the same harness as the low voltage signal wires. This ended up being the source of problems that were occuring.

yup same problem, floating ground fault on my laptop. On 20v scale ground was floating up somewhere 16-18volts!!! tried relocating away from car, testing off car with just AA batteries and measured really high voltages. Problem solved, reboot windows!!! think it occures after screen saver or screen turns off to save power