MSO Oscilliscope used with a 24V or 30VDC System

Is there a way to use the 16 digital inputs of the the MSO style oscilloscopes? These seem to have a limitation of +/- 20 V. I see the over-voltage would cover the range I'm looking at, but there's no x10 "clips" to attenuate the signal. I see there might potentially be issues with the threshold range of +/- 5 V. I'm looking to analyze some inputs and outputs from a Programmable Logic Controller.

If there are some clips or accessories to make this work, what would they be? I could also potentially do some of this with a data logger, but those also have some voltage limitations. Being able to connect to the terminal board would be useful so that it can be left in place and returned to for later testing.

I'd like to be able to sample at a rate of 1 kS/s, there's a little flexibility, but higher would be preferred for future projects.

Hi ihiengineer,

Unfortunately, we do not sell attenuation clips.

You would have to implement some circuitry to reduce the voltage down to within a +/- 5V range (this is the maximum/minimum range of the input). You can set a threshold on a digital port within the above range.

What sampling rates would you be looking to go up to?

Regards,

10KS/s would be the most I see us needing for the application in mind, but more typically I'll probably test at 500-1000 S/s. However, being able to decode RS232 might be a nice ability to have in the bag just in case.

Might there be a 3rd party who would sell attenuation clips that fit your system or an "adapter" to make a 3rd party clip usable?

Hi,

We don't know of any attenuation clips - it might be a case of creating your own circuitry.

At 500 - 1000 S/s, one of the PicoLog 1000 Series devices might be of interest:

http://www.picotech.com/multi-channel-daq.html

Regards,