PicoScope 5000

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PicoScope 5000

Post by guest »

Hello.

I have a few questions about the PicoScope 5000 series oscilloscope.

A. What is the max input voltage? Is it 5V? How can one measure HV signals? Is there any way to extend that to ~20kV RMS? Does this scope support x1000 probes?

B. Can you use this scope as a limited voltmeter, taking thousands of measurements per second??

C. 32MS/s and 128MS/s, does that mean you can take that many samples a second, for an unlimited amount of time and store all this data on your computer? If you have a 750GB hard drive, you can datalog for like a month at that sample rate then? Or is 128MS a sample record limit, meaning you can only take 128MS at once, whatever the chosen time interval?

D. Where can I download the manual and demo software for this scope?

E. What is the screen refresh rate? Linked to your monitor refresh rate? So if I have a 24" CRT maxed out at 250Hz, the software will supply 250 different images every second?

F. Can you use a multi-monitor setup and have a full screen scope screen on one monitor, another one for the controls and yet another one for something else, provided there are at least 3 video cards [2 PCI and one AGP/PCI-E] in your system?

G. When this scope is in action, what is the approximate CPU occupancy on an E6600 Core Duo based PC with 1GB RAM?


That's about it for now, I'll ask more questions when I think of them... :lol:
Thanks for the answers.

alan
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Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 8:02 am

Re: PicoScope 5000

Post by alan »

guest wrote:Hello.

I have a few questions about the PicoScope 5000 series oscilloscope.

A. What is the max input voltage? Is it 5V? How can one measure HV signals? Is there any way to extend that to ~20kV RMS? Does this scope support x1000 probes?

The maximum input range using a x1 probe is 20V. The software supports x1000 probes, but of course when measuring these sort of high voltages you need specific advice about the probes and probing.



B. Can you use this scope as a limited voltmeter, taking thousands of measurements per second??


Yes



C. 32MS/s and 128MS/s, does that mean you can take that many samples a second, for an unlimited amount of time and store all this data on your computer? If you have a 750GB hard drive, you can datalog for like a month at that sample rate then? Or is 128MS a sample record limit, meaning you can only take 128MS at once, whatever the chosen time interval?



The 32M and 128M is actually the memory depth of the oscilloscope. The sampling rates start at 1GS/s and then go down in powers of 2 (500MS/s, 250MS/s, 125MS/s etc) so on the 5204 you can record at 125MS/s for just over 1 second.


D. Where can I download the manual and demo software for this scope?


It will be available soon - at the moment we are focusing on adding some new features into the full version of the software.



E. What is the screen refresh rate? Linked to your monitor refresh rate? So if I have a 24" CRT maxed out at 250Hz, the software will supply 250 different images every second?


The update rate will depend mostly on the scope timebase - if you select 10ms/div then as with any scope its impossible to get more than 10 updates per second. We limit the number of screen updates to around 20 per second as this is as fast as the human eye can respond.



F. Can you use a multi-monitor setup and have a full screen scope screen on one monitor, another one for the controls and yet another one for something else, provided there are at least 3 video cards [2 PCI and one AGP/PCI-E] in your system?


The design of the sofware is such that the controls surround the display area (yet take little of the screen area) so whilst its possible to have a scope view on one monitor and use a second for something else, the oscilloscope can not really be spread across multiple monitors.


G. When this scope is in action, what is the approximate CPU occupancy on an E6600 Core Duo based PC with 1GB RAM?


Its a difficult question to answer - most of the work is done in the hardware so normally the load on the PC is minimal. In some circumstances such as when performing spectrum analysis the CPU load will jump for the short period when intensive calculations are being performed.



That's about it for now, I'll ask more questions when I think of them... :lol:
Thanks for the answers.

ctrawick
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Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 3:12 pm
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Sampling rate options for 5000 series

Post by ctrawick »

I am using a 5204 scope.

For some of my applications, it would be extremely useful to sample "synchronously"-- that is, to have the sample rate derive from an input clock. For example, in audio applications we often process at 256 * Fs = 256 * 48kHz = 12.288MHz. It would greatly simplify post-processing in some situations if we could supply the 12.288MHz (or related frequency) as a sampling clock. Similar considerations apply to video (27MHz or 24.5454MHz).

Is this feature strictly precluded by the current hardward design? I assume your timebase derives from a crystal connected to your FPGA. I don't know exactly how your AUXIO pin is connected. (FPGAs can afford amazing flexibility...)

Thanks!

alan
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Posts: 195
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 8:02 am

Post by alan »

Hi,

Unfortunately it is not possible to supply the PS5000 with an external sampling clock without modifications to the hardware.

Regards
Alan

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