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Documents DIY Solder-In Oscilloscope Probes - Workbench Wednesdays 50
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  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
  • Date Created: 2 Feb 2022 6:15 PM Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated: 9 Feb 2022 8:24 AM
  • Views 17372 views
  • Likes 9 likes
  • Comments 12 comments
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DIY Solder-In Oscilloscope Probes - Workbench Wednesdays 50

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When you cannot get an oscilloscope probe into a tight spot, can you just use a piece of wire? Sometimes. When signal integrity matters, you CAN use a low-cost DIY solder-in probe. These probes attenuate the signal and use an oscilloscope’s high-bandwidth 50-ohm input. James shows how to build some solder-in probes when they work and when they do not work in this video. Special thanks to Shabaz on the element14 community for the guide used here.

Supplemental Content:

  • Building Solderable In-Circuit Oscilloscope Probes by shabaz
  • DIY $10 Solder-in Oscilloscope Probe by Jan Cumps

Bill of Material:

Product Name Manufacturer Quantity Buy Kit
RF / Coaxial Cable Assembly, SMA Plug to SMA Plug, RG174, 50 ohm, 3.3 ft, 1 m, Black MULTICOMP PRO 1 Buy Now
SMD Chip Resistor, 953 ohm, ± 1%, 125 mW, 0805 [2012 Metric], Thick Film, Precision PANASONIC  1 Buy Now
 

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element14 Presents  |  About James |  Workbench Wednesdays

  • Solder-in probe
  • oscilloscope probe
  • Resistive divider probe
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Top Comments

  • shabaz
    shabaz over 3 years ago +2
    Hi baldengineer Great video! Great work on the explanation and comparisons too, and it was very interesting to see the DIY probe traces along with the very nice! R&S active probe. I'm guessing coax…
  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps +2
    … additional info: bandwidth is 100 MHz capacitive compensation is placed at the scope connector, so you can compensate when other options are mounted.
  • baldengineer
    baldengineer over 3 years ago in reply to shabaz +1
    Thanks! When I saw your post, I knew I wanted to build them. And I really liked your approach with the small "lump in the cable." So I'd like to revisit doing that in the future. I'll try out some other…
  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

    … same measurement on the Arduino UNO crystal:

    image

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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago in reply to baldengineer

    Here's my take on the design. Thanks for the inspiring Wednesday!

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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago in reply to shabaz

     is it using a spring underneath the heatshrink?

    The coax outside of the cable end (where you draw the black arrow above) has strong spring action.

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  • shabaz
    shabaz over 3 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

    Hi Jan,

    Neat idea. I suppose if the probes are cheap enough, it could just be soldered on permanently, e.g. assembled on a small board like James did:

    image

    But the method to make it become removable looks interesting too, is it using a spring underneath the heatshrink?

    For the pointy bit, the sockets for DB connectors (e.g. DB9 DB25 etc) are just the right diameter to nicely accept the probe tip by the way!  

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  • baldengineer
    baldengineer over 3 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

    Yes! THIS is exactly what I pictured when I saw your picture. There are so many connections where a square-pin style header is good enough (and very quick to do.)

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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

    I'm working on an alternative alternative :). Just finished building this - a bit frankenstein, turns the probe in a solder-in one, without phusically altering it.

    image

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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

    … additional info:

    • bandwidth is 100 MHz
    • capacitive compensation is placed at the scope connector, so you can compensate when other options are mounted.
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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago

    There is a popular type of probes that opens up another avenue of options: the HP-9100.
    These are generics, sold by several companies under their brand name (bitscope, or like mine: Velleman).

    image

    What's specific about them, is that you can remove the tip - just by pulling - and it exposes a coaxial connector:

    image

    If only we find a fitting counterpart, this could turn into a probe that's easily customisable.

    Some measurements:

    • the coax is 300 Ω
    • the existing tip, in x10 mode, is almost 9 MΩ

    image

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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 3 years ago in reply to kellyhensen

    The link isn't clickable, kellyhensen

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  • baldengineer
    baldengineer over 3 years ago in reply to shabaz

    Thanks!

    When I saw your post, I knew I wanted to build them. And I really liked your approach with the small "lump in the cable." So I'd like to revisit doing that in the future. I'll try out some other coaxes. (I just didn't have time to experiment much to meet the video deadlines.)

    I've toyed with the idea of making a small PCB to better transition between the coax and board. Something like a pad on top and bottom and then a pair of through-holes for the probe wires. But, for now, I really like these probes.

    Once I went to the protoboard, it literally only took minutes to build them. And I've been using them! :)

    Of course, now I want to build an active probe... j/k. Kinda.

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