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  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
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DIY Solder-In Oscilloscope Probes - Workbench Wednesdays 50

 

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:

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
 

  • Hi

    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 suppleness impacts if the SMD resistor is feasible to directly attach or not, Incidentally, there's very thin (like 1.13mm) coax which I've never tried, but I'm wondering if maybe that could make that easier, although, your results were great with the PCB anyway, and it makes it easier to repair/maintain as you mentioned!

  • Here's a link to 's original blog that was the inspiration for James' episode: 

    /technologies/test-and-measurement/b/blog/posts/building-solderable-in-circuit-oscilloscope-probes