PCB scope - a present from Santa?

jims

Senior Member
Just received my PC Scope. Anxious to get started. However, after reading Forum comments, I'm concerned about the integrity of the micro USB connector (don't want to have it separate from the board). I plan to run a small bead of hot-glue around the two sides of the connector shell (not across the rear of the shell) to secure it to the PC board. "Good idea, or Bad idea"? I will appreciate any comments??
Thank you, Jims
 

Technical

Technical Support
Staff member
As far as we are aware only 1 customer has had this problem, and that was a faulty assembled part that was replaced.
Hot glue probably won't help much but won't do any harm. The main thing to avoid is 'levering' the cable when it is inserted.
 

jims

Senior Member
As far as we are aware only 1 customer has had this problem, and that was a faulty assembled part that was replaced.
Hot glue probably won't help much but won't do any harm. The main thing to avoid is 'levering' the cable when it is inserted.
Thank you, Jims
 

AllyCat

Senior Member
I plan to run a small bead of hot-glue around the two sides of the connector shell (not across the rear of the shell) to secure it to the PC board. "Good idea, or Bad idea"?
IMHO a bad idea; hot-melt glue is too flexible to do any useful "strengthening". Epoxy resin might be better, but probably still have less adhesion than PCB copper to laminate has already.

I don't have the PCB scope and can't see the track layout in the photo (and gather that the design has changed slightly anyway). But if I was worried about being "clumsy" with the cable/connector, then I would drill a pair of small holes, each side of the connector, for the smallest nuts/bolts that I could find (probably 2mm over here) and put a small "bridge" of (glass fibre) stripboard or aluminium across the top of the connector. Then maybe epoxy it all as well. ;)

Cheers, Alan.
 

womai

Senior Member
There aren't any tracks to either side of the USB connector, so holes will not do any harm. 1.5mm screws should fit. Aluminum (do they say aluminium in the UK?) will be more rigid than stripboard (epoxy-glassfiber). If we ever do an updated layout such holes would be easy to add.

I would not recommend epoxy glue because the sides of the USB connector have holes - if epoxy enters into the connector that will be the end of the scope's useful life...

Another idea - easier to do because it does not require any drillig or machining - could be to tightly secure the USB cable with cable ties threaded through two of the mounting holes on the PCB's corners. That will avoid wiggle on the connector when the cable moves. If I get to it I will make a couple pictures of that setup.
 

Paix

Senior Member
Soldering is another one that rankles . . . After all, you don't expect your barbecue to smodder, do you?

Ah, yes Tch, but you got Davy Crockett hats way before we as kids found them irresistible here, after seeing the movie in 195x. Never did get one, but I'm sure that local cats were wary for a few years!
 

the old fart

Senior Member
Received the replacement pcb, thank you for the replacement.

It works great.

I've hot glued a piece of stripboard under the pcb and the plug so it will never strain the usb socket. It means I can't remove the plug but that's no problem.

Dave
 

womai

Senior Member
Stress relief

Below are two pictures of the proposed stress relief. Works fine, costs close to nothing and is takes about two minutes to install (this includes the time spent looking for the cable ties :=)

20131214_122511.jpg20131214_122537.jpg
 

crowland

Member
Nice to hear of the strain relief ideas as I'm getting one for Christmas (it's already arrived). One question - does it work?

It will be a nice replacement for my current scope, a colossal Cossor dual beam scope, full of valves. I've not had the nerve to turn it on for years - all that HV and elderly leaky capacitors.

Must remember to get a micro USB cable. I've lots of mini but no micro.

Chris
 

the old fart

Senior Member
does it work?



Quick test, alongside a scope, using a DS1307 rtc modual.
the SQW/OUT pin outputs one of four square-wave frequencies (1Hz, 4kHz, 8kHz, 32kHz).

1, 4 & 8kHz show good square waves. the 32kHz is a bit high for this scope, no longer a square wave.
The 4 input digital lines work very well.
Very well thought out program,
running on a usb3 lead, on a win7 64bit PC

Dave
 

womai

Senior Member
1, 4 & 8kHz show good square waves. the 32kHz is a bit high for this scope, no longer a square wave.
That may be more a limit of the signal source you used than the scope. The scope has about 300 kHz analog bandwidth so at 38 kHz frequency should display a pretty nice square wave (since the bandwidth is sufficient to pass 3rd, 5th and 7th harmonic). Just tried with a Rigol function generator as a source - looking pretty good, see the result below.

38 kHz sqare wave.jpg
 
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ZOR

Senior Member
Thanks for advice, hope it goes to rev-ed site as update in case others don't see your thread here. Regards
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Thanks for advice, hope it goes to rev-ed site as update in case others don't see your thread here. Regards
I have made a note of the update.

On the subject of connections etc. I didn't find the micro-USB socket particularly fragile and I am always scared of breaking small connectors off. I think the main thing - and I'm not suggesting anyone has been - is to not be ham-fisted, and don't try and force it if there is an issue; check what that problem may be rather than forcing it. I held the socket and PCB while inserting cable. And don't forget to check it's the right way round and it's the right type of connector.

A trip to Poundland found solutions for not having any micro-USB cables. They sell a "USB Charging Cable" pack of three short (2") USB-A to iPhone, mini-USB and micro-USB cables and the latter is handy to save re-plugging the micro-USB too frequently.

Their "2m sync and charge cable for Kindle and Tablet" and 1m "Micro USB Data/Charging Cable" both work well.

I expect similar can be found at other low-cost discount stores.

Best of all I found a "Docking Station for Blackberry, Nokia, Sony, Samsung" which has a micro-USB connector on a base with a USB-A cable. I am hoping to be able to fit the PCB Scope board inside that and use the raised-up sections to mount BNC through-panel connectors on so I can use it as a more traditional scope rather than plugged into breadboard. I was going to use an old 3.5" floppy disk drive case but this is more compact. Lead fishing weights glued in the base should help keep it place. It's snap apart, no screws, and the wires go straight to the micro-USB so no excess bulk of a traditional cable plug -

http://imageshack.us/a/img694/9238/0dux.jpg

Carefully check what's in the box because not all of the range has a micro-USB connector and it's not easy to tell from the packaging.
 

womai

Senior Member
Did you ever resolve the bugs in the DPScopeSE Datagrabber, womai?
Hello John, has been a while since we communicated; could you help my memory - which specific issue are you referring to? Holiday break coming up could be a good time for cleaning up any remaining issues as well.
 

jims

Senior Member
Thanks for advice, hope it goes to rev-ed site as update in case others don't see your thread here. Regards
Good suggestion. I'd like to see a link to some site where all updates for the "really great" PC scope product will be posted. Since this is a real product, seems that it could have the stature of it's own link. By the way, how do we access the "rev-ed" site referenced here? Thank you, Jims
 

Paix

Senior Member
I think that this is the link you require Jims:

PC Scope

I can see that i need to buy one before they are all sold out . . . I think I just saw Santa's sleigh pull in to load up, so you had all better hurry up and send your folding cash to Tech Supplies before they get their Christmas party hats on at the end of this week.
 

Puuhaaja

Senior Member
DPScope SE.png

Mine arriwed today and I got it working on Linux under Wine, but I haven't yet connected board to a computer. But because program seems to work I suppose that it will works also in real test. I'm assuming this because earlier I have used car diagnostic programs under wine.
 

womai

Senior Member
I know of a few people running the software under Wine. I'd be really interested what your experiences are, if you encounter any difficulties, or if you have any hints to share.
 

Electlen

New Member
This is my application of the OSC001 PCB Scope, certainly a good bit of kit which met a requirement to monitor waveforms in radio control models outdoors at the local model boat Lake.

Because of my knowledge of electronics my main interest is the design and build of picaxe based electronic modules for rc models and therefore I occasionally get asked to help with solving problems.

The bnc sockets were purchased from Ebay and the case is Maplin Code KC93. A Futaba connector is fitted for direct connection to receivers to monitor the output pulse and dc supply. Given previous comments about the robustness of the usb connector note that it is supported by the end of the case.
PC Scope.jpg
 

womai

Senior Member
Very well thought through upgrade I must say! Maybe this will become the standard enclosure for the OSC001?
 

MFB

Senior Member
This enclosure design looks good a robust for use in the field. However, for bench work I plan to use 2 mm sockets for the OSC001 inputs. As the small enclosure can be placed close to the circuitry under test it should be possible to employ short clip-on leads, without the need for attenuating analog probes. Standard BNC and 4 mm based test leads are rather heavy and thick for connecting to most prototype circuitry and I have already standardized on 2 mm versions.
 

Brian M

Member
Electlen

Nice job, funnily enough, I dug the very same box out of my "bits & pieces" boxes. Just looking round for some panel mount BNC sockets. Probes are no problem, just working out the best option for providing a suitable interface for the analyser/trigger inputs.
 

johnkgrannan

New Member
Running Win 7 (64-bit), installed the software from the Picaxe site and whatever I do, USB in-first before running DPScope or vice-versa, I get the screen as seen below. On plugging in the board I get LED1 flashing three times and then staying lit. Looking at the Device Manager no COM ports are assigned. I can attach the AXE27 cable fine on the same port for programming the Picaxe. Unfortunately, I think that the unit is DOA? :-( Anyone any thoughts/ideas?
DPScope Capture.PNG
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Can't say why it's not detected but the LED activity looks right. It doesn't install as a COM port but you should be able to find it under the Human Interface Devices section of Device Manager when connected.

On XP I see both "HID-Compliant Device" and "USB Human Interface Device" appear when it's plugged in and both disappear when unplugged. In fact I lose the HID section entirely because there are no other HIDs connected.

Looking at driver properties both identify as VID=04D8 and PID=F891.

Do you get the familiar Windows 'bing' and 'bong' sounds when plugging it in and removing it ?

Added : It might be worth a reboot if you haven't done that already.
 

womai

Senior Member
The scope does not use a virtual serial port, it acts a as a HID (human interface device). You should see it in the HID section of the device manager.

In any case the unit must be plugged in BEFORE you attempt to start the software. Can take a short while before the device gets recognized so make sure you give it some time after pugging in before launching the software.

The fact that the LED blinks at startup (should last for about 1 sec) means the microcontroller is up and running.
 

crowland

Member
No problems here either on W7 64 bits. I suggest checking the USB cable.

It's one of the most useful things I've ever got. It's already saved me a huge amount of grief trying to work out why things don't work.

A real scope would do the same but for a huge amount extra in cost and size.

Chris
 

John West

Senior Member
crowland, it IS a real oscilloscope, just one of lower speed and lower cost. This 'scope will do everything that the one did that was used by the TV guy in my hometown back in the '60's (and quite a bit more.)

Oh, to be a 13 year-old boy today, in this age of practically free technical tools, and the Internet with its near infinite cornucopia of free information. It leaves this 63 year-old geezer almost jealous of modern youth. On the other hand, I'd really rather not have to get tattoos and body parts pierced in order to deal with peer pressure.
 

johnkgrannan

New Member
Problem solved. Trip down to my local friendly Maplins to pick up a new USB A-MicroB cable (Part No:N81HH) and everything now working fine :)

RevED: May be worth adding the calibration pages of the dpscope SE manual as I needed to calibrate the board?

Best £10 I've spent in years... Thanks Womai!
 
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