Can a laptop sound card oscilloscope will work the same as our normal digital oscilloscope
Ex-http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-Your-Laptop-as-Oscilloscope/?ALLSTEPS
Can we test power amplifies with this one like measuring frequency response etc..??
Ex-http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-Your-Laptop-as-Oscilloscope/?ALLSTEPS
Can we test power amplifies with this one like measuring frequency response etc..??
The capabilities are mainly determined by the software. Why not download the software, send a sine wae from your oscillator into the sound card input and do the tests you like. You can always pretend that the signal comes from an amp 😉
Jan
Jan
That will also do 😀
But if i make a laptop oscilloscope,will it function as our normal digital oscilloscope ?
Can i use it to measure properties of power amplifier?
But if i make a laptop oscilloscope,will it function as our normal digital oscilloscope ?
Can i use it to measure properties of power amplifier?
Also what kind of attenuation will be required to protect my sound card from high amplifier voltage?
in addition to attenuation you need limiting to not blow up the laptop, filtering to meet Nyquist - some soundcard interface boxes have been presented as projects
A community dedicated to helping everyone learn the art of audio. Projects by fanatics, for fanatics! - Search Results for soundcard interface
anther step up in speed at pretty cheap price is the Digilent Analog Discovery module
http://www.digilentinc.com/Products...ac5b6820f-119C0970-5056-0201-025776069788792C
http://www.microchipdirect.com/ProductSearch.aspx?Keywords=TDGL023
http://www.eevblog.com/2014/12/13/eevblog-692-digilent-analog-discovery-review/[/QUOTE]
still need the interface - Rigol's cheapest 'scope isn't too big a step from there in price...
A community dedicated to helping everyone learn the art of audio. Projects by fanatics, for fanatics! - Search Results for soundcard interface
anther step up in speed at pretty cheap price is the Digilent Analog Discovery module
http://www.digilentinc.com/Products...ac5b6820f-119C0970-5056-0201-025776069788792C
http://www.microchipdirect.com/ProductSearch.aspx?Keywords=TDGL023
http://www.eevblog.com/2014/12/13/eevblog-692-digilent-analog-discovery-review/[/QUOTE]
still need the interface - Rigol's cheapest 'scope isn't too big a step from there in price...
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There are many diy solutions for laptop oscilloscopes.
so can i use them directly or would there be a need of attenuation so my sound card will not fry ??
so can i use them directly or would there be a need of attenuation so my sound card will not fry ??
I was in the same position as you a few years ago. I ended up buying an oscilloscope due to oscilloscopes handling high voltage. I just did not want to send over 100 volts to a soundcard which was designed to tolerate single digits even by using resistors as a means of attenuation.
Ya that would be my last option but are you sure that these laptop oscilloscopes aren't useful for amplifier checking?
Then where these will work?
Then where these will work?
As with most things in life, you will get your moneys worth. With one notable exception.
- The maximum sampling rate will define your bandwidth. Significantly less than 100kHz.
- This will allow you to see waveforms for a normally operating scope
- This will be OK for looking at say 1kHz waveforms including clipping etc
- This will NOT be of any use in seeing oscillation etc
- Soundcards are not made for high voltage input - limit will be in the region of a couple of volts max.
- If you use a direct input to the soundcard it will die. Period.
- You can make a cheap attenuator / input card, this added investment will make it a lot more useful
The exceptions
- For low frequency / distortion measurements the soundcard is excellent, if used properly
- Dont however confuse this with oscilloscope capabilities.
If you are short on cash, build an interface card (resistor attenuator). You can have fun and learn what you want. Just don't convince yourself that this will replace an oscilloscope for real debugging / test activities.
- The maximum sampling rate will define your bandwidth. Significantly less than 100kHz.
- This will allow you to see waveforms for a normally operating scope
- This will be OK for looking at say 1kHz waveforms including clipping etc
- This will NOT be of any use in seeing oscillation etc
- Soundcards are not made for high voltage input - limit will be in the region of a couple of volts max.
- If you use a direct input to the soundcard it will die. Period.
- You can make a cheap attenuator / input card, this added investment will make it a lot more useful
The exceptions
- For low frequency / distortion measurements the soundcard is excellent, if used properly
- Dont however confuse this with oscilloscope capabilities.
If you are short on cash, build an interface card (resistor attenuator). You can have fun and learn what you want. Just don't convince yourself that this will replace an oscilloscope for real debugging / test activities.
A used scope costs like a decent soundcard. Just like has been said - scope for development/troubleshooting, card for measuring final parameters.
That depends on how much output power the amplifiers you are planning to measure pocess. If you are talking about measuring small amplifiers that do not exceed 250 watt per channel amplifier @ 8 ohms, I am quite sure using a laptop oscilloscope program will be fine. If you are looking to measure amplifiers that fall within 1000 watts per channel @ 8 ohms range, then it would be wiser to look for a stand alone oscilloscope which is designed to manage high voltage.
expect that its completely wrong - you have to use attenuation for a anything over 1 W into 8 Ohms into a soundcard's typical 2 Vrms max input
and the frequency limitation is unavoidable - you simply can't see loop or output stage oscillation with a soundcard, slew rate limit or judge stability by looking at square wave overshoot
soundcard SW and interface box is a step up from just a cheap multimeter - but seeing >10 MHz is really needed to be confident of your audio amp circuit
and the frequency limitation is unavoidable - you simply can't see loop or output stage oscillation with a soundcard, slew rate limit or judge stability by looking at square wave overshoot
soundcard SW and interface box is a step up from just a cheap multimeter - but seeing >10 MHz is really needed to be confident of your audio amp circuit
Hardware designed to work with the Oscilloscope software on a laptop will have its voltage limitation. I don’t believe anyone mentioned that to you, and I don’t want you to assume you can use a laptop Oscilloscope software on anything without taking the limitation of the hardware included with the software into consideration.
If you decide you want to explore voltage rails on high-powered amplifiers that are hovering around 200+ volts or 6L6 sockets that offer around 360 - 425 volts, it would be wiser to conduct such measurements on a stand alone Oscilloscope than trying do it on software/hardware Oscilloscope attached to your laptop not designed to withstand that amount of voltage.
I would strongly recommend exploring the specifications of the hardware included with the Oscilloscope software to be certain that it meets up to your requirements before buying.
use the appropriate attenuator hardware - you have to attenuate the V externally, can select the attenuation factor to suit the signals you want to look at
look at the attenuation selections on the soundcard interface projects I linked
for soundcard bandwidths you can just solder up a custom divider without needing the exotic resistive cable/super low C of professional 'scope probes meant to work to 100s of MHz instead of the soundcard's <100 kHz
look at the attenuation selections on the soundcard interface projects I linked
for soundcard bandwidths you can just solder up a custom divider without needing the exotic resistive cable/super low C of professional 'scope probes meant to work to 100s of MHz instead of the soundcard's <100 kHz
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