Oscilloscope Current Probe
Current probes are often needed to enable an oscilloscope to measure current - they use different techniques to those of the more familiar voltage probe.
Oscilloscope Tutorial Includes:
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Oscilloscope types
Specifications
USB vs bench-top scope
How to use an oscilloscope
Scope triggering
Oscilloscope probes
Oscilloscope probe specifications
Scope types includes:
Analogue scope
Analogue storage scope
Digital phosphor scope
Digital scope
USB / PC scope
Mixed Signal Oscilloscope MSO
Oscilloscope current probes can enable oscilloscopes to measure current and thereby extend their use beyond just that of measuring voltage.
There may be many instances where a scope current probe can come in useful - anywhere that t is necessary to measure the current rather than the voltage. Sometimes the current can be measured by [lacing a small resistor inth e line and measuring the voltage across it, but this has its own drawbacks. The best option is to use a scope current probe as this will directly measure the current with less disturbance of the circuit.
Scope current probe format
The oscilloscope current probe is manufactured so that it can be clipped around a conductor. Normally there is a spring loaded clip that enables the scope probe to be swiftly clipped around the cable.
The hole in the probe that clips around the cable under test can be seen on the right of the main probe body.
Operation of a scope current probe
Current probes sense the current flowing through a conductor and convert it to a voltage that can be viewed and measured on an oscilloscope.
Sometimes using the maths functions on a scope along with a voltage measurement on another channel it is possible to measure power, as well as looking at the phase differences.
More Test Topics:
Data network analyzer
Digital Multimeter
Frequency counter
Oscilloscope
Signal generators
Spectrum analyzer
LCR meter
Dip meter, GDO
Logic analyzer
RF power meter
RF signal generator
Logic probe
PAT testing & testers
Time domain reflectometer
Vector network analyzer
PXI
GPIB
Boundary scan / JTAG
Data acquisition
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