I was wondering if anyone had ideas? I’d like to be able to use my netbook if possible, via USB. I found this Visual Analyser software but I don’t know what else I need.
Not sure on one that interfaces with a netbook for the display, but one of the better budget dedicated scopes is the Rigol DS1052E. It’s a 50MHz 2 channel scope that can be easily hacked to 100Mhz. They can be had for ~$400 new.
That software processes signals from your sound card, which will work if you only are trying to catch slow signals.
What is your intended use?
-Pete
Hi Pete, I wanted to make some graphs of a new charger. The Rigol looks great but here it’s £237+VAT. 
I know these things aren’t cheap but was hoping for something a lot less.
I wouldn’t do that in a heartbeat, Rigol has updated its firmware and you need to downgrade it for the hack to work.
There also have been reports of people bricking their scopes. Watch out.
If the signal you are tying to capture is only changing slowly (voltage over time of a battery being charged, for example), you could use the sound card. I’m sure there’s info out there on the net about what hardware you would need to condition your input signal to fit what the sound card can handle.
Thanks! I did find a couple of kits, but I’m not sure how good they are:
http://dx.com/p/mds0202-portable-48mhz-usb-digital-oscilloscope-grey-132227
For really slow changing quantities like the charge current or voltage (if you are not interested in the noise…) an oscilloscope is the wrong tool. You’d rather use a dmm that has a computer interface for logging.
I have two UNI-T UT61E, they cost me about 45 bucks each, and you can attach them to a PC (via serial interface, i use two usb to serial adapters, they work perfectly). They give you two data points each second, and are much more precise than any affordable oscilloscope.
I’ve used those little arm scopes before, to verify bus networks on cars. They seem to work well, and are simple to adjust.
You can source them in the UK for a little under £60 if I recall correctly.
Search for DSO Nano
Thanks, Sean! I was just reading HKJ’s review of the UNI-T. But I’d still like a scope for other projects.
Oh cool! Which one, the one that looks like a mobile phone or the grey box?
Wow, this thing looks amazing! Thanks!
that’s a pretty interesting product.
I’m not really in the market, but out of curiosity - for flashlight/battery related stuff, would single channel limitation be an issue?
It’s a two channel scope. There is a newer, much better version that is 4 channels.
reviving an old thread, does anyone have experience with DSO Nano v3 | Seeed Studio Wiki or something similar? I would like to be able to use one to look 115VAC as well as smaller signals. In the little bit of looking I did I did not find a 10:1 probe for the Nano v3
I will never recommend a standard or a cheap oscilloscope to look at mains voltage. You can do it using special high voltage probes, but the best solution is a isolation transformer for the device you want to look at.
When you have a cheap scopes that needs a 10X probe to look at mains voltage, take a close look at the specifications for the probe. Used in the lab a CAT-II may be fine, used outside the lab a CAT-III is probably required.
I have another cheap oscilloscope review on the way, it is better than the first one.
I grabbed a sainsmart dso note ii a year or so ago. Worked well for my intended function.
I grabbed the 10:1 leads too.
I was measuring frequency response and clipping to set gains on a car audio setup. Worked like a boss there. Turn the gains up till the wave flattens at the peaks, then roll it back a tiny bit.
As far as 110v, I don’t know that i’d trust a $100 scope to do that safely.
this one is what I have
https://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Portable-Handheld-Digital-Oscilloscope/dp/B07JL7JQY2
eevblog is the most popular forum for discussions about o-scopes - not that you can't ask here - just giving another resource.
Yeah, I think you are right about looking at 115VAC not being a good idea with a tiny scope. I am trying to troubleshoot a DSL interference problem, and the reality is I really just need to look at the phone lines, not my 115 so much. But it is related to turning on 115V appliances, so I thought it would be interesting to look at the power lines at the same time. Not required though.
BTW, thanks for the recommendations, I will look into those this weekend.
Looking forward to that review. I was amazed at the price of the one oscilloscope you did review, $25!!