Can an Oscilloscope be my only diagnositic tool ?

This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by Alex Longpre.

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November 29, 2019 at 1:31 pm #109859
Octave Bourgeois
Just completed the “Electrical for beginners” series. I am ready to play and practice.

Since I am on a limited budget and will be applying this knowledge (using the tools) occassionaly on my vehilce my question is:

Can an oscilloscope be my sole tool? If I undersand the functions of an oscilloscope, I am thinking it should give readings on volts, ohms and amps (like a multimeter).

Am I all confused on the application a multimeter and an osciloscope?

Thanks in advance for your replies.
December 11, 2019 at 2:55 pm #114537
Alex Longpre
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Unless you buy an amp clamp, you will not be able to read amps with an oscilloscope. Neither does it read Ohms. Only reqds voltage over a time-base

What you might have seen is that Matt has the Snap-On Vantage Pro tool. It is a combination of a digital/graphing multimeter and a 2 channel oscilloscope, along with a built in database/diagnostic help program.

You might want to look into that, they are pretty affordable on the used market.
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