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Chris Bork

Freshman Member
Picogroup

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I'm an Autonerd in training

Posts: 10

Cortland
Illinois
USA
Gender: male

Hi Every one
Apr 1^st, 2013 at 7:36pm

Thought I would say hello to everyone here and say what a great site this is. I received my two channel scope about a month ago and then my wife, my two boys and then I came down with the flu, then a nasty stomach bug. So I am now finally playing with my scope. Any one have suggestions on what systems, or components I should start with to get my feet wet?

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top4 Senior Member Picogroup Offline Posts: 222 Ellwood city pa Tennessee USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #1 - Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 2:19am Hi chris I am still learning my self but a good first is battery voltage at rest and start and running. then add amps, to the mix . Or this check amp. draw when using a fused jumper on the brake lits. horn and cooling fans Good luck and welcome in.
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RtOne

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"If We Can't Fix It" -
"It Ain't Broke"

Posts: 655

Westville, Illinois
Illinois
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Gender: male

Re: Hi Every one
Reply #2 - Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 5:28am

Welcome Aboard, Chris. One "O" our Northern Illinois Nerdz. Good to see we are getting Illinois finally populated on the member map. Evidently Good News travels slow in the Heartland.

Secondary Ignition is FUN to play with too, just be very diligent with the Ground Leads, and always no matter what you are testing, have the unit grounded too (Preferably at the Battery). A Common misconception that the sensor ground is OK, but it ain't, and can potentially ruin the sensor and or the PICO and Computer it's attached to. Use the search feature "Ground Loop" keywords, there has been some very enlightening discussion on the topic.

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BMW Scott

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Posts: 561

High Point, NC
North Carolina
USA
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Re: Hi Every one
Reply #3 - Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 5:51pm

Glad to have you Chris! I'm also new to Pico and the site. There's a lot to learn on here. I spend most evenings just reading and trying to soak it all in. The best advice I can give you is protect your PicoScope! When in doubt, use your attenuators. It only takes a few second to remove it if you don't need it, but quite the upset if you needed it and didn't use it. The other is just as RtOne said:

RtOne wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 5:28am:

Use the search feature "Ground Loop" keywords, there has been some very enlightening discussion on the topic.

I looked into this quite a bit myself. Anyways have fun!

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Scott J Hicks

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Chris Bork Freshman Member Picogroup Offline I'm an Autonerd in training Posts: 10 Cortland Illinois USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #4 - Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 8:31pm Thanks for the advice guys! There is definitely a lot to soak in around here. I hope to get some time this week end to practice in my garage. My boss doesn't believe in using scopes, so its going to be an uphill battle to use it on a daily basis at work. Once I'm proficient with it though I think I can sell him on the idea.
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PRESTON LSD Guide Picogroup Offline "Fix like a champion today" Posts: 4,960 Jensen Beach Florida USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #5 - Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 10:48pm Chris Bork wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 8:31pm: My boss doesn't believe in using scopes, so its going to be an uphill battle to use it on a daily basis at work. Just wait till the next misfire due to lack of compression comes in on a vehicle prior to OBDII. A relative compression test with sync... doesn't get much easier than that.
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RtOne Super Nerd Picogroup Offline "If We Can't Fix It" - "It Ain't Broke" Posts: 655 Westville, Illinois Illinois USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #6 - Apr 3^rd, 2013 at 6:02am PRESTON wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 10:48pm: A relative compression test with sync... doesn't get much easier than that. Great Point, "GrillMaster". A few of those and some other Scope Vs DVOM tidbits, and he too will be Sipping the beverage of Champions.
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Chris Bork

Freshman Member
Picogroup

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I'm an Autonerd in training

Posts: 10

Cortland
Illinois
USA
Gender: male

Re: Hi Every one
Reply #7 - Apr 10^th, 2013 at 8:30pm

Well guys I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Haven't done relative compression yet, but got some nice fuel pump current wave forms, some secondary ignition and injectors. Its probably over my head right now, but I built a vacuum transducer ( plans found here) and got a decent wave form with that. next couple of days I think ill try syncing with ignition.

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PRESTON LSD Guide Picogroup Offline "Fix like a champion today" Posts: 4,960 Jensen Beach Florida USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #8 - Apr 10^th, 2013 at 9:01pm Be sure to utilize the "test board" for posting your captures so we can see how your coming along and possibly steer you away from trouble.
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Chris Bork Freshman Member Picogroup Offline I'm an Autonerd in training Posts: 10 Cortland Illinois USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #9 - Apr 11^th, 2013 at 6:50pm Thanks Preston. I posted a fuel pump wave form on the test board. Tom gave me some advice on my sample rate being too high, but I haven't figured out how to pull one buffer out of the whole file. Any pointers?
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PRESTON LSD Guide Picogroup Offline "Fix like a champion today" Posts: 4,960 Jensen Beach Florida USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #10 - Apr 11^th, 2013 at 7:00pm Even if you have multiple buffers captured as one file, you can still open that entire file, flip through the frames to the one you want, and then select "save current waveform as". Title this frame similar to the file name as all the buffers, but just specify which frame it is.
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Tom Roberts Autonerdz Administrator Picogroup Offline Autonerdz Founder Posts: 8,595 Olympia Washington USA Gender:	Re: Hi Every one Reply #11 - Apr 12^th, 2013 at 8:46am Chris Bork wrote on Apr 11^th, 2013 at 6:50pm: Any pointers? How you do it depends on the PicoScope build you are using. This is all covered in the tutorials. We do not post PicoScope how to in the public areas. If you have those sorts of questions, please post in the Picogroup areas.
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Brad_m

Guru Member

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Posts: 474

Townsville
Queensland
Australia
Gender: male

Re: Hi Every one
Reply #12 - Apr 23^rd, 2013 at 2:55am

Chris Bork wrote on Apr 1^st, 2013 at 7:36pm:

Any one have suggestions on what systems, or components I should start with to get my feet wet?

I would become proficient at the stuff that reduces the common diag time.

For me secondary ignition is a Big time saver and money maker, relative compression, electric motor current ramping - fuel pumps, radiator fans etc.

Then got into primary ignition. Once I got that stuff sorted it became easier to migrate on to other components.

By no means am I a wizz, Still learning what it all means and how to interpret stuff, But I am fixing cars that I used to turn away and I am cutting the time on other stuff.

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