Microchip Pic Oscilloscope DIY Gadget

*warning: In the video i accidently swapped the SIN and SQR titles :)

http://www.dj-sures.com

This is my first beta version of my homemade oscilloscope. It uses a microchip pic 18F4685 @ 20mhz with a C# .Net Windows GUI

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Microchip pic
• oscilloscope
• diy
• programming
• robot
• robotics
• c++
• C# .net
• hardware
• circuit
• electric circuit
• circuit design
• microcontroller

[VeXorian1337]

Hey Dj, I'm really impressed with your work in general. It's really amazing what you do :)

I plan to build a DIY scope myself, but I also want to try to make it more professional(~50 Mhz, more channels, etc) at a moderate budget. I'm particularly skilled in programming PIC's, FPGA's, PC's, etc.. and have sufficient amount of analog/digital electronics knowledge.

Can you recommend me some notes/techniques to build one? Also perhaps give me some directions, suggestions. I really need a scope :(

[aliencurv]

@VeXorian1337 Thank you very much Vex :)

My advice? LOL I ended up purchasing a Nano Scope. It is an open source oscilloscope project that you can purchase online (i got mine from ebay) for $50. The screen is smaller than a regular tube oscilliscope, but it is pretty easy to use :)

If you are still building yours, sample first, then transfer to the computer in a loop. sample, transfer, sample, transfer :)

[VeXorian1337]

@aliencurv Hey, thanks for replying! I'll check the Nano and see if I can buy it, or maybe even build it as you say it's open source. As for making my own version, I was wondering how can you make it really fast? (Like 10-50 M samples/sec). The integrated A/D's in the PIC's can barely reach 100kS/sec.. I can get an external A/D converter, but that would conflict with transfer rates of the PICs. Another thought I had was pipelining several cheap A/D's, but that's still hard to interface..

[aliencurv]

@VeXorian1337 if you want a 50M sample/sec, then consider interfacing with an analog audio amplifier and sampler. Digital oscilliscopes are pretty much audio samplers :) ... you can do some google searches on how to convert an old PC Soundcard into an oscilliscope. That is how i got my idea to begin with

[pouelchnu]

Now that's pretty cool. I made my own "ghettoscope" last summer using an Arduino Duemilanove with Processing (open source coding project - check it out), but mine wasn't as responsive at this one. Is it real time? I mean, is it sampling a voltage on one of its pins or is it reading a file?

[aliencurv]

@pouelchnu thanx dude. it is sampling the voltate on one of the ADC pins of the microchip pic. It samples the buffer, then it sends the data over the rs232. If i were to sample and write to the rs232, it would affect the sample rate by the uart speed (which was 115,200 baud). I never did use this setup for anything. I have a digital oscilloscope that has measuing, zooming, scrolling and hold features etc... something i'll never be able to replace in a reasonable ammount of time lol

[jucket911]

I almost fell out of my chair when I read the comments. The dude says "Ya, your project is kool, but F%$&K windows!"

It like saying you have a kool tv, but it was made in China so it sucks.

[devin122]

you got your square and sine waves mixed up

[keoni29]

Mic-in. U mad

[ecan]

@aliencurv 50 M sample/sec with a soundcard? xDDDDDDD

[rocketman221projects]

Give it a Linux GUI and it would make a cool project.

[misterDtD]

Very nice =)