I'm certainly no expert, but I found you need an oscope to "see" what our engine is doing.
I had a little background using these to calibrate reader heads on CMM's, but this stuff is a bit different.
An oscope is a device that lets you see pulses of electricity, like injectors firing, or cylinder pressure testing sensors. They normally have 2 or more "channels", which are different signals from different sources. Most stuff we do can be done with 1 or 2 channels. But other things look better with more channels.
The signals we look at coming from our engine are mostly 0-14.5 volts. Perhaps the injectors fire at higher voltages, but we don't have to look at them, since the signal that trips them is 0-5v.
Left to Right:
Old school 2 channel Oscope. Heavy. Powered by 120v AC. Can be found cheap sometimes. Requires "leads".
Handheld "Multiscope", is a 2-ch Oscope. More of a PITA to adjust settings. Runs off batteries and can collect data for future use.
USB Oscope is a 2-CH Oscope. Cheap, requires a PC and "leads". Can store data.
USB Data Acquistion module is a 6 channel Oscope. Cheap, can only "see" up to 10v. Requires a PC and can store data.
Leads - Classical Oscopes require leads. Normally not included. You need to shop around to find cheap ones, some are $1000, but you want the $15 ones.
I had a little background using these to calibrate reader heads on CMM's, but this stuff is a bit different.
An oscope is a device that lets you see pulses of electricity, like injectors firing, or cylinder pressure testing sensors. They normally have 2 or more "channels", which are different signals from different sources. Most stuff we do can be done with 1 or 2 channels. But other things look better with more channels.
The signals we look at coming from our engine are mostly 0-14.5 volts. Perhaps the injectors fire at higher voltages, but we don't have to look at them, since the signal that trips them is 0-5v.
Left to Right:
Old school 2 channel Oscope. Heavy. Powered by 120v AC. Can be found cheap sometimes. Requires "leads".
Handheld "Multiscope", is a 2-ch Oscope. More of a PITA to adjust settings. Runs off batteries and can collect data for future use.
USB Oscope is a 2-CH Oscope. Cheap, requires a PC and "leads". Can store data.
USB Data Acquistion module is a 6 channel Oscope. Cheap, can only "see" up to 10v. Requires a PC and can store data.
Leads - Classical Oscopes require leads. Normally not included. You need to shop around to find cheap ones, some are $1000, but you want the $15 ones.
