Very Nice!
Use it all of the time.
Don't let anyone borrow it.
Thanks! That's most definitely the plan, i'm not going to let other people use this, not the kind of thing you let anyone else even touch!
Should be, most automotive sensors you want to scope out are the hall effect kind, and aren't extraordinarily fast signals. You won't be able to look at ignition waveforms, but it should be fast enough to display stuff like duty cycle, even if it can't graph it out.
It looks pretty similar to the unit I am always preaching about, the Snap-On Vantage. The old MT2400 units are available on eBay for about $300-500 on average, where they sold for $1700-1800 new, and have the added bonus of having two channels, using a standard automotive fuse (instead of the $$$ Fluke fuses), and of course the connector database (even if it's a bit outdated with the last update being 2003 or so).
Either way, in my experience once you start using a graphing meter, you have a hard time going back to a standard meter. The ability to actually look at what's going on vs. what amounts to just numbers on a screen is huge.
It's a fast meter, i doubt it'll have trouble reading what i'm going to use it for. I'm going to spend the rest of today hooking it up to the car checking various things with it.
The graphing is awesome, and it'll graph duty cycle and pulse width for testing things like fuel injectors and hall effect sensors.
My boss has a brand new, unused MT2400 at work, all still packaged up. He wants me to buy it, which i will if i can get it for cheap. Everything's still sealed, he got it for free and never even opened the case to look at it.
It's a HUGE step up from my old meter.
For what those run, you might be better off with a netbook and a used 2-channel Picoscope. I have a co-worker that owns a Fluke 192c and I'm not terribly impressed, especially when you compare it to my Vantage Pro. My next scope purchase is going to be a Pico, the sheer power of those things is amazing, and I've generally got a laptop out anyway looking at service info or wiring diagrams anyway.
Well, the thing is that for about £500 i can get a good refurb'd and certified calibrated Fluke 123, or for the same price a 4-channel Pico on its own, no accessories. They don't really turn up used here and a new automotive kit is £1,600. Either way, i'll have to get (a lot) better at using this meter before i move onto a ScopeMeter.
Now all you have to do is start looking at everything with your new toy, so you can see what good signals look like. Makes it much easier to spot bad signals when they appear if you've spent some time looking at vehicles that aren't broken.
I plan on doing that, and checking damaged old components against new working ones too, i've kept a couple things that i can use to test and learn from.
Topshelf meter! Seeing that makes me want one.....this place will cause my garage to become so full that putting a car in there will be impossible!
You know you want to, you know you
need it. You won't be disappointed.
It's surprisingly easy to use too, i thought it would be harder to navigate but after a couple hours playing with it i've figured most of it out, it's very user-friendly.
I like the moose on every tools that you want show it.... it do kind of cool and i like it....
It's more fun to show "me" using the tools. I see a "Moose Explains Basic Electrical Diag" some time in the future!
