Analog Discovery

[codewiz]

Please, I am curious to know if it is possible for the oscilloscope to measure 230V ac waveform?

What is the general advice reading signals greater than 20V.

I am a newbie in oscilloscope use.

Thank you.

[rp-prew]

Dear codewiz,

Thanks for your question! Using the Analog Discovery to measure such high voltages I have to say that you will not be able to measure that high of voltage with the oscilloscope. I looked through our reference manual for the Discovery and found:

The reference manual and be found here: https://www.digilentinc.com/Data/Products/ANALOG-DISCOVERY/Discovery_TRM_RevC_1.pdf
Even though they say -50<VinP, VinN < 50V I would recommend going even less then that. Down to 25V each. I would read the section of The reference manual to learn more about what the Oscilloscope can measure.

As for advice to measure voltages higher you need a device that can handle higher voltages. There are oscilloscopes that can handle these high voltages but they can be pricey. I did find a different forum about measuring KVolts. http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/110772/a-way-to-measure-unknown-high-voltages-with-an-oscilloscope . The analog discovery would not be good for this set up though.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Bobby

[codewiz]

Dear rp-prew,

I appreciate your detailed response to my questions.

I am thinking of using a voltage divider (resistors) or transformer (step down) to drop voltage to safe level of say <20Vac for Analog Discovery. My interest is primarily on the voltage waveform of the measured signal.

Since I would not exceed 240Vrms, I may have to setup a 20:1 divider for high voltage measurement. On the other hand, I am worried if this divider network / transformer would not distort the shape of the original signal a bit.