Tracing Your Circuit
We show how to use an oscilloscope to see what's going on in a resistor-capacitor circuit.
Oscilloscopes and mixed-mode logic analyzers
Lead Image © Oleksiy Tsupe, 123RF.com
Sometimes, the projects I build at SwitchDoc Labs don't work quite right the first time I hook them up. Often, the problem can be traced to a software or wiring error, but it can also be a more subtle design error that requires some additional techniques to diagnose. In a previous SwitchDoc Labs column [1], I looked at using a logic analyzer to figure out logic problems.
In this column, I'll look at using a Rigol DS1502E oscilloscope to see what is going on in an resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit connected to a digital input on an Arduino. Then, I will look at the same circuit using a new amazing mixed-mode logic analyzer from Saleae. A mixed-mode logic analyzer is a logic analyzer that has some analog capability like an oscilloscope, albeit at a much lower frequency than a normal oscilloscope. This mixed mode logic analyzer is becoming my favorite tool in my debugging war chest.
To begin, I'll take a look at the RC circuit that I am going to analyze with all this equipment.
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