Saturday, June 9, 2012

Testing ECU Inputs with an Oscilloscope


Using an oscilloscope to inspect ECU inputs and outputs

Today we are working with a Seintek S2800 oscilloscope.  Note that tools can vary in shapes and configurations.

This is a very useful tool for diagnosing an issue with a cars electronic system, because not only do you get to see a reading in a two-dimensional figure, it allows you to picture what is going on.  It also can take readings in fractions of seconds that gives it plenty of advantage over a typical multi-meter.

Now of course, every mechanic has his own style of work,  some of the older mechanics use old school technology like vacuum pressure testing to diagnose a problem with efficiency or misfires, but we might see the oscilloscope being a more popular choice for mechanics in the future.  With all the features of a multi-meter, it can be handy single tool for electronic diagnosis.

We were handed out work booklets with pages to fill out readings and write conclusions to our investigations.  I particularly favourited the illustrated readings on the front page.  It is a comparison of two graphs, one showing a misfire in the ignition system, and a healthy ignition system.

Notice how even though they are of similar shape in graph reading,  the healthy running graph is significantly smoother.


1 comment:

  1. Would be good to comment on what sensor you are testing and explain the Scope pattern. what we would like to see and what a fault would look like

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