Voltage Measurement: How an Oscilloscope is Connected

Oscilloscopes are a great tool for measuring the voltage of a signal. Typically, they will display voltage as it changes over time in the form of a waveform on-screen, but many oscilloscopes can also provide a simple voltage measurement. To begin, you should understand how an oscilloscope is connected for a voltage measurement.

Step 1: Turn your oscilloscope on and press the “Default Setup” front panel key.

Step 2: Plug a probe in to Channel 1. You can use any probe you have, likely a 10:1 or 1:1 passive probe. It’ll be easier if the probe has a clip or other mechanism that prevents you from having to manually hold it to a wire.

Step 3: Connect the ground clip to a reliable grounding point.

Step 4: Locate your signal and attach your probe to that point.

Step 5: Press the “Auto Scale” front panel key to center the signal on screen. You should now see the signal’s voltage as it changes over time, with time on the X-axis and voltage on the Y-axis.
Step 6: You can further adjust how your signal is displayed by using the vertical and horizontal knobs. These knobs will help you zoom in and out as well as shift the signal right, left, up, and down.

Step 7: Turn on voltage measurements by pushing the “Meas” front panel key. Many oscilloscopes will have some or all of these voltage measurements built-in.

Peak-Peak
Maximum
Amplitude
Top
Base
Overshoot
Preshoot
Average- N Cycles
Average- Full Screen
DC RMS- N Cycles
DC RMS- Full Screen
AC RMS- N Cycles
AC RMS- Full Screen
Ratio- N Cycles
Ratio- Full Screen

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