100:1 scope probes

[ppppenguin]

For probing moderately high voltages (up to 2kV or so) a standard 10:1 probe isn't up to the job. Has anyone used this low cost 100:1 probe:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oscilloscope-Ac...B07F65SZMV

Or is it just a nasty peice of tat that you wouldn't trust at 100V, let alone 2kV?

[Kalee20]

The weight worries me, 80g seems heavy - even for shipping weight, with accessories and manual.

It's CE marked, would be good to see a copy of the declaration as 2kV is well above the SELV limit.

Scrolling down the Amazon page to the specifications, the voltage is specified as 1.00 volts (sic). For something to be specified as such, and maybe that is the limit for CE purposes, I worry a bit about using at 1kV.

It might be OK. But £18 is just a bit more than I'd want to take a chance on.

[ppppenguin]

I don't like the look of it either.

I've found an RS 100:1 probe in my drawers. 489-734 which no longer exists in the RS catalogue. The data with it was issued in 1984.

There's a curve showing it derating from 1200V at 1MHz to 200V at 10MHz. I think I'd be willing to trust it though I'd prefer to switch off, connect the probe and switch back on again if I was getting near the limit in (say) a transistor line timebase.

It would also be useful in quite a few valve circuits as my scopes only go up to 5V/cm, hence 50V/cm at the tip of an ordinary 10:1 probe.

[Murphyv310]

Looks identical to a 10:1 probe I bought recently. It was cheap but lower capacitance than two others I bought at £60 that fell apart within 18 months.
I'd certainly try it for my LOPT experiments.

[Nick]

AliExpress is full of these and similar probes.

The "P4100" is £6.32 with a couple of quid p&p to the UK.

Caveat emptor.

[Craig]

A Hilitand product. So I ferreted out the trademark registration, filed in 2018 https://trademarks.justia.com/877/49/hil...49498.html

Looks like they are a Chinese trading vehicle for just about every product known to mankind.

I'd steer well clear of a probe from them.

Craig

[pamphonica]

I most definitely would not try these at 2kV! My recommendation for reliable probes for use on vave gear is an old-fashioned Tektronix probe, like the model 6006.
Often to be found in junk boxes at electronics table sales.
They are the big chunky ones in the middle of the photo here:
https://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/artic...r2010_reed
They have a rating of 600V and I think I believe them!

[Murphyv310]

We will see.
I've ordered one.
Banggood sell one that is identical and called Hantek.
The 10:1 probe I bought from CPC a few months ago as I said looks identical, it's rated at 1kv. Perfectly good probe and it's certainly not broken down with an accidental 800v p-p at 10,125hz

[ppppenguin]

I still remember the worst shock I ever had. Probing -1200V, mains derived, on the cathode of a 'scope tube. The probe insulation wasn't as good as I thought it was. I was thrown clear but my arm muscles contracted so violently that they ached for a couple of days.

I've also touched the collector of a line output transistor, 1000V or so of pulses. That just put a small and relatively painless burn on my finger.

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
Had a few RF burns, one from the 40watt amps running at 4.43mhz in British Relay, the others from line stages, lived to tell the tale.
One last year from the Rod Pentode TX I made, put a hole in my finger, nippy little burn, and of course off the odd TV.
I'm fortunate as I so far done get strung on. I've dry skin on my hands and quite hard skin on fingers, so perhaps that helps. We used to hold the blade of a screwdriver and pull the AC off EHT rectifier anodes, never even feel a tingle so long as you don't touch anything else or are brave enough to get your other hand close to someone else.