You recorded this over 12 years ago and you helped me today (6/27/2023) to understand this capability. I was confused by the trigger offset setting but I understand it now. With your explanation and demonstration, it now makes perfect sense. I also gained experience with my waveform generator to properly set it to generate the burst pulses for the scope. THANK YOU!
I've been using scopes - analog and digital, for years and never understood how to use Holdoff. I'm doing a circuit design analysis right now and I think Holdoff will remove the analog signal confusion I am seeing. THANK YOU!
A seasoned electronics tech (+15 years) I work with spend two days replacing IC's and parts to fix an "intermittent problem". It was just the holdoff a previous tech set. :) I learned what it does just by using scopes, especially when I needed to capture longer digital pulses. I'm one of those who refuse to use the auto-scale, unlike my classmates. I love your blog!
Excellent explanation! I just posted a question to the eevblog forums and they pointed me here - your example is almost EXACTLY what I'm trying to achieve. Keep up the great work!
Dave, ABSOLUTELY| FANTASTIC! The most useful thing I've learnt this month! MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rigol is on its way and already saving for that Agilent, that feels and looks incredible! VERY valuable lesson here, been troubleshooting my I2S interface the other day with my analogue 30MHz Hameg scope and it "does" the job, but this is 10000 times better mate, thanks for this keeeeeep them comingggggggggggg!
Thank you very much for you clear, motivated, kind and didactic explanation , it helped me very much for my Electrical Mesurement's exam. Greetings from Argentina!
Loved this episode! Just got my Rigol scope last week, never really used a scope before, so educational videos like this go a long way. I had this exact problem scoping a signal already, so it was great to know how to deal with it, other than hitting the stop button. :)
Arghhh! It's exactly the kind of feature I needed for my project. Been searching for something like that in the bloody trigger menu for months without finding anything ( and it's in the horizontal menu of my scope actually). Thanks a lot.
Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for posting these informative videos. I first watched your videos when I bought a multimeter based on your multimeter comparison video 3 years ago and now I am 1 year away from my BA in EE. Thanks for helping me understand along the way!
Excellent video ! Thanks for taking the time to make it. On another note, an oscilloscope without triggering of some sort is extremely limited in what it can do. Thanks again.
Cool........i didn't knew that my cheap rigol DS1052E was able to do that...thanks Mr. Dave J. I hope you can make more videos explaining tricks like that, they are very useful.
March 2011 :( Why no more? I would love a whole beginners series! :) Love this guy, so much passion and a breath and depth of knowledge. Also as a American every saying he uses is the first I have ever heard it, just love it! :) Current favorite is "young players". N.B.-I know "young players" is not necessarily an Australian phrase, it just happens to be my favorite one at the moment.
+victormgv Check out Fundamental Friday playlist. Tutorial is another search term. You need to fossick around a bit to get all the lecture stuff. It's a trap for young players. :-)
So, basically each trigger is a horizontal scan line! The horizontal retrace is non-drawing time, which can be used to do computation. All the triggering (pre and post) are good for notifications via interrupts. This is just like software.
@truhlikfredy Holdoff time still matters on a signal like that. If you use time/div to enlarge the signal, for instance, you may get the end of the packet outside the first sweep, triggering a second sweep. Hold off can remove that second sweep properly, and then you can use a trigger delay to closely inspect any part of the signal you like. Of course, techniques like this matter more when you don't have a deep sample buffer.. and my scope is fully analog.
I find this feature usefull if a waveform has a lot of harmonics and I need to see it more clearly, it's allmost like I can ''tune in'' to the waveform.
wow great video, i learned a lot from this video it explains a lot when i see multiple waves on the scope and how i can fix it! i've been taking electronics since gr9 of high school, and no one have ever taught what that knob does! definitely something that should be taught tho Thanks!
"I think you choose very bad example to showing this feature" Give us the link to your uploads so that everyone will learn more effectively from your superior videos .
I learned all this info in on O-scope usage in C school in the US NAVY i was a IC 2 e-5 electronic tech on board submarines I used the scope to repair all the electronics on board . The bad part about the subs is you must use a isolation transformer or a bad way a cheater cord with no ground . I leaned that the hard way first time I used one in a Gyro switch blew the hell out of the first scope had to replace it during offcrew man those were the days.
Great video, always great to learn new stuff! Holdoff trigger was always a bit in the dark side for me:) BTW, that Agilent looks better and better every time I see it. Too bad that grey dealer Niatel in my country asks 4x regular US price.... Regarding the crickets, it instantly reminded me of warm summer nights, keep them on for every video:)))
Actually, I'll proudly say that I learnt how to use holdoff all by myself. I was probing a digital signal and got that typical jumble all over the screen and I thought "wouldn't it be good if there was a function that delayed the triggering" and then I loked at the panel. :)
I am a beginner. Could you do a video on what a beginner can do with a scope that would justify buying one. Maybe using Remote control transmitter or an old radio or something to show how or what you can do to trouble shoot small electronics with a scope. Maybe using a 100mhz or less (cheap to buy used). Thanks and I enjoy your videos even though some of it I don't understand as of yet.
I just taught a lab where students decoded IR remote control packets, would have been nice to have this tutorial to give the students - that looks like an IR packet in your example at 13:00.
Run your trigger in Single mode, instead of Normal or Auto. This should "capture" that pulse and let you move around it. (it only works with storage oscilloscope though)
Hi Dave, very nice basic introduction to holdoff time. Yet, I have one question: If there's only 1 occurance of "digital pulses sequence", instead of repetitive sequences with a "modulation period" equaling the "holdoff time", how shall I capture the single sequence? Thank you!
From what I understand, the trigger holdoff disables the trigger for a given period of time after the first trigger occurs. So the drawing and theory presented here are wrong. The holdoff time should be set to equal or slightly longer period of time than the packet length and not slightly shorter than the packet gap (no signal period) length as was shown and told in the video. Of course this would work best in normal trigger mode.
What he presented was right for analog scopes (maybe?), but not so relevant to digital scopes indeed. He got it right towards the end of the video, though.
Yes tzok83 is 100% right. The first part of the video, he specifically said to set to length of the idle period. But that isn't right. Dave does get it right at the end, as mentioned, but he should've gone back and reshot it or something. From the video, it looks like ideal range for the holdoff time would be between the length of time for a single packet up to and including the idle time before the next packet. Overall I found this a useful discussion, but you've got to make it to the end of the video to get the full story.
@EEVblog Any kind data that they continue after sampling and the hold off time is during data transfers so it won't trigger. Showing the case where after sampling are none data and the hold off time is long precisely enough before the next data stars will I think behave the same, with, or without hold off. So showing on that case were it behaves exactly the same in both cases is not good. (I mean the drawn timeline, where you explain the theory)
hey dave I am a novice electronics junkie and new subscriber. I wonder if you would make a video discussing analog sinthisizers from the late 70s up to today and talk about how they work. I am a big fan of electronic music that is sometimes made with modular sinth components and think it would make a facinating episode. perhaps some gear such as moog sinths and such??
Question! Assume a 2 kHz simple sine signal and the CRO is set to 0.1 ms (or 100 μs) /Div, triggering on upwards slope at 0 V, so one complete cycle fits exactly on HALF the screen. Will the scope trigger at every valid transition? If yes, it should only show the signal on the left half of the screen 🤔
@0LoneTech Exactly, for instance the packet can be outside the sweep, and therefor drawing example where the packet is inside the sweep and after the sweep it won't trigger anyway is for me very bad example for hold off.. Is almost misleading.
You recorded this over 12 years ago and you helped me today (6/27/2023) to understand this capability. I was confused by the trigger offset setting but I understand it now. With your explanation and demonstration, it now makes perfect sense. I also gained experience with my waveform generator to properly set it to generate the burst pulses for the scope. THANK YOU!
@neutron7 If one person learned something then I'm happy!
I've been using scopes - analog and digital, for years and never understood how to use Holdoff. I'm doing a circuit design analysis right now and I think Holdoff will remove the analog signal confusion I am seeing. THANK YOU!
A seasoned electronics tech (+15 years) I work with spend two days replacing IC's and parts to fix an "intermittent problem". It was just the holdoff a previous tech set. :) I learned what it does just by using scopes, especially when I needed to capture longer digital pulses. I'm one of those who refuse to use the auto-scale, unlike my classmates. I love your blog!
This geezer never uses autoset either 😊
@Wizard4592 Yeah, sorry about that, really loud crickets. Didn't want to delay the shoot until they stopped chirping!
Thanks Dave...You are the only one that takes the time to explain the value of owning an older Analog scope, where you had to wrap your brain around!
Excellent explanation! I just posted a question to the eevblog forums and they pointed me here - your example is almost EXACTLY what I'm trying to achieve. Keep up the great work!
Never knew this. What an invaluable source of info EEVblog is. I will never forget this piece of info now.
I finally understood it. It's such a simple concept, thanks man. You made it really simple!
Not only have a I never used that knob, but I never even noticed it was there! Very cool!
Dave, ABSOLUTELY| FANTASTIC! The most useful thing I've learnt this month!
MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rigol is on its way and already saving for that Agilent, that feels and looks incredible!
VERY valuable lesson here, been troubleshooting my I2S interface the other day with my analogue 30MHz Hameg scope and it "does" the job, but this is 10000 times better mate, thanks for this keeeeeep them comingggggggggggg!
Thank you very much for you clear, motivated, kind and didactic explanation , it helped me very much for my Electrical Mesurement's exam. Greetings from Argentina!
Loved this episode! Just got my Rigol scope last week, never really used a scope before, so educational videos like this go a long way. I had this exact problem scoping a signal already, so it was great to know how to deal with it, other than hitting the stop button. :)
Arghhh! It's exactly the kind of feature I needed for my project. Been searching for something like that in the bloody trigger menu for months without finding anything ( and it's in the horizontal menu of my scope actually). Thanks a lot.
Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for posting these informative videos. I first watched your videos when I bought a multimeter based on your multimeter comparison video 3 years ago and now I am 1 year away from my BA in EE. Thanks for helping me understand along the way!
@jeriellsworth The Agilent one is nicely and safely recessed. It can even be disabled in software to stop students cheating.
Thank you for this great tutorial, Dave! I did not know what and what for this function was in my oscilloscope but now I know.
hi David L. Jones, i really like the way u explain every thing so crisp clear, u rock and i will go through all your videos
G'day "multimeter Jones". I've watched dozens of your videos - enjoyed them and learned a lot. Thank you!
Fantastic! I finally discovered my holdoff control when I was started playing with AM signals.
Excellent video ! Thanks for taking the time to make it.
On another note, an oscilloscope without triggering of some sort is extremely limited in what it can do.
Thanks again.
Oh wow, I learned about a function on an oscilloscope I never knew existed. Thank you Dave!☺️👍
many thanks for the simple and practical hands-on tutorial !!
Hi and thanks I finely find a verry good tutorial site ! It's hard to find sommething usefull on TH-cam !
Used it to catch a responses from an I2C chip and was able to verify protocol between Master and Slave. Works great!
@EEVblog It's usually a big button that can be bumped easily too. Maybe it should be labeled "Nuke Settings"
Thank you EEVblog. I just got a scope and I was wondering how to see data packets. Now I understand how to use 'trigger holdoff'.
This really helps observing periodical I2C transmission!
Excellent! Previously I have always used to use the start/stop or single sweep method. Thanks.
13 years old. Still relevant. Thanks!
Love hearing crickets while the snow's falling here.
Cool........i didn't knew that my cheap rigol DS1052E was able to do that...thanks Mr. Dave J. I hope you can make more videos explaining tricks like that, they are very useful.
@ttk1opc Actual crickets!
March 2011 :( Why no more? I would love a whole beginners series! :) Love this guy, so much passion and a breath and depth of knowledge. Also as a American every saying he uses is the first I have ever heard it, just love it! :) Current favorite is "young players".
N.B.-I know "young players" is not necessarily an Australian phrase, it just happens to be my favorite one at the moment.
+victormgv Check out Fundamental Friday playlist. Tutorial is another search term.
You need to fossick around a bit to get all the lecture stuff.
It's a trap for young players.
:-)
So, basically each trigger is a horizontal scan line! The horizontal retrace is non-drawing time, which can be used to do computation.
All the triggering (pre and post) are good for notifications via interrupts. This is just like software.
Another great, useful video! Thank you for spending your time and effort to educate.
Lovely. Thanks, Dave! An interesting feature, wonderfully explained. :)
Thank you Dave! Great video! I really didn't understand the hold off on my Rigol until this video.
Dave at his best. Nice vid.
Great class, Dave! Thank you
@truhlikfredy Holdoff time still matters on a signal like that. If you use time/div to enlarge the signal, for instance, you may get the end of the packet outside the first sweep, triggering a second sweep. Hold off can remove that second sweep properly, and then you can use a trigger delay to closely inspect any part of the signal you like. Of course, techniques like this matter more when you don't have a deep sample buffer.. and my scope is fully analog.
I find this feature usefull if a waveform has a lot of harmonics and I need to see it more clearly, it's allmost like I can ''tune in'' to the waveform.
wow great video, i learned a lot from this video
it explains a lot when i see multiple waves on the scope and how i can fix it!
i've been taking electronics since gr9 of high school, and no one have ever taught what that knob does! definitely something that should be taught tho
Thanks!
@truhlikfredy What example should I have used then?
Awesome video. Thank you ... I learned something new today.
"I think you choose very bad example to showing this feature"
Give us the link to your uploads so that everyone will learn more effectively from your superior videos .
Very good explanation. 👍👍👍
I learned all this info in on O-scope usage in C school in the US NAVY i was a IC 2 e-5 electronic tech on board submarines I used the scope to repair all the electronics on board . The bad part about the subs is you must use a isolation transformer or a bad way a cheater cord with no ground . I leaned that the hard way first time I used one in a Gyro switch blew the hell out of the first scope had to replace it during offcrew man those were the days.
I learnt something new today! Cheers Dave.
Make one about External Trigger!
Thanks Dave - You tought me something new
Thanks. Much better explanation than my Tek manual!
Great video, always great to learn new stuff! Holdoff trigger was always a bit in the dark side for me:) BTW, that Agilent looks better and better every time I see it. Too bad that grey dealer Niatel in my country asks 4x regular US price.... Regarding the crickets, it instantly reminded me of warm summer nights, keep them on for every video:)))
Useful for looking at RC ppm signals.
Thank you Dave!
That was a great example! I only use a small subset of the controls on equipment like scopes. One more knob I know how to usefully twiddle! :)
I liked this video. Another cool thing is external trigger.
Review of test gear + tutorials on using them. Three thumbs up!
Actually, I'll proudly say that I learnt how to use holdoff all by myself. I was probing a digital signal and got that typical jumble all over the screen and I thought "wouldn't it be good if there was a function that delayed the triggering" and then I loked at the panel. :)
Wow. Ive seen that jumbled mess fairly recently. Good video.
I am a beginner. Could you do a video on what a beginner can do with a scope that would justify buying one. Maybe using Remote control transmitter or an old radio or something to show how or what you can do to trouble shoot small electronics with a scope. Maybe using a 100mhz or less (cheap to buy used). Thanks and I enjoy your videos even though some of it I don't understand as of yet.
Yep, always something new to learn or review. Let’s keep it going ......
Thanks Dave. Good stuff .
I just taught a lab where students decoded IR remote control packets, would have been nice to have this tutorial to give the students - that looks like an IR packet in your example at 13:00.
@Nermash x4 the US price really sucks :-( Can you import?
Run your trigger in Single mode, instead of Normal or Auto. This should "capture" that pulse and let you move around it. (it only works with storage oscilloscope though)
Great video. thank you!
Thanks! I learned something today!
Interesting and informative. Great video!
awesome I learnt something new!
@EEVblog Too many of them are by the run/stop button. WTF?
good vid Dave, u explained it well, more pls :D
Wow, this could of really helped me in my project. I usually just stopped the trace to get a waveform :p
nice video i learn something i did not now.
Thanks! Very helpful.
Awesome , thank you .
Hi Dave, very nice basic introduction to holdoff time. Yet, I have one question:
If there's only 1 occurance of "digital pulses sequence", instead of repetitive sequences with a "modulation period" equaling the "holdoff time", how shall I capture the single sequence? Thank you!
From what I understand, the trigger holdoff disables the trigger for a given period of time after the first trigger occurs. So the drawing and theory presented here are wrong. The holdoff time should be set to equal or slightly longer period of time than the packet length and not slightly shorter than the packet gap (no signal period) length as was shown and told in the video. Of course this would work best in normal trigger mode.
What he presented was right for analog scopes (maybe?), but not so relevant to digital scopes indeed. He got it right towards the end of the video, though.
Yes tzok83 is 100% right. The first part of the video, he specifically said to set to length of the idle period. But that isn't right.
Dave does get it right at the end, as mentioned, but he should've gone back and reshot it or something.
From the video, it looks like ideal range for the holdoff time would be between the length of time for a single packet up to and including the idle time before the next packet.
Overall I found this a useful discussion, but you've got to make it to the end of the video to get the full story.
@Gameboygenius Nice!
awesome, you taught me something, I have the same rigol thanks to you :)
@EEVblog Any kind data that they continue after sampling and the hold off time is during data transfers so it won't trigger. Showing the case where after sampling are none data and the hold off time is long precisely enough before the next data stars will I think behave the same, with, or without hold off. So showing on that case were it behaves exactly the same in both cases is not good. (I mean the drawn timeline, where you explain the theory)
Thanks, good video. Learned a lot
I noticed that one of your playlist says Electronics Beginners guides although i only see one video in it and its pretty old considering the date.
I'd love to see something on eye diagrams. Great video.
now i understand triggering well ,, and i have the same rigol thanks to you :D
Thanks 👍
From Nick Ayivor from London England UK 🇬🇧
Sweet!! I learned something.
so it's almost like digital debouncing of the trigger?
I find it difficult to get my triggering to hold on my scope :o9
excellent!
hey dave I am a novice electronics junkie and new subscriber. I wonder if you would make a video discussing analog sinthisizers from the late 70s up to today and talk about how they work. I am a big fan of electronic music that is sometimes made with modular sinth components and think it would make a facinating episode. perhaps some gear such as moog sinths and such??
Love you man
crickets?
Thank you.
What is that cricket like sound in the background?
how can I measure only one pulse coming out , having only 10 microsecond width.... signal is not periodic only one pulse is coming
Thanks a lot
Question! Assume a 2 kHz simple sine signal and the CRO is set to 0.1 ms (or 100 μs) /Div, triggering on upwards slope at 0 V, so one complete cycle fits exactly on HALF the screen. Will the scope trigger at every valid transition? If yes, it should only show the signal on the left half of the screen 🤔
lol, why on earth i never use this knob.
very informative, thanks
@0LoneTech Exactly, for instance the packet can be outside the sweep, and therefor drawing example where the packet is inside the sweep and after the sweep it won't trigger anyway is for me very bad example for hold off.. Is almost misleading.