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Hi guys.
I had been looking for a good cart for my Oscilloscope.
I happened upon Sun unit from the late 80's. It would fit the bill for my old school Ford trucks.
So why not make a unit that will work on all of them?
The unit functions just fine. ( I guess)
But I have zero idea how to use it.
Any ideas were I might get my mitts on some training manuals or any kind of documentation to help me learn how to use this?
I have some documentation. But it really does not go into " How to" Kind of things.
FleaBay is the best bet for paper copies. A lot of manuals for old gear & equipment have been scanned and uploaded online to websites.
Heathkit included an extra Tune Up manual with their kit scopes that's pretty good, I see those on eBay fairly often too.
If I had some of the document numbers ect. So far I have not been able to find anything. Other than the installation/ packing manual.
But I will admit my Google foo skills are marginal at best.
But you have the Sun machine model #? That's what you want to use anyway. Sometimes the documents are hard to come by. Sun products can fall in that category for some reason. With that, I've found a couple online, I was scouring the intertubes for info after I bought a Heathkit scope. Maybe can't find an instruction manual for that exact model, but find enough info on a similar Sun model to make a go of it. They all work basically the same.
They work great, and can save a lot of time. Thing is, the finer points on reading the traces take judgment and experience. If there are major faults they will stick out, but what you really want is to look at the traces on an engine that is known to be in good working order, and maybe one that has known issues.
One of the things that will stick out right away in an obvious way is the firing voltage. This line is the level the coil builds up to before firing. Generally every cylinder should be about the same, and shouldn't be excessive. Normally an engine only requires maybe 8k to 10k volts to fire a plug. The spark plug only takes what it needs. The rest is reserve coil capability. Heavy loads, high compression, excessively lean fuel mixtures, worn electrodes, can cause the need for higher firing voltages, but, so can defects in the ignition system.
Another thing they are good at is displaying how a defective or worn distributor behaves. Known as "cam wobble" this is particularly important in points & condenser ignitions, because it is a completely mechanical system. Worn bushings and other parts get sloppy and cause adverse ignition timing changes. What I found using the Heathkit is that just because the ignition parts are new, this doesn't really mean anything. In fact the original, worn OEM parts are sometimes superior to what we are replacing them with!
The replacement parts might look the same, but the materials and close tolerance dimensions are not quite right, ohms resistance is off, etc. You'll get the hang of it pretty quick, just study the manuals and compare them with what you see on the screen, and if you have more than one engine to look at that will help too. It will definitely improve your tune and take it to the next level.
Sometimes we'll see mutiple page, weeks long troubleshooting sagas here at FTE, throwing all kinds of parts at it, that would have found the fault in just a couple minutes with a scope.
Cool. Thanks!!
I purchased the Oscilloscope because I want to learn to get better at trouble shooting. ( Yes I have been known to play the Parts cannon.)
I have 4 old ford and a few Dodges. Parts cannon gets expensive. So I need to improve.
I purchased the Oscilloscope because I want to learn to get better at trouble shooting.
What year is the scope, any idea? The scope itself may need attention by now. Mostly high voltage power supply electrolytic capacitors. About 20 years or so is pushing it for high voltage power supply components. They aren't expensive, but generally electronics that haven't been in regular use, they will likely be shorted or dried out aka "leaky" by now. This causes excessive current draw, and will roast other parts. About $20 worth of capacitors and some quality soldering iron time would get it in good shape and reliable. Check the amperage draw on the data plate, and measure it. Were it me, I wouldn't plug it in till the power supply capacitors are replaced. Now Sun used good stuff, maybe they are OK... But depending on the age of the unit... maybe not.
This is what the manual looks like that was included with the Heathkit ignition scopes, it was a Shell Oil reprint. It's pretty good with a lot of info and examples. They pop up on eBay quite a bit. I wouldn't pay more than $5 or $10 or so maybe, but it is good.
Ok I found a couple things.
One a CD that's suppose to have a 212 page manual and 187 page training manual. Will see, cheap enough to risk it I guess.
And a paper manual.
That should give me a start.
This is what the manual looks like that was included with the Heathkit ignition scopes, it was a Shell Oil reprint. It's pretty good with a lot of info and examples. They pop up on eBay quite a bit. I wouldn't pay more than $5 or $10 or so maybe, but it is good.
That is the one I was trying to post a PDF for in post number 7 above but it was to large.
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