FNIRSI DSO-TC3 3 in 1 Oscilloscope Signal Generator Component Analyzer Tester Cheap Electronics Lab

[@R2_D3]

Thanks for the thorough review!! For that price, it's a steal! It combines a number of handy tools in one small device, easy to put in your ''go-bag''!! I want one!

[@L3X369]

i'm glad I found this video, I just ordered this for almost $200 at a local online store (probably dropshipping). I was surprised to see the price difference!

[@englishrupe01]

Great review and variety of testing....thanks, Rich.

[@SteveH-TN]

Appreciate your helpful review. I just ordered one to use with my Model Railroad and Amateur Radio hobbies. My old Scope is 1950-60s vintage. I am especially looking forward to the portability of this one. Update my DSO-TC3 arrived today 😀Now watching this excellent Video again as I follow along with hands on experience 👀👀

[@1pcfred]

If someone is just starting out that looks like a good bit of kit to me. It's a lot more than I had.

[@davidhollfelder9940]

Great product for what it is. I remember back in the early 70s, when I got my first analog multi-meter, and thought I reached a new apex.

[@DelticEngine]

Many thanks for posting such an excellent in-depth review. Personally, I was impressed with the component analyser and rather liked that it also gave an ESR reading for capacitors which saves the cost od a dedicated ESR meter. I was not impressed with the need for adapters for the test probes and the lack of electrical protection which, to my mind, makes is a rather fragile instrument particularly out in the field. I like your ideas for possible upgrades to the device and it is easy to imagine a whole host of features that could be incorporated into such a device.

[@cfdfirefighter]

I’m just starting off and tinkering. I ordered this last week so I’m glad someone I trust got his hands on it and showed that it works well. I certainly would love for it to test power regulators. Been having a pain of a time on a bass amplifier board.

[@roncarter2188]

For 53.00 dollars and ships out within the US on eBay. So this seems like a very cool and compact tool, thanks for this video.

[@theonlywaytogta6665]

Good video. I bought a Fnirsi DSO TC3 and had no idea how to use it. I also didn't know it had an IR decoder. Thanks for testing it out and your honest opinion.❤

[@greengrayradio1394]

I got one of these couple of days ago for simple testing in the field, without bringing heavy, mains powered instruments along. Quite good value for money, as you mentioned, the scope is maybe the weakest point. The IR remote reader only responded to a couple of the remotes I tried. Nice posting, Richard, I will look closer at it when doing more tests!

[@shagreobe]

I have the DSO-TC2, and I love it so far. I dont really know all of the ways to use it, but the scope and tester seem to work good

[@tookitogo]

32:08 Actually, white LEDs (and other phosphor-converted LEDs, like pink) are almost, if not entirely, universally a blue LED with phosphor, not UV. Despite many sources saying that some white LEDs use a UV light source, I have yet to actually find even one real-world example of those - and believe me, I’ve looked far and wide. UV LEDs have significantly higher Vf than blue (3.6V and up, depending on wavelength), and in every single instance I have looked at, the white LEDs in an LED product line have a Vf that exactly matches the blue LEDs in the same product line. (Even in high-power LEDs that are driven at higher voltages than is typical for a given color.) The entire white LED industry has been optimized around the blue LED (typically 405nm), with phosphors optimized for it, I don’t think there will be a transition to UV light sources unless it develops some distinct advantage. As of right now, with UV LEDs being more expensive and less bright, I don’t see this changing anytime soon.

[@rasmansonjames2745]

thanks alot . one of the best reviews ever. i got the product and watched videos but this is ontop

[@flippy9133]

wtf i just searched for this, and this was uploaded 3mins ago, i think its a sign to buy it

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

Enjoy

[@rioferianto1278]

have you already bought it? is it good? you buy it in banggud or aliekpress?

[@mumbles1justin]

Great review! Thanks for testing outside the norm. I have a few different Peak electronics testers I purchased many years ago. I know there's other multicomponent testers on the market now but non of them look very polished . After stumbling across your review of the DSO-TC3, I think its time for me to upgrade my component testers to the DSO-TC3. I don't uses these testers very frequently but the DSO-TC3 looks like it'd save me a bunch of time when trying to distinguish component without having to switch between three or four tester as I current sometimes have.

[@tenlittleindians]

Nice units for the money

[@gordthor5351]

Some remotes aren't IR. Radio signal remotes are easy to tell because they don't need to be pointed at the receiver. Only 3 component are needed to build a remote tester. Any IR LED receiver, any color LED, 1 resistor and a 4V supply. Digital cameras can also be used to test IR remotes.

[@tookitogo]

@@Bobo-ox7fj They all do (without an IR filter, color fidelity is very poor), but IR remotes flash so brightly that even with the filter, you’ll see a small, visible response in the camera sensor when pointed directly at the camera. (The IR emitters in IR remotes are commonly pulsed at 1-1.5A!)

[@tookitogo]

Yes, some remotes are RF instead of IR, but the issue here is that this tester only decodes the NEC protocol. So if the remote is using a different protocol (like RC5), the tester can’t decode it and displays nothing. Some NEC-like protocols (like Panasonic, IIRC) may produce incorrect output.

[@BoldRam]

Brilliant review thanks Richard. I've just ordered one on Ali.

[@leebenn2945]

hi i think you did excellent job on the video. it was easy listening and understanding. i order one today. thanks again keep up the excellent work.

[@daz41262010]

very good review Richard :) well presented :) and good use of components to test it with :)

[@TABE-O]

Good work scowser!! 😜

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

Who are you calling a Scouser? I'm a Potter! Or 'Stokie' if you prefer, duck. Or more correctly I'm an 'ex-stokie' as I live and work in Gran Canaria (Maspalomas). More likely I would call myself 'Nuevo Canarian' these days

[@kwpctek9190]

@@LearnElectronicsRepair Claro todos los 'Nuevo Canarios' requieran tiempo pa' ser "aplatanados"🍌😂

[@PicaDelphon]

This be a great Field Kit add on for when I have to go onsite work, these are great size to go into a tool box / or old fish tackle Box...

[@frankbaron1608]

handy for audio applications

[@thorstenstraub3657]

12:10 The trigger test was not conclusive since it was in auto mode, not in regular mode. Maybe the waveform will be more stable in regular mode (which exists according the specs shown in the intro). It is not clear in which trigger mode the IC15 (which was shown as comparison) uses. The TC3 shows negative rms voltages. A rms voltage value must never be negative. Maybe there is a bug leading to the display of the avg value where the rms value should have been displayed. Apart from the details mentioned above this video gives a very good overview of this inexpensive product. I think such products are a wonderful and, above all, affordable way for all who wish to have look at the world of electronics without a big budget. Wish they existed 40 years ago. If the specs are insufficient there are always better and more expensive devices to upgrade to.

[@A7mag3ddon]

Looking forward to watching this later, their soldering iron was really nice. I already have a cheap rechargeable component tester but this certainly looks interesting.

[@billybbob18]

This seems like the swiss army knife of testers. I have a decent scope, tester and multimeters but I would have loved this thing when I was starting out in electronics. As far as the scope goes, I absolutely need 100mhz but this is a killer deal for the price.

[@full_time_motorhome]

Just ordered mine today with the extra probe. Bit late to your video, been sub for a while. Testing IR remote function. You need to point IR remote to the side of the unit pretty much where the IR initials are on the right of the screen. 😃 Maybe you can do a follow up video showing how used in hobby electronics or pc diagnostics. Graeme from Newcastle.👍🎄🎄

[@thetraindriver01]

Awesome review, thanks 👍😊

[@OldmanSerious]

Not saying this encouraged me to get one, just there is one on the way to my house in Adelaide now. And the price was amazingly good even in Australian dollars. Usually something around 60 euros would be over $100 in Australian dollarydoos, but instead it was more $AUD80, and still free shipping. (For the one with the oscilloscope probe). Looks really cool too.

[@peterdavies5358]

On my bench I have a power lead without an earth for my scope as I find the scope triggers fets. I like the battery-powered stuff for this feature and I might get myself one. I'd probably use it at work over my scope a lot of the time to gain familiarity with it. I use my own tiny battery drill a lot as I don't use it enough for my own stuff and the Ni-cads suffered. I replaced the 3 nicads with 4 Lithium phosphate AAs as I'd lost the charger and could only find a 6V wallwart that fitted. Not quite sure if 6V is enough for 4 1,2V cells but it was all free so... Back to this though, I think one will be handy and I like my job so don't resent using my own tools at work.

[@johncoops6897]

For the LED tests on the Zener connections, you are testing the VOLTAGE, not the wattage. It is largely irrelevant what the "wattage" of the LED is, as the LED chips are connected in Series and Parallel, with the rated Voltage dependant on how many LEDs are in series, and the rated Current being dependant on how many chips are in Parallel. So, a 10W LED could be made at various Voltages. This tester outputs up to 32V so it can test LEDs up to 33V (not up to 30V).

[@phillippatterson512]

I just got mine and thanks to you, I now have it calibrated. In the near future, could you please show how to adjust the scope probe? I would really appreciate that. Great video and I'm learning a lot from your videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. 🧐

[@frankbaron1608]

the component tester on it seems impressive even if nothing else does

[@1pcfred]

It does seem more capable than your run of the mill Chinese AVR transistor tester clone.

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

Yes, my opinion was the component tester is the strong point, it is nothing less than impressive as you say. The other features are nice to have if not particularly powerful. With the scope I can see it useful for some onsite work, like audio fault diagnosis. The scope and sig gen are also nice tools if you are just beginning to learn electronics and I think when you then move on to better signal injectors and scopes, you will *still* keep this as your daily driver component tester 😉 You will definitely see me using this for that purpose, OK it was a free review sample, but it's going nowhere 🙂

[@1pcfred]

@@LearnElectronicsRepair the component tester is likely based off the AVR transistor tester project. Which is a German OSHW project. The Chinese took the ball and ran with it. They make a countless number of variants of it today. In the original tester one calibration step it asks for a capacitor. I noticed yours didn't do that. The classic way to enter cal mode on the AVR tester is to short all 3 inputs and hit test. There's a lot of info about the project on the net. Searching for Markus Frejek, Karl-Heinz Kübbeler and transistortester digs it up.

[@lizzyfrizzy4969]

​@@LearnElectronicsRepair Toolbox tour soon ;)

[@cfdfirefighter]

@@LearnElectronicsRepair just want to thank you for your videos. I’ve been watching a ton of them the last few weeks. I’m completely new and it’s helped me a ton.

[@nigelfewster]

Can you give a good better best for a scope if you have a budget up to £400 . That little one seemed to have a good number of features all in one box, very useful. Nice and clear review , thanks.

[@CliveChamberlain946]

Great value! Novices be aware that low cost can mean no input protection!🤔There's one man (Joe Smith) I know might like to review and make it hobbyist rugged, without harming specs.

[@jonasschinkler5376]

What does the input protection do exactly?

[@CliveChamberlain946]

@@jonasschinkler5376 It limits voltages right at the input jacks so the circuitry and micro-controller inside cannot be damaged. Look-up something like "What Is A Metal Oxide Varistor" or maybe "What Is TVS input protection" that should give you more info.

[@jonasschinkler5376]

@@CliveChamberlain946 So basically you could put a tvs diode on the leads to modify it or would there be a voltage drop to mess up the readings?

[@CliveChamberlain946]

@@jonasschinkler5376 That's just the issue. This device has 2 sets of inputs and at least one output. All can be protected in some way to add robustness to the product. As EEVblog Dave Jones likes to say, these things are built to a price. Under a specified voltage, a TVS or TVS array will add nothing but a bit of capacitance. On affecting the O-scope input, I suspect a GDT in series with a surge resistor would add a lower amount of capacitance. Fluke often takes months on new products to get the right level of protection vs. performance to make a bullet-proof product last for years. (this grey-beard still has his model 77 series 1)

[@lizzyfrizzy4969]

Thanks

[@alanrichardson1672]

As you say in particular an impressive "daily driver" component tester for very little money

[@tonysheerness2427]

It is a good amateur tester if you have good eye sight to see the screen. The problem with small screens and lots of functionality is it becomes to small to read. I bought a multimeter with an auto feature, but can not see what it says and do not use it.` In the beginning of your video the image was twice as big as that toward the middle and end, I could see the screen with double the size but not properly at normal size.

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

The zoom on my overhead camera can show things either larger or smaller than the naked eye. Bear in mind it is mounted 1m away from the bench surface.

[@tonysheerness2427]

@@LearnElectronicsRepair Yes with the zoom I can read the face.

[@csbluechip]

Every manufacturer has their own encoding of 1s & 0s in IR - based on the Mark and Space lengths, and the style of encoding (eg MFM). They could certainly improve their database, but you're never going to catch everything. No reason they couldn't dump the raw signal (of most remotes) to the screen though - even if they couldn't decode it

[@theshemullet]

Thanks! Again if you are looking for something to do, I'd love an 'everything you need to know about oscilloscope' vid. Also the soldering tip test but the bc3 vs a knife tip. Thanks for all the good content.

[@petopeter4832]

fancy tamagotchi meter :D

[@DrFiero]

Tongduan. On and off. Makes sense! Ok, sort of. ;)

[@weerobot]

Interesting...add to my Multimeter Collection....lol

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

One never can have enough test gear 😁. The component test function was impressive though so I can see why anyone would want one

[@dimitrismaster]

@Learn Electronics Repair looking for an affordable voltage regulator tester,if sth like that exists.

[@robertobertolotti5052]

its a very good device but..after fw update ( 0.3) has many problem with components low value, a capacitor 6,8mf read like mosfet..

[@csbluechip]

Thank you. Have some engagement :)

[@paolorecchia2714]

Hi, thx for the video, i wanna ask you, why if i measure 10 times the capacitor's Vloss, i get almost 10 different values? From 0.7% to 4% ... for the same capacitor....

[@lizzyfrizzy4969]

500khz was an accuracy cutoff and not a mechanical range cutoff

[@BaguetesGarage]

Is it possible to remove the cutoff?

[@aerofart]

Nice little device for the price, though not sure how practical it would be IRL. Have you by any chance ever gotten your hands on a Digilent Analog Discovery 2? I think you could make a really good video (or series of videos) showing us some of your creative uses for it in electronics repair. It’s a truly capable bit of kit that isn’t seen in use much, which I don’t understand why.

[@juancosta200]

Acabo de pedirlo se ve prometedor

[@DelticEngine]

Hi Rich, how good is the ESR reading on this device compared with dedicated ESR meters such as the MESR-100?

[@johncoops6897]

Not as "accurate" because it doesn't use the same test frequency. It's certainly good enough for simple good/bad, since ESR only matters in real circuits once it rises considerably (eg: whole ohms for a 100uF cap). The component tester is a very simple design based on the same circuit as all the other Component Testers on the market ( typically under $15), and they are intended for component identification rather than laboratory testing.

[@ideacomes7882]

12:16 Oh, the same problem as my DSO-TC3, Vrms=Vavg - a software bug. The trigger seem be not good - the trigger point is not at the center, and trigger level is inverted at the min time base. I've done the firmware update but nothing changes.

[@dimitrismaster]

Does it work when you want to check check bios chips in osciloscope mode?Or is it super slow for it?Also,can it measure high voltages pwm like a power mosfet?

[@cincinattiblues]

Can you actually get an audible sound from the signal generator that would allow for signal injection circuit debugging?

[@andymouse]

My little ̶P̶o̶n̶y̶ electronics lab, seems very good value I wonder what the noise specs on the Sig Gen are and the Comp tester seems the best bit for me........cheers.

[@fredvankempen2177]

@LearnElectronicsRepair: I received mine last Friday (in the U.S.), and it came with firmware v0.3, not the v0.1 you had. My scope seems to be much less 'wobbly' when going over the 500k range, so it looks like like they read your mind. Hmm, or, well, they're watching your channel :P

[@ksamprocar-oh4ft]

Hello, Can it be used in automotive diagnostics? Does it support CAN, LIN and FlexRay protocols? And if not so what is the affordable one do you recommend for automotive repair?

[@pupasfever]

Hi, nice video, it is cheap(less than 50 euros) but i have one cuestion, would iy be able to do tests on circuit?as you can messure the esr, it would be great for testing capacitors and other stuff without having to remove them, thanks for sharing your knoledge.

[@Dutch_off_grid_homesteading]

Heya, very nice review love the tool

[@UkulelePusher]

I just got mine this morning! One short question: can you run the signal generator with a sine wave at the same time as you use the oscilloscope? When I try I only get a square wave.

[@JimmyKay1976]

Can this detect the positive /negative sides of audio capacitors?

[@svetlinbarzev9110]

As a component analyzer, does it go on par with the more expensive peak atlas?

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

It's different I think - so I have a Peak DCA55 and I love it, but it is only a semiconductor analyzer and even then does not test (up to) 32V zener, High power LEDS, Diacs etc But the Peak is very well respected as a component analyzer. I also have one of the cheap component analyzers and the DSO-TC3 is definitely better than that one, for example it tests and measures low value inductors where the cheap one just thinks they are resistors

[@englishrupe01]

@@LearnElectronicsRepair On your cheap component tester, Rich, you might want to look into updating the firmware as several updates have been released for them. All 4 of my various versions measure low value inductors just fine.

[@UltraUltaderdritte]

I think the component tester included in this 3 in 1 is just another clone of the well known AVR Transistortester. The Zehner diode function is also part of that original design but most variants do not implement this as it needs a second 'high' voltage supply.

[@kwpctek9190]

Not even close to Atlas. One of the lead devs on the AVR project (indman) commented and posted photo proof today on the DSO-TC3 saying ESR results were like "the weather on Mars" due to all this new crop of china-clones not using an original ATMEL microcontrollers (hence, they have unstable ADC measurements). Look for the EEVblog Topic: "$20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project", it's been going for >10 years now with 3 million views.

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

@@kwpctek9190 Probably I should have compared the ESR readings with my other ESR meter. But Don't discount the DSO-TC3 for what it is though, it's a really well priced 'tool kit' for beginners in particular, and the component analyzer is a better all-rounder than the other ones I have. It has more features, for less money, than my Peak Atlas DCA55 and is way better than the cheap LCR 4T I have. For ESR I only use my MESR-100 because it is a 'proper' ESR meter and can do a lot of other useful things such as measure inductors and trace short circuit high side mosfets in multiphase VRMs Nothing is perfect, nor does one thing do everything, but the DSO-TC3 has some good aspects IMHO, it's a nice thing to have.

[@lampshadesneeded]

Does the sig gen still produce signals in scope mode?

[@jasen963]

Can you recommend a decent portable occiloscope at an affordable price?

[@solidhit2]

Hello, love your channel. Please, could you test the ESR meter part of the tester as there is an alarming number of colleagues of mine mentioning it produces false measures. I have ordered one which I haven't received yet and I really need an operational ESR meter

[@ENGMONENGMON]

Can i use the signal generator at the same time i using oscilloscope, i mean to generate siganl in circuit then check it with oscilloscope?

[@LawrenceBariy]

Can you show the number of transistors in this machine?🎉🎉

[@eduardcobretti]

Do the signal generator can be used at the same time as the oscilloscope? Thanks in advance!

[@Asian_Connection]

Great video. Can this test capacitor ESR on board?

[@davet3804]

The 0.22ohm resistor showed an inductance …wire wound giving a true inductance as well as its resistance ??

[@stefanl5183]

Yes. Wire wound resistors will have some inductance. That has to be kept in mind in high frequency circuits.

[@akierum]

How does it compare to atlas dca or dca pro that even cant test zenners only low voltage

[@tvelektron]

I would be interested in this product, but why Fnirsi does not want so ship to Austria ??

[@RensePosthumus]

Can the scope of the TC3 show the signal from its own Signal generator?

[@kwpctek9190]

Apparently not, since to get to that, one would have to exit to the main menu.

[@RensePosthumus]

@@kwpctek9190 That's to bad, in oscilloscope mode there seems to be a calibration signal on the generator port so maybe a firmware update will make this happen...

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

@@kwpctek9190 Yeah I agree

[@don7680]

It would be a nice little scope for audio equipment, but it would be far better if the generator and scope at the same time. @@kwpctek9190

[@LucianoToscano]

straight to the plate?

[@faisaljehangir1324]

Hi to all. To the experts n master i have a mystery question. My pc reboots if i turn on/off room ligts or plug any thing to same extension as pc. The culprit i am pretty sure is the PSU. Its too sensitive. Its silver stone DA650w . Its rock solid under heavy loads all rails stay well withing specs. No random restarts either. The wiring is fine / all pc components also good as with other psu this issue doesnt happen. I cant trace the cause not an expert with PSUs To me i think it can be the inrush thermistor or the big 450v cap bank. Or maybe as simple as improper ground or earthing that is causing it. I have googled found guys with similar issues but none seem to fix it. I know to do proper cap discrage before starting the psu operation so i had been in psu a few times but again not an expert

[@MsQwerty65]

Hi, whats the deference between the Ts2 and TS3 ?

[@andersmeiniche2746]

I think maby this is made for people that use it for arduino and so on. with all the sensors you can by for small projects with arduino it will be fine ;o)

[@tlp739]

My comment just disappeared for no reason.Why is that?I was only asking about another scope (1014d) and about a dynacord powermate 600 as I'm just repairing one.I don't get it 😑

[@theprogrammerrolandmc3039]

No HDMI output that's it i am going to buy a calculator to watch TV on 🤣 Let's all use sellotape instead of solder

[@3-gv9el]

いいね👍

[@kinbolluck476]

Thanks bro!

[@rorymacleod8488]

shows 2mH because its a wirewound resistor...... 2.2. ohm

[@Dutch-linux]

nice little tool for that price ... I seen worse than that at double the price range

[@PeetHobby]

Just fine until you need to check the timing of a signal. 😂

[@LearnElectronicsRepair]

Of course, no one tester will do everything you will ever need to do. This is why us hobbyists tend to collect test equipment.😉

[@andymouse]

@@LearnElectronicsRepair Yeah but if it says its a scope then up to its specs it should perform well and that jitter will probably get fixed in firmware. The 15 quid DSO Shell fixed its terrible jitter that way but I must say this is worse than that was...cheers.

[@3D_Printing]

But can it make coffee 😂

[@kasparskleinbergs]

I should have watched the review before buying😢 this thing has a scope and a function generator however YOU CAN'T USE THEM SIMULTANEOUSLY😢

[@cpcfreak]

All that but no curve tracer, it's setup like a repair / diagnostics tool but it lacks probably the most useful function.

[@PeoterRhubarb]

There is a teardown video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYC4p6uhr72kgbM

[@hectormata449]

I hate it when instructors have not prepared to teach with efficiency. He should be off and running with a wealth of info on the use of this new Oscilloscope.

[@meguinness1116]

Would this be any good to test automotive sensors like the one on this video linked using the square forms? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIjJlXuOgZKVhsk Thanks

[@lohikarhu734]

Single channel scope is not very useful...