Lowest power consumption USB oscilloscope

USB oscilloscopes in general offers really low power consumption. Low power consumption is important factor when buying an oscilloscope for two main reasons. One is definitely saving the energy and the second reason is highly connected with the first one and it’s autonomy of measurement system.

Measurement system usually represent a personal computer and USB oscilloscope. Personal computer can be desktop computer or notebook. Desktop computers are limited with mobility so let’s focus on measurement systems with notebooks and outdoor measurements.

For outdoor measurements without accessible third party power supply we have to rely on notebook battery to power up our whole measurement system. This includes notebook itself and USB oscilloscope. To extend the autonomy and longevity of measurement system we have to provide low power consumption. For PoLabs as a manufacturer of USB oscilloscopes the only way to do that was to design lowest power consumption USB oscilloscope.

PoScopeMega1 – the lowest power consumption USB oscilloscope on the market

When designing PoScopeMega1 we primarily focused on reducing power consumption and keeping as many as possible features. The designing process consisted of many tests and design revisions and the whole iteration process lasted until we were really happy with it. We designed PoScopeMega1 – the lowest power consumption USB oscilloscope on the market – which draws only 60mA when all possible features are running. That means we can use PoScopeMega1 in dual channel mode, sampling at 200kS/s and 12-bit data and simultaneously run function generator. Full-speed USB transfer rate is around 1,2MBps.

Image below shows power measuring device between the PoScopeMega1 and USB port of notebook. 7-segment LED on the device shows current draw of 0.06A. The power supply voltage of PoScopeMega1 is 5V which results to max. 300mW of power consumption.

Many will ask how do we know that our USB oscilloscope has lowest power consumption on the market? We compared other similar products by measuring their power consumption with all features they offer. The results of measurements proved our assumptions.

Lowest power consumption USB oscilloscope - the measurement — Fig. 1: USB oscilloscope power consumption measurement

Conclusion

PoScopeMega1 is the lowest power consumption USB oscilloscope, function generator and logic analyzer all-in-one available on the market. It draws only 60mA thus the best choice for measurement environments which demands power autonomy and longevity. It’s especially convenient for outdoor measurements in remote places where power supply is limited and portability is very important.