Hobby task
Check power-supply ripple with the Rigol DS1054Z
Task: measure whether a power rail is clean enough for your circuit, especially when motors, LEDs, radios or switching regulators are active.
Set up the measurement carefully
Use a short ground connection where possible, because long probe ground leads can pick up noise and exaggerate what you see. Start with DC coupling to confirm the rail voltage, then use AC coupling and a sensitive vertical scale to inspect ripple riding on the supply.
Use triggering to catch dips
If the circuit resets or behaves badly when a load switches on, trigger on a falling edge of the supply rail. The DS1054Z's memory depth helps capture the moment before and after the event so you can see whether the rail dips, rings or recovers slowly.
What result should you get?
A healthy rail should stay within the tolerance your circuit needs. Some ripple is normal, but large spikes, repeating bursts or dips during load changes can explain resets, ADC errors, radio dropouts and unstable sensor readings.
Why this matters
Power problems often look like software bugs. A scope lets you prove whether the supply is stable when the fault actually happens.