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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : RIGOL scope....
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9755 |
Howdy.  I am looking at getting a RIGOL DS1054Z 4-channel unit such as this one. Do any members here have this unit? Can they recommend this one or would they suggest something else? I need to be able to look at the switching frequencies of most modern buck/boost switchmode PSU's for one thing. I seem to recall they mostly run at about 50kHz or so, so I expect this scope can let me see that just fine, so I can start to check the output of modules for switching noise etc. Also just general purpose use. I need a good scope, and am prepared to spend a little more, if it will serve me well. I hear many good things about RIGOL, so this is the brand I am looking at most seriously, but will look at other brands if any member thinks they have advantages over RIGOL. Don't want to spend more then US$1000 at the most, preferably less. EDIT: Dave's summary of this unit... Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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disco4now Guru  Joined: 18/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1044 |
Hi Grogs, That is the one I have. I got mine from emona who are distributors for AU/NZ. They advertise in silicon chip, on back page on last issue.AU$579 + GST currently, can't remember the freight. I did the software hack to unlock 100MHz and all the features. (Google that) See this thread for many inverter waveforms shown by @poida which I am pretty sure are taken with this oscilloscope. He seems to make it do many things I have not discovered how to do as yet. I really can't tell you much about it other than I have one. Regards Gerry F4 H7FotSF4xGT |
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LadyN Guru Joined: 26/01/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 408 |
If all you need is to look at 50kHz or so, the $10 Scope they built here should be more than sufficient. You can use a 10x scope to attenuate boosted voltages. I am actually thinking of going down this path. What do you think? Not the answer you wanted but it can work |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9755 |
@ disco4now - does that unlock the serial analyser features too? @ LadyN - Yes, I did look at those things too, but I think if I spend the money and get a good scope, it will certainly do the PSU stuff I want, but will also have a ton of other features. I am extremely interested in this scope apparently being able to act as a serial analyser(UART/I2C/SPI etc). I already have a Saelie Logic thing and it is very useful, but I have to couple to the PC for that. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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goc30 Guru Joined: 12/04/2017 Location: FrancePosts: 435 |
hi grog I don't know this unit, but I have work on other unit of this manufacturer, it is very good, not an Tektro, but with very good quality/price coef I have also Picoscope on PC but it is only for small projects. |
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| disco4now Guru Joined: 18/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1044 |
Yes,but I have not used it.see below. Unlocks addition triggering options,decoding of R232, I2C and SPI, 100MHz and the 24Meg memory.  F4 H7FotSF4xGT |
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| PeterB Guru Joined: 05/02/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 655 |
G'Day Grogster et al Some of these psu's run at over 1MHz. A few years ago there was a problem with the output being at 120V wrt ground. That caused a lot of problems even when connecting video systems. You could get a slight belt off the various bits of equipment before they were connected. The 120V was high impedance so the only people who died were the poor blokes who fell off a roof while connecting TV aerials. I have a CRO which is still the only thing to use under certain conditions. I have a Hantek DSO5102P which is much too clever for me. Peter |
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| Paul_L Guru Joined: 03/03/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 769 |
Aw, heck, you don't need anything that good! My first scope would have shown the switching transients of that power supply just fine. http://hparchive.com/Manuals/HP-120B-Manual.pdf Paul in NY |
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| PeterB Guru Joined: 05/02/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 655 |
G'Day Paul Do you remember how many weeks pay it cost? Peter |
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| Paul_L Guru Joined: 03/03/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 769 |
Hi PeterB, I think it was about $335 new in about 1960. At the time I was the Chief Broadcast Engineer at WTFM, 5000 Watts, 103.5 MHz. FM, in Lake Success NY, a part time position, with a salary of about $115 per week so it was about 3 weeks salary. Today that station doesn't need a full time Chief Engineer since it monitored and controlled remotely from WGLI-AM in Babylon NY, however that job would not pay about $2000 per week. You can buy a heck of an oscilloscopy today for $6000. Paul in NY. |
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| PeterB Guru Joined: 05/02/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 655 |
Paul & Grogster I have been using my Hantek today just to look at kHz square waves and wondering what all those switch positions are for. And that is interesting because if you are not using these things 24/7, it is easy to forget what it is all about. I don't know how often Grogster would use a DSO but one advantage of a simple CRO is that I can remember what all the knobs do even if I don't use it for some time. I have been caught by aliasing and that doesn't happen with a CRO. Perhaps just the meanderings of an old bloke.  Peter |
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plover Guru Joined: 18/04/2013 Location: AustraliaPosts: 306 |
I have that Rigol unit, a couple of years ago I needed to investigate class D audio amplifiers. What I liked was the single shot and recording those to USB. For me it is a good general purpose unit. A few days ago I needed to do some simple checking on a charge pump circuit and was disappointed to find that I had forgotten a lot about how to operate the unit. One of above posts reminded me, I thought spot on. One thing that had me excited was I was aware of the unlocking but I don't think I got around to do that. So I have never found out how well that works. |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2464 |
you might also like to have a look at the SIGLENT SDS1104X-E scope. it is 4-channel, 100mhz, 1 gs/second, 14megs of memory. reversing the option keys seems to be relatively simple. cheers, rob :-) |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9755 |
Do you have one of those? Here is Dave's take on this unit. EDIT: Dave's video is a teardown - opps! I leave it anyway. This is a video review of the unit. This unit is now the front-runner over the Rigol, as it has really good serial display and decoding. Skip to time-index 11:26 for those features. I like.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2464 |
i don't have one, but have been thinking about buying a 4-chnnel DSO with deep memory for a while. i'd be ok with the rigol 1054Z, but have always been really put off by the weird/futuristic design of the front panel - it makes it look a bit like a toy. pretty much all other DSOs i've dismissed because of their short memory (40k or less). i've used both cheap and expensive DSOs in the past, and found deep memory to be an essential feature that makes the instrument far more usable. while checking out the current rigol prices (in response to this thread), i just happened upon one on amazon, that then had a link to the siglent SDS1104X-E as an alternative purchase. the siglent has a sensible external design, and a bit of research revealed that it is comperable to the (unlocked) rigol in terms of features, and appears to be a generation later in internal design. and the siglent SDS1104X-E is us$500 on amazon, which will afford some sort of guarantee and make bringing one in relatively easy. cheers, rob :-) |
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