OverUnity Research

Slider, aka Mark Vaughan, has been BUILDING and inventing devices for years.  A strong open-source proponent, he presents his results on the forums and in videos.  No salary, just a service to mankind.   O0

Chet Kremens and I feel its time we help him out just a bit with some test equipment -- here goes.  Please consider a donation today -- I will chip in $50.  Who will join us?

See:
http://www.youcaring.com/project-fundraiser/let-s-get-mark-vaughan-slider-a-fine-4ch-dso-w-v-t-i-t-/309899

QUOTE
For a mere $399, we can buy our friend/researcher a nice Rigol DS1054Z 50 MHz Digital Oscilloscope with 4 channels plus 12 Mpt memory, 1 GS/s sampling - with Math Functions!
By measuring voltage and current in separate channels, he will be able to multiply to get the power waveforms =
P(t) = V(t)*I(t) .  Analyzing power in and power out is critical in this alternative-energy research.

Mark is well known for his alt-energy projects and videos and for frequent contributions on overunityresearch.com, overunity.com and EnergeticForum.com .  

Here's a brief message from Mark:

Quote""Hi, my name is Mark, you probably know me as Slider2732 around the web and especially on YouTube.

The Playlist called 'Sliders Ideas' forms a good introduction to the low energy project builds that have formed an intense research study over the past 5 years -https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-VrIx_FsZCIPf_vxqKww6g5tAo7FRGmI

My intentions, are to further concepts that bring forward harvested energy and ultra low power usage devices for use in practical ways.
One thing you may have wondered about within those projects and have never seen are scope shots !

There's a good reason for that and why my good friends Steve and Chet have set up this funding challenge.

With your help and perhaps to answer your own future questions or curiosities about the waveforms of devices shown on YouTube, this fundraiser is for a Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscope.
http://www.tequipment.net/Rigol/DS1054Z/Digital-Oscilloscopes/

It is also my intention, that if funding surpasses the sum needed, Steve and Chet can place that money toward equipment needed by other researchers.
Thank you for your support in advance, for considering a donation toward this goal"

Note that there is a charge of about 3% for credit-card use, for donations direct to this site.  (This is common for credit cards, they charge a fee.)  If you use check or PayPal (specify "gift"), then there is no charge.  Contributions by check pls to: Steven E. Jones, 201 E. Clay St., Albany, MO 64402; OR PayPal to email Profsjones@gmail.com

100% of such "off-line" donations will be recorded at the YouCaring site so you can look and be assured that your donation "made it" to the intended goal of getting the 4ch DSO for our colleague Mark.

Quote from: Matt Watts on 2015.02.20, 15:14:16
Steve,

Just PayPal'd you $25.00.

Can hardly wait for Slider to do a review on it.  Need to know if it's possible to use the 4 channels as two channel differential inputs.   O0

Thanks, Matt!  I logged your contribution at the YouCaring site:
http://www.youcaring.com/project-fundraiser/let-s-get-mark-vaughan-slider-a-fine-4ch-dso-w-v-t-i-t-/309899

  PayPal is a good way to do this, and it should work internationally also.  Does anyone want to test that hypothesis?   ;)

Just my 5 cents:

The instruments can be collected quickly when there is specific project involved. And when there is general donation most people do not care about helping.

Also because Slider is focusing on very low power circuits the Crystal Batteries might be a way in to go for his power source.. ;)



Cheers!

  Thanks.

   Another donation - $50 via PayPal arrived from Europe -- so PayPal works internationally just fine!  We're quickly up to $125 for Slider's scope.

   If you wish to have your name ANONYMOUS, please state that with your PayPal message, or email me at ProfSJones@gmail.com.  Otherwise, I'll go ahead and list your name at the YouCaring site.

   (If you donate directly at that site, there is an option to keep your name anonymous if you so choose.)

Quote from: Matt Watts on 2015.02.20, 15:14:16
Steve,

Just PayPal'd you $25.00.

Can hardly wait for Slider to do a review on it.  Need to know if it's possible to use the 4 channels as two channel differential inputs.   O0

Yes, it is. The scope has extensive trace math capability built-in, including the basic addition and subtraction of traces.

Wait... do you mean showing 2 separate differential traces? No, I don't think so, it will only display one math trace at a time, so you can only use two of the channels for one differential measurement.

The one drawback of the scope is that it has no "Ext Trigger" input. So if you need to trigger on an external source you need to use one of the four channel inputs to do it.

Also, the sample rate goes down the more channels you are using. So while it is a 50 MHz bandwidth scope when only one channel is used, when all four are in use the bandwidth drops to 1/4 of the spec. However, the good news is that testing by EEVblog members has shown that the scope is very conservatively rated and the 3dB rolloff point is considerably greater than 50 MHz. Plus... there is a "secret" feature that may still be available on the latest production runs of the scope. At least I hope it will be.  (All old stock of this scope is sold out pretty much all over the world and I believe that even the next factory shipment to TEquipment is already sold out, so there may be some delay in getting Slider his scope even after funds are raised.)

ETA: Also there is no built-in realtime clock, so when you save setups or screens there is no information about when the shots were made, except the timestamp from the computer when it creates the saved files. The answer to that is to name the file with some kind of date information when you save it.  And another thing is that there seems to be some "issues" with the remote-control software for controlling the scope over USB or Ethernet connections.

I've researched this scope considerably over the past couple of weeks. A really good place for info is the EEVblog forum and Dave's YT videos; he has an extensive review and even a complete teardown on his YT channel.
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-rigol-ds1054z-oscilloscope/

Just dropping in to thank Steve and Chet for setting up this fundraiser...plus Matt and the person from Europe.
Quite the start !

I agree with the question of what would it be used for right away.
Short term specific research with the scope would be directed to energy harvesting. RF sources, such as radio, house mains, WiFi and Smartmeter emissions that permeate the house, need to be matched with receiving circuits. There is a need to know what is happening where, how circuit changes impact results, to demonstrate with provable data.
I know right now that a Dickson multiplier is not as effective for CFL bulb emissions collections as the circuit popularised by Inventor3 on YouTube..but why ? what is it doing ? how can it be improved ? what is happening to the 60Hz feed ? is there only 60Hz within the input to the circuit ?
One big drive is to run small circuits that remove electrosmog (now a fave term - thanks TK). Charge batteries with it, remove the need for batteries in TV remotes, run wall clocks, supply tick-over current to microcontrollers for home security sensors and for other practical uses.
Scope shots themselves go a long way to proving out anything demonstrated, any device standing a much better chance of being replicated and then become widely useful to others.

Included near term research includes the furtherment of low input wireless electricity systems for energy transfer within the home. The 'Centurion' tank circuit wireless energy system will run from an upside down solar garden light solar cell on the workbench. But what is the system doing ? what and where are the peak and minimum energies ?, what does the waveform look like ?
Also, if The Internet of Things (IoT) is to come about as a positive, then in my opinion, it has to be as widely Open Sourced as possible. Our own systems and our own research can deliver trusted integrations and solutions.

On the subject of Crystal batteries, they have been a strong interest for a few years. Anyone interested could try a great introduction rechargeable cell capable of 70mA when solar charged, in the form of C/Pb. A washed Carbon electrode from a depleted 'D' 1.5V battery, slice of lead from a junk car battery (negative plate) or car wheel weight, electrolyte is rain water and Alum. Output is always 0.8V at several hundred uA even after a year of non charging and it will run an LED blocking oscillator 24/7, for example. Mine is a couple of years old now, always in use to the point of forgetting about it and shows no degradation of either electrode...there's no sacrificial metal on the positive !


You could say, the scope of my own research would be greatly expanded :) 

I just sent $50

  Received, Peter, and logged at the YouCaring site -- thank you!   O0

Brings us to $175 out of $399 needed (which I think is a bargain for this DSO).

Just threw in 150 for the cause.

I wasn't going to keep popping in but...wow guys THANK YOU  !
Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Quote from: TinMan on 2015.02.21, 01:39:12
Just threw in 150 for the cause.

Hurray!  I see that - VERY generous of you, TinMan -- awesome! 

We are up to $325 with this generous boost...  If anyone wishes to contribute to the scope for Slider, there is still a small window of opportunity! 

I'm in for 50 - only 24 to go :)

Quote from: JimBoot on 2015.02.21, 04:32:27
I'm in for 50 - only 24 to go :)

I see that, Jim -- thank you!  PS - nice photo 
:)

 Nice!  a donor who wishes to remain Anonymous donates $50 for Slider's scope!
Over the top - as donations reach $425, exceeding the goal actually.

Its still Friday here, so goal reached in one day, in about 14 hours.
Thanks, everyone!
Shows what we can do as a community of friends and fellow researchers!

Well Done Chaps. Amazing.

Nicely done, lads. Now all you have to do is find one in stock for sale!  (Ring up your selected vendor asap and get in the delivery queue...)
 
You may also want a 50 ohm input impedance adaptor ($18.00 US) since the scope does not have switchable input impedance. This might be needed for current probes, etc.

Rigol also sells a nice carry/storage case for the scope at $55.00 US.

O0

Great stuff everyone... @steve gotta remember to have a laugh right?

 Physics Prof
Quote

Nice!  a donor who wishes to remain Anonymous donates $50 for Slider's scope!
Over the top - as donations reach $425, exceeding the goal actually.

Its still Friday here, so goal reached in one day, in about 14 hours.
Thanks, everyone!
Shows what we can do as a community of friends and fellow researchers!                                             
                   Wonderful  O0

 :o
That's amazing !

Cheers Jim and the anonymous chap.
Thanks TK for the advice too.

O0

I could do with one myself, i wonder if they give quantity discount  ^-^

Congratulations, Mark!
I think many people in this community appreciate your work - I certainly do!!

I placed the order for your DSO when I saw that the fundraiser was going well; pls let us know when it arrives.

(I'm curious what voltage waveforms look like on your mmg-hair motor, when you get an opportunity...)

Will certainly let you know yep  O0
Will post on this thread.

Me too about what's going on in terms of return spikes...especially with a high ohm coils motor that's running now.
2hrs and still going, on a 0.1F supercap that started at 1.1V.

Quote from: Peterae on 2015.02.21, 19:43:11
I could do with one myself, i wonder if they give quantity discount  ^-^

Peterae, You have been very generous in maintaining this forum at your own expense. I'm sure now that you have expressed the need, you should submit a list of needed equipment including a new Rigol scope to P-Prof and Chet, as they have been very generous in spending their time to get people what they need. Your current projects certainly are worthy and definitely more in conformance with the OUR mission statement.

Also at this time, there are apparently no requirements for project submission or approval, so perhaps everyone in need should make their needs known.

Kind Regards
ION

I agree !!   O0

Also,does Smudge have a NICE scope ??

Thanks ION

I didn't mean for people to raise money for me though, the price is better than anything we can get in the UK.

I think that very few really qualify for fund raising on the basis that they don't make their work visible to the public, the likes of Slider & Grumage are much more deserving of that as they have more time to use it.O0

Peter

Quote from: Chet K on 2015.02.22, 14:54:20
I agree !!   O0

Also,does Smudge have a NICE scope ??

I can't speak for Smudge, but believe he is a huge asset that  has freely and generously given his life's work of 80+ years to the forum in the form of very well written scientific documents and very worthy ideas for research. From the fact that he relies on Peterae and others to do testing and post scope shot results of his experiments leads me to believe he does not have a scope befitting the calibre of a scientist of his stature.

There are many very worthy researchers here with ideas far more in line with the mission statement of this forum than others that have been so blessed. Hopefully all of their needs will also be met as generously.

Quote from: Peterae on 2015.02.22, 15:00:35
Thanks ION

I didn't mean for people to raise money for me though, the price is better than anything we can get in the UK.

I think that very few really qualify for fund raising on the basis that they don't make their work visible to the public, the likes of Slider & Grumage are much more deserving of that as they have more time to use it.O0

Peter

The fact that there is less visibility for the "hidden projects" on this forum is usually because they are more "sensitive" or more likely to be scrutinized by non-members and possibly plagiarized, or has more possibility of a large breakthrough, as I understand it. But this is not often the choice of the researcher, who is often invited to share his work in the private thread by a select group after it has been started. That these "hidden" projects should be somehow less "worthy" of investment is curious.

Personally I am not in favor of private threads but there seems to be no other good solution to protecting the forum at this time.
Any ideas on this issue are welcome.

Regarding equipment purchases and project allocation, I am keenly aware of the sensitive nature of this endeavor, having been a former Director of Research and Development for many years in my professional life. It was a difficult position, you couldn't please everyone. Generally projects that were most in line with the company mission statement were funded first and with the best equipment and project resources. Other projects didn't make full funding, and some were unfunded and not pursued.

All equipment went into an equipment pool and were lent to the projects according to certain criteria. When the project was finished, other projects could request the equipment.

   One thing is for sure, all projects required that proposals be submitted first, with expected goals and the investment would have to have some success probability attached. Also the projects would be aimed at surpassing current technology by adequate benchmarking with existing technology. Where no such goalpost was to be had, the project was not funded or very lightly funded.

Fortunately I do not serve on such a committee here at OUR, as it is a difficult position, and as far as I know there is no such committee, how recipients are selected I do not know. What is obvious is that there are only a handful of posters that actually worked in the real world and had responsibilities and headaches of project management and resource allocation. They know who they are.

The other approach is "Hey Hey! Let's buy a bloke a beer" which has it's pitfalls for the bloke might actually be expected to drive "car" home. If there are no expectations, then it could be just "charity".


Kind Regards
ION

Quote from: Chet K on 2015.02.22, 14:54:20
I agree !!   O0

Also,does Smudge have a NICE scope ??

I have two old scopes salvaged from the scrap heap, not DSO's but the old fashioned variety.  However due to health and other commitments I do not have time to do any active work in this area, although I am very much tempted to restart.  I haven't touched a soldering iron or scope probe for over 3 years  :'(.  I am happy to continue with other people doing the spade work while I sit back and play the foreman.  This might take longer than doing it myself, but at least it gets the job done.  If it was left to me to do the work I am afraid it would languish  :-[.

Smudge

For real public funding or people to donate, i think Zero fossil fuel has the right approach, you need to reveal all work in public in effect advertising your work and skills in order to tempt people for donations of money and equipment/tools/parts, i think you need to be pretty sharp with technology in order to make a living while doing FE research.

If you are working on something that could cause trouble as long as you have a wide public following, build it and show the research in total as it progresses then i don't see there being a problem.

My idea of a funded person is a lab with camera and voice contact during working times so people can watch and listen and then also contact via typed chat and then audio chat if time is available, there is no privacy, treat it like a job, 5 days 9-5

A project started would include a talk of what the aim is, and regular talks about how it's going and if it has gone off track and changed direction, there's loads of scope here.

I don't know the legalities or tax implications but i would imagine setting up a charity, the donations are then tax deductable to the donour, the charity buys the parts and equipment and a fair wage is paid to the researcher.

we are looking into the charity thing here,in the USA
Perhaps A query in the UK ,Australia,the Netherlands Sweden,Eastern Europe
France,Germany...Or ?

we cover the globe we should see where it is the easiest and makes sense ?

Lots of good ideas !

It's arrived !!!!!
Many many thanks to all  O0

Chet called saying he'd see into finding shipping location info and, not 2 minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

A few unboxing pics below.
It was noted while doing so, that nearby sits my restored 1970's LG BM-709 radio. Similar width, depth, height, weight and even a carrying handle. So the last pic is a fun comparison of 1975 vs 2015.

Indeed, i've often wondered about those mushrooms that grow wild in our front yard :D

Great to see it turnd up finally Mark.

Enjoy O0

Oh-P.S

Did TK get his yet?

Thanks Brad :)
I believe TK's arrives today too, source being the conv with our Mr. Chet.

Have just had a bit of a play and (scope newbie here) realised that there's 4V p/p of mains hum, if I hold the input lead ground and end tip. Seems like it's going to be really useful for such experiments as those that your osc device is bringing in. Perhaps also with furtherments of my own Pigeon Loft stuff of a few years ago. The readings go higher if gripped or if I tread into the floor. All normal, but never personally seen on a screen.
May make a sniffer coil for wireless work, but am wary of taking it within 10ft of a Slayer Exciter.

Initial observations are that it takes a while to boot up, 20 seconds or something, makes lots of relay clicking noises and has a loudish fan for a quiet room. I say loud, it's exactly the same as a regular 12V PC fan running inside a small area plastic case...annnd there could be a reason for that.
But, other than that, it's like using a 7" tablet or similar....very intuitive controls too that feel well made.
It doesn't move at all when pressing anything, which was a concern being on a wooden table.
Apparently I have 35hrs 57 mins of free features time. Probably enough time to realise what they do, get used to them, use them daily and then *poof*.
Shut down is hilarious in comparison to the slow data setup feed-in of the start up procedure - 'click' - gone lol

Quote from: TinMan on 2015.04.08, 18:49:20
Oh-P.S

Did TK get his yet?

Nope. It is supposed to be on a UPS truck for delivery today, but I haven't seen anything yet. Supposedly got put on the local truck at a bit after 5 am, and it's about 2:23 pm now.

Chet placed the order for this scope on February 9, by the way.

@Slider: you may find this useful:

(If you are using Linux you will need to run the makefile to compile the Linux version for your system. The Windows and HTML versions should work "out of the box". I haven't tested the Mac version.)

Also, two quieter fans have been suggested on the EEVblog forum:

Gelid Silent 5
and
Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-50

I have one of the latter on the way, coming from Houston, at 9.99 plus tax, free shipping. Just in case the stock fan keeps me awake.

ETA: Here's a basic multivibrator circuit with very fast fall-time. You can whip this up quickly to play around with, see if you can get the scope to resolve the falling edges of the pulse. Neither of my Analog scopes (60 MHz) will do it.

Running Lubuntu here.
Thanks ;)
Will certainly look at the Royer type circuit (if that's what it is ?)

The fan is no real problem though, just that there is one and it's noticeable in a quiet room.
On the other hand, my PC has a twonked out fan that needs to be replaced. You know that sound that car wheels make when the bearings crunch on a full turn lock ? it makes that sound. I'd considered turning it into one of those Imhotep Berdini things...but it would be the most underunity version ever. Start it up to scare small children at Halloween sort of device.

Great stuff Wallace, looking forward to seeing it in action

Tinsel know has a suped up Scope .
Loves it.

Quote from: Chet K on 2015.04.09, 11:43:31
Tinsel know has a suped up Scope .
Loves it.

It is great to see both guys have there new scope.
Now--wheres the video's ? lol.

 :D

Yep, it finally arrived--- at the vacant house next door. UPS just dropped it off on the front porch of the vacant house. They were supposed to get a signature.... obviously didn't, since nobody lives there! That house has been broken into several times and there are people who cruise this 'hood looking for loose stuff to rip off from porches, so it's very lucky that I found it over there before someone else did. We got on the phone to UPS customer service with a complaint, they are supposed to call back today with... what? What can they do at this point?

At any rate, it's here, it is in good shape, it works, it's not too noisy, I've unlocked it to 100 MHz bandwidth etc and burned it in overnight. I'm pleased as punch, and I want to thank everyone that helped make this possible. It's a significant upgrade to my lab capabilities and I'm sure it will pay off in terms of ... more data...

Here's the short unboxing video, nothing exciting except for my rant vs. UPS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gStNYfqMXk

I've just made another 12 minute video, showing some of the basic features and operation of controls. That will be ready to view in an hour or so, it takes a long time to transcode and upload from here. I'll post the link here when it's done.

(ETA: Note that the labels on the traces below aren't really  indicating "current" or Joules, the circuit isn't set up for those actual measurements. I just put the labels there to show how it's done. The Math trace is the integral of the multiplication of the two raw traces, though. )

Quote from: TinselKoala on 2015.04.09, 14:04:56
:D

Yep, it finally arrived--- at the vacant house next door. UPS just dropped it off on the front porch of the vacant house. They were supposed to get a signature.... obviously didn't, since nobody lives there! That house has been broken into several times and there are people who cruise this 'hood looking for loose stuff to rip off from porches, so it's very lucky that I found it over there before someone else did. We got on the phone to UPS customer service with a complaint, they are supposed to call back today with... what? What can they do at this point?

At any rate, it's here, it is in good shape, it works, it's not too noisy, I've unlocked it to 100 MHz bandwidth etc and burned it in overnight. I'm pleased as punch, and I want to thank everyone that helped make this possible. It's a significant upgrade to my lab capabilities and I'm sure it will pay off in terms of ... more data...

Here's the short unboxing video, nothing exciting except for my rant vs. UPS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gStNYfqMXk

I've just made another 12 minute video, showing some of the basic features and operation of controls. That will be ready to view in an hour or so, it takes a long time to transcode and upload from here. I'll post the link here when it's done.

(ETA: Note that the labels on the traces below aren't really  indicating "current" or Joules, the circuit isn't set up for those actual measurements. I just put the labels there to show how it's done. The Math trace is the integral of the multiplication of the two raw traces, though. )

Looks great TK,and i may have a job for you and your new scope very soon lol.

Quote from: TinMan on 2015.04.09, 16:23:39
Looks great TK,and i may have a job for you and your new scope very soon lol.

Any time, I'm already looking for stuff to test. The scope is great, most of the time!

The scopeshot below shows the pulse output from my old DataPulse DP101 pulse generator, which has a risetime spec of 5ns into 50 ohms. So ran it up to its maximum frequency of 10MHz and used a 50-ohm terminator adapter at the scope end of a length of co-ax, and got a satisfactory result: the scope reports less than 4 ns risetime. The scopeshot also shows the use of the cursor system, the zoom mode, and large fonts on the measurements.

I did have a weirdness while setting this up ... the scope locked up completely on me at one point. It was still capturing live waveforms but wouldn't respond to any buttons or knobs. Cycling the power made it work again... but of course I had the Power-On Setup set to "Default" instead of Last, so I lost the setup and had to reestablish it. So I am recommending that this parameter be kept in "Last" mode instead of Default, since it's easy to get rid of a previous setup after starting the scope, but harder to restore one that's lost by power-cycling.

Here's the 12 minute demo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNzfRsnabwk

I wish I could get better resolution without it taking hours and hours to upload. I have to compress to under 100 MB for any reasonable upload time, since we have a really slow connection here.

Quote from: TinselKoala on 2015.04.09, 18:08:00
Any time, I'm already looking for stuff to test.

I got something for ya to test.. being posted out soon!  O0

Family holiday here for Easter so been labouring all week completely knackered, cannot wait to go back to work for a rest lol no time to test but that changes this weekend and the device will be on it's way to you pronto.

Yes, many thanks to you too Grommit - good heavens, it must be 4 or 5 years that we've kept that going lol

TK - your vids are great for learning. I had no idea up until you posted that video about the zooming of ranges in those ways.


I wanted to do a vid with the scope, on TinMan's extraordinary thingummy with the Ground only connection. However, the darn circuit doesn't want to work yet. It lights an LED at up to 610kHz (signal generator) then the LED goes out, yet only to 510kHz in another configuration. Has a weird trait of snuffing the LED at 4Hz but works all around the lower figures too. I got intrigued and side tracked with it, morphing it to a Lasersaber SJR 3. No idea of the actual connections, basing it on the report within the video of a Berdini type SSG circuit.
Ummm I should use the scope to trace it out a bit, but would rather it was doing something first.

 

@ TK or slider
Are the grounds on those scope independent from one another?

Quote from: TinMan on 2015.04.10, 14:30:04
@ TK or slider
Are the grounds on those scope independent from one another?

No, they are not. All the BNC shields are connected together at the chassis, and the chassis ground is connected to the Mains ground pin. So you have direct continuity from the scope probe grounds, to the Mains powerline ground.

There are only a few scopes that I know about for which this is not true. For example, the Fluke 123 and 199 ScopeMeters have isolated and independent channel grounds good for 600 volts differential.

Quote from: TinselKoala on 2015.04.10, 15:30:41
No, they are not. All the BNC shields are connected together at the chassis, and the chassis ground is connected to the Mains ground pin. So you have direct continuity from the scope probe grounds, to the Mains powerline ground.

There are only a few scopes that I know about for which this is not true. For example, the Fluke 123 and 199 ScopeMeters have isolated and independent channel grounds good for 600 volts differential.

Ah,bugga. Oh well-cant win them all.
Im guessing these other scopes you mentioned cost an arm and leg.

Wish i could work out the math function on my scope-that would be handy.

Scope guys
we received this today

 Tequipment Tequipment.NET
205 Westwood Ave
Long Branch, NJ 07740
732-222-7077 - Tel
732-222-7088 - Fax
 
This e-mail may have been generated from a historical order.  
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at 1-877-571-7901
 

Thank You! Claim your $25 Gift Card for writing a product review.

Well, that's cool. So what kind of a review do they want, like a paragraph or so? If I send the review to you, can you send it to them?

Here:

The Rigol DS1054Z had a solid, quality feel to all it. The construction is robust, the controls smooth and accurate, and it's loaded with functionality. I particularly like the variable intensity display and the cursor functions, and the ease of saving a screen capture to a USB stick by a single button press. For a scope with such a depth of features, it is still very easy to use. I don't find the fan too noisy, and the probes it comes with are just fine, have long cords and are well suited to the scope. I am still amazed by the low cost of this fully functional, easy to use high-quality instrument. I've been testing it steadily for two days now and it's working great. The only minor drawback is that it does not have a Real-Time Clock, so saved setup, image, etc. files are not properly time-stamped.
We also purchased the Rigol carry-case/bag for the scope, and this item is also really well designed. It's not just a bag, but rather a semi-hardshell case with room for probes, cables, manual and some other accessories, and it fits the scope perfectly. It even has an inner restraint strap that secures the scope inside the case, and the quality of the fabric, stitching, clasps and zippers is excellent.
I give the scope a solid 5-star rating, and would recommend it as a first digital scope for just about anyone who doesn't need a very high bandwidth DSO.

Quote from: TinMan on 2015.04.10, 15:36:42
Ah,bugga. Oh well-cant win them all.
Im guessing these other scopes you mentioned cost an arm and leg.

Wish i could work out the math function on my scope-that would be handy.

Well, a leg anyway.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-199C-003-Handheld-Oscilloscope-FlukeView-CD-USB-Cable-MINT-199C-/151632481118

What's the make and model of your scope? I'll see if I can find a manual and figure out the math function.

I'll be showing the Rigol's math setup in a video soon, right now I'm setting up to show some other stuff about Averaging and Cursor functions on a "noise" waveform.

Tinsel
I'll call them later .

Edit
Well...
Also I have a thought, How would you feel about applying that money towards a scope for TinMan
[he doesn't like his as much since he saw yours... :-[.]
and his has issues...


??.

Yes, absolutely OK with me if they'll let you do it at TEq.

But.... I've found a minor software error, I think.

Doing a power calculation, CH1 x CH2.  Setting the "unit" of CH1 to A (amps) and the "unit" of CH2 to V (volts) and the Math operation to CH1xCH2, the thing automagically knows that the results should be in Watts and tells you the vertical scale and offset (position) correctly in Watts. But then when Measurement Source is set to Math, to make the measurements menu on the left screen use the Math trace... the units come up in whatever you have selected for CH1, NOT the correct "Watts". See the scopeshot below. This also happens to the "All Measurements" table, when Math is selected as the source. It gives the vertical units in whatever you have set for CH1, not the correct "W" but in my case "A".

I think I'll join the EEVBlog forum and post this, see what they say over there about it.

Ok
will wait and see...

Quote from: Chet K on 2015.04.10, 18:51:39

Also I have a thought, How would you feel about applying that money towards a scope for TinMan
[he doesn't like his as much since he saw yours... :-[.]
and his has issues...


??.

Hey dont worry to much about a new scope for me just yet Chet-->but thanks anyway.
I would like to see if i can nut out the math function on this one first-->with the help of other's. Im still learning to use this scope,so a new one really isnt needed at this point in time.

@TK
My scope is the ATTEN ADS1102CAL . I can find the math functions and CH1 x CH2,and get the math trace to come up-but i cant find the calculated power anywhere. So it's doing the math,but keeping the answer a secret lol.

Grr.... I may have to return this new scope. It appears to have an actual problem on CH4.

When any two of the other channels are turned on, even if no signal is being applied to them, CH4 gets a 1 volt or greater positive offset when in 5v/div or greater vertical scale. There's a relay that clicks when going from 2v/div to higher values, and when this relay clicks the offset hits. But only if two of the other channels are on. This happens whether CH4 is in AC or DC input coupling. But sometimes (rarely) it doesn't happen, seems almost OK but is noisier than the other channels, then it will "jump" to the +1V offset. It's fine at settings of 2V/div or less -- except see below.
Also, when no inputs to anything are plugged in, and CH4 is set to 10mV/div (the most sensitive setting) and AC-coupled input is selected, the channel jumps to _one full division__ of negative offset. Sometimes even more. Over 10mV of negative offset in AC coupled, in the 10mV/div range on CH4 !! This is regardless of whether other channels are on or not, it's a steady thing and doesn't matter what other settings are in use.

These problems are not due to probes or signals, they can be demonstrated with nothing connected to the scope at all.

The other three channels are fairly well behaved, there are slight offsets in certain conditions but acceptably small. The CH4 behaviour seems to indicate some kind of hardware problem, _I think_. I've tried self-calibration several times, am just about to test after Yet Another self-calibrate (it takes 15-20 minutes for the self-cal routine to run).

I hate returning stuff. Especially after the long wait and the tension of UPS "delivery".  I wonder if I should just "suck it up" and consider CH4 unreliable in certain conditions. One hardly ever needs 4 channels anyway... but GRRRRRRR.....   >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(



@Tinman: I've been wrapped up with this problem all night, haven't had a chance to look at the Atten manual to see if I can figure out the math measurements, sorry. I'll try to get to it later on today.

Quote from: TinselKoala on 2015.04.11, 14:58:17


@Tinman: I've been wrapped up with this problem all night, haven't had a chance to look at the Atten manual to see if I can figure out the math measurements, sorry. I'll try to get to it later on today.

Hey,no hurry TK--when you have some free time. I have lived without it for a couple of years now,so a little longer wont hurt O0

Tinsel
Let me know if you want me to call them, we did purchase two and I am quite  certain they will want a good review ......

will wait for your reply.

There is definitely something wrong with CH4. Sometimes it will just go crazy with noise and fullscreen glitches, even with nothing at all connected to any inputs. The problem seems to be related to whatever is switching with the relay between 2v/div and higher, and/or the channel input coupling.  I'm sitting here right now watching it, with a probe connected to the Calibrator, and it's behaving well, with only a little amplitude jitter and about 200 mV positive offset error at 5 V/div. But I feel that it's just on the edge of flipping out. Only CH4 acts this way, fortunately, and it's intermittent. So I dunno. I do want things to be perfect but I have a horror of the "return for warranty" cycle.... and who knows where it will wind up using UPS.

Perhaps you could call TEquipment and ask them about options and alternatives for this situation...

Here's a shot I captured when it was behaving badly. All channels baselines are overlaid on the center graticule marker, but you can see where CH4 winds up... and this isn't even the crazy fullscreen glitches at 5v/div I've seen.

A slight chance of a software issue, maybe looking for a bios update or other reported erratic problems with the software version it was shipped with.
offcourse it could also be defective as you suspect, just seems strange how the problem is happening but not all the time.

Just finishing up a motor job [quite Bizzy] ,I have a feeling that Monday will be the best bet for speaking with "principles" there.
I know its annoying but we will sort it out .

one way or another

Quote from: Peterae on 2015.04.11, 18:57:10
A slight chance of a software issue, maybe looking for a bios update or other reported erratic problems with the software version it was shipped with.
offcourse it could also be defective as you suspect, just seems strange how the problem is happening but not all the time.

It has the latest firmware available. Even so, it could be a software issue, since some of the parts that are in the front-end are software controlled, like op-amps and digital potentiometer chips. It doesn't respond to being "beaten on" gently so it's not just something loose. Maybe bad relay contacts, a bad coupling capacitor, a semiconductor failing from heat stress that's only in circuit for certain settings... I dunno.
It has been sitting here perfectly stably, showing the calibrator trace at 5V/div, for an hour now. Maybe it has cured itself. Yeah... right. I think I've got 30 days for the TEquipment replacement warranty, so I'll keep on evaluating it until I'm convinced one way or the other. I could live with the AC offset issue at 10mV/div, but the glitches and weirdness at 5V/div are definitely  not acceptable and if that crap keeps up I'll definitely have to send it back for replacement. Then the cycle begins all over again....

So, while I'm testing that Channel 4 for stability it's a perfect time to try out the Mask Test function, with a "pass-fail" Beep Alarm set to alert me if the waveform varies from the Mask parameters. This turned out to be a whole lot easier to set up than it sounds like... See the scopeshot below. I set the mask to be just a little larger than the CH4 calibrator waveform, and if it repeats the offset variation or the wild crazzy glitches, it will obviously exceed the Mask limits, and should beep an alarm at me and record the "fail" in the Stats box.

Haterz will hate... my own personal trolls are getting caught up, leaving their driveby thumbs-downs, without daring to comment. The last two scoposcopy vids have gotten 3 each, and even the "unboxing" video has a couple of thumbs-downs! What could be objectionable about a simple unboxing video? I even used a tripod.... LOL... I know I'm reaching my "target audience" (tm Steorn) when the driveby thumbs-downs start!

And the "Objekt013b" video comments section has been taken over by Russians! I don't think many of them get the point of the "alt.snakeoil" series. Oh well....    C.C

Slider says no problems yet...[completely stock set up]
I believe he will be stopping in here ,He has been enjoying your Scope Vids tremendously.

Indeed, thanks for the heads up Chet..I hadn't been here today yet.

I tried CH4 as soon as you mentioned there may be a problem and it seems clean and clear, at least when a probe is inserted.
Hmmm, could it be an overly sensitive floating input ? The impedance of the probe being expected whenever the channel is in use.

QuoteAlso, when no inputs to anything are plugged in, and CH4 is set to 10mV/div (the most sensitive setting) and AC-coupled input is selected, the channel jumps to _one full division__ of negative offset.

Will try that..am looking for a USB stick at the moment, for a screen capture.

I get quite the mess on the screen at such a sensitive setting...but do expect to. The noise being from me being near to the scope and picking up A/C. Unless, of course, it isn't supposed to be displayed, through damping.

Btw, no USB stick, so have used the USB connector of the camera. Least I know that method will work :)

Yah, that looks like about 3mV of positive offset.

Try this:
Acquire>Mode>Average, then use the multi-function knob to select 16 or more Averages. That should give you a narrow line and you can see the offset error better that way.

What happens when you select "AC coupled" from the CH4 menu? Also does the offset change when you turn on the other channels?

Odd that you are using that Slope trigger. Normally you'd be using "edge" trigger, but in Auto with no signal it hardly matters. Is the Slope trigger for something you're working on?

After running for over an hour with no trouble at all, suddenly the CH4 started glitching badly again, but it only went on for a few seconds and now is running stably again, with all 4 channels on 5V/Div and the Calibrator signal going to them. Not touching or moving around anything at all, I'm just sitting here watching "The Bridge" (the Swedish one) season 2. No idea what set it off.

There's a mockingbird singing right outside my door on the side porch, marking his territory.  Spring is here!

i love mocking birds !!
you get the whole concert from just one singer...

Quote from: TinselKoala on 2015.04.11, 20:06:56


Haterz will hate... my own personal trolls are getting caught up, leaving their driveby thumbs-downs, without daring to comment. The last two scoposcopy vids have gotten 3 each, and even the "unboxing" video has a couple of thumbs-downs! What could be objectionable about a simple unboxing video? I even used a tripod.... LOL... I know I'm reaching my "target audience" (tm Steorn) when the driveby thumbs-downs start!

Lol,i picked up 3 new thumb downers since asking for measurements on the Clarence(B&L) thread at OU.

I don't mind the "thumbs downs" if the person leaves a comment explaining what they don't like, so that I can improve what I'm doing (or ignore or block the actual trolls). But the "drive bys" with no comment indicate a high level of sheer yellow-bellied cowardice. I even know who leaves them,  most of the time, but without knowing their "current" YT username I can't block them. Oh well...


Meanwhile, back at the ranch... I'm more sure than ever that there is some hardware problem. After a long time of steady running without glitches, I decided to let the scope rest and cool off, so I turned it off and went to sleep for a while. Then up again, turned the scope on, set up the 4-channel Calibrator monitor screen with pass-fail mask, and after about 20 minutes or so it started glitching. I touched nothing. But I noticed some consistency to the behaviour. When it started, the CH4 trace would drift down slowly from its "normal" +300mV or so offset to some negative value, then break up a little bit and snap back up to "normal" . After a few cycles of this, it began glitching really badly. I was able to Stop and capture a screenshot of a glitch. This isn't even nearly as bad as it can get. Then after me changing scale, channel off-on, and lots of other things a few times, including selecting "Auto" setup, the glitches have stopped and it's back to stable (relatively). Warmed up past the "glitch" point? I dunno. It's still doing it but not as badly, just the drift-snapback thing but no breakdown into utter glitchyness.

Will do those tests asap TK...and I do think it worth raising with Rigol themselves.
It could simply be a means to lower the price, that they have some fuzzed up work-around for a cheaper solution.
Oh, it wasn't that i'm working on something specific with the settings, the slope trigger was an oversight. Apologies about that, theres far more to these than i've ever used on previous scopes.


About the thumbing down - some people cannot say 'well done', 'thank you' or be constructive and helpful if they spot an error.
So, what ? are we supposed to fear them, creating a mysterious dark entity presence that we cower to ? The big tough thumbs down military combat ready Uzi wielding opinions master of the universe ?! "I have spoken with my click and I wield my mighty click in your direction". Replace the word click for their ego based similarly sounding word.  
For some, your videos should be no longer than the length of a pop song, should have bikini wearing chicks at each video section edit and any word longer than 3 syllables be removed. Ye gads, you don't even have music in the background, to help carry them through without getting bored by the factual information !
However much they want their -1 to count, it doesn't. It matters as much as their non existent written reasoning for doing it.  

Here we go.
All channels appear slightly affected, to 10th's of a percent and such.
A simple turn of the vertical rebalances to the center line, but it is indeed odd how just 1 channel does it to the different extent. A concern is that it comes and goes as a problem on that channel.

Quote from: TinselKoala on 2015.04.12, 07:42:16
I don't mind the "thumbs downs" if the person leaves a comment explaining what they don't like, so that I can improve what I'm doing (or ignore or block the actual trolls). But the "drive bys" with no comment indicate a high level of sheer yellow-bellied cowardice. I even know who leaves them,  most of the time, but without knowing their "current" YT username I can't block them. Oh well...


Meanwhile, back at the ranch... I'm more sure than ever that there is some hardware problem. After a long time of steady running without glitches, I decided to let the scope rest and cool off, so I turned it off and went to sleep for a while. Then up again, turned the scope on, set up the 4-channel Calibrator monitor screen with pass-fail mask, and after about 20 minutes or so it started glitching. I touched nothing. But I noticed some consistency to the behaviour. When it started, the CH4 trace would drift down slowly from its "normal" +300mV or so offset to some negative value, then break up a little bit and snap back up to "normal" . After a few cycles of this, it began glitching really badly. I was able to Stop and capture a screenshot of a glitch. This isn't even nearly as bad as it can get. Then after me changing scale, channel off-on, and lots of other things a few times, including selecting "Auto" setup, the glitches have stopped and it's back to stable (relatively). Warmed up past the "glitch" point? I dunno. It's still doing it but not as badly, just the drift-snapback thing but no breakdown into utter glitchyness.

TK
As bad as it may sound,i would send it back to have repaired or exchanged. Do you really want to put up with that from now on in?.
There is going to be times when you do indeed need the 4 channels,and one is not so happy. Maybe they have a service/repair dealer in your area?.
I would give them a call,and see what they say.

Quote from: Peterae on 2015.03.02, 22:21:36
I keep hovering over the buy button on this scope, It's a bit cheaper in Germany but sill have VAT @ 20% Grrrr
http://www.rigol-uk.co.uk/Rigol-DS1074Z-S-Digital-Oscilloscope-p/ds1074z-s.htm

Peter,

Do you see any similar irregularities with your new scope?

Hi Matt

No problems with my scope and i have been using all 4 chans, very happy with it but wish i bought a seperate sig gen  O0

Peter

Quote from: TinMan on 2015.04.12, 14:25:32
TK
As bad as it may sound,i would send it back to have repaired or exchanged. Do you really want to put up with that from now on in?.
There is going to be times when you do indeed need the 4 channels,and one is not so happy. Maybe they have a service/repair dealer in your area?.
I would give them a call,and see what they say.

Yep, it has to go back. It's weird that the glitching is so intermittent though. Right now it's running nice and stable, whereas a few minutes ago it was glitching almost constantly. I'm testing now with no probes attached, here are two images, one with stable running and the other with a "fail" glitch. These are taken within a couple minutes, first "stable" then "Glitch". But now it has been running for 20 minutes at least without problem. Ah... spoke too soon, it just went off the rails as I was typing that. See image #3 below.....

The Pass-Fail mask function is a really useful feature. You set up a "mask" (the blue areas) around the waveform of interest, then when a "glitch" happens so that the waveform deviates into the mask area, the scope can beep at you and Stop, preserving the glitch on the screen so you can save a screenshot of it.

I've asked Chet to contact TEquipment (since the purchase is on him as "buyer") for a return authorization. No, there aren't any stocking distributors within 400 miles of here and warranty repairs have to go to China, I think. But TEq has a 30-day guarantee so we will be pushing them for a replacement scope ASAP... and hopefully UPS won't lose it.

Woo-hooo! Here's a good one, gives some idea of how bad it can get!

@Slider: Yep, yours looks acceptable, there are some slight offsets but nothing like what I'm seeing on my CH4. I suppose you haven't noticed any glitching at all? Have you left it running for long hours? Mine's been running almost constantly since I unboxed it, the "trial" options ran out long ago. Of course I'm using the keygen to "unlock" its options and 100MHz bandwidth, and have gone back to the "locked" 50 MHz version to check if maybe the unlocking is causing the problem... nope, it glitches anyway even in the original version. 

Or stays up and running for days at a time...     ^-^

I wish I could figure out what triggers the glitching. Just now it's in a long period of stable running, over 36,000 waveforms since last glitch, according to the P/F stats box.

Oh, I agree fully. That's why I'm documenting it so completely. I just shot a 10 minute video that will demonstrate that it's not in my imagination, not the fault of faulty probes, and isn't a result of me doing something I shouldn't be doing. The video will be submitted along with still screenshots as documentation of the glitching.

I've also saved a "setup" or two in the scope's non-volatile memory that will allow the techs to quickly reproduce the exact setups I'm using in the video and the still shots, so all they have to do is load the setup, start the "pass-fail" system and wait.

And I've turned it off and am letting it sit until it's quite cooled off now, then I'll turn it on and repeat the "glitch watch".

I don't think there will be any problem from TEquipment, their 30-day guarantee is pretty solid. But you never can tell....

I'll post a link to the video when it's done uploading. In the 10 minute video it glitches maybe 8 times? I guess I should count them.


ETA: Yes, 8 times in ten minutes, not counting the one that was on-screen at the start of the video.

The video is almost done uploading:
http://youtu.be/7RvcByoEE5o

Tinsel
Very good [Bad actually]....Good Bad :P....

I will speak with their warrantee Dept ASAP.

Manana.

Chet

More info:

From a "cold start" it took 13 minutes for the first glitch to appear. Then periods of glitching, some continuous glitches, etc.
Will still glitch when a probe is connected with probe tip clipped to ground clip, as long as channel input coupling is set to AC or DC coupled. When channel input coupling is set to "ground" no glitches.
When channel 4 is set to 2 V/div or less,  it can go a long long time without glitching. At 5V/div, it will glitch pretty soon. Once it's glitching, setting to 2V/div doesn't stop it, just reduces the amplitude.
Ch4 must be set to 5V/div for the glitches to appear in a reasonable time.

A few recent glitches:
first two are at 5V/div setting
third one at 2V/div setting -- took over 32,890 waveform updates before glitching at this setting

Chet, when you talk to them, please point them to the video, and see if you can send them all these images by email or something.... maybe they'll agree to send a replacement scope right away, before they receive this one back.... won't hurt to ask.... also ask about shipping costs....

TK - that's probably why mine seems fine and dandy, it's only used for around 10 minutes at a time. Up to now that is learning time and the wish to keep those hours down until it's shown whether unlocking did anything. I personally don't think it could, not like that...unless...someone hooked in malware.
You know the scene, scope starts to glitch, then the washing machine comes on all on its own, then the postman tells you what you had for dinner last night :)

You've got all the evidence, plus that might help them to identify an area of failure.

@Slider: I always like to "burn in" stuff like this: computers, etc, because you want them to fail sooner rather than later if they are going to fail at all. Easier to get warranty service that way. Any scope should be able to stay on 8 hours a day every day in a workbench-type usage environment, or run continuously, without any problems.

@Chet: By the way all these shots are done in "unhacked" or rather not-unlocked mode, in case they should ask about that. So the glitching is _not_ a result of the hacking to unlock the features. Also, the only thing I have ever connected the CH4 to is to the scope's probe Calibrator output and to a 5V multivibrator running at about 1300 Hz, no chance of it being "blown" by misuse. I first noticed the glitching when connected to the multivibrator and confirmed it with the Calibrator

Here's proof that the scope isn't unlocked (now...)   ;)

Wife has had a cracking idea, just to cover all bases.
She said 'can he try it in some form of Faraday cage ?'
It's a wonder, does it do the same thing if you put some kind of shielding around, rig an old large microwave or move it to a different place in the house ?
If it's still the same with such wild glitching, then no outside sources could be to blame.

Quote from: Slider2732 on 2015.04.13, 03:08:34
Wife has had a cracking idea, just to cover all bases.
She said 'can he try it in some form of Faraday cage ?'
It's a wonder, does it do the same thing if you put some kind of shielding around, rig an old large microwave or move it to a different place in the house ?
If it's still the same with such wild glitching, then no outside sources could be to blame.

Hard to imagine why only one channel would be affected in that case, but it's a thought. I'll try moving it to another room, and also putting it in my copper screen cage, before I box it up tomorrow. We've just had a thunderstorm move in so I've shut down for the evening, unplugged it. Computer is on backup power supply so I'm not worried about that, but internet might go down.
Tell the wife she's "on the ball" for suggesting that, it's a good guess even though unlikely because of the just one channel affected.

What a pain in the butt Tinsel, Just can't help bad luck I guess, I think your new scopes are the 4 channel better version of my DS1052E, apparently I can hack it as well to increase it from a 50 MHz to a 100 MHz scope but I don't think I personally need that. But your video's will still be very helpful to me so thanks a heap.  O0

P.S. I've also noticed my RIGOL scope has software "glitches" at times usually when doing things or changing settings, I've had it "Lock up" and seem be frozen rebooting made it work again, and I am fairly sure I've seen it glitch out and become non responsive to button presses and seem to keep working otherwise, this was last year so, I think I had to reboot again. Haven't noticed any offset problems but maybe I just haven't looked hard enough.

Aside from the possible hardware issues you may have, maybe the glitching in the software could be an issue with a lot or maybe even all RIGOL DSO's of this Model or range.

It is a major pain to have to reboot the scope when in the middle of doing something, a bit disconcerting as well.

..

The fan for me is not the noise being a problem but I hate the idea of the fan sucking dust and fluff into the scope, the longer it runs the more air (with dust and fluff in it) goes into the scope case. I intend to cover the intake grid with some fly screen mesh, I found on computers this is great as it catches the fine fluff and it can then be removed easily from the fly wire every now and then. The stock intake grille will allow stuff to get into my scope I don't have a dust free clean Lab.

..

Spoke with one of the girls at TE ,I have to speak with Manufacturer in about an hour when they
open...[west coast USA\-]very pleasant straight forward process so far.
will keep you posted.

OK
Spoke with Jason C  one of the head technicians  at Rigol ,told him we had recently purchased
a few of these and our Cheif metrologist was doing [or planning on doing]
a break in and how to Video for the rest of our Group....

and  Boopkis...
# I was specific to the issue with 4 th Channel

he said he will have them get one out ASAP and reminded me there is a three year warrantee from Rigol after this 30 day period with the distributor.

Made a follow up call to the Distributor {TE] Jennifer is verifying this agreement and E mailing me the Tracking info
will keep you posted.

PACK IT UP !!

PS
if all goes well ,I get the feeling there may be opportunity here for a tutorial series on new Rigol product
demonstrations ,for a certain Metrologist...
always keep a look out for the silver lining..[will be discussing that with Jason]

Quote from: Chet K on 2015.04.13, 14:23:26
OK
Spoke with Jason C  one of the head technicians  at Rigol ,told him we had recently purchased
a few of these and our Cheif metrologist was doing [or planning on doing]
a break in and how to Video for the rest of our Group....

and  Boopkis...
# I was specific to the issue with 4 th Channel

he said he will have them get one out ASAP and reminded me there is a three year warrantee from Rigol after this 30 day period with the distributor.

Made a follow up call to the Distributor {TE] Jennifer is verifying this agreement and E mailing me the Tracking info
will keep you posted.

PACK IT UP !!

PS
if all goes well ,I get the feeling there may be opportunity here for a tutorial series on new Rigol product
demonstrations ,for a certain Metrologist...
always keep a look out for the silver lining..[will be discussing that with Jason]

@Chet:
Ahh ... OK... that sounds like really good news. It's Packed Up and ready to go, but I don't know where to send it to....
Let me know what you find out as to where, and RMA number, and all of that. Thanks for talking to them...
I'm really bad at talking to customer service people. Or people at all, for that matter, much prefer writing.
I guess you sent the pix and vid to Jason C?

I don't know about a formal "video series"... as you can see my camera's resolution isn't really all that great
after transcoding and compressing down enough to upload over my limited bandwidth connection... The original
of the "Glitch" video was over 600 MB and would have taken more than half a day to upload, so I had to crunch down
to around 60 MB to upload in a reasonable time.

But of course I intend to make some more videos showing the use of the various features of this really nice product.
It's packed with features, enough for a dozen or more 10-minute demo/tutorials.
I'm definitely an amateur when it comes to producing professional-looking vids with
my old Panasonic SDR-H40pc HD camera.

So TEquipment is sending another one out right now, am I understanding that right? That's really nice of Rigol and TEq.
I'll be sure to write up a nice review (assuming the new one works 100 percent of course!) and I'll mention the
great customer service and fast response. FWIW anyhow.




@Farmhand: The screen over the air inlet sounds like a really good idea. Many of the higher-end instruments from
HP, Tek, etc have screens and filters like that, and in my 3-dog household we have a lot of dust and dogfur to deal with.
When the new scope gets here I'll put a finer screen on the inlet right away.
(I just now cleaned off the window air conditioner filter... yuck, what a mess of dust and doghair!)

I'm not sure about the feature set of the 1052E but the 1054 has some nice ones that I'll be trying to demonstrate.

The Pass-Fail Mask test function that I used to capture the scope's glitches is really neat and easy to use. I also like
the wide screen, although the actual waveform display area is only about the same size as my analog Tek 2213's screen.
With five traces on the screen (4 channels + math) it feels kind of cramped, but that's true of pretty much all scopes
in the less-than-10,000 dollar price range. (LeCroys... great big screens...  drool).

Quote from: Slider2732 on 2015.04.13, 03:08:34
Wife has had a cracking idea, just to cover all bases.
She said 'can he try it in some form of Faraday cage ?'
It's a wonder, does it do the same thing if you put some kind of shielding around, rig an old large microwave or move it to a different place in the house ?
If it's still the same with such wild glitching, then no outside sources could be to blame.

Before I boxed it up this morning I took it into the other room, powered on a different house circuit, and it still glitched with no change.
I didn't try the Faraday cage, but it was a good idea, please tell your wife "thanks" for the suggestion!

OK, scope has been sent back via UPS Ground to TEquipment in NJ. Due to arrive there on Thursday.

Hopefully they will get a new one sent out to me today, based on the info that Chet has sent them.

Ah well, I've been losing too much sleep anyhow, staying up playing with the thing all night and
all day. Now maybe I can get caught up with my old movie list....

;)

I like that screen idea too, had thought the blower would blow outwards, removing heat.
Maybe cooling air doesn't hit Channel 4 or some such.
Good to hear of the scope being sent straight away...half expected a 2 month wait. Bear in mind it's likely to go the whole way across the USA, only to come back again to your place. They might do well to fit really long elastic bands to the back of the trucks.

Will tell Julie :)

As you face the scope, it sucks air in on the right side, blows it over the power supply mostly, and it exits the left side. The fan is near the left side, just inside the openings for the air to go out. I think it would be a good idea to put a finer screen, like even window screen material, over the right side inlet holes. Not too fine, you don't want to restrict the airflow, it's not a superpowerful blast in the first place.
All the "front end" parts are not in the airflow at all, it's mostly to cool the power supply. There's an EEVBlog video where Dave takes one apart, it's very informative. I think I was confused about the fan location, I dunno, it can be seen in Dave's video though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb9P1Am9aFU

I dunno what's going on now, as far as getting me a replacement.  Chet is talking to somebody at Rigol in California I think, and also to TEquipment who have a bunch of scopes in stock in their warehouse in Pennsylvania. And I'm halfway in between, sort of.  All I know right now is that I've sent the scope off to New Jersey and it's supposed to arrive there on Thursday "by the end of day" , or more likely Friday.

Just hung Up with the very nice and polite Warrantee rep [actually 15 minutes ago 4.50 PM EDT]
your NEW scope will be leaving for its new home tomorrow...
I will be making sure of that in the AM [tracking info and such[not available as of this printing]]]

Well, that's nice to hear! I've been moping about, getting really discouraged with the whole thing.

So if they really do send one out tomorrow, maybe it will arrive here (or somewhere in the near vicinity) on Friday? Or maybe Monday....

Let's hope they don't send another lemon. Fingers crossed, everybody!

Thanks, Chet, for slugging away at this. I'm just not suited for such things, I'm really bad at talking to Customer Service.

EEVblog is superb for teardowns indeed. Had seen the video, but it's not something I remembered to remember.
I was thinking of screen door stuff too, because our cats have ruined a couple of window screens and I can reuse the good remainder.

May be an idea to get some day-glo markers and make some large signs with your house number on them !
Am very happy that you got sorted out so quickly and kudos to Chet for his efforts in a quick resolution  O0

Hang in there TK.  ;)

I'm looking forward to seeing you put that scope through its paces!

.99

@slider: Yep.... the house numbers are already displayed in pretty large numbers on the front porch, easily visible from the street, and just putting the address into google maps or google earth correctly IDs the right house, it's a _corner house_ even so it's pretty hard to miss. We shall see what happens.

@.99:
Thanks, me too. At the moment I'm kind of upset about another issue and until that's resolved I may not be posting.

TK
you sound like your having "my day"...
hope things look up for you, just hung up again with TE
they are breaking from "normal" warrantee policy
[thanks to your vid and head tech at Rigol }

tracking info should be heading our way soon

order confirmation received
two day express shipment

O0

you'll be loosing sleep again in no time... :o

gotta pace your self with these new toys....

Is it "soon" yet? I'm looking for a tracking number and a delivery day.... haven't seen anything yet, and it's after closing time "back east".

:-\

This made me laugh, with regard to the fan for the scope.....was in todays Electronics Goldmine e-newsletter.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G20663 (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G20663)

Tinsel
Apparently they work around the clock at TE
it was shipped yesterday and the confirmation was received by me at ten to midnight
whilst I snoozed .

I would touch base with the UPS terminal in your area and make sure that the driver "pays attention"
you can also insist on the signed signature now that there is a tracking number, UPS can add it to
the drivers instructions. this way all that will be left by the driver at the abandoned house will be a little
"we missed you" sticker instead of your Scope.... :D

According to the tracking site the scope arrived in the city around 5:30 pm yesterday, and was put on the local truck for delivery this morning. Nothing so far has appeared on any of the nearby porches. I made a big cardboard sign with the house number on it so that even a blind driver could see it from the curb...

Yesterday I saw UPS trucks driving by on the street about 4 or 5 times. Today I haven't seen a single one. Yet...

There is something seriously wrong with this UPS system.  The 2nd-day-air option was chosen to expedite delivery. The package has been in this city since 5:37 pm yesterday, and nearly 24 hours later it still has not been delivered.

2nd day ....
use to mean 10 AM on the second day or NC for the shipment
Tings have changed

How stupid is this? It left the warehouse in PA at 9:05 PM on the 14th and arrived in this city at 5:27 PM on the 15th. It spent less than 20 hours getting TO this city... and it has been over 25 hours _in this city_ and still hasn't been delivered.

It is now 7 PM. Nothing.

UPS drivers are usually remarkable creatures of habit, their truck follows a route and time window simultaneously
usually with in a few minutes...

tracking says "out for delivery"

:D

"Out for delivery" at 7:47 am.... and it is now 7:47 PM, and NOTHING.....

I will never again deal with UPS under any circumstances if I have anything to say about it.

8:15 PM and it's almost completely dark outside. Nothing. Housemate is on the phone trying to get something out of Customer Non-Service.

The website says, for 2nd Day Air:  "Guaranteed second-day delivery " But I can't find any information as to just what "guaranteed" might mean.

I never knew them to deliver this late
I suspect it will be bumped to tomorrow
the guarantee will mean no charge to the vendor...

And what about me? My time, all day long, watching the front porch camera, checking the website.... nothing. It's completely dark outside now and I am completely pissed off.

The phone call to Sucktomer Non-Service has produced no results... they say they can't raise anyone at the local depot or site or whatever.  They are supposed to call back here by 10 am tomorrow. And that's what they said last week too, and never did call. Of course last week I had actually found the package at the house next door by this time.

"no charge to the vendor"... but the vendor is not inconvenienced in any way by the non-on-time delivery. The _customer_ is the one who is screwed by the screw-up. Am I supposed to wait and watch all day tomorrow too, for them to find time to deliver the package that has allegedly been on the truck for over 13 hours now, and which has been in town for over a full day already?

9 PM and fully dark outside. And I can't even leave to take the damn dog for a walk in case they drive by and toss the thing out the back onto somebody's random porch while I'm gone.

9:30 pm. Nothing. Do UPS drivers really work 14-hour days? Tracking site still says "On Vehicle for Delivery Today".

I'm posting here out of frustration. There is nothing, nobody I can contact, no recourse at all other than to bitch here to blow off some steaming blood pressure.

I hope Chet informs the "wenches" at TEquipment that all their work to get the thing sent out to me promptly was useless, worse than useless in fact since I've been waiting and watching all day and getting more and more burned up by the hour.

9:45 PM.  Caught the truck trying to drop it off halfway down the block. Boy am I mad, driver just doesn't care. But at least it's here finally.

That's a first...almost 10 oclock at night....?
well I certainly hope this one works....

Gee wizz, lucky you're vigilant Tinsel, you caught him.

Yep the fan draws in air on the right side of mine but I can't feel it coming out anywhere much at all. The flow is not a lot you're right about that. If you do put a screen on just don't forget to clean it or the air will stop. ;) I'm not sure how I'll attach it, I don't really want to glue it on the scope. Double sided tape maybe. It's been in storm storage. No more storms now till next summer.

The DS1052E does the pass mask thing and it will show math traces but does no calculations. 

..

Tinsel and Slider did you download the "Ultrascope software", so you can connect the scope to the computer for bigger shots ect. ? I connected mine via usb. I think it's time for me to rebuild/upgrade my busted desktop computer this old single core laptop is not much more than a big net book. I went to transcode a video and the program told me it would take over 3 days to complete omg  ;D. No transcoding DVD's on this machine.

I'll tell ya what TK...that guy must have one helluva broad he sees in your area !
Really can't think of any other excuse for such an amount of time on the truck and then delivery late at night.
Oh, maybe he got caught by the husband and spent time in an ICU lol
It would make a better excuse than whatever they won't be saying anyway.
Glad it's there though :)


I have the software Farmhand, but have found the pictures fine for posting and am not a 'power user' yet. 640x480 or similar is good here. I can't do the 3000x2500 type of things that cellphones take these days because am in a similar boat with computers.
This one right now is a Dell Dimension 2350 - 2GHz Pentium 4, 1 gig ram, no slot for extra graphics card and free off Freecycle, along with the Gateway CRT monitor.
:)
Running Linux, Peppermint 5, which somehow it does do very well and was surprising.
There's a reason why my own videos are usually short, same thing as you mention (using Openshot).
A relative recently sent me an LG Tribute cellphone, for parts. It's way faster than this PC and runs YouTube vids in near enough HD ! LOL
I ought to put the phone inside the PC case and hook up the wires.

Ahh I see, I use Linux Mint in Dual boot with windows xp  ;D, xp is a pain and microsoft sucks but windows does come into it's own at times, I still have unopened original genuine copies of windows xp, and three activated versions on old dead computers, my desktop has Linux mint and windows 7 dual boot which I think is better than windows 8/8.1. Desktop went bang and I haven't even tried to fix it yet just had a look and decided it had a PWM failure on the board so it's possible it's all ruined. I've been saving up and was going to rebuild/repair it for Christmas, never got to it. I've had no viral infections with xp and it will be a novelty to open up a new version of xp and install it on a computer after microsoft ceases support for it, which I think they already have.

This laptop is the only complete computer I've ever bought, I had to buy it for my son for school but he grew up and gave it back, it's a dell inspiron 1501 with a AMD turion 2000 MHz processor, so we almost have the same thing except mines a laptop and AMD. Lots of phones have more processing power than this as well. It is funny.
But it is still working which is a big thing. hehehehe

I'm a fan of Puppy Linux which I use on a usb stick with some recovery tools, Puppy will run happily on the oldest/slowest of computers and is great for recovering files from a crashed windows computer.

I'm definitely not a power user either, but my scope shots saves to usb at 320 x 240 max as far as I can tell. With the virtual console on the computer I can get bigger and much better resolution shots.

..

Well, it wasn't so much "vigilance" that I caught him... actually I had given up and was taking my dog Maggie for a walk and saw the truck down the block. So Maggie's walk got postponed for a bit while I yelled at the driver in frustration.

After walkies, I did an "unboxing" which I haven't posted yet. Odd, this one wasn't double-boxed as they usually are, and its serial number is earlier than the one I returned, if I'm interpreting the  numbers properly.

Yes, I have the UltraVision software, installed it from the CD that comes with the scope, onto my Windows laptop. I normally use Linux on the main box.

I worked with it a couple of hours last night... applied the unlocking key, scoped some circuits... then went to bed.

This morning was a horror-show. I was scoping a test circuit, using only one channel, zoomed in... and the scope locked up. OK..well, the other one did that once too and I just power-cycled it and it was fine. SO I press the off button, wait a few seconds, press the button again, the scope boots up, displays the live waveform I was looking at before... but does not respond to any buttons or knobs. None. Nada, nichts, gonzo. I cycle power again.... nothing. No response from any buttons or  knobs. Panic sets in.... I keep trying over and over, try USB comms, try the UltraScope software, try USB from my Linux, try LAN... nothing. I've bricked the damn thing, and the warranty is gonna be void because it's stuck in hack mode and I can't remove the hack because no comms work. After a couple hours of frantic panic and emails to Chet, I was shooting a video showing what I had discovered, at certain times during boot up pressing or holding some buttons changed its behaviour a little bit, but always after bootup completed, nothing, No response to any buttons or knobs, although display was normal. But toward the end of the video I did something, held the Auto button down and then again held the Trigger Level knob down... and it WORKED! Came up in factory default with Chinese menus but it worked! Fully responsive again. First thing I did was connect with USB and uninstalled the "hack" so it's back to 50 MHz now. And it's working 100 percent. Whew.... that was a close one. I don't understand what happened and I'm not sure how I fixed it, but at least I have the video that shows whatever it was that I did at the end to get it running.

SO all afternoon I've been testing and burning in. The latest thing to report is that I can communicate with the scope and remote-control it using telnet over the LAN from my Linux box! Way easier than using the UltraScope USB from the Windows laptop. No display functions of course at my level, but at least the remote control works great and very easy to use. Plug the scope into your LAN, set up the thing to fetch an IP address from your DHCP router, and then "telnet 192.168.1.105 5555" (port 5555 is the Rigol's port for LAN comms) and you're in! The Programming Guide lists all the available commands that can be used to control the scope remotely, you just enter them in the telnet window and it works!

I'm going to leave it "unhacked" or stock for the time being just in case... I really don't think that the "hack" had anything to do with it freezing up since I haven't been able to find any reports on the internet of similar things happening to users of hacked scopes. After a while I may reapply the hack and keep my fingers crossed.

Running the self-calibrate function seems to have improved the slight jittering it had. At first I thought that it had a problem since the waveforms were slightly noisy and slightly jittery but now I think I've convinced myself that it's fine. Definitely no glitches on any channels!

Yeah TK,

I would have burned it in a while before applying any hacks to it, just to make sure it too isn't a flakey unit.

btw, what frequency does the hack bring it up to? Is there anything else the hack enables?

.99

Quote from: poynt99 on 2015.04.18, 17:56:52
Yeah TK,

I would have burned it in a while before applying any hacks to it, just to make sure it too isn't a flakey unit.

btw, what frequency does the hack bring it up to? Is there anything else the hack enables?

.99

Yes, the scope comes with a 35-hour "trial" duration on a whole slew of options besides the 100 MHz bandwidth. The "hack" enables them all "officially". Deeper memory, the Record system, some serial data decoders, and a bunch of trigger options. Here's a list of the options that are installed on the "trial" duration. All of these, plus 100 MHz bandwidth, are enabled by the unlocking code. After unlocking, the scope reports that it is now a 100MHz DS1104Z... the same board is used in all the 1000 series and just software is different.

So far, the scope is working 100 percent. I've had it on most of today, getting to know it. Have not yet re-unlocked it. I kludged up a 16 MHz crystal oscillator/inverter to do some rise-time measurements checking out the probes, see the screenshots below.

 Nice! O0


I hope the hack goes without a hitch this time.

I'll second that Poynt99, it is nice to know the software can be hacked. I was aware I could do it with my DS1052E before I bought it and I love to mess about hacking phones and overclocking computers. So if all goes well for Tinsel now I will seriously consider applying the hack code at some time in the future, after I learn a lot more that is.

So for the layman we are talking going from a 50MHz scope to a 100MHz scope, to me it seems like it should be done just for better accuracy.

What is the actual gain in doing that and is it worth it for someone with only basic skills like me to do ? Considering I intend to try to improve my scope skills that is.

Tinsel, where did you get the code to enter from ?

.

That really is weird with the lock up and unlock...but you've even posted how to get back out of it, potentially very useful if anyone else gets the problem. I wonder if some kind of factory option was instigated, such as a Firmware settings boot, then you got back out of an eternal waiting loop.
The Telnet stuff is interesting. I've been mucking about with ESP8266 WiFi modules, which can use AT commands through a terminal. Kind of a funny aside, one of my 3 modules here is now on Twitter LOL (@ESPmodule) and yet I, personally have never sent a tweet and don't know how to use the webpage based service !
First job in 1986 used VT-100's and have got 1 in the shed that was a street find  8)   

Tried some stuff last night with the scope but got bogged down with an incorrect trace. All I couldn't do was to get the wave shape nicely centered in the middle of the screen. For some reason it would sit at the bottom and Vertical didn't move it.
I talked about it with Julie and, being so cool as she is, she unexpectedly talked me through calibration in the morning. She'd got up in the middle of the night and read the manual !!!!
:o

Quote from: Slider2732 on 2015.04.19, 06:10:05

I talked about it with Julie and, being so cool as she is, she unexpectedly talked me through calibration in the morning. She'd got up in the middle of the night and read the manual !!!!
:o

Wow!  what a wife!  ...that gal is part of the team!

When I first knew that the funding was being gathered together to order my scope (thanks Chet and all the contributors Yet Again for this wonderful gift!) I did some research and found that some people were having trouble generating the correct unlocking codes from the various websites hosting the keygen. But on one of the sites I found this zipfile (attached below). Inside the zipfile are working kegens. There is a Windows .exe, a HTML that will run in your browser, an OSX thing I haven't tested not being a Mac fellow, and a Linux version. The Linux needs to be compiled on your individual system, the makefile and all auxiliary files are in the zipfile.

Hint: don't delete the full zipfile. Extract it into a separate directory, or move the zipfile itself to someplace safe, then also copy the extracted Windows .exe and the HTML folder to another directory, before you run the makefile to compile your Linux version. I found that the "make all" actually also did something to the HTML and Windows .exe as well. That's why you want uncorrupted ones directly from the zipfile.

So with the Windows, just get a command prompt and run the .exe file. Or open the HTML file in your browser. Or once you've compiled the Linux version, in a terminal window, cd to the dir it's in and enter ./riglol and follow the directions.  "riglol" with the lol! I suppose the Mac application also works similarly. I've tested the Windows and the HTML and the compiled Linux and they all work for me, and I've also generated a couple of keys for other people that also worked.

You need your serial number and the options code. Inside the keygen is a list of the option codes available for several Rigol instruments, but for the DS1054z you want to use code DSER, which is not listed.

No "private key" is needed even though there is a place for it in the kegen program. So you enter your SN and the option code DSER, and the program returns a 28-character key, 4 groups of 7 chars. Then you enter this 28 character key into the Options Setup area of the scope. Or send it using telnet and the SCPI command :SYSTem:OPTions:INSTall xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (no hyphens in the key).

If you enter the key wrong or have made a mistake transcribing your SN into the keygen, the scope may "lock you out" of further key entry attempts for 12 hours. You just have to keep the scope on until your penalty time runs out... the DS1054z has no RealTime Clock so it just knows duration of on-time.

I would recommend generating the key for your own instruments in each of the apps in the zipfile to make sure they match, before entering it into the scope. It's good practice. In all cases that I know about, for the DS1054z and options code DSER the first two groups in the 28 character key are RDJ9JBB-N3SWWUS-xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx.

The interesting thing is that Rigol know all about this, it has been out there for years already and they don't seem to mind "officially". I don't know how they would treat a warranty return with a hack in place, though. One normally buys the options and gets the install key from the Rigol site on proof-of-purchase. For sure, the "hackability" is a major selling point and is part of why the DS1054z in particular is selling like mad.


Usually, to center a waveform vertically you just need to press the CH button for the channel you are looking at and then press on the Vertical position knob-button, and the baseline should snap to center screen. This also works for Horizontal position (snaps the trigger point to center horizontally) and Trigger level (snaps trigger level to the baseline position of the Trigger channel)  knob-buttons. And to go from Normal mode to Zoom mode and back in the Horizontal, just press the Horizontal scale knob-button. This works best if you have more memory depth selected than "Auto".

I made a new video showing the unboxing and some testing of the new scope using the Mask Test Pass-Fail function to look at a waveform and wait for any bad behaviour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY34Kyakflw

Thanks for those comprehensive instructions.
Very useful indeed, as I always baulk at the need to go into 1970's terminal land with a 2015 operating system (Lubuntu here).
Mind you, we won't be finding such a program sitting in the nicely GUI'd Software Center anytime soon.

Aha! "press on the Vertical position knob-button"
Guess who did everything but press ! A forehead slap moment, where it sends the head flying off through the back door and rolling down the backyard path.

You probably have telnet installed already with your Lubuntu system. In mine, it's in usr/bin/ already. Open a terminal window and enter "which telnet" to see.
Or just type
telnet
and if you have it installed you'll get the telnet command prompt that looks like
telnet>
Then to exit back to the linux command prompt just enter
quit
and you're done.

Sure enough, yes it is  O0
It's in usr/bin as stated.
Well, would ya look at that. Mind you, Linux without Telnet would be like an oscilloscope with no screen.
That's very handy about the 'which telnet' command.

OK...some new info! 

Someone on EEVblog forum mentioned this website and software:

http://peter.dreisiebner.at/rigol-bildschirmkopie-lan/

So I downloaded the Linux zipfile. Extracted it, and found an executable called " RigolBildschirmkopie " in the extracted folder, along with some resource and lib files. But it wouldn't execute. SO... change permissions: Right-clicked on the executable and changed its permissions to allow "execute"... doubleclicked it and it runs!

Plugged the scope into the LAN, fetched the IP address, then on the computer, in the new program, "select" then "search" then "select" finds the scope! Then "screencopy" and the scope's current display is fetched over the LAN and displayed on the computer!  Slow to download the screenshot, but it works! And when you then select "save" the shot is saved with the correct date and time!

The program also sends SCPI commands to the scope and receives answers, from another menu window.

The website also has versions for Windows and OSX, and also is said to work with the USB connection although I have not yet tried that.

Cool!

That does sound cool !
Would it be feasible to plug a LAN cable from the scope directly to the usual port on the PC ?
I think I have an answer for that lol, will look for a LAN cable !

If it doesn't need a router LAN address it would work, that's the thinking and maybe speed it up a little.

Quote from: Slider2732 on 2015.04.25, 18:34:15
That does sound cool !
Would it be feasible to plug a LAN cable from the scope directly to the usual port on the PC ?
I think I have an answer for that lol, will look for a LAN cable !

If it doesn't need a router LAN address it would work, that's the thinking and maybe speed it up a little.

Hmm.... it has been a long time since I've connected two ethernet devices together directly. In the "olden times" one would need a "crossover cable" aka "null modem" cable to do this, it has a couple of pairs wired differently than a normal LAN 10-baseT cable. Nowadays depending on the adapters in use they may autoswitch so that normal cables can be used, I just don't know.

I do know that you can manually assign an IP address to the scope. So it might be possible to do it with a direct connection using a crossover cable and a manually assigned fixed IP address for the scope.

But I seriously doubt it would be any faster than just plugging it into your router or switch. Here I'm plugging into a switch that is in turn plugged into the router. Both the computer and the scope are plugged into the switch and the switch is plugged into the router. I don't notice any speed difference on the computer from not using the switch and just plugging directly into the router. I've also used my laptop over the wireless connection to the router, and then talking to the scope over the wired connection from router to switch to scope-- no noticeable difference in speeds. I think that the bottleneck is in the scope's communication software, not the various connection schemes.

But I think I'll try the direct cable connection using a crossover cable and a manually entered IP address just to check.



ETA: OK, I just tried it with both a crossover and a regular cable, connecting directly from my computer to the scope. It doesn't work. I can set a manual IP address or select "Auto IP" in the LAN Conf. menu and the scope gets one from somewhere, but then "telnet" doesn't connect. I didn't try the other software, if telnet won't do it I doubt if anything else will. Reconnected the normal way (both scope and computer to switch, switch to LAN router) and select "DHCP" from the LAN Conf. menu and it fetches an IP address and telnet connects normally.

It was a good idea anyhow. For direct cable connections I guess USB is the way to go... but the USB connection doesn't work on my Linux system with the Bildschirmkopie software.

Hmmm... I guess I'll have to try the computer in the other room, running an Ubuntu 14.04 system, to see if the USB connection and Bildschirmkopie works. Later on.

Nope, couldn't get it to work. Tried both crossover and normal cables, no dice.

Computer says "unable to access network" or something like that, even though scope says "IP config success!"

If you or anyone else can get it to work with direct hookup between computer and scope, please let me know.

Many thanks for trying the idea out so thoroughly !
I'm still at the point of 'find a LAN cable'.
Thanks Matt for your advice too. If I understand correctly, that would create a virtual router based on the scope, with the PC being a client.

It can be imagined that the software see's the scope and gives it an address, but that isn't a global setting, just local to the software. Mind you, I also imagine a very simple script could pass the details to global settings - not that i have any idea how to, except to listen on the receiving port for a change made by the software.
All does though seem more complicated than using the router...a Sunday afternoon foray just to do it anyway.

New video: Comparing Digital vs. Analog scopes on a slow pulse with embedded faster pulses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmUD0S6qqmk



Coming up later tonight: Using the "Runt" trigger mode on the DS1054z

Any requests, re videos concerning this scope and its features?

Runt Trigger Demo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmoePcarT_c

Thanks for that vid.
Your digression with the reset positioning of button pressing was something I didn't know - good digression :)

You're welcome, thanks for watching!

Yep, the knob button press works to "center" or zero position for vertical and horizontal positioning, and also sometimes (depending on trigger mode) for the trigger level control. In Runt Trigger, pressing on the Trigger Level knob switches from top trigger cursor, to bottom trigger cursor, to both cursors locked together (same as the Window menu item in the Runt trigger menu page).  When you have the measurement Cursors in use, pressing on the MultiFunction knob does the same kind of switching, from Cursor A to Cursor B to both locked together.

I really am getting to like the user interface. I do keep reaching for the wrong knobs sometimes, so I'm trying to remember to "go slow" and work in "safecracker mode" with careful and sensitive fingers on the knobs and buttons.

I'm taking requests for future function demos, so if you have anything you'd like demonstrated or explained, let me know and I'll see if I can figure it out.

Nth Edge Trigger type demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8hf4_-Di3M

It appears that "measurists who breed in swamps and slither out to infest forums" aren't appreciated around here, while disinformation artists may rant and insult and blabber on unchecked. Not my kind of swamp at all, this. Thanks for the invitation, it was fun while it lasted.

. bugger sorry browser/user error. can't delete.

Tings change

I see old comments here from what seems like a lifetime ago.

Ahhh the land of Milk and honey and Cheesburgers....the pendulum of providence swings to and fro ,  hopefully to
settle on a clear course ,,[one which can be well measured  O0 !




anyhoo Spoke with Slyder for a bit today ,[some have been asking] Life seems to always have the tragedies and  curveballs .

things are calming down by him ,hopefully we'll see him around a bit more.