Second hand DS1054Z tests?

[neonjung]

Hi there, I just purchased a Rigol DS1054Z and I was wondering what I could do to make sure everything is working as it should be? All I have is a DMM, not sure if that would be of any use? Any help appreciated!

[frozenfrogz]

Welcome to the forums

The DS1054Z performs a couple of self-tests during start-up, so you will be presented an error message if something is wrong. You can run the calibration routine from »Utility -> Self-Cal«.
Besides that, you could start by taking some measurements of a signal you already know what it should look like on all four channels and compare the results (should be identical of course).
The probe compensation output provides a 1kHz square wave to start with. Compensate and check your probes for defects also.

In case you have not already seen it: Here is the general DS1054Z thread, and here is the DS1000Z seres buglist.

Regards,
Frederik

[ebclr]

The 1st thing you need to do is checking if they are hacked or not

Press the blue down arrow left of the screen and select options

Check with option is installed

[JohnPen]

Ooops right of the screen!
John

[bd139]

1. connect each probe to the scope.
2. Connect them all the calibrator output
3. Hit auto.
4. If it shows 4 traces - 
5. Check rotary encoders and integrated buttons (these are likely to die first)
6. Poke a USB stick in it and try and save a screen shot.
7. Run self-cal as well.
8. Check the fan is working and not full of crud.

If all of them pass, it's probably fine.

After this, adjust your probe compensation etc. The last user may not have done this properly.

[Hydron]

Assuming that everything works and you're happy (easy enough to run the self tests as others have mentioned, and also measuring the probe calibration signal on every channel at each hardware input attenuation - change V/div until you hear a relay click), then you'll likely want to look at a few other things:

- If you have the attitude of "i bought the hardware, i can do what i want with it" then use the "Riglol" online tool to generate the unlock code for 100MHz + all other options (use DSER code, DSFR causes issues). Depending on who you bought it off it may already be done!
- The stock fan is a bit noisy, and there are lower noise fan options to change to if you're not living in a scorching hot place where it really needs the airflow. I used the same brand as the original (Sunon i think) but a model in a different lower noise range.
- The encoder for the selection/intensity knob is a bit of a pain (without detents i find it too sensitive to being moved when you're trying to click it), but if you're up for a bit of soldering iron surgery it can be replaced with a detented part. There is a thread somewhere here on which part to buy and how to do the mod.

With or without the above mods, it's great value, especially for a first scope. I only sold mine as I upgraded to a significantly higher end instrument. Have fun!

[bd139]

Stock fan is horribly noisy. Considering my Tek 475 consumes about 6x the amount of power, the fan on that is almost silent in comparison!

I'm tempted to void the warranty on mine to swap it out.

[frozenfrogz]

I'm tempted to void the warranty on mine to swap it out.

The fan swap is an easy mod that takes about 10 minutes if you have a soldering iron and the new fan at hand.
I used the Gelid Silent 5 as proposed by many already. Was thinking of using a Pabst, but the model in question would have been very hard to obtain and much more expensive. I bought the Gelid fan for less than 6€ shipped!

Re. probe compensation:
The probes supplied with the scope are OK for what the device is capable of, however they are not of the highest quality (who would have thought xD) - meaning, that even if the previous owner correctly compensated the probes you still have to do it once in a while and most definitely after shipping. I would check the compensation always right before taking measurements in need.

[bd139]

Excellent - will probably do that. Thanks for the tips.

[Hydron]

This is the fan I used. No idea how it compares with the other options, but I was happy with it:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/axial-fans/8114148/

[alanb]

John (Orbiter)  did a video on replacing the fan. His was a different model Rigol but the principle should be the same.

https://youtu.be/17bTvwMazfU

[Mr. Scram]

Stock fan is horribly noisy. Considering my Tek 475 consumes about 6x the amount of power, the fan on that is almost silent in comparison!

I'm tempted to void the warranty on mine to swap it out.

EU law dictates that breaking stickers doesn't influence your warranty rights. They will need to prove you actually did something detrimental that's relevant to the problem.

[frozenfrogz]

One more thing:
Since I do not care much about voiding the warranty on my devices anyway, I cut out the punched sheet metal in the casing completely, leaving just a circular hole of ca. 50mm diameter. The original punched out holes have very sharp edges and cover a lot of the exhaust port area, resulting in flow restriction and noisy turbulence.
I am not very educated on shielding, maybe it is OK to just leave a big hole without a grill. The outer plastic casing would sufficiently protect your fingers from poking into the fan. Because I did not know if the shielding would still be OK I mounted one of these round wire grills together with the new fan.
While not wanting to hunt down the proper connector for the fan but liking my wiring clean if possible, I used the original cable setup and soldered it directly to the new fans PCB.

[bd139]

It'll probably be fine. There's a massive great big hole in the front of it where the screen is. Try waving a probe around it on <5mV/div.

Stock fan is horribly noisy. Considering my Tek 475 consumes about 6x the amount of power, the fan on that is almost silent in comparison!

I'm tempted to void the warranty on mine to swap it out.

EU law dictates that breaking stickers doesn't influence your warranty rights. They will need to prove you actually did something detrimental that's relevant to the problem.

Do you have a reference to this?

[alanb]

Warranties in the UK are governed by The European Directive 1999/44/EC and this does appear to override the manufacturers terms and conditions and gives a default of 2 years warranty for consumer electronics. With the consumer needing to demonstrate that there is a fault. Unless the manufacturer can prove that opening the case caused the fault they probably cant refuse to repair/replace or refund.

I'm not sure however if a Rigol scope is considered consumer electrical or would be classed as commercial in which case it may not be included in the above.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31999L0044

[bd139]

Thanks for the info. Appreciated. I think consumer is define by a B2C transaction rather than the device and its intended market.

[Mr. Scram]

Do you have a reference to this?

I think your question has been sufficiently answered, right?

The idea is that denying someone his rights can't be trivially done. It avoids issues with manufacturers demanding something ridiculous, with users losing their rights when they inevitably can't comply. Even though you still see it happening somewhat. Moisture stickers in phones would be one example.

[technogeeky]

By the way, the Rigol 1054z can run just fine without the fan for a long period of time. I only know this because the last time I reassembled mine, I forgot to plug in the fan. And I left it on for days at a time.

There was no problem or anything. I only opened it again to fix it because I saw some spikes in a no-signal (noise only) FFT that I was trying to eliminate, and wanted to rule it out.

The only thing I ever noticed is that the BNC jacks got a little warm.

I'm not suggesting you do this. Nor do I think the fan is that loud, but then again my lab is obviously kind of loud compared to most people's. But it's good to know you can.