Hi All,
(my first teardown...)
So,
I was looking for a function generator to add to my small home lab for a while and encountered a
GW Instek SFG-830G for sale on ebay, after some price negotiation, I purchased it.
It is a 30MHz (sine BW) DDS arbitrary function generator, QA sticker is from May 1999 which fits the date code of the devices inside. Not such a good era for electrolytic capacitors, see below.
As you can see in the pictures, it uses a Qualcomm DDS chip and an Analog devices DAC. (the DDS chip runs at 42.something MHz and it has a frequency doubler to extend the output range to 30MHz.
And, what could be better than to take it apart and shoot some photos?
the front:
Both (top and bottom) external covers are grounded:
The main PCBs seem to be shielded very well (lots of screws to open...), this is the bottom one, the shield on the top looks the same.
The top left small PCB is the GPIB add on, the bottom left one is the RS-232 and 2 of the supplies.
The top PCB' s back side:
Top PCB (MCU +DDS), the MCU is behind the cables, it is an Intel 8052. Not too thrilled about the lithium battery (probably keeps the calibration data), living with it on other stuff (3478), add this one to the 10 year replacement cycle
Top PCB zoom in:
Bottom PCB (more DDS memories and the output amplfier and attenuators(?)):
The sad... two caps on the bottom PCB are leaking...all electrolytic caps will be replaced, fun fun fun...
Over all build quality seems very good, well shielded and organized. Not too thrilled about having another lithium battery to take care of and very unhappy with the leaking caps... But I think it is definitely worth while replacing them.
Some performance screen shots in the next post.
Ran
As requested, the rear panel: