Problem with brand new Rigol DSA815-TG

[OZ99DW]

hmmm... same problem here. What's your calibration date? Mine is May 15, 2015

edit: i get the UNCAL icon... it seems overloaded 

I'm sorry that you experience the same problem.
Please try to do it same thing with full span and then with preamp on.

I think the units calibration date was Mar 8, 2015   

I also get UNCAL icon, I think the problem is something which gets out of lock..

[OZ99DW]

A quick update.

I sent back the defective unit to the dealer, and the dealer sent a new tested unit apparently without the problem 
But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

Now I going to by a used HP spectrum analyzer..

[TomThomas]

A quick update.

I sent back the defective unit to the dealer, and the dealer sent a new tested unit apparently without the problem 
But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

Now I going to by a used HP spectrum analyzer..

Hi,
does it act normally if you set the input attenuator to AUTO?

br
Tom

[mcinque]

But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

WHAT!??!!?!?!?!?

p.s. I can saturate the input with 1.25V sinewave on the input with 0db attenuation, very far from the +20dB max input (wich should be 2.25V): I get immediately "out of range".

There must be something on the input.

[OZ99DW]

A quick update.

I sent back the defective unit to the dealer, and the dealer sent a new tested unit apparently without the problem 
But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

Now I going to by a used HP spectrum analyzer..

Hi,
does it act normally if you set the input attenuator to AUTO?

br
Tom

Yes it did.

The last thing i noticed was that the problem chanced over the frequency span over time.
Sometimes the problem was from 0 to 750 Mhz, and then 0 to 455 Mhz.

Rigol Germany´s test unit was with same problem, so they thought it was normal function.

I have lost al confidence to Rigol´s products.

[OZ99DW]

But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

WHAT!??!!?!?!?!?

p.s. I can saturate the input with 1.25V sinewave on the input with 0db attenuation, very far from the +20dB max input (wich should be 2.25V): I get immediately "out of range".

There must be something on the input.

Yes yes.. The guy from DHL is not that clever..
I'm starting to get tired..

Which type of RF source did you use ? 

[TheSteve]

A quick update.

I sent back the defective unit to the dealer, and the dealer sent a new tested unit apparently without the problem 
But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

Now I going to by a used HP spectrum analyzer..

I replaced my DSA815-TG with an Agilent N1996A, then enabled all features and bumped it from 3 to 6 GHz(with tracking gen!) - cost me the same money as the Rigol.

[OZ99DW]

A quick update.

I sent back the defective unit to the dealer, and the dealer sent a new tested unit apparently without the problem 
But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

Now I going to by a used HP spectrum analyzer..

I replaced my DSA815-TG with an Agilent N1996A, then enabled all features and bumped it from 3 to 6 GHz(with tracking gen!) - cost me the same money as the Rigol.

I will pick up an HP 8594E with all options tomorrow..
 

[dadler]

Are you out the cost of the DSA815, or will DHL refund you?

There is a thread about DHL and its questionable practices in the for sale forum, making me doubt how easily they pay insurance claims...

[OZ99DW]

Are you out the cost of the DSA815, or will DHL refund you?

There is a thread about DHL and its questionable practices in the for sale forum, making me doubt how easily they pay insurance claims...

I hope that DHL will refund my loss.. I will meet them with claim of compensation for lost income, I was supposed to deliverer 10 UHF duplex filter tomorrow..

[mcinque]

Yes yes.. The guy from DHL is not that clever..

Which type of RF source did you use ?

Well... not properly a RF source, I used an arb function gen with a 1s sine sweep from 4.5 to 5.5 MHz (as the tracking gen output for that settings), with the same amplitude of the TG. I measured first the TG output and then reproduced the same values with the fgen (set to 50Ohm load, of course).

[Pinkus]

Are you out the cost of the DSA815, or will DHL refund you?

There is a thread about DHL and its questionable practices in the for sale forum, making me doubt how easily they pay insurance claims...

I hope that DHL will refund my loss.. I will meet them with claim of compensation for lost income, I was supposed to deliverer 10 UHF duplex filter tomorrow..

A quick update.

I sent back the defective unit to the dealer, and the dealer sent a new tested unit apparently without the problem 
But the shipping company left en on my doorstep without my permission, and now its gone 

Now I going to by a used HP spectrum analyzer..

Well, DHL is not your business partner.  They won't provide you any money.
Your dealer is your partner and as you did not receive the unit (though it is not their fault) THEY are responsible. And THEY do need to claim a compensation at DHL. And THEY do need to send you a new unit.
And yes, it is a pity for the dealer. It is not their fault and probably they did not pay extra insurance to DHL, thus they will only receive 500 Euro maximum from DHL. But this is live, that why they make money on the units ... and sometimes you loose some.

[pascal_sweden]

I replaced my DSA815-TG with an Agilent N1996A, then enabled all features and bumped it from 3 to 6 GHz(with tracking gen!) - cost me the same money as the Rigol.

I guess you mean a second hand Agilent N1996A?

[Gunb]

Is your dealer Batronix? =)

Yes its Batronix

Why ?

I just wanted to know, and will follow-up how the dealer treats the issue.
This will make me learn if I should buy from this dealer in the future.

I haven't used this distributor myself, but a friend has.

Given that you live in Scandinavia, you might have considered Instrumentcenter instead.
They are present in Sweden and Denmark, and both country extensions are available for their website. They are smaller in size, and provide more personal service AFAIK.

Hi there,

I've bought a few devices (all Rigols) from Batronix in Germany. I'm very satisfied with their delivery time as well as support.

Maybe it would be interesting for you 


Kind regards
Gunb

[TheSteve]

I replaced my DSA815-TG with an Agilent N1996A, then enabled all features and bumped it from 3 to 6 GHz(with tracking gen!) - cost me the same money as the Rigol.

I guess you mean a second hand Agilent N1996A?

Absolutely, but used Agilent seems to beat new Rigol.

[G0HZU]

What happens if you normalise it?

Change this one setting from your original set:

REF Level +10 dBm

and then select normalise?

After you normalise then change back to the previous setting.

The key sequence is on this page:
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/emc-emi-rfi-esd/4396464/Using-a-tracking-generator

" So to normalize the sweep, press TG > Normalize > Stor Ref. Now enable normalization by pressing TG > Normalize > Normalize On. You should now have a straight line sweep at the top of the display."

Still same problem..
Its not possible to Normalize it out..

Sorry..

I'm slightly confused here...

I've never used a Rigol 815 but I've used lots of decent lab analysers. Some of them won't allow this combination of settings because it is not a good idea to expect to be able to put +0dBm (let alone +10dBm) into the analyser with 0dB front end attenuation selected and then go on to make valid measurments of a typical spectrum input. So even the combination of 0dBm ref level and 0dB attenuation is deemed illegal in some analysers and it won't allow the user to punch in these settings without overriding the user input in some way.

However, I think the Rigol has more loss in the various switched stages between the input and the first mixer plus it has a permanent fixed attenuator here even with the 0dB setting on the front panel.

So you might be able to put 0dBm into it at 0dBm attenuator setting but it is going to be marginal. At some point the analyser will have an overload warning trip and maybe it is somewhere around 0dBm with 0dB attenuation.

So it may be normal for some analysers to 'just' get away with this and some not. But it's not a typical way to set up an analyser anway.

I'm not sure this behaviour is classed as a fault. I'd class it as unsympathetic settings by the user with unrealistic performance expectations from the analyser (at these settings) rather than a fault.

 

[mcinque]

You could be right.
But then why pauln, Giorgio and navzptc don't have the issue with the same settings (and the same device)?

[iDevice]

Just reading this and wonder why anyone with Spectrum analyzer experience didn't react earlier in this thread...
Like GOHZU just said, feeding 0dBm into an analyzer with 0dB attenuation is asking for trouble.
There is a high risk to overload the mixer.
I don't know at what level the Rigol overloads but by reading this thread with some devices overloading and others not, my guess is that it should be around this level and the dispersion between devices (internal losses) makes this "problem" apparent or not.
Anyway, when using an analyzer with a 0dBm feed, the attenuator should be at minimum of -10dB...