REVIEW - Owon SDS7102 - A look at the SDS series from Owon

[vysitor]

I find the contrast and readability of the scope to be fine.

Dear cncjerry: Thank you for your sympathy!

This is an unretouched picture I just picked from an earlier post on this thread  (at 90% of its original size):

I can see the yellow waveform very clearly and the red one only as a faint thin line.  It is VERY sharp indeed (unlike the yellow one) but i´m afraid I might miss some tiny details that would be very obvious if the trace was a little brighter.

I can also read ALL the data displayed on screen but I have to make a little extra effort to read the red characters on black background.

This has led me to use CH2 as "main" and turn CH1 on  only when I use both channels. hehehe!

[cncjerry]

Do you have persistence turned on?  I keep it turned on the lowest setting which is one second.  My display doesn't look as finely detailed as yours and I don't know if that is good or bad. 

I love the scope and don't regret the purchase one bit even in light of some of the newer Rigol models released since.

[cncjerry]

One other note:  I went back and displayed the same signal on both channels and I noticed the trace as well as the text in yellow seems to be more anti-aliased.  So the yellow text presents as more fuzzy if you follow me. 

[vysitor]

I like the scope very much and I don´t regret having bought it. I think it´s a fine piece of equipment and its builders certainly deserve to be very proud of what they have accomplished.
If I only could change CH1´s color I would totally fall in love with it.

I usually keep persistence OFF and BTW, the picture is not of my scope but just a random picture I picked from earlier posts to illustrate my point.
I agree with you that the yellow seems a little fuzzy and probably that´s why yellow characters are easier to read.

[vysitor]

IMHO this is due to the fact that yellow is produced by a combination of red and green pixels while red consists of red pixels only.

This makes the red trace extremely sharp and the yellow trace a little "fuzzy".

On the other hand, when it comes to displaying characters, yellow is less prone to contain "blind spots" and characters appear more "rounded" while red characters are likely to have rugged edges, as if there were missing pieces, and this makes them a little harder to read.

Exactly the opposite happens with black characters on red background as you can see in the same picture (The "1" inside a red circle) and compare it to red characters on black background.

[vysitor]

Someone mentioned the colors from the Chinese flag played a role in the selection...

It was my joke.... but who knows...chinese like red and yellow.

.... and yet they don´t  use those colors in the splash screen at boot-up.

Dear Mr. rf-loop:

I have been reading this thread for the last few days (I´m not done yet) and:

1. I want to congratulate You for your deep insight and extremely valuable contributions to this thread.

2. Since You are a senior member of this forum, I wonder if You can contact "tinhead" and ask him to give us a hand. I believe he is the most qualified expert on OWON´s firmware.

Yours faithfully, (Ystävällisin terveisin,)

Vytautas Gabriunas

[tautech]

Someone mentioned the colors from the Chinese flag played a role in the selection...

It was my joke.... but who knows...chinese like red and yellow.

.... and yet they don´t  use those colors in the splash screen at boot-up.

Dear Mr. rf-loop:

I have been reading this thread for the last few days (I´m not done yet) and:

1. I want to congratulate You for your deep insight and extremely valuable contributions to this thread.

2. Since You are a senior member of this forum, I wonder if You can contact "tinhead" and ask him to give us a hand. I believe he is the most qualified expert on OWON´s firmware.

Yours faithfully, (Ystävällisin terveisin,)

Vytautas Gabriunas

You can do that yourself with a PM.
Point him to a post with full details of your problem and be patient for his reply.

[vysitor]

You can do that yourself with a PM.
Point him to a post with full details of your problem and be patient for his reply.


Who said that?

I´ve already sent him a PM last week but haven´t got any response. I guess he deleted it unread.
I was just hoping that some old members might know each other

HOW can I "point him to a post"  Forgive me please.... - never been in a forum before

[tautech]

HOW can I "point him to a post"  Forgive me please.... - never been in a forum before

"Link" may have been a better word.

Right click post title and "copy address"
Paste in message.

For you replies to posts, use Quote post and then add your message after the "[/quote]"
Or use the "insert quote" below font size box.

There are many features to use and it takes a while to learn them, use the "quote" and you will see how others have built their post.
"Preview" is useful too, to check your post is in the format you want.

[vysitor]

Oh!   Thanks tautech !!!  I thought it was a moderator´s message that appeared below my post. DUH!

   Thank you again!

[MartyMacGyver]

A couple of quick notes on the SDS7102(V) and current software/firmware for it.

For the software, I went to the PC Software tab on the OWON update site (http://www.owon.com.hk/service_s.asp) and as of this writing it says that 2.0.8.24 is the latest PC software release... but the link to that software is dead! Thinking maybe the uploads were more up-to-date than the text of the page I tried a few other iterations, and found that there *is* a OWON_Oscilloscope_2.0.8.26_Setup.rar there. I downloaded it, ran it through a few AV scanners to be extra cautious, and installed it. It seems to work and the "About" box says it's "Version 2.0.8.26 (build 20141228)". YMMV of course.

For the firmware, I went to the Firmware tab, entered my serial (be sure to omit the last three digits or you'll be told incorrectly that "The firmware onto your OWON device is in latest version, no need to upgrade, thanks") and downloaded "sds_upgrade_3.2_3.3_3.4.rar". I installed it and now I'm up to version 3.8 on the scope. As usual it started with Chinese menus so I did the "Utility -> H2 -> English" maneuver to change it to English, and that worked fine... until I rebooted the scope and saw that it was right back to Chinese! Tried changing it again, power cycled and back to Chinese! Hmm.

For grins I power cycled, changed the language to English and then set the clock to something other than the default. *That* apparently helped make the setting stick, and it's been on English ever since.

tl;dr - After updating to this firmware, update the language *and* set the clock... it doesn't seem to stick otherwise.

[TomC]

A couple of quick notes on the SDS7102(V) and current software/firmware for it.

For the software, I went to the PC Software tab on the OWON update site (http://www.owon.com.hk/service_s.asp) and as of this writing it says that 2.0.8.24 is the latest PC software release... but the link to that software is dead! Thinking maybe the uploads were more up-to-date than the text of the page I tried a few other iterations, and found that there *is* a OWON_Oscilloscope_2.0.8.26_Setup.rar there. I downloaded it, ran it through a few AV scanners to be extra cautious, and installed it. It seems to work and the "About" box says it's "Version 2.0.8.26 (build 20141228)". YMMV of course.

For the firmware, I went to the Firmware tab, entered my serial (be sure to omit the last three digits or you'll be told incorrectly that "The firmware onto your OWON device is in latest version, no need to upgrade, thanks") and downloaded "sds_upgrade_3.2_3.3_3.4.rar". I installed it and now I'm up to version 3.8 on the scope. As usual it started with Chinese menus so I did the "Utility -> H2 -> English" maneuver to change it to English, and that worked fine... until I rebooted the scope and saw that it was right back to Chinese! Tried changing it again, power cycled and back to Chinese! Hmm.

For grins I power cycled, changed the language to English and then set the clock to something other than the default. *That* apparently helped make the setting stick, and it's been on English ever since.

tl;dr - After updating to this firmware, update the language *and* set the clock... it doesn't seem to stick otherwise.

Thanks for the info!

I just downloaded OWON_Oscilloscope_2.0.8.26_Setup.rar using your tip! As you implied, all I had to do is change the 24 to 26 on the address bar of the screen with the Oops! message.

A couple days ago I also downloaded the firmware because it had a later date than my current version, but after installing it I still had version 3.8 on my scope. However, I didn't run into the problem of it reverting back to Chinese.

[MartyMacGyver]

Thanks for the info!

I just downloaded OWON_Oscilloscope_2.0.8.26_Setup.rar using your tip! As you implied, all I had to do is change the 24 to 26 on the address bar of the screen with the Oops! message.

A couple days ago I also downloaded the firmware because it had a later date than my current version, but after installing it I still had version 3.8 on my scope. However, I didn't run into the problem of it reverting back to Chinese.

Glad it was useful! You probably didn't run into the Chinese default problem because it didn't actually change your firmware (I'm guessing there's a checksum that if changed (e.g., after the firmware changes) leads to it setting the NVRAM to default across the board - what was weird was that changing the language wouldn't "stick" until I also set the clock).

[R_G_B_]

Has anyone come across this fault.

The oscilloscope powers with up green light and fan runs but no display.

I checked the voltages at the pins there are voltages at the J3 connector pin (5 and 6) 8.4V pin 4 seems slightly high 7.84V instead of 7.6V A.C trigger 1.435V. GLED 11.75V RLED 0.5mV. There is a bulging capacitor on the board C4 not sure how much difference or how this will effect the board it has 8.4V across it. But is showing some ripple.

is anyone able to compare the voltages or help with this.

Thanks

R_G_B

[TomC]

Has anyone come across this fault.

The oscilloscope powers with up green light and fan runs but no display.

I checked the voltages at the pins there are voltages at the J3 connector pin (5 and 6) 8.4V pin 4 seems slightly high 7.84V instead of 7.6V A.C trigger 1.435V. GLED 11.75V RLED 0.5mV. There is a bulging capacitor on the board C4 not sure how much difference or how this will effect the board it has 8.4V across it. But is showing some ripple.

is anyone able to compare the voltages or help with this.

Thanks

R_G_B

Hi R_G_B_,
Sorry you are having trouble with your scope. Some time ago, many posts on this thread, I did some work on the main PSU and reverse engineered the attached schematic. In my opinion you should replace the bulging capacitor, there should be almost no ripple on the 8.4V.  This voltage is used by several other DC/DC converters on the adapter board, and ripple can cause problems, possibly what you are seeing.

[R_G_B_]

has this been a common problem with this oscilloscope?

What else should I watch out for?

Thanks TomC

[R_G_B_]

Fixed I replaced  the capacitor  1000uf 16V on the power supply board for a 15V 1000uf i salvaged from an old free view set top switch mode power supply board. The oscilloscope  switches on. Thanks again TomC.


R_G_B_

[TomC]

Fixed I replaced  the capacitor  1000uf 16V on the power supply board for a 15V 1000uf i salvaged from an old free view set top switch mode power supply board. The oscilloscope  switches on. Thanks again TomC.


R_G_B_

Glad to hear that!

Most of the problems I had were self inflicted while experimenting trying to alleviate the noise issue. But I guess some of these scopes are reaching the age where capacitors, etc., start to fail. Anyway, that's great news that you got it back working!

[R_G_B_]

Having read the reviews of this oscilloscope I have many questions.
Seems to be problem with noise. I have had to use ferrite beads on the internal cables and probes. I manged to get the noise down to around 20mv but this is still bad compared to my old TDS1002 I its around 3mv and this is a very old scope. I had seen Daves review of the 300MHz version of this scope it did not go down to well. Have the software issues been sorted?

 the version of software I have is version 2.7. The V version of the scope. Any help appreciated.

[cncjerry]

I don't have a noise problem in mine for a scope in that price range.  Was your's an early model?

[R_G_B_]

On the main board it says 2012 SDS71021234.

Tektronix were way ahead of the game back in their day.
The TDS1002 seems very slow but solid in terms of functionality does what it suppose to do for its time and its still going after all this time.



R_G_B_

[R_G_B_]

just updated the firmware to 3.3 and the screen has gone  corrupt?  can anyone help?

thanks

R_G_B_

[R_G_B_]

My verdict Unfinished product ....terrible software. I'm keeping the tds1002. And Getting rid of this piece of junk.  I'm sure people will hate me for saying this. But I just updated the scope firmware and it corrupted the text on the display and now I can not know what's happening as I can not read the display.



R_G_B

[cncjerry]

Maybe you have it in Chinese language?  Ha!

I have a tek 3054b, TDS794C, and a couple others.  I pull the Owon SDS7102V out all the time because it has a large screen, is light, and I can see everything on that scope that I can see on the others if I set persistence correctly.  Yes, the triggering and some of the other features on the better scopes make it look like a toy, but still, for everyday use I love mine.
I would reflash the firmware back.  There are two versions of that scope, I believe, and two sets of firmware.

Jerry

[TomC]

The only thing I've noticed after updating firmware is that the language defaults to Chinese. If that's the case press Utility, H2, and select the language with the knob.