Velleman WFS210 wireless oscilloscope for only £20 !

[Bicurico]

Just ordered one... Couldn't help it... 

I had tried before, a few weeks ago, but I am 100% sure that Amazon UK would not ship to Portugal. Tried right now and this time it worked. They must have changed something.

Curious about this device.

Regards,
Vitor

[Fraser]

VEL337 has kindly added the missing boot loader to the GitHub. It got accidentally omitted when he did the first upload.

Fraser

[tggzzz]

VEL337 has kindly added the missing boot loader to the GitHub. It got accidentally omitted when he did the first upload.

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere...

I'm starting from the point of considering upgrading firmware, iff it is simple. !simple would be any of having to install a development environment, or needing arcane hardware to transfer a binary to the scope, or requiring a post XP windows.

Is there a complete definition of prerequisites and procedures somewhere?

[Fraser]

Velleman detail the firmware update process on their support pages for the WFS210.

It involves reprogramming the PIC chip with a Microchip PicKit 3 or similar. No firmware upgrade path via USB.

Fraser

[Fraser]

Here is the firmware update instruction manual that Velleman provided for their new iOS updated firmware.

https://manuals.velleman.eu/article.php?id=576

Warning some people found the released firmware worse than that which was already installed. It is possible to brick the WFS210 as well. Search for 'firmware' on the Velleman WFS210 support forum before attempting to update your unit.

https://forum.vellemanprojects.eu/c/instruments/wfs210-new

Fraser

[tggzzz]

Here is the firmware update instruction manual that Velleman provided for their new iOS updated firmware.

Thanks; looks like it is no-go for all the reasons: dev environment, arcane hardware, and operating system (which MS wouldn't sell to me!).

[Avacee]

Looking on eBay for "PickIT 3" returns lots of results in the £13-20 range and another series in the £80-100.

I take it the cheapo ones are chinese knockoffs. Does anyone have any experience of these working ok?
I don't fancy spending ~£90 on a unit that cost £20 :p

[R_G_B_]

Have you looked at this

http://dangerousprototypes.com/blog/2011/12/19/sure-electronics-pickit-3-clone-review/

[Gyro]

Check the listings for Pickit 3.5 ([not all of] the red ones). They claim additional things like firmware protection and unique serial number.

I bought one a while back and haven't had any trouble with it.

[djos]

Check the listings for Pickit 3.5 ([not all of] the red ones). They claim additional things like firmware protection and unique serial number.

I bought one a while back and haven't had any trouble with it.

Or if you have an EEPROM programmer with PIC capability you can use that, that's my intention as I have the add on for mine (does SLI & JTAG too).

[R_G_B_]

I got this one


https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F141713310557

[Howardlong]

VEL337 has kindly added the missing boot loader to the GitHub. It got accidentally omitted when he did the first upload.

Fraser

It compiles cleanly now, but you must use XC16 1.24, more recent versions omit a file dependency in their distribution. So my toolchain is XC16 v1.24 and MPLAB X IDE 4.01.

As soon as I get chance, I'll check to see if it runs, but time is not on my side at the moment.

[Mr. Scram]

I've tried to use it in anger for the first time tonight, but I must say I'm not overly impressed. Getting the contact bounce of a button to show up turned out to be impossible for me. If you adjust the timebase to something useful, the triggering seems to stop cooperating.

If everything shows up as a decently shaped waveform due to the limitations of the device, it loses its use in a lot of cases.

[djos]

Mine arrived yesterday and all I've managed to do so far is charge it overnight. Hopefully I'll get some time on the weekend to have a play.

[jimmc]

A couple of interesting 'features' I think I've discovered, can someone please confirm. (I'm using the Android App with a 1600x1200 display)

The 20mV/div range is in actually 25mV/div. (The protocol document p6 seems to support this range '10' is given as 25mV/div)

The x axis graticule is slightly out - set the markers whole number of divisions apart and the time readout is higher than it should be.
e.g. 15 divisions on 10uS/div range gives a readout of 152uS. (Checking the markers against a GPSDO shows that they are correct.)



Finally, has anyone found a way of shifting the trigger point in the time axis?

Jim

Modified - Pics added

[Avacee]

It's a rounding error.

From the protocol document --> For all timebase settings: 50 samples/div except for 1µs/div: 10 samples/div and for 2µs/div: 20 samples/div
However the values in the top-right/bottom-right boxes are calculated from the markers' pixel difference - the data isn't sent from the unit.

The app calculates TimePerPixel and multiplies by the number of pixels between the markers.
All values in those boxes will be suffer the same rounding error as they all use time/pixel or volts/pixel.

[R_G_B_]

I was comparing the update rate of the wfs210
to the hps140 just to see how slow it updates the screen.

Using the analogue discovery signal generator as follows:

Advanced settings

Carrier
Type square 500Hz 50% 0deg

FM
Sine 200mhz  50% 0deg

Then I noticed on the Square wave the ringing and overshoot was on the falling edges on the wfs210 and those on the hps140i on the rising edges. So the WFS210 is not displaying the waveform the correct way around it's time reversed as the ringing should be in the rising edge of the Square wave.

Seems to do this intermittently at 1Mhz

[Bicurico]

Just received mine:

1) Package had been opened before, so this is a returned item and not brand new. Other than that, it looks new.
2) I think it arrived with the button pressed, so the battery is completely flat.
3) Connected it via USB with my PC, expecting to charge it and to be able to try it through USB, but it does not turn on or show in device manager.
4) While connected to my laptop to charge it, pressing the power button does exactly nothing.

I will leave it charging for a while, in hope to be able to confirm that it is working at all.

Overall, a very bad user experience. The included "manual" is a joke, no CD - I would not have paid more than 20-30 Euro for this. No wonder they are getting rid of stocks.

Hopefully, my opinion will change when/if the device finally starts and does something.

Regds,
Vitor

[Bicurico]

Update:

Just removed the rubber feet and noticed that the screws are not completely screwed in - this device has been tampered with.

How much worse can it get? 

Regards,
Vitor

[Mr. Scram]

Just received mine:

1) Package had been opened before, so this is a returned item and not brand new. Other than that, it looks new.
2) I think it arrived with the button pressed, so the battery is completely flat.
3) Connected it via USB with my PC, expecting to charge it and to be able to try it through USB, but it does not turn on or show in device manager.
4) While connected to my laptop to charge it, pressing the power button does exactly nothing.

I will leave it charging for a while, in hope to be able to confirm that it is working at all.

Overall, a very bad user experience. The included "manual" is a joke, no CD - I would not have paid more than 20-30 Euro for this. No wonder they are getting rid of stocks.

Hopefully, my opinion will change when/if the device finally starts and does something.

Regds,
Vitor

Do you get a blinking wifi light when you turn on the device?

[Bicurico]

I only get two lights: the exclamation mark and the battery charging.

Pressing the power button does nothing. I measured the battery and it has 3.5V, which is presumably much too low.

What puzzels me is that I expected the device to turn on when connected to a power source.

Either mine is DOA or this device will be useless the day the battery fails.

Regards,
Vitor

[Mr. Scram]

I only get two lights: the exclamation mark and the battery charging.

Pressing the power button does nothing. I measured the battery and it has 3.5V, which is presumably much too low.

What puzzels me is that I expected the device to turn on when connected to a power source.

Either mine is DOA or this device will be useless the day the battery fails.

Regards,
Vitor

You should get a slow blinking light on the left side of the power button if you turn the device on. That's the wifi trying to connect to a network.

I must add that I didn't get a response at first either. Changing the USB cable a few times until I had a reliable cable turned out to be the solution. It was the same problem you have. It didn't turn up in the Device Manager.

[Bicurico]

The device came with a USB cable, which is what I am using to charge it. I tried charging it on my laptop, now using a USB charger (1A).

It is charging for 5-10 minutes and I had expected that pressing the power button would do at least SOMETHING like turning on the WIFI LED's, but that is not happening.

I could accept that a connection to the PC is not happening due to the cable, but the WIFI mode should be working, right? Or will it be deactivate as soon as a USB cable is connected (to charger or PC).

I don't have any other USB-Mini cable with me right now.

This sure sucks!

Can you please tell me: Should the WIFI LED's turn on when power button is pressed AND device is being charged?

Hope I don't have to find out how good the Amazon customer support works...

Thanks,
Vitor

[Mr. Scram]

The device came with a USB cable, which is what I am using to charge it. I tried charging it on my laptop, now using a USB charger (1A).

It is charging for 5-10 minutes and I had expected that pressing the power button would do at least SOMETHING like turning on the WIFI LED's, but that is not happening.

I could accept that a connection to the PC is not happening due to the cable, but the WIFI mode should be working, right? Or will it be deactivate as soon as a USB cable is connected (to charger or PC).

I don't have any other USB-Mini cable with me right now.

This sure sucks!

Can you please tell me: Should the WIFI LED's turn on when power button is pressed AND device is being charged?

Hope I don't have to find out how good the Amazon customer support works...

Thanks,
Vitor

I think the WIFI LED turns on when the power button is pressed and it is being charged, but I don't have a device here to make sure. It could just be the WIFI light though, or the WIFI module. Maybe the device is still usable in other ways.

[Bicurico]

I will waste no time and request a refund.

I am prepared to deal with a sub-quality product as described in the forum, where the fun comes from messing around with the firmware.

But I am not in the mood of having to deal with a DOA device.

It seems, however, Amazon requires me to ship back the defective device: this is OK if Amazon pays for the expenses. Otherwise it is kind of pointless and that would mean I NEVER would buy anything else from them.

I will keep you updated.

Regards,
Vitor