Siglent SDS1104X-E and SDS1204X-E Mixed Signal Oscilloscopes

[Domitronic]

For those that had acceptable offset in AC coupling, have you done the 200MHz BW "improvement"?

No hack on my scope, still the 100Mhz version as i bought it.

[Calambres]

Regarding the low frequency square wave issue, it also seems to vary with warmup time. The first image is with some 10' warmup and the second is 10' later (see the timestamp). As warming is in progress, the right side of the wave is developing another dip opposite to the left one.

Again:
OS: 8.3
FW: 6.1.37R9
HW: 01.05
FPGA: 2021-11-08
Hacked

[BillyO]

The ones I had showed previously @33Hz were after nearly 3Hrs of on time.

[BillyO]

I had contacted tautech about this a few days back.  He said he had some ideas and would be checking into it.

As far as my offset on AC coupled mode.  I guess I can use channels 3 and 4 for low signal work and just subtract out the error.  In the mean time I will check with the vendor (Amazon) on support options.

[BillyO]

I reached out to Siglent about these issues a few days ago.  Still no response from them.  I'll update if I hear anything from them.

[Domitronic]

I wouldn't expect a fix for the square wave topic. Doesn't seem to be a big issue if it wasn't discovered for years. My scope is from 2018 and I didn't realize it until now. Without a 2nd scope I still wouldn't have noticed. So i guess that Siglent doesn't even bother.

[MathWizard]

I still didn't order a logic analyzer, I'm sure an Arduino project can handle all I need for now.

But what's the right way to capture serial data with a sds1104x-e ? All I've been doing is switching to Decode and choosing a protocol. And also in the trigger menu, choosing the serial protocol. And then just doing single capture with the time-offset to the far left.

And that's ok for short signals, but when the clock speed is very fast, and there's big delays in the data or a lot of data, soon using single capture, you have the the timebase so large that you lose the detail at the serial clock time base.

Is that the right way to do it, and can you record big long serial data streams to a flashdrive or PC ?

The 1980's MSO's must not have had much memory recording / capturing.

[tautech]

I still didn't order a logic analyzer, I'm sure an Arduino project can handle all I need for now.

But what's the right way to capture serial data with a sds1104x-e ? All I've been doing is switching to Decode and choosing a protocol. And also in the trigger menu, choosing the serial protocol. And then just doing single capture with the time-offset to the far left.

And that's ok for short signals, but when the clock speed is very fast, and there's big delays in the data or a lot of data, soon using single capture, you have the the timebase so large that you lose the detail at the serial clock time base.

Is that the right way to do it, and can you record big long serial data streams to a flashdrive or PC ?

The 1980's MSO's must not have had much memory recording / capturing.

Use the dual timebase Zoom feature.
In the primary timebase you can have several 100 packets displayed and pan through each one in Zoom mode.
To capture/export use the Save/Recall menu to save the capture in a filetype than best suits your needs.
BIN files were introduced to allow for much smaller file size than CSV but it's very easy to use the BIN to CSV file converter that you can download from within the scope from the Sace/Recall menu and install on your PC.

[Dave Wise]

What became of kcbrown's slope trigger problem?  Discussion seemed to trail off after post #1924.

[Micke27]

I am a  newbie on this fantastic forum, hope this is the right thread...

My problem: cannot upgrade sds1104X-E to V6.1.37R9.
Upgrade file is: SDS1xx4X-E_V6.1.37R9.ADS

Current config is:
V6.1.37R8
OS: 8.3
FPGA: 2021-11-08
HW: 09.06

I have downloaded the upgrade file from siglenteu.com, unzipped and transferred to a USB stick. The USB stick was freshly FAT32 formatted.
The scope identifies the .ADS file on the USB stick.

It displays "The upgrade file is invalid. Please restart it".

Any ideas from the forum experts?
Thanks

[Micke27]

Forgot to add, this is a non-hacked scope.

[BillyO]

I reached out to Siglent about these issues a few days ago.  Still no response from them.  I'll update if I hear anything from them.

Forgot to update this.  I was trying to contact Siglent the wrong way.  When I went to the the Siglent NA website and filled out a service request, they got back to me in less than 2 hours.  Amazing service.  I also got help from tautech.

[BillyO]

Any ideas from the forum experts?

I don't claim to be an expert but I've updated all my Siglent equipment, some more than once, and never had a problem.  It could be the file on the EU site is corrupt.  You might try downloading the update from the NA site and see if that works better.

It might also be a glitch in your workflow.  if a file from another source does not fix the problem, then let us know exactly the process you use in precise detail (very button bush, etc..).

[Micke27]

It's hard to imagine how I could have done something wrong, but here we go:

Downloaded from siglentna site: SDS1xx4X-E_V6.1.37R9_EN.zip
Extracted all files.
Formatted (full format) a 1 GB USB stick with FAT32.
Copied file SDS1xx4X-E_V6.1.37R9.ADS to the root directory.
Started the scope.
Inserted USB stick.
Utility -Next page – Next page – Update – Firmware.
Picture siglent-1 shows that the file is recognized.
Press to update
Siglent-2 shows the error message.

[Micke27]

This is interesting...
When I copied the entire file contents to the USB stick, in a folder with the same name as downloaded, then the upgrade finally worked!
Why does the scope need the two pdf files?

Anyway, thanks BillyO for putting me on the right track.

[BillyO]

Glad to see it worked.  I just re-did mine and it worked fine from the root directory.  However, I actually had to navigate to the file and/or press the multi-purpose button

The two PDF files are for you, not the scope.  It should not need them.  Mine did not.

[tautech]

This is interesting...
When I copied the entire file contents to the USB stick, in a folder with the same name as downloaded, then the upgrade finally worked!
Why does the scope need the two pdf files?

It don't.

Something else was the issue.
A Quick Format in Windoze with FAT32 and 4k clusters is the default that just works but USB stick size must be a max of 8GB. Any smaller size just works.

I have one stick with a Firmware folder only containing ADS files some 30 in all for all manner of instruments and they all work just fine.

Anyhoo, you're sorted now except for doing a Self Cal after ~30 min warm up.

[Domitronic]

I reached out to Siglent about these issues a few days ago.  Still no response from them.  I'll update if I hear anything from them.

Forgot to update this.  I was trying to contact Siglent the wrong way.  When I went to the the Siglent NA website and filled out a service request, they got back to me in less than 2 hours.  Amazing service.  I also got help from tautech.

What was the feedback from Siglent and solution for offsets and square wave issues?

[BillyO]

The offsets were a return to Siglent for calibration, the square waves were what Rob helped me with and involved a little calibration (more a compensation adjustment) which I have not yet done.  I didn't want to do it before I sent the scope back to Siglent and once I got it back the issues was quite a bit less pronounced.  I guess when they did the re-cal it got a least partially fixed.

They never questioned the increased BW or all the options.

[Calambres]

Hi there!

My SDS1104X-E (hacked) gets hung frequently in XY mode, which is very annoying.
Look at the next image:


BC109B transistor in a Curve Tracer

So far so good. CH2 (Y) responds flawlessly but if I try to reduce horizontal volts per division with the X channel (CH1) it freezes with no buttons or knobs responding at all. The only way to get out of that is to press the ON button for some seconds until it shuts off. In this case, if I switch from 2V to 1V it hangs completely.

On the other hand, if I go the other way up, i.e.: from 2V to 5V,  it behaves correctly. Back to 2V, OK again, but if I try to go to 1V, it hangs again.


What's worse is that it is not the only occurrence. If I switch from different acquisition modes, it hangs up again.

The first occurrence happens always, the second, just sometimes. Very annoying 

EDIT:
Ooops, I forgot to tell that:
OS: 8.3
FW: 6.1.37R9
HW: 01.05
FPGA: 2021-11-08

[WPE]

I'm considering a Siglent SDS1204XE with a SDG2042X AWG.  Does it sound better to buy through Amazon or through highly rated Tequipment?   

[tautech]

I'm considering a Siglent SDS1204XE with a SDG2042X AWG.  Does it sound better to buy through Amazon or through highly rated Tequipment?

Welcome to the forum.

You could also consider supporting Saelig and get the members 6% discount.
Ask for their discount code here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/equipment-discounts-from-saelig/

[BillyO]

Are Saelig the retail arm of Siglent NA, or a fully separate entity?

[mwb1100]

Saelig sells equipment from a variety of vendors, including what I'd think is Siglent's main competitor, Rigol. So I don't think they have a relationship with Siglent beyond being an authorized distributor.

[tautech]

Are Saelig the retail arm of Siglent NA, or a fully separate entity?

mwb1000 is quite correct and additionally Siglent NA run their own online shop and also sell through Amazon as vendor Siglent Technologies although only a few of their products are offered via Amazon.
https://siglentna.com/product/sds2104x-plus/
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Siglent+Technologies&crid=2CDWWAEPZ6U5J&qid=1671951557&sprefix=siglent+technologies%2Caps%2C267&ref=sr_pg_1

However why anyone would consider sourcing test equipment from any platform not offering support IDK.