New Rigol DS1054Z oscilloscope

[RoGeorge]

The problem is that if you increase the time base setting past 100ms/div, then for some reason the Record menu item (under the Utility/Record menu) is greyed out as OFF and cannot be changed to ON.  If the time base is 100ms/div or less, then it is enabled and can be changed to ON.

This is why:
- When  time base is in range 0.2s to 50s, the scope enters in "Slow Sweep" mode.
- "Slow Sweep" ~ "Roll Mode"
- In "Roll Mode", the "Waveform Record" is not available.

Please read the whole User Guide, or search inside the PDF:

page 11-1
Note: The horizontal time base must be set to Y-T mode during waveform record.

page 3-5
Roll Mode
In this mode, the waveform scrolls from right to left to update the display. The horizontal position and trigger control of the waveform are not available. The range of horizontal scale adjustment is from 200 ms to 50.0 s.
Note: When Roll mode is enabled, the waveform "horizontal position", "Delayed Sweep", "Protocol Decoding", "Pass/Fail Test", "Waveform Record", "To Set the Persistence Time" and "To Trigger the Oscilloscope" are not available.

Slow Sweep
Slow sweep is similar to Roll mode. In YT mode, when the horizontal time base is set to 200 ms/div or slower, the instrument enters "slow sweep" mode in which the instrument first acquires the data at the left of the trigger point and then waits for a trigger event. After the trigger occurs, the instrument continues to finish the waveform at the right of the trigger point. When slow sweep mode is used to observe low frequency signal, DC "Channel Coupling" mode is recommended."

Anyway, the "Waveform Record" does not record continuously, like a sound card. "Waveform Record" captures data seen on the display, like in a movie. But between 2 consecutive waveforms displayied, there is a small pause in data, while the scope is searching for a new trigger point.

The "Waveform Record" function is meant to replay the screens one by one, like in a movie played frame by frame. "Waveform Record" does not acquire data continuously, like a data acquisition card.

To record 10s continuously, the best method is what metrologist said.

[ebastler]

but you'd only need one segment. I mean single capture then download the full trace and expand it.

Yes, that's what I also meant when I posted my advice. Thanks for clarifying.

[Winkhaus]

Ok, it seems to work now.  So I don't actually need the optional Waveform Record feature, I can do what I need using single-shot capture. 

Thanks to all for your patience and explanations.  I will also investigate the additional links provided by David Hess and Gary M.

Cheers

Winkhaus

[stuartmp]

Hi All,

I am just wondering if there is a way to permanently remove the measurement items that display at the bottom of the scope screen.

I can see how to clear or delete single items but the are just greyed out and I have to restart my scope before they completely clear.

This is a real pain.

[xrunner]

Hi All,

I am just wondering if there is a way to permanently remove the measurement items that display at the bottom of the scope screen.

Measure - Clear - All Items 

[stuartmp]

Measure - Clear - All Items

Yes I see that and have tried that....

This is not working as I expect as it just sort of disables the item. Then if you choose a new measure item the last item or items that you deleted / cleared. The space allocation on the screen just reappear on the scope screen just this time they are Greyed out with no value in them

[Plasmateur]

I'm having issues reading the RAW data with labview. Sometimes I receive the wrong X increment value when calling "XINC?". Sometimes my signal is squished to a portion of the total points in "MDEP". 

Here is a representation of the code, after the device is triggered and is in STOP mode.

Code: [Select]


:WAV:SOUR CHAN(i) - i designates which channels are on
:WAV:MODE RAW
:WAV:FORM BYTE
:WAV:STAR 1
:WAV:STOP 250000
:WAV:DATA? (The scope beeps twice. I can't make out the first message displayed)

(then I chop off the first 11 bytes and send it to an array)

:WAV:STAR 250001
:WAV:STOP 300000
:WAV:DATA? (Again the scope beeps twice. I can't make out the first message displayed)


(then I chop off the first 11 bytes and append to the previous array)

(repeat the above process for however many channels are used, with the array index growing for how many channels there are)

:WAVE:XINC?

(gave the wrong integer when 4 channels where selected)

[Array - :WAV:YREF? - :WAV:YOR?]*:WAV:YINC?

(gives the waveform)


I don't have any wait times between operations, however I've run the code with wait times applied and still appear to receive errors sometimes.

[Karel]

I'm having issues reading the RAW data with labview. Sometimes I receive the wrong X increment value when calling "XINC?". Sometimes my signal is squished to a portion of the total points in "MDEP". 

Here is a representation of the code, after the device is triggered and is in STOP mode.

Code: [Select]


:WAV:SOUR CHAN(i) - i designates which channels are on
:WAV:MODE RAW
:WAV:FORM BYTE
:WAV:STAR 1
:WAV:STOP 250000
:WAV:DATA? (The scope beeps twice. I can't make out the first message displayed)

(then I chop off the first 11 bytes and send it to an array)

:WAV:STAR 250001
:WAV:STOP 300000
:WAV:DATA? (Again the scope beeps twice. I can't make out the first message displayed)


(then I chop off the first 11 bytes and append to the previous array)

(repeat the above process for however many channels are used, with the array index growing for how many channels there are)

:WAVE:XINC?

(gave the wrong integer when 4 channels where selected)

[Array - :WAV:YREF? - :WAV:YOR?]*:WAV:YINC?

(gives the waveform)


I don't have any wait times between operations, however I've run the code with wait times applied and still appear to receive errors sometimes.

First, send the command ":STOP". Then all the other commands.

[RoGeorge]

Also, you need to check the previous command has finished successfully before sending a new one.

[xrunner]

Yes I see that and have tried that....

You asked -

I am just wondering if there is a way to permanently remove the measurement items that display at the bottom of the scope screen.

I said -

Measure - Clear - All Items

This in fact does as you asked - I just tried it. All the measurement items displayed are completely removed from the screen - not greyed out. They are gone. So I have no idea what it is you are asking ... 

[tooki]

I said -

Measure - Clear - All Items

This in fact does as you asked - I just tried it. All the measurement items displayed are completely removed from the screen - not greyed out. They are gone. So I have no idea what it is you are asking ... 

But as soon as you activate a new measurement, all the remaining measurement "slots" come back, with their grayed-out names. (As a user interface designer, this reeks of the UI exposing the implementation details, because grayed-out measurements make no sense whatsoever.)

[xrunner]

But as soon as you activate a new measurement, all the remaining measurement "slots" come back, with their grayed-out names.

That wasn't what he was asking about though ... 

[frozenfrogz]

As long as the device offers to "recover" the measurement item, it will appear as greyed out as soon as another measurement item is selected.
However, after power cycling, the inactive items disappear.

[Sredni]

But as soon as you activate a new measurement, all the remaining measurement "slots" come back, with their grayed-out names.

That wasn't what he was asking about though ... 

How is that not so?
He asked "I am just wondering if there is a way to permanently remove the measurement items that display at the bottom of the scope screen."

Your suggestion allow for the temporary removal of the measurement items at the bottom of the screen.

[xrunner]

Your suggestion allow for the temporary removal of the measurement items at the bottom of the screen.

No it's not temporary. I can leave the scope on all day and use it for all types of troubleshooting and that display will never re-appear on it's own. It's permanently off unless the user makes desires it to be back on - just like most of the other things the user can select. Just like say channel 1. If I want it to be permanently off I simply turn it off. It's off until I desire it to be back on - exactly the same sort of thing.

So it really depends on your definition of "temporary" and "permanent". 

[Sredni]

Well, you are stretching the vocabulary a bit, here.
It's permanent if it will not reappear again in the measurement list unless I decide to put it back on by selecting that particular measurement again.
It's temporary if it will appear again on its own when I try to put another measurement.

But hey, if you do not want to accept to have been wrong, suit yourself. I will not stand in your way any longer. 

[xrunner]

way any longer. 

Of course I'm not wrong. I answered his question correctly in the context of what he asked. Now if you want to extrapolate on his question, then by all means do so, but then it's an entirely different question. 

[metrologist]

The narcissism of small differences at play... I think we can agree that the implementation of the measurement display control is non-intuitive and just a bit odd...

I think I will need to explore saved setups a bit more. I've gone back to the Default power up state to help alleviate some of the gotcha type of things I've encountered.

[ebastler]

Of course I'm not wrong. [...]

Famous last words... 

[xrunner]

Of course I'm not wrong. [...]

Famous last words... 

No ... 

[Fungus]

He asked "I am just wondering if there is a way to permanently remove the measurement items that display at the bottom of the scope screen."

Your suggestion allow for the temporary removal of the measurement items at the bottom of the screen.

Simple solution: Put some duct tape over the buttons at the side of the screen and don't use them. 

[ebastler]

He asked "I am just wondering if there is a way to permanently remove the measurement items that display at the bottom of the scope screen."

Your suggestion allow for the temporary removal of the measurement items at the bottom of the screen.

Simple solution: Put some duct tape over the buttons at the side of the screen and don't use them. 

Heck, no! To permanently remove the displayed measurement items, the duct tape must be placed over the screen of course! 

[bitseeker]

I think we can agree that the implementation of the measurement display control is non-intuitive and just a bit odd...

Yes, it's quite screwy and non-intuitive. Plus putting similar, yet different, functionality in two different places doesn't help either. This is a case where copying well-established behaviors from many other software and hardware products would've been preferred to re-inventing the wheel and breaking it in the process.

Anyway...after having noted step-by-step the behavior of the delete and deselect features back in March, below is a summary of how it appears to work in the firmware version prior to the latest (which I'm still using). Nevertheless, I may still get something about it wrong because it's so convoluted that I just don't use delete and deselect. Anytime I want different measurements, I just brute-force replace all visible measurements by enabling the ones I want in order to push the rest off the screen, or simply power-cycle the scope.

1. The delete feature (Clear menu) grays out measurement items instead of removing them from the screen (so you can restore them in case you change your mind), but then actually deletes them when adding new ones.

2. The deselect feature (Sel.Item menu) hides measurements so that they look like they're deleted, but then restores them when adding new measurements.

See a step-by-step example, from which the above summary is derived, at https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-rigol-ds1054z-oscilloscope/msg1170210/#msg1170210.

[stuartmp]

Man oh Man such drama over what I though was a simple question.

Of course I am talking about that fact that the measurement values are not permanently deleted
unless you turn the scope off.

My goodness.

As a newbie.... seeing all that drama makes me think twice before asking another question.

[frozenfrogz]

As you can see by the page count of this thread, the DS1000Z series gets both, love and hate. The ambivalence in some of the commentators leads to fanatism, or trolling to deal with it. As always on the internet, don’t give to much on the first impression
This forum is actually a pretty nice place and there is a lot of wisdom to find.

Welcome Stuart and have a nice day