Hantek - Tekway - DSO hack - get 200MHz bw for free

[CustomEngineerer]

Are the DSO5xxx's still hackable? Ebay has them going for 200 USD shipped (looks like vendors are trying to push out old stock to prep for a new model?). I had no intention of buying one but 2 chans at 200 mhz for 200 USD, eh, impulse purchase territory right there.

I'm not seeing where you get that idea from. I see the one you linked with a starting bid of $199.99 ($34.99 shipping), but the buy it now prices is still $259.99, which is right around what I'm seeing all the others being offered for. But to answer your question, yes, they are still hackable, but honestly, even if they were going for $100 its still a waste of money. I made the mistake of buying one over a year ago and had nothing but trouble with it. Constant complete lockups that required a reboot. Ended up sending it back and getting something else.

[pascal_sweden]

What is the difference between the P, the B and the BM model?

[CustomEngineerer]

http://www.hantek.com/en/ProductDetail_3_26.html

Scroll down and select Comparison, select the models you are interested in then click Compare.

[pascal_sweden]

The BMV model seems to be the most advanced model. 2 MPoints of sample memory and Video Help.

Does anybody here on the forum have example videos of the Video Help feature?
Seems like a nice feature!

[2x2l]

Are the DSO5xxx's still hackable? Ebay has them going for 200 USD shipped (looks like vendors are trying to push out old stock to prep for a new model?). I had no intention of buying one but 2 chans at 200 mhz for 200 USD, eh, impulse purchase territory right there.

I'm not seeing where you get that idea from. I see the one you linked with a starting bid of $199.99 ($34.99 shipping), but the buy it now prices is still $259.99, which is right around what I'm seeing all the others being offered for. But to answer your question, yes, they are still hackable, but honestly, even if they were going for $100 its still a waste of money. I made the mistake of buying one over a year ago and had nothing but trouble with it. Constant complete lockups that required a reboot. Ended up sending it back and getting something else.

Yeah, sorry, 260, my mistake. What's you get isntead? Can anyone report if the new firmware is any better? The acquisition hardware + screen size all seem appealing, the reboots seem like firmware issues, that perhaps was resolved over the course of the year between now and when you bought it..

[CustomEngineerer]

Just from what I've seen in this and other Hantek threads, the issues have not been resolved and Hantek doesn't really seem to have any interest in trying to fix them. Even if they wanted to fix some of the issues, I have zero confidence that they can. They seem totally incompetent when it comes to firmware.

I ended up getting a Rigol DS2072A. I know there are a lot of threads around here discussing issues with the Rigols, but Rigol's issues are nothing compared to Hantek's. And Rigol does seem to be actually fixing most issues. My Rigol scope hasn't once completely locked up requiring a reboot, the Hantek would do it multiple times per day, sometimes per hour.

[CustomEngineerer]

The BMV model seems to be the most advanced model. 2 MPoints of sample memory and Video Help.

Does anybody here on the forum have example videos of the Video Help feature?
Seems like a nice feature!

I haven't actually seen it, but I'm sure its probably as useless as the help button on most cheap scopes. The help system on the DSO5000P models would take you to very generic Chinglish descriptions of the function that didn't really do anything to help explain what the function was.

Edit: Typos

[tinbender59]

Ok ---- I'm completely lost here,  so i'll show my ignorance, and ask?  can the HANTEK DSO 1060 be hacked or not?? just askin, works great but more is better.  lol

[tinbender59]

ya know I was looking at the specs. and I am not to sure I want to upgrade the 1060 is more of a electronics tech scope and the 200mhz version is more of an electrician scope ?? jmo  I do believe this is off a little, I do not have mine with me but I can measure 220vac and dcv looks a little low as well??

   
    DSO1200       1060
           DC Voltage
60.00mV            10uV 
600.0mV            100uV 
6.000V               1mV 
60.00V               10mV 
600.0V               100mV 
800V                  1V 
             AC Voltage
60.00mV            10uV 
600.0mV            100uV 
6.000V               1mV 
60.00V               10mV 
600.0V               100mV 
          DC Current
60.00mA            10uA 
600.0mA            100uA 
6.000A               1mA 
10.00A               10mA 
          AC Current
60.00mA            10uA 
600.0mA            100uA 
6.000A               1mA 
10.00A               10mA 
          Resistance
600?                 0.1? 
6.000K?            1? 
60.00K?           10? 
600.0K?           1K? 
6.000M?          10K? 
60.00M?          100K? 
         Capacitance 
40.00nF            10pF 
400.0nF            100pF 
4.000uF            1nF 
40.00uF            10nF 
400.0uF            100nF 

[CustomEngineerer]

@2x2l, I would like to revise my earlier statement,

"Even if the DSO5000P were going for $100 they would still be a waste of money"

I'm pretty sure I've said that multiple times, but whether someone else wasted their money on something, regardless of how much, can really only be decided by that person. If $200 was all you had to spend, or even if it was all you were willing to spend on a scope, and the scope was useful to you then its not a waste of money. I just keep remembering how frustrated I was trying to use the one I had and so keep saying stupid things like the above. For its price its probably decent enough. When I got mine, I actually got the MSO5102P MSO5102D, and paid closer to $550 or $600 for it. After a couple of weeks of fighting it I saw the Rigol DS2072As were only around $250 which made it seem worse.

I still would recommend saving the extra $140 and getting something like the Rigol DS1000Z, or Siglent SDS1102CML for $100 more, but if the Hantek is at the limit for what you are willing to spend, then it may be good enough for what you want to do with it, and it may serve you well for years. I would just strongly recommend to read as much about them as you can so you know what to watch out for, regardless of which way you end up going.

Edit: Also, just realized I had the MSO5000D, not P series. So really can't speak of how well the DSO5000P does or doesn't work. Just know that Hantek in general, is pretty bad at firmware, though so are Rigol and Siglent.

[kaczy9999]

Is there any information about Hantek 6074BE? Is it so new or so crappy device that no one have it? 1Gs/s and 4ch for 170$, with hack to 6254BE (250Mhz BW) sounds great, but I don't understand why there is no user reviews at all. I'd searched everywere and found only one chinese video.

[tatus1969]

I have just bought a new DSO5062B:

Tried to hack it to 200MHz using the DSO-USB-Tool from https://marcowuen.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/dso-hacking-quick-guide-voltcraft-dso3062c-hantek-dso5062b-tekway-dst1062b/. Renaming /dst1062b to /dst1202b worked well, restarted several times, checked if, yes, the file stayed the same.

The sysinfo screen says
[model]           DSO5062B              (was expecting to see DSO1202B here...)
[sw version]    3.30.0 (150116.0)
[hw version]    1020x55778344
[serial number] T 1G/012 023575

A quick test with a fast (~2ns) digital signal and a 500MHz probe gives me ~3ns slew rate and the well known overshoots, I have attached a screenshot.

I will also attach pictures from the PCB in next post. It reads "DSO500B Serial MB Ver1.02 2015/3/8". Seems they have not touched the analog stages but introduced new SoC (S3C2416XH-40) and other.

So my suspicion is
a) that new firmware has countermeasures to the hack
b) I cannot use an older firmware to downgrade

I am now hoping that I have missed something. 

[tatus1969]

PCB pictures 1

[tatus1969]

PCB pictures 2

[Fixup]

Hi,

Its a long time since i hacked my DSO5052. But I remember that I changed several files. I connected an USB to RS232 adapter to the board.
I think I followed these instructions.
https://www.circuitsathome.com/measurements/hantek-dso5000-series-oscilloscope-modifications-part-1-doubling-the-bandwidth-of-dso5102b


 

[tatus1969]

@Fixup: thanks for that link, tried that. The files "sys.inf" and "logotype" surprisingly did already read "dst1202b". Probably because I did that "mv /dst1062b /dst1202b" already yesterday. Probably the DSO application did that during the reboots.

Now the scope reads "DSO5202B" in its system information.

By the way, the change can also be done via USB-DSO-Tool instead of soldering a UART:
   plug USB stick in scope
   "cp /logotype.dis /mnt/udisk"
   plug that USB stick into normal computer and change text to "hantek_DSO5202B"
   put that stick back in scope
   "cp /mnt/udisk/logotype.dis /"
        "chown 1000:1000 /logotype.dis"

However, analog behavior is still the same, that last change probably only has a cosmetic effect.

Anyhow, I think today I got a clue to it. I can sometimes see the signal shape "jump" between two different bandwidths. I made a sceenshot (screenshot hantek20_1.png) with infinite persistence that shows what I mean. Interestingly, the scope only seems to do that at 2ns and 4ns timebases. At 8ns or more, it always shows the full bandwidth. (Yes, I am absolutely sure that it is not my test signal  that is causing that strange effect... )

When I manage to capture the waveform at the "better" bandwidth, I can confirm ~ 1.8ns transition time as expected for 200MHz BW. I conclude from this that the hack was successfull in general, but the designers do some strange things with the data. It seems to depend on the exact signal shape. The above signal was taken with my 500MHz passive probe. When I take the same signal with a better bandwidth (5mm coax cable, screenshot hantek21_1.png), the scope always seems to "choose" the higher bandwidth. As if the software seems to analyse the waveform and judges from the slopes if it should apply some smoothing to it or not, in order to make the result look better....

Has anyone observed a similar behavior with his Hantek?

[Fixup]

I also removed the diodes that can be seen on page 90.
For what I understand the bandwidth of the scope is limited by:
- Digitally Controlled VGA. The software bandwidth limit is probably adjusting the filter settings like Dave shows in this R&S.
- The variable capacitance diode BBY65-02V (D01_2) could also be used for bandwidth limit. However is seems like this varactor is only used for the 20MHz filter option which is useful for some measurements.
- Possibly the firmware could also have some filtering in some way.

I was also thinking about updating my Hantek to the latest firmware....

[Jane]

Hi,
can I use the hacked Hantek DSO with trigger like this?
I have signals A and signal B. I need to know what voltage signal B has when signal A starts.
Is it possible to use A signal as a trigger to achieve my goal( i.e. to find out the voltage of B )?

[tatus1969]

@Fixup: thanks for the hint, I will check if they drive the varactor incorrectly. If yes, that would be an easy fix, I can live without BW limit.

The Hantek uses the AD8370 PGA, that one does not have filtering options. The capacitors at the ADCs (is that what you meant with page 90?) were fortunately not populated in my model.

@Jane: you can do that with any scope, but that depends on what you exactly mean with "signal A starts".

[Jane]

@tatus1969: Thanks for the reply. So I should probably have written : When signal A changes.

So I have signals A and signal B. I  need to know what voltage signal B has when signal A changes from 0V  to 3V
Is it possible to use A signal as a trigger to achieve my goal( i.e. to find out the voltage of B )?

[tatus1969]

@Jane: guessing from your question, are you familiar with using a scope in general? If not, then this is the wrong thread. Because what you are asking is actually what scopes are made for. The make the changes of voltages visible over time. If you have a scope with two input channels, then it simultaneously shows you the changes of two voltages over time. Every scope can trigger on one of these voltages crossing a certain threshold. Or did I get your question wrong?

[tatus1969]

@Jane: just reading my last post, that sounds a bit odd. Didnt want to be rude...

[Fixup]

@tatus1969 you're right, I meant capacitors on page 90. and there doesn't seem to be any filter in the AD8370 PGA.
On Page 109 some of the modifications that I made to my scope can bee seen "Hantek_input stage mod.pdf".
I modified the op amp driving the varactor so that it is now a comparator and thereby the filter frequency is as high as possible and also the 20MHz bandwidth limit is working normally. I sent you a PM.

[tatus1969]

thanks again Fixup. This leads me to the point to realize that there is apparently a lot of information in this "book" of a thread that I havent found yet, and that I will have to read it from the beginning to the end

Especially the "Made a file /tst in root containing [filter] 35" could be very useful, will test that on weekend.

I did some measurements on the signal path with good stuff that we have at work (1GHz LeCroy with active probes), and realized two things:
- I need 50 ohm termination inside the scope to be able to correctly feed in fast signals. The two attached pictures show my test signal just before the BNC socket, and at TP101, left of the FJET coupling capacitor.
- quite some distortion happens between LMH6552 output and ADC input, because that long connection needs to be treated as a transmission line, and they should have terminated it at the ADC. I will play with RA101_2 / 2 = 0 Ohms and see which line impedance I get and if termination helps. Luckily there are these unpopulated capacitor lands in front of the ADCs.

[Fixup]

I am using a BNC t connector + a 50 ohm terminating resistor at the input of the oscilloscope if 50 ohm termination is needed. The differential amplifiers (LMH6552, or THS4504) output signals have series termination RA01_1/2. The output signals are split to three directions that need to have exactly the same length in order for the signals to arrive at the same time. When using only one channel on the oscilloscope it is using all four (2 ch)AD-converters for the signal. Every AD-converters timing is then shifted by 1/8 and therefore 1G samples can be achieved with slower AD-converters.
The series termination is preferred since it is not adding any extra load to the differential amplifiers output signal. The series termination resistor and transmission-line capacitance will make an RC low pass-filter. Therefore I believe that the 200MHz model is using 33ohm and the 60MHz oscilloscope is using 47ohm termination resistors. I think that 22ohm is usually the lowest value that is used for series termination. The series termination resistor value should actually be of the same value as the transmissionlines impedance and it will then "cancel" damp all reflections. A too high or low value will not consume all the power and the remaining power is then transmitted back and forth (ringing).

I updated my scope today. It seems like 10mV is now the lowest voltage scale (before 20mV). I didn't have time to test it so much. Next week I will test and see what the rise time is with some fast transients. By touching the probe I could however get a 400ps risetime reading on the screen as the lowest value but that value is probably not reliable.