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Quick question about this scope. The isolation means that it is not connected to the USB ground, BUT the input channels still both share a common ground, right? Am I correct in assuming the input channels are NOT isolated from each other?
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Hi Ralph,
Yes, your assumption is correct, the Ground isolation takes place at the USB interface so the grounds of the two inputs are common.
Chris
P.S. Just a note that this is intended as galvanic isolation from the PC ground, so appropriate safety precautions need to be taken if floating the input grounds at elevated voltages, eg. avoiding contact with the metal case. -
Hi All
First post of the forum and I would like to thank Gryo Mark O and all other s who have posted on this thread.
I'm looking for my first scope as I have just stated to learn about digital electronics after not making any thing for years.
I had looked at the Hantek and others but the information contained in this thread has helped me decide to order the OWON VDS1022I.
Please advise if I'm missing something may main work will be with Arduino and Radio control systems my understanding is that this Digital scope should be fine for the speeds required and sample rate for my areas of interest.
Many thanks for your information in this thread.
Regards
Mark -
Hi Hofabooz,
Welcome aboard.
It sounds as if the Owon will be capable of what you are describing. You need to remember that you are looking at a 100Msps sampling with an analogue SINE WAVE capability of 25MHz. Input rise time is spec'd at <14ns. What this means in practice is that you will be able to get a reasonable representation of a square wave of about a third of that, say, 8-10MHz. That sounds fine for standard RC servos and s/w toggled Arduino pins etc.
Hopefully I don't need to point out that for (rather) more money you could get a much more capable benchtop scope like the Rigol DS1054Z, but presumably you've taken that into account in your available budget. It's a shame the Pound has dropped, which is being reflected in prices of Chinese gear.
I would recommend that you also pick up one of those very cheap 8 bit logic analysers off ebay (preferably using it legally with open-source Sigrok Software). That would add very useful protocol decoding for serial I2C SPI (and PWM I think) to your test capabilities. The two in combination would give you a reasonable (but of course bandwidth limited) test setup.
Hope this helps,
Chris.
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Hi Chris
Thanks for the info I had looked at the Rigol and thought it was a very good piece of kit for the money however I did think the Owon would do most of what I wanted.
Would you recommend waiting a bit longer and saving up for the Rigol as I have patience and can wait a while longer for a scope as I have not owned one for a long time and having just stated with the Arduino platform felt I could do with one as programing a theory is all ok but when it meets the real world all can not bas as you think hence the thought of getting a scope.
Please advise.
Thanks Mark
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Hi Mark,
Doh! You had to ask that question.
...and on your second post too! 
Yes, I suspect that a majority of people on here would say (I can here the rattle of keyboards) that it would be better to wait and save for the Rigol, and they're probably right. At the end of the day I guess only you can answer that question for your particular situation.
Whatever you do, I'd probably go for the ebay logic analyser anyway. Even if you wait and go for the Rigol, it's so cheap that it's a no-brainer and will probably give you better protocol decoding with minimal function overlap and 8 channels.
Chris. -
Hi chris
Thanks I will order the logic analyser and save some more for the scope sorry to ask the question but you know how it is sometimes you buy cheap and buy three times other times you can get away with it in this case I will wait and save as I think the rial with serve for a long time.
Thanks mark -
If you are loking for a logic analyzer this version worked as specified and is supported by Sigrok (and Saleae SW).
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB-Logic-Analyzer-100M-max-sample-rate-16Channels-10B-samples-MCU-ARM-FPGA-debug-tool/1916810169.html -
Hi chris
Thanks I will order the logic analyser and save some more for the scope sorry to ask the question but you know how it is sometimes you buy cheap and buy three times other times you can get away with it in this case I will wait and save as I think the rial with serve for a long time.
Thanks mark
Hi Mark,
Don't worry about the question, it's just one that comes up rather often. If you've got, or will have, the funds to go for the Rigol then it's undoubtedly the right thing to do. Most people buying the Owon do so because they can't fund or justify anything more expensive (or have some other specific requirement, eg, it's got to fit in the toolbag and you're already carying a laptop).
Good decision on the LA. If you want one locally then Hobby components on ebay has it...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hobby-Components-UK-USB-24M-8CH-24MHz-Logic-Analyser-/161309221423?hash=item258ec7622f:g:qmkAAOSwiLdV7wWY
Chris -
Hi Chris
many thanks for the info item ordered.
I like the look of the interface and it will be most useful suspect I will make the most use of it initially.
As I have some issue with a serial data transfer via blue tooth between to Arduinos.
This item will be most useful in understanding the issues I'm having.
Thanks again
Regards
Mark -
Hello! First post on this forum, and heartfelt thanks to all for the discussion on this scope. It has cleared the air on so many questions that I had. I have been refurbishing/restoring radios from the 30's through the 50's. I've never used a scope but have had the desire to purchase one and learn how to use it, but do not want to spend an arm and a leg. I do have a boat anchor (Sencore) scope which weighs 35-40 pounds, but like someone else in this topic, am not interested in acquiring a hernia this late in life. To the point: what is the max input voltage for the VDS1022I? While I have a perefectly good VTVM and DVM to measure B+ from the power supplies, there will be times where I want to view a waveform or measure a frequency that may have upwards of 100V. Will this scope do that? I plan on using it with an old WIN 7 laptop. Again, thanks to all who have contributed with your time! Joe
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from the specs page http://www.owon.com.hk/products_info.asp?ProID=175#sthash.M9FXzMQ5.0rImWmWH.dpbs
for the 22IQuoteMax Input Voltage 400V (PK - PK) (DC+AC, PK - PK)
and for the 22 (non isolated version)QuoteMax Input Voltage 40V (PK - PK) (DC+AC, PK - PK)
but im only new to this (only got mine a couple weeks ago) and this may be down to the probes specs? i bought the non isolated version because il only be using it off an old win7 laptop for 12v vehicle stuff.
HTH -
Welcome.
The input voltage spec is a little confusing, as the only difference between the non-I and the I is the USB isolation which is in the 'back-end' of the scope. The input sections are identical as far as I know. I suspect that the 400V spec is partly related to the USB isolation rating.
On that basis I would take the input voltage rating to be 40V (PK - PK) (DC+AC, PK - PK) relative to the ground clips for both. The scopes come with x10 scope probes which should extend the input range to 400V. I say 'should', because it's always a good idea be wary of the insulation of low cost Chinese scope probes.
It sounds as if you're well versed in handling this sort of stuff with your sencore, but if you're doing tube HT stuff then getting a couple of x100 probes is always a good idea (whatever your scope).
Chris
P.S. If you're working on '30s to 50's radios then it's very likely that a lot of them are 'live chassis' (no mains transformer). Clearly this is a big hazard when connecting grounded test gear. I mains isolation transformer is probably the best way to make your setup safe - USB isolation (while breaking the ground loop) doesn't guarantee your safety as you can still touch live parts. -
Thank you Dan & Chris. I've never used the Sencore I have as it looked so daunting and it weighs more than my Mazda! I hadn't thought about getting the x100 probes; I'll do just that. The measure of safety will be worth the cost, as will an iso transformer which is on my short list of equipment needs. I have generally been renovating non-AA5 radios, but I really do need to invest the iso transformer. It would be kinda' nice living through my next 60 years.
Chris, thank you for sharing your time and expertise in this, and so many other, posts. It is great to have this site as a source for equipment/electronic reference, and all-round good conversation. Cheers!
Joe -
Thank you Joe. Pleased to be able to help.
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This oscilloscope seems so much better designed and built than the Hantek, but what a pity there is no software interface support for linux or other platforms
Why won't these manufacturers learn that if they put out a good quality but reasonably priced product with the versatility of providing linux / open source drivers, then they don't even need to put a lot of effort into the user interface because the community will develop far better tools at no cost to them, plus extend the longevity of the product by sidestepping operating system obsolesence, PLUS generate a huge grassroots demand for their hardware which is effectively free marketing? 
I really want to buy this over the Hantek but at the end of the day, this product is doomed to have a limited life because it won't be updated for some version of windows in the near future.
There seems to be some old drivers for OWON oscilloscopes, but from what I understand, those are for the benchtop models, correct me if I'm wrong? -
Hello! It has been a while since I've dabbled in Linux, but I recall that there is a program called 'Wine' at winehq.org which states it "is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, Mac OSX, & BSD." This might be what you're looking for. Hope that helps! Joe
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I agree, it's a shame Owon don't seem to know the first thing about exploiting opportunities to expand the usefulness and therefore sales volume of these products. The VDS series seem to have lacked wider takeup because of this while the inferior Hantek H/W has a much wider following. The ironic thing is that Owon probably use linux in their benchtop scopes.
Yes, I suspect that it would probably work fine under Wine, Joe. Perhaps somebody can try it with the Owon PC software from their website. This wouldn't confirm the device interface of course. Anyone already using one on a linux machine?
Chris -
Hi! Anyone nows if it works well in windows 10? I contacted a seller and he said it doesn't but some users claim it does, you just have to install drivers trough 'device manager'.
Thank you all. -
Hi! Anyone nows if it works well in windows 10? I contacted a seller and he said it doesn't but some users claim it does, you just have to install drivers trough 'device manager'.
It works for me, without any issues.
Thank you all.
Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk
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I think about getting this (vds1022I) scope until i can afford something serious and its a shame there is so little documentation and almost no experiences about it.
The software looks better compared to other usb scopes and i already downloaded it to look at the functions and the files.
It looks like it runs in java and there are several *source.jar files in the plugins directory, which do contain .java source files.
Maybe it can give some hints on how to interface the scopes.
I wonder if they accidentially included their source code in the program?
Can someone take a look at the program (VDS_C2) and the files in the plugins directory to see if that might be a possibility to interface those scopes or if the files are worthless?
Especially the "com.owon.vds.foundation.source_1.0.0.jar" looks like it contains the usb communication stuff and most of the functions of the program.
The "org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.3.0.v20120522-1813.jar" is what actually starts the whole program and can be run directly. Sadly it seems like no source for this exists, but it looks like it only loads other parts of the program.
*edit*
Tried to rebuild some classes using the sources i found and it seems possible.
Also as the program is java it runs perfectly fine under linux if you don't use the launcher but i am not sure what the launcher actually does and how hard it is to actually get the scope running under linux.
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Welcome to the forumQuote
Also as the program is java it runs perfectly fine under linux if you don't use the launcher but i am not sure what the launcher actually does and how hard it is to actually get the scope running under linux.
Now that's an interesting finding. The problem of only running under windows has put some people off in the past, as has not being able to use the device at low level. The FPGA file is included as a .bin in the installation folder so that isn't a problem. Maybe you can achieve something good here.
P.S. Sadly I'm not a Linux or Java expert! -
Especially the "com.owon.vds.foundation.source_1.0.0.jar" looks like it contains the usb communication stuff and most of the functions of the program.
I haven't got this scope yet (only found out about it from Dave's last video), but thought I'd look at the software.
The driver looks like it's just plain LibUSB and everything is implemented over a java-wrapper to the LibUSB API (there's even the .so library incuded). Now I'm not a linux guru, so not sure how you load libusb for a specific device, but if you can do that then the java app should just run.
I'm amazed they've included the source - probably a very good idea to archive it.
Everything else is standard libraries (ie https://wiki.eclipse.org/Equinox_Launcher). All the source you need seems to be included in the source.jar files! -
Even more encouraging.
Ok, so anyone know how I can make simple edits the .jar source files (and build?) in a windows environment? I'd love to be able to change the save button to save image rather than .txt and maybe add a few more shortcuts. Maybe a few other tweaks here and there.
(I have no java knowledge whatsoever!)
EDIT: Ah ok, after a bit of searching, .jar is an archive and 7zip is my friend. I now know one thing about Java.
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Ok, so anyone know how I can make simple edits the .jar source files (and build?) in a windows environment? I'd love to be able to change the save button to save image rather than .txt and maybe add a few more shortcuts. Maybe a few other tweaks here and there.
Yes that should be possible.
In my test i just compiled one class and replaced it in the original jar after loading all dependencies in eclipse, but i have currently no configuration to build everything automatically.
Sadly the program crashed when using the launcher.exe, but worked when running the launcher.jar directly from the main folder.
Probably the launcher uses the included jvm and i just used a different jdk, but it is definetly possible to just modify some parts of the program.
I have no idea how equinox works and is configured here, but it seems to be a whole environment that launches the program as i can't find any main method from the sources that could be run directly.
But there are definetly all sources we need.
The biggest problem might be the fpga under linux, but i think the main program might upload the bin file automatically. I found the FPGADownloader class that seems to send the bin file to the fpga.
Can someone who already has the scope call the *launcher*.jar in the plugins folder from the main folder where the launcher.exe is (or else it can't load all the needed files in the root folder) and force the scope to use libusb? If we are lucky that might work directly.
