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Analog Discovery 3 or budget bench setup

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Doctorandus_P:
I find the Analog Discovery far too expensive for what it delivers. For that price you can buy a real oscilloscope with GHz sample rate and two channels. It's power supply (max 5V) is also quite limiting for analog stuff. Something like 15V 200mA would have been much more suitable for generic analog stuff. I was once interested in it, but I would never pay over EUR100 for it. It may be a suitable thing for if you really like it or need it. Maybe you don't have room for bigger test equipment, or you need the PC connection.

For a power supply, if DIY has always been, and still is a good option if you are on the intersection of low budget and starting with electronics. DIY power supply can be as simple as an LM317 with a potentiometer, or design something with opamps and current amplification / buffer & limiting. This is a good opportunity to learn about control loops and stability.

If you're doing anything digital, then also buy one of those USD10 Logic analyzers (Saleaeaea clone) and use them with Sigrok / Pulseview. With 8 channels and up to 24Msps (for a few channels) you can look at anything from a few flipflops to I2C, SPI and around 100 other digital protocols.

Doctorandus_P:
I think I like the "Expeyes". It's more limited than the analog discovery, but capable enough to learn about electronics and the design is (mostly?) open so you can use it as a basis to make your own variant. And with a price of USD 80 it's also almost cheap enough to buy it "just for fun".

https://expeyes.in/

https://www.tindie.com/products/CSparkResearch/expeyes-17-your-labhome/

Another affordable / fun instrument is the totem mini lab board:

https://totemmaker.net/product/mini-lab-labboard/

tggzzz:

--- Quote from: Doctorandus_P on June 18, 2024, 06:51:33 pm ---I find the Analog Discovery far too expensive for what it delivers. For that price you can buy a real oscilloscope with GHz sample rate and two channels. It's power supply (max 5V) is also quite limiting for analog stuff. Something like 15V 200mA would have been much more suitable for generic analog stuff. I was once interested in it, but I would never pay over EUR100 for it. It may be a suitable thing for if you really like it or need it. Maybe you don't have room for bigger test equipment, or you need the PC connection.

For a power supply, if DIY has always been, and still is a good option if you are on the intersection of low budget and starting with electronics. DIY power supply can be as simple as an LM317 with a potentiometer, or design something with opamps and current amplification / buffer & limiting. This is a good opportunity to learn about control loops and stability.

If you're doing anything digital, then also buy one of those USD10 Logic analyzers (Saleaeaea clone) and use them with Sigrok / Pulseview. With 8 channels and up to 24Msps (for a few channels) you can look at anything from a few flipflops to I2C, SPI and around 100 other digital protocols.

--- End quote ---

You seem to ignore the dual AWG and pattern generator, and the software that combines them to make spectrum analysers, network analysers, etc. And you also have the ability to script new tools.

Example: when playing around with an N-path filter, the only other instrument I used was a 15V PSU. To demonstrate the bandpass frequency response with a Q of 15000 and roll off rate of 140000dB/decade(!), I used the pattern generator to drive the switches the AWG+scope to sweep the frequency and generate the transfer function. If I FM modulated the input frequency by a few Hz, it was amusing to watch the IQ output rotate in one direction, stop, and rotate in the other direction.

When I first did that in 1980, it required a benchful of equipment, and the result was nowhere near as explicit.



RoGeorge:

--- Quote from: Aldo22 on June 18, 2024, 06:45:54 pm ---
--- Quote from: RoGeorge on June 18, 2024, 03:49:52 pm ---If you buy cheap standalone instruments, it will be a waste of money, because in that budget you can only find very unreliable instruments, so you'll end up buying again something more expensive.

--- End quote ---
What is the difference between a reliable and an unreliable instrument?
What does that mean exactly? Can it be defined / quantified or is it more of a feeling?
How can I test if my scope is "unreliable"?
Thank you!

--- End quote ---

The OP was mentioning an oscilloscope that sometimes freezes.  Most common problems are because of firmware bugs.  May be as well because bad design/manufacture of the hardware.  Usually the lower the price, the less quality is expected.  This is a thumb rule for any product.

Hard to quantify or to test that.  Usually time will tell.  I don't know what type/model/brand of instruments you were asking about how to test their reliability.  If yours don't show problems, that's great!  :-+

Aldo22:

--- Quote from: RoGeorge on June 18, 2024, 07:16:37 pm ---The OP was mentioning an oscilloscope that sometimes freezes.  Most common problems are because of firmware bugs.  May be as well because bad design/manufacture of the hardware.  Usually the lower the price, the less quality is expected.  This is a thumb rule for any product.

Hard to quantify or to test that.  Usually time will tell.  I don't know what type/model/brand of instruments you were asking about how to test their reliability.  If yours don't show problems, that's great!  :-+

--- End quote ---

I'm talking about the scope that the OP is mentioning.
With the current firmware, it does not freeze here.
The OP only knows about the problem from hearsay (or reading the forum), as he doesn't (yet) own the device.
Many people "know" a lot only from hearsay or they are only interested in bashing anyway.

I don't think general bashing of cheap devices is a good thing.
As with everything, a product can be good and reasonably reliable for a certain price without having all the features and performance of more expensive devices.
For many people, a Dacia Sandero is good enough. Why should you badmouth it? Because there are better cars? That doesn't make sense to me.

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