At last, Siglent's SDS5054X touchscreen DSO...

[0xdeadbeef]

Lecroy surely won´t never ever offers tek adapters,

Sure about that?
http://cdn.teledynelecroy.com/files/pdf/tpa10-datasheet.pdf

Anyway, there doesn't seem to be much data available on this adapter yet. Which probes are supported, bandwidth etc.?
If it supports most LeCroy probes and has a bandwidth beyond 1GHHz, the price would be OK I guess. I still hoped for something a bit less expensive like 200-250€ with VAT included.

[Martin72]

Sure about that?

Shoot ! 

[tautech]

Absolutely I'd love to see inside that. Come on tautech, it's your time to shine.

Sorry, not an item I'm planning on ever stocking but will get them in to request, which then I'd be very uneasy to teardown and then provide it to a customer.

Martin72 might be your best bet. 

[maginnovision]

Haha, If only he had a 5K. It really is the only siglent scope I keep thinking about picking up.

[tautech]

Haha, If only he had a 5K. It really is the only siglent scope I keep thinking about picking up.

You may not be aware Martin72 has quite a range of scopes at his work so the active probe adaptor is attractive to use with their range of LeCroy probes. IIRC they have some LeCroy/Siglent SDS3000X scopes too which if they were to upgrade these adaptors mean they can use all their existing probes.

What is interesting to me is how well LeCroy probes might be recognised through the adaptor so that attenuation is automatically set and even units changed to Amps for current probes.

Again 

[maginnovision]

I'm aware but if his work bought adapters I don't think he'd open one up. I could be wrong. I'll keep waiting for someone to pick one up and look inside. Pretty interesting.

[Martin72]

Give me a SDS5000 on loan and the adaptor...

Seriously, as the 5000 came up I thought this was the right scope for our daily work in the testfield.
Well, it was pretty cheap my chief said, but what about our current probes, could we use them…
At this time I must say no.

[0xdeadbeef]

Even now, it remains unclear which probes can be used to which extent due lack of documentation. I.e. it's quite common for scopes to get a firmware update to properly support an active probe. Actually this just happened for the SDS5000X for the only active probe available. I would think that some special features like calibration, auto-zeroing and the like might not work "out of the box".
Besides, LeCroy active probe connectors a quite long/deep so when connected on top of that adapter, this construction will reach an impressive length/depth and thus cause a considerable amount of leverage. I hope the mechanical construction is sound but it will still look weird.

[Martin72]

What is interesting to me is how well LeCroy probes might be recognised through the adaptor so that attenuation is automatically set and even units changed to Amps for current probes.

We got two AP011 current probes with the pro bus interface.
They will be fully recognized by 1998 models, but also by our new models, the WS3024(SDS3000) and HDO6034A,WR9054.
When you plug a AP011 in, vertical scales will be switched to amps, further you got a little menu, where you could do auto zero and degaussing the probe.
Would be interesting, if this could going also with siglent plus the adaptor…

this construction will reach an impressive length/depth and thus cause a considerable amount of leverage.

Good point.

[tautech]

Even now, it remains unclear which probes can be used to which extent due lack of documentation. I.e. it's quite common for scopes to get a firmware update to properly support an active probe. Actually this just happened for the SDS5000X for the only active probe available.

In the time I've had my SDS5054X SDS5104X (1yr+) the SAP1000 probe has always been supported and there have been 2 FW updates in that time.
However as you may have noticed a 2nd version of the latest FW was released as 10x attenuation for SAP1000 was omitted but now corrected which begs the question why were probe settings changed at all ? 

My take on this is, it was while support was being added for LeCroy and possibly Tek probes too as these active probe adaptors would have been in their final stages of development.
I wondered at the time why the SAP1000 attenuation was mucked up but now with these adaptors released it all seems to fit together.

I would think that some special features like calibration, auto-zeroing and the like might not work "out of the box".

Possibly but as above this may already have been addressed and quite possibly a wider range of LeCroy ProBus probes might be supported at some later date on request.

Besides, LeCroy active probe connectors a quite long/deep so when connected on top of that adapter, this construction will reach an impressive length/depth and thus cause a considerable amount of leverage. I hope the mechanical construction is sound but it will still look weird.

Yes of course this is a concern however I doubt any are as heavy as a Tek 134 probe amplifier that hangs just on a BNC whereas these active probes are of much less weight and snug up against the front panel for much better mechanical support.

[supperman]

All,

Can you give me an idea of what current serial numbers look like? FPGA dates? Some vendor just sold me a very old 5000X from around the day or release.. with a calibration doc to match. Was trying to get an idea what can be expected off the line these days?

Many thanks.

[0xdeadbeef]

Not that it really matters in the light of certain Python scripts, but is anything known if the free options promotion will be continued once more after June 30th?

[supperman]

In some sad news..

It looks like Siglent did not upgrade the front end of the SDS5034X. I have one of the latest units (calibration in March) and FPGA version in 2020. Best rise time I get is 535ps.. but if I'm 100% honest it is probably 540ps. I think that puts that questions to bed, right?

Now I'm in a really hard spot.. is it worth $2,000 to drop 150ps? Probably not.  And it is a massive upgrade to the 2000X Plus.. since it runs at 5Gs. The FFT seems to pick harmonics past 2Ghz.

Now if anyone is willing to take a picture of the front and of a 54x I will compare to a new 34x. Perhaps there is still a fix?

[edigi]

Same experience here (with what is also thought to be a recent version).
With a not so super fast rise time signal I've got 0.6ns, with a better rise time signal it would be probably very close to what you wrote.
With the help of FFT I've also measured amplitude transfer function that matches the above.

Sorry no teardown pictures.

[Elasia]

In some sad news..

It looks like Siglent did not upgrade the front end of the SDS5034X. I have one of the latest units (calibration in March) and FPGA version in 2020. Best rise time I get is 535ps.. but if I'm 100% honest it is probably 540ps. I think that puts that questions to bed, right?

Now I'm in a really hard spot.. is it worth $2,000 to drop 150ps? Probably not.  And it is a massive upgrade to the 2000X Plus.. since it runs at 5Gs. The FFT seems to pick harmonics past 2Ghz.

Now if anyone is willing to take a picture of the front and of a 54x I will compare to a new 34x. Perhaps there is still a fix?

That sucks, you really that crazy to hardware mod and burn the warranty though?

If they put out the 6k state side id buy it.. or I should say will

The 2k+ is a good holding point till a new flagship is released.. Perhaps the SDS5000X Plus?? ^^

[edigi]

The 2k+ is a good holding point till a new flagship is released.. Perhaps the SDS5000X Plus?? ^^

I agree, the 2k+ is really a very good value. What I'm not so keen on is the shared controls and recording beyond visible screen in single trigger mode could be added as well (this could be a general improvement across models; especially when only a tiny fraction of the memory is used due to fast time base)...

[JPortici]

The new flagship is the 6000, which as far as i know won't be released outside of china.. unless it's going to be a new lecroy that hasn't been announced yet?

[tautech]

The new flagship is the 6000, which as far as i know won't be released outside of china.. unless it's going to be a new lecroy that hasn't been announced yet?

Yes and yes but more info to come in good time. 

[smarteebit]

Has any member hacked the SDS5000X sucessfully?

[tautech]

Has any member hacked the SDS5000X sucessfully?

Yes my SDS5054X magically became a SDS5104X !   

[jemangedeslolos]

In some sad news..

It looks like Siglent did not upgrade the front end of the SDS5034X. I have one of the latest units (calibration in March) and FPGA version in 2020. Best rise time I get is 535ps.. but if I'm 100% honest it is probably 540ps. I think that puts that questions to bed, right?

Now I'm in a really hard spot.. is it worth $2,000 to drop 150ps? Probably not.  And it is a massive upgrade to the 2000X Plus.. since it runs at 5Gs. The FFT seems to pick harmonics past 2Ghz.

Now if anyone is willing to take a picture of the front and of a 54x I will compare to a new 34x. Perhaps there is still a fix?

That sucks, you really that crazy to hardware mod and burn the warranty though?

If they put out the 6k state side id buy it.. or I should say will

The 2k+ is a good holding point till a new flagship is released.. Perhaps the SDS5000X Plus?? ^^

I accidentally damaged my warranty label on my Rigol with the front panel cover, Rigol sent me another one 
If you kindly ask Siglent with an idiotic excuse, you may be able to replace the label after opening your device with a new one 

[tv84]

It looks like Siglent did not upgrade the front end of the SDS5034X. I have one of the latest units (calibration in March) and FPGA version in 2020. Best rise time I get is 535ps.. but if I'm 100% honest it is probably 540ps. I think that puts that questions to bed, right?

I've seen several cases where the calib date is no indication of the manufacturing date.

[0xdeadbeef]

Same experience here (with what is also thought to be a recent version).
With a not so super fast rise time signal I've got 0.6ns, with a better rise time signal it would be probably very close to what you wrote.
With the help of FFT I've also measured amplitude transfer function that matches the above.

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but did you use a frequency generator for the 2nd measurement? If so, I understand the -3dB point is at 846MHz? Or does the absolute value count and it's more in the 700-800MHz range?
BTW: what factor do you guys assume for the rise time/bandwidth estimation? The classic value for analog scopes was 0.35, for modern digital scopes it's said to be 0.45 and people here seem to use a value around 0.40 (i.e. 400ps rise time for the 1GHz model). A factor of 0.4 would indeed indicate a bandwidth around 740MHz with the 540ps measured.
And another question: is there much of a difference compared to using only the 500MHz option (on the 350MHz model)?

[Elasia]

The new flagship is the 6000, which as far as i know won't be released outside of china.. unless it's going to be a new lecroy that hasn't been announced yet?

Yes and yes but more info to come in good time. 

As expected but you will pay for the name badge... siglent will eventually have to release something for their own worldwide flagship within a couple years i'd think just to refresh the line otherwise they look stagnant for their own house brand

[edigi]

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but did you use a frequency generator for the 2nd measurement?

Yes, I've used an RF signal generator. (Other options: RF noise generator or SSA but SSA is flat only within 0.7dB as it's typically used normalized thus for amplitude flatness is not much focus is given in design).

If so, I understand the -3dB point is at 846MHz? Or does the absolute value count and it's more in the 700-800MHz range?
BTW: what factor do you guys assume for the rise time/bandwidth estimation? The classic value for analog scopes was 0.35, for modern digital scopes it's said to be 0.45 and people here seem to use a value around 0.40 (i.e. 400ps rise time for the 1GHz model). A factor of 0.4 would indeed indicate a bandwidth around 740MHz with the 540ps measured.
And another question: is there much of a difference compared to using only the 500MHz option (on the 350MHz model)?

In a T&M equipment area one is typically expecting better accuracy than -3dB and any single value is just an approximation thus I prefer an entire curve instead of just a simple magic number. I regard a signal generator based check more conclusive than a rise time based one.
That's all I could answer.