Better probes for SDS1104X-E

[ultrarunner2018]

Hey guys;
I've got a Siglent SDS1104X-E. The probes it came with are junk. One of them (the one I use the most) has already developed an intermittent in the shield - I can see the closed-probe (shorted tip to gnd) noise amplitude jump up when I wiggle the wire, which does not happen on any of the other probes.

Short of spending $50+ each on Tek probes, what would be a decent 100MHz 10x probe for this scope?
I don't really need a switchable 1x/10x, as I always use it in the 10x position anyway.

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner

[tautech]

I get the very occasional dud one from new so I check each one before dispatch and make a warranty claim.
I've grumbled to Siglent about their probe suppliers quality control a few times and lately probes seem better.

Never since I've been checking them have I had a customer come back with faulty ones however I keep a few PP510's in stock but rarely sell any as replacements.
List price is just $10 for them so you might like to try another.

[bdunham7]

I had one dud on my demo unit, I thought perhaps it was abused somehow--it had noise when you wiggled it near the connector.  All the other ones are fine and the replacement was fine as well.  They seem pretty good overall.

[ultrarunner2018]

A bit more info:
Attaching a 50 ohm termination to the BNC of the probe cable, I measured (with a DMM) the resistance between tip and ground clip.
Normally, the resistance should be about 390 ohms with the switch in the 1x position, and about 10K in the 10X position.
When I measured the 'yellow' probe, I got 390 ohms to start, but if I wiggled the cable at the probe end, the resistance jumped much higher intermittently.
Thinking the trouble could be an oxidized ground clip, I removed the clip from the probe, inspected it and pushed it back on. There was no oxidation on the clip. Doing this did not change the result of my measurement.
Next I attached the DMM clip to the ground ring on the probe, just below the tip (with the probe hook removed). I got the same intermittent reading. This pretty much eliminates the short ground clip wire.

I checked the remaining 3 probes, and found two of them to be OK. When I went to remove the probe hook tip from the green probe, the probe pin came out, was stuck in the hook tip, leaving no contact on the probe tip. I was able to extract the pin with its plastic base from the hook, but I don't believe this probe is usable.
so I now have just two working probes.

Now figure this:
I bought the scope in Oct 2018, and have hardly used it. I never use the green probe - except once when I first got the scope to test it.
I use the yellow one the most, but still, that's only a handful of times over the time i have owned the scope.
I have always treated the scope and probe kindly. I never kink or fold the cables in any way; only coil the cables up loosely (so as not to put any strain on the probe or BNC) and have stored them in the soft case behind the scope (so they won't scratch the screen).

I don't know what the warranty on the probes is. I purchased the scope from Saelig on 10/02/2018.

[tautech]

Have a good grumble at the Siglent chaps in Ohio and point them to this thread.

I'll drop them a line too.

[ultrarunner2018]

Ok, I'll do that. Thanks.

Edit 1: I did some further testing on the intermittent probe, and found (by lightly flexing the cable) that there is a break in the ground about 9-10 inches from the cable end of the probe strain relief. This seems very odd. Usually such breaks will occur at the strain relief.

Edit 2:

When I attempted to send a message to Siglent using their 'contact us' web form at https://siglentna.com/contact-us/, I received the following error message when I hit the submit button at the bottom of the form:

403 Forbidden

A potentially unsafe operation has been detected in your request to this site
Your access to this service has been limited. (HTTP response code 403)
If you think you have been blocked in error, contact the owner of this site for assistance.
Block Technical Data
Block Reason:   A potentially unsafe operation has been detected in your request to this site
Time:   Mon, 3 Aug 2020 21:39:12 GMT

So I used the e-mail address (info@siglent.com) instead.

[ultrarunner2018]

Update
This morning, I received an e-mail from Scott Rocco at Siglent US. He is going to send me new probes.
I am very happy with the service I am receiving from Siglent. In this day of 'sell it and forget it' mentality that many companies are practicing, it makes me feel good that I chose Siglent, and not another company when I needed test equipment.

Please note that Scott has tested the webform I mentioned, and found it working properly. I suppose my problem could be with my browser (Firefox ver 79.0 x64 on Windows 10 Pro).

Thanks to you guys at EEVBlog for helping me on this.
Ultrarunner

[ultrarunner2018]

Update:
It's been a while since I've used my scope, and today was the first time I got to check out the two replacement probes Siglent sent me for the SDS1104X-E.
While adjusting the compensating screws on the probes, I noticed that one of the probes was producing a jumpy display when connected to the scope's calibration pins.
It was impossible to adjust the compensation because the signal edges kept jumping up and down, as though compensation was in and out.
I wiggled the probe slightly, and found that the strain relief at the probe end was very loose. I could easily wiggle this probe at least 2x the amount of the good one.
It appears to me that the ground connection on this probe is intermittent.

Considering this was a bran-new probe received as a replacement for another faulty probe, I have made up my mind to purchase some quality probes.
I am looking for the input capacitance of the SDS1104X-E, but it does not appear in the manual. The probe manual states 1x: 85pF~120pF, and 10x: 18.5pF~22.5pF with compensation range 10pF~35pF.
Would this be all the info I need to select probes for the scope?

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner2018

[bdunham7]

It's printed right on the front of the scope below CH3 and CH4.  1M/15pF.  Any probe you get, the compensation range should include 15pF, the other specs may vary.  Which probes do you have--the PP215 or the PP510?  My probes were missing except one used PP510 that had issues similar to yours (it was a demo unit).  They sent me 4 PP215 models that have been good so far.

edit:  Forgot to say, if you haven't decided on probes, consider these:

https://probemaster.com/4900-series-oscilloscope-probes/

[tautech]

UR, work the strain relief off the rear of the probe so you can flex the cable better to narrow down exactly where the fault is.
In the last year or 2, PP510 are much improved and I don't think I've seen a faulty one in that time.
IME the 1x,10x switch has given problems right from new in years gone by but not lately so QC has improved some.

As bdunham7 says, PP215 seem much better and in some 5 years only one had a fault but none since then yet they share the same physical construction as PP510.

My 2c worth, just get some more as they are just $10ea:
https://siglentna.com/product/pp510-100-mhz-oscilloscope-probe/

[ultrarunner2018]

Guys, thanks for your help;
I hadn't noticed the info below the inputs before.
I've got the PP510 probes.
I slipped the strain relief off, and the crimp on the shield where it joins the probe body is very loose when compared to the other probes.

Image of the probe with strain relief removed and problem point marked.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vr3JejnTEH3NGJ_BnuT9osr4CK9RwlCH/view?usp=sharing

I'll take a look at the probes provided in the link by bdunham7.

[2N3055]

Guys, thanks for your help;
I hadn't noticed the info below the inputs before.
I've got the PP510 probes.
I slipped the strain relief off, and the crimp on the shield where it joins the probe body is very loose when compared to the other probes.

Image of the probe with strain relief removed and problem point marked.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vr3JejnTEH3NGJ_BnuT9osr4CK9RwlCH/view?usp=sharing

I'll take a look at the probes provided in the link by bdunham7.

Those are nice probes, but 4 probes will cost almost as much as scope....
And nice probes get damages as easy as cheap ones..

[nez]

Guys, thanks for your help;
I hadn't noticed the info below the inputs before.
I've got the PP510 probes.
I slipped the strain relief off, and the crimp on the shield where it joins the probe body is very loose when compared to the other probes.

Image of the probe with strain relief removed and problem point marked.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vr3JejnTEH3NGJ_BnuT9osr4CK9RwlCH/view?usp=sharing

I'll take a look at the probes provided in the link by bdunham7.

That's good to know, I have a couple probes that have the same problem.

Would soldering introduce any unwanted effect on performance (or some other issue)?  Otherwise, I guess I could just try to crimp it tighter.

[ultrarunner2018]

I doubt these probes could be soldered. The crimp on the probe is probably zinc plated, which will not take solder very well. If one were to attempt it, I suspect the heat would destroy the insulation of the wire.

I'm looking into a couple of used Tek probes on Ebay. They're 10x, not 1x/10x, but I never use 1x anyway, so that would be fine.
Not cheap at $50 for a pair, but much less expensive than the new ones.