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DSOX1204G 200Mhz vs Used MSO3014A (Calibrated in 2018)

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rodpp:

--- Quote from: 2N3055 on October 27, 2021, 12:01:17 pm ---
I warn you not to consider conversion to 500MHz to be trivial, it is not for the faint hearted, and  requires good skills and equipment. You have to decide what would be your risk appetite for that. But forum has several topics where people understood (wrongly) that it would be trivial and now have broken scopes.


--- End quote ---

I never heard this before. Could you share links to topics where scopes were broken during the hardware mod?



Be trivial or not, of course, depends of the available tools and skills. What have to be done is replace one 1206 resistor and thirty 0603 components (resistors, capacitors and inductors). It can be trivial if you have the tools and skills, but can be impossible if you have not.

(Component list and board photos: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/dsox2000-and-3000-series-licence-have-anyone-tried-to-hack-that-scope/msg987126/#msg987126)

2N3055:

--- Quote from: rodpp on October 27, 2021, 09:22:22 pm ---
--- Quote from: 2N3055 on October 27, 2021, 12:01:17 pm ---
I warn you not to consider conversion to 500MHz to be trivial, it is not for the faint hearted, and  requires good skills and equipment. You have to decide what would be your risk appetite for that. But forum has several topics where people understood (wrongly) that it would be trivial and now have broken scopes.


--- End quote ---

I never heard this before. Could you share links to topics where scopes were broken during the hardware mod?



Be trivial or not, of course, depends of the available tools and skills. What have to be done is replace one 1206 resistor and thirty 0603 components (resistors, capacitors and inductors). It can be trivial if you have the tools and skills, but can be impossible if you have not.

(Component list and board photos: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/dsox2000-and-3000-series-licence-have-anyone-tried-to-hack-that-scope/msg987126/#msg987126)

--- End quote ---

Sorry I'm not gonna search for you, but just today I read one where one user makes notes that he ripped pads from the board doing mods on his EDU scope and what the error was, while trying to help another one that tried to do hack himself and now scope doesn't work.
Truth is that most people that tried and failed are not going to trumpet it all proud here... They are not going to like to talk about it....

Hardware modifications are ALWAYS risky, from ESD damage, to soldering problems, or even stupid screwdriver that slips and plows off dozen of tiny, tiny 0201 components from the board  with tiniest touch... I'm not saying don't, and not saying it is impossible, but there is a risk to damage something that you paid several thousands and it worked before you went in because 10 guys in the back were yelling "beer, beer, beer..." and you thought it was easy.

You cannot base you recommendations as to how easy it is when you look at some people here that actually repair those scopes on daily basis (like The Steve) and someone I don't know and have no clue of his skill level.  OP might be most skillful engineer that works for NASA or complete beginner. We don't know.

In that case I like to err on the safe side...
I don't think people should be gallant or irresponsible with other people's money.

erwets:

--- Quote from: 2N3055 on October 27, 2021, 09:49:15 pm ---...OP might be most skillful engineer that works for NASA or complete beginner...

--- End quote ---

Or possibly even both!  :popcorn:

rodpp:

--- Quote from: 2N3055 on October 27, 2021, 09:49:15 pm ---
Sorry I'm not gonna search for you, but just today I read one where one user makes notes that he ripped pads from the board doing mods on his EDU scope and what the error was, while trying to help another one that tried to do hack himself and now scope doesn't work.
Truth is that most people that tried and failed are not going to trumpet it all proud here... They are not going to like to talk about it....

Hardware modifications are ALWAYS risky, from ESD damage, to soldering problems, or even stupid screwdriver that slips and plows off dozen of tiny, tiny 0201 components from the board  with tiniest touch... I'm not saying don't, and not saying it is impossible, but there is a risk to damage something that you paid several thousands and it worked before you went in because 10 guys in the back were yelling "beer, beer, beer..." and you thought it was easy.

You cannot base you recommendations as to how easy it is when you look at some people here that actually repair those scopes on daily basis (like The Steve) and someone I don't know and have no clue of his skill level.  OP might be most skillful engineer that works for NASA or complete beginner. We don't know.

In that case I like to err on the safe side...
I don't think people should be gallant or irresponsible with other people's money.

--- End quote ---

I agree, we can't judge the OP or anyone capabilities to perform this hardware mod.

We can be objective explaining what have to be done: replace one 1204 resistor and 30 other 0603 components.

If the person never replaced 0603 components before, it is better to not try to learn it in a 3K scope, of course...


EDIT: Regarding a link to posts with broken scopes after mods tried, I only asked because I use to follow DSOX3K topics and never read such thing. And as you said "several topics", I asked. But forget it.

nctnico:

--- Quote from: erwets on October 27, 2021, 04:24:37 am ---Apologies if this a poor question for this forum, but I was about to pull the trigger on a Keysight DSOX1204G when I happened to see a local seller offering a supposedly new MSOX3014A with a calibration certificate from 2008 for $2800. Since it's only a few hundred more, does anyone have any perspective on whether I should just buy the MSOX3014A? I definitely don't need the scope's full capabilities right now, and honestly the only thing that I would realistically use right off the bat is the larger screen. Not sure whether the warranty will hold, and what customer support looks like with a 2nd hand device. Overall, the MSOX3014A looks like it's in quality condition, but I would need to dig into it a bit more.

I appreciate any advice. Thanks!

--- End quote ---
What other scopes did you look at? The R&S RTB2004 could be an interesting option for you as well (used or new). Personally I'm not impressed by Keysight's UI when you have to use more advanced features like math and protocol decoding. Going through the menus is a rather tedious process using the buttons and rotary knob. Also the memory depth on the Keysight scopes is super tiny compared to the competition (especially when you take into account that in a normal use case you end up with 1/4th of the memory per channel).

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