Le Croy 9384

[bsalai]

Does anyone have any experience with this scope? I have a chance to pick one up, and the specs look pretty good including some decent math capabilities. Is there anything particularly good or bad about it, and is there anything I should be particularly careful about before I get it? I did find that Dave did a repair on one a few years back, which took quite a while. This one is working, at least for now.  I'd appreciate any hints or insights.

Brad


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[swingbyte1]

Hi Brian, These are good scopes - I have its sucessor the LC574 which has the same acquisition but a newer controller and colour screen. They are very capable and have a 1GHz bandwidth which can be sampled at 4GS/s with an external input combiner. Join the Lecroy group on Yahoo for lots of information and advice about these.

Tim

[nctnico]

I'd check whether it has peak detect acquisition mode especially if it doesn't have a deep memory. Without peak detect it is easy to get weird results on the screen due to sub-sampling/aliasing. Without peak detect it will also be hard to look at signals with a low duty cycle (narrow pulses with a wide spacing in between). It will look like as if pulses are missing.

[bsalai]

Hi Brian, These are good scopes - I have its sucessor the LC574 which has the same acquisition but a newer controller and colour screen. They are very capable and have a 1GHz bandwidth which can be sampled at 4GS/s with an external input combiner. Join the Lecroy group on Yahoo for lots of information and advice about these.

Tim

Thanks Tim, I just applied to join the group.
Brad


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[bsalai]

I'd check whether it has peak detect acquisition mode especially if it doesn't have a deep memory. Without peak detect it is easy to get weird results on the screen due to sub-sampling/aliasing. Without peak detect it will also be hard to look at signals with a low duty cycle (narrow pulses with a wide spacing in between). It will look like as if pulses are missing.

I believe it does, but will check. It does have 16Meg memory.
Thanks,
Brad


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[grumpydoc]

If it has the printer the standard advice is to disconnect the power to it until you have replaced the main decoupling cap on the printer PCB, they have a habit of dying and taking the PSU and then the 'scope as well. That said my 9354 has been ok but possibly it's just a ticking timebomb.

[bsalai]

It doesn't have the printer or floppy drive. From what you say, that may be a good thing.


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[grumpydoc]

It doesn't have the printer or floppy drive. From what you say, that may be a good thing.

OK

Check it is running the latest firmware, although you will need GPIB to update if it does not have the floppy.

[bsalai]

I've never used GPIB, is it a big deal or expensive to implement? It looks like it would be interesting to play with for lots of things.


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[alm]

The cables are available on eBay for reasonable(ish) prices, but the adapters are kind of expensive. Your choices are basically buying a used NI/Agilent PCI or USB adapter, buying a Chinese Agilent clone or buying the Prologix adapters. Expect to pay about $100 for an Agilent clone, about $150 for a Prologix GPIB-USB and a bit more for a genuine NI/Agilent GPIB-USB. PCI adapters tend to be cheaper since they are less versatile (will not work in laptops or some modern desktops).

Either you can find some existing software that supports your device, like the Agilent/Keysight Intuilink / BenchVue software, or third-party software (like the KE5FX software), or you will have to develop your own software. Popular software development environments include NI Labview, EZGPIB and many programming languages with VISA bindings. Commercial software will generally not support the Prologix stuff, but some hobbyist software (like the KE5FX stuff and EZGPIB) will. I am guessing the Lecroy update software would only support NI adapters, but Agilent and Agilent clones may also work.

[nctnico]

A better option would be to source a disk drive. Chances are this is a pretty standard diskdrive so very cheap. Added bonus is the ability to save screendumps.

[grumpydoc]

A better option would be to source a disk drive. Chances are this is a pretty standard diskdrive so very cheap. Added bonus is the ability to save screendumps.

The floppy connects to a daughter board (which has a centronics interface as well, I think) so if the drive is not installed the interface might also be missing.

Electrically I think it is a standard floppy but mechanically it isn't (it's very slimline and a standard drive doesn't fit).

Lots of info about this on the Yahoo mailing list archives.

If it was just for firmware update I suspect you could bodge a normal drive temporarily.

[TAMHAN]

GPIB cables can be had on AliExpress nowadays, too. Mine cost like 15 Buxx a pop...the main expense was the 160€ PCIe card from National. But I would never want to make do without GPIB again - am working on some GPIB videos for my YouTube channel ATM, but if only I had the time.

What I can confirm to you, however, is that peak detect is present - albeit a little hard to find if not used to LeCroy: