Author Topic: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests  (Read 32165 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« on: June 04, 2012, 02:54:47 pm »
It is nice to see that Owon continue and highly focuses to develop HW. Signal quality is number one. Now it is even better than before although it was very good. (inside this price class)
I'm satisfied they do not hurry hurry run to add many more features to user interface. They focus to signal quality (first)  In my opinion They have selected right road.



Old rf-loop made table. I have add new measured data. (marked with color)
(measured with cursors, value is in () )  first value is oscilloscope automatic measured p-p value.

Scope settings. Normal acquire, 1M sampling buffer, 50us/div

Clear improvement! Look these 5 - 100mV/div values.
(resolution is too rough for measurement higher V/div values. (8 bit ADC and also display resolution)

Also I can tell that front end run now markable cooler.

Here you may find something more (all tests are not yet ready, just started)

-aghp

Note: HW V2.6.2   it means equipment version (including FW) It is functionally same as 2.5.1. If look with user eyes.
 
(It is maybe different if look  internal hardware interface)
Also it looks very stable.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 07:19:17 pm by aghp »
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2012, 03:32:59 pm »
Also this FFT tell something about noise level.
(there is infinite persistence for show peak levels of noise floor.
Scope settings 50mV/div   (50 ohm Tektronix feed thru terminator in scope input of course)
FFT zoom 10x  and upper cursor is 0db (maximum signal level but of cousrse 100MHz is littlebit attenuated.)

Signal level adjusted so that same level with 1MHz give just 10div p-p and with this level in signal gen frequency 100MHz (signal generator maximum error in flatness in this area is under +- 0.2dB)

Then next picture. Signal level from generator dropped 60dB
(in this case signal level is 172uV rms (-62.3dBm)

Not bad result!
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 03:37:38 pm by aghp »
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline 0xdeadbeef

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1580
  • Country: de
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2012, 05:06:07 pm »
Well, some remarks...

Firstly it's rather annoying for a customer when Owon releases one "better" hardware after the other and customers of the now obsolete hw revisions feel like they're setting on a piece of outdated crap, wondering if they'll e.g. ever get a firmware update again.

Secondly this evolutionary development approach doesn't sound very professional. Usually you develop something first and then bring it to the market. Changing the hardware over and over again means nothing less than selling alpha and beta hardware to the customer in the first place. This might be an interesting financing model for Owon, but as said before, this is a bit frustrating for the customers who have an outdated hardware in no time.

Thirdly, it's not like the software was in a state where they should focus on the hardware. The hardware was always the best part about the Owons. So they should better invest a few Yuans in the SW finally before they scare away the last potential customer with the low end GUI, the lack of features and the crappy PC software. As long as you can't even measure a pulse in the 100µs range more exactly than 1µs at 1GS/s, who cares about improving their noise level a little bit more?
Trying is the first step towards failure - Homer J. Simpson
 

Offline muvideo

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 418
  • Country: it
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2012, 06:09:43 pm »
Well, some remarks...

wondering if they'll e.g. ever get a firmware update again.

So they should better invest a few Yuans in the SW


As a (happy so far) Owon customer, you nailed pefectly my thought.
I hope they will follow old customers with firmware update and that they
can invest in more firmware features, but also battery management can be
improved (the unit discharges batteries when off  >:(  ).
Seeing the difference (thanks aghp) they lowered slightly the BW, aliasing problems?
As for the lower noise on the lower V/div settings, well this is welcome... to
future customers, to be honest this pisses me off a little bit :)

Fabio.
Fabio Eboli.
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2012, 06:21:08 pm »
Well, some remarks...

Firstly it's rather annoying for a customer when Owon releases one "better" hardware after the other and customers of the now obsolete hw revisions feel like they're setting on a piece of outdated crap, wondering if they'll e.g. ever get a firmware update again.

Secondly this evolutionary development approach doesn't sound very professional. Usually you develop something first and then bring it to the market. Changing the hardware over and over again means nothing less than selling alpha and beta hardware to the customer in the first place. This might be an interesting financing model for Owon, but as said before, this is a bit frustrating for the customers who have an outdated hardware in no time.

Thirdly, it's not like the software was in a state where they should focus on the hardware. The hardware was always the best part about the Owons. So they should better invest a few Yuans in the SW finally before they scare away the last potential customer with the low end GUI, the lack of features and the crappy PC software. As long as you can't even measure a pulse in the 100µs range more exactly than 1µs at 1GS/s, who cares about improving their noise level a little bit more?

From start of SDS series  all versions meet specifications.

And yes, I know. Some time ago I buy TV. New nice TV and all ok...
Next week I go other reason to same store. There was new TV... lower price and BETTER and just same manufacturer (but slightly different model) 

In history I remember some TV. (yes tube)
Some months before my friend buy good TV and later I buy same model, exactly.
Oh no... there was (1980) this evolution... my unit was different.
First time it fails repaired and ok.. it fails later agen... (and agen and agen)
My friend TV, no any fail..  and my fails many times.

Yes becouse we both are electronic peoples we open these... oh well... nearly all was different. (outside exactly same, same model... also inside first looks like same but lot of different components and some sub units different but in this case, later version was more bad... not better)



Why it is bad if Owon do it but ok if  AR (Agilent-Rigol), Hantek, Tektronix, Mercedes Benz, Fluke, Keithley, Rockwell-Collins and Rohde&Schwartz  etc do it.
Have you seen these nearly hand made Tektronix "things" what are nearly every unit different...

I have example looked many Tektronix 2445 and 2465. Just same model what outside can look, model same, specs same. Inside lot of differencies. Rev this and Rev that.   

They are not professionals???

I have looked these things more than 35-40 years. I do not see any "issue" in this developing. Even every manufacturing lot may be different in many kind of manufacturing!

(also I have been working in manufacturing industry (not for this main product but with machines and old times "robots" in production so that they work), do you know we together product developing engineers and doctors  did tens of changes sometime nearly weekly or monthly without any word to customers level. ;) How I know it... becouse many times changes need different program or other adjustments in machines. )

Do you know your car? What version and what subversion subversion subversion it is and what product lot... all different but model name is just same. My version have different many things, than my neigbourg have in just exatly same model and year but base number is just different... Some weeks different. This evolution is everywhere. Do I know if I buy today Agilent analyzer it is not just tomorrow improved (or opposite) somehow. I go buy to spare parts, I need my base number so that they find if I have this very good air condition blower motor or if I have just this piece of crap motor.  (yes I'm happy I have this better... but how I can buy car becouse I do not know what version it really is and if next week is better? )

Manufacturers do always changes, one day some find that too many warranty time fails.. need change something and continue.

Owon have published specifications and description and from start to this day all is same and all they meet these specifications.

Did you know that if I do deep tests, every single unit is different!
Different noise, different BW, different vertical accuracy etc...

But Owon new small "improvement" means also littlebit less BW (what is also very good!)

All who have buyed Owon, they have very good signal quality oscilloscope in this price class.
Do you know if they have less noise if they have buyed Hantek or Rigol.


It is difficult... evolution and revolution is difficult:

I can not buy camera becouse if I buy now, tomorrow I can get somehow better?
This is reason why I do not have any pictures. But my friend take extremely good pictures with 10 years old camera and he have lot of nice pictures.... and he is happy with his pictures (and with his camera)
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 06:31:56 pm by aghp »
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline 0xdeadbeef

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1580
  • Country: de
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2012, 06:31:39 pm »
Sure, also the big brands have a new revision here and then. But not every 3 months. And most of the times only since they need to 2nd source some component, not because they still develop their hardware in the field. That's why devices of the bigger brands usually report their hardware revision. For Owon, they tell you the production week and looking at the remarks for the firmware release you get the impression that they build other scopes every 2nd week since the update is only for a new production dates, but not nearly for all.

And still I wished they would finally invest a little money in a few decent SW developers to improve the GUI and features of the
scope and to completely rewrite that excuse for a PC software. Well really, look at that PC software. If they spent more than 1k€ for developing this, they have been cheated. It's ridiculous.
Trying is the first step towards failure - Homer J. Simpson
 

Offline SeanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 16362
  • Country: za
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2012, 06:47:56 pm »
Sounds like KIC, or, as it was better known in the repair trade Kak in Case. You could buy 2 TV sets, made on the same line on the same day, with serial numbers consecutive, and the boards inside would be totally different, with even the identical remote control units being not interchangeable.
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2012, 07:17:49 pm »
Still waiting someone make comparable tests with example Rigol...


Owon SDS7102 - Tektronix TDS520A
Noise

Setup is made so that scopes are as close comparable as possible.
"apples to apples"

Note: Tektronix 100MHz BW limit is more low than Owon full BW (100MHz)
Signal from HP function genrator using 50ohm feed thru terminator. (Tek have built in 50ohm but here used same as with Owon)


Owon  set here  10k memory and Tek 5k memory and "fit to window"
With this setting they are more comparable becouse then Owon have 10k 20div Tektronix 5k 10div.

Both normal sample, realtime, no any averaging... just as single shot realtime.


Owon 100MHz full BW just as it is (-3dB far over 150MHz)



Tektronix with 100MHz rejected BW



Tektronix with full BW







Noise without signal.

Oscilloscope 1M input with 50ohm terminator.




(cursors show Owon OLD version noise peak level.)


NOTE: Owon have used 10M memory. Tektronix  have only tiny sampling memory so also trace looks different.
(if drop Owon memory it looks same but, these tests was done different time and I did not use Owon small memory becouse with it noise looks "too good".




100MHz BW




Full BW


Need realize that Tektronix is very old but totally different price class oscilloscope and still  good equipment for many kind of use. In second hand markets still far over Owon price if condition is somehow demonstrably good condition.

My opinion is that Owon result in this tiny test is very good.

Still Owon have noise, of course (all have), and it also affect to triggering stability. But also so do this Tektronix.

« Last Edit: June 10, 2012, 07:42:15 pm by aghp »
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2012, 02:01:03 pm »
Also here new 2.6 HW bandwidth.

(these small waves in shape are propaply from impedance mischmatch (feed thru terminator in scope input is not perfect match))



Risetime:



100mV/div


Same with infinite persist (for show possible corners wobbling (one form of aliasing) and also trigger stability!

Test signal risetime is around 0.8ns.
Owon risetime with 200mV/div or higher is typically littlebit better.


Then littlebit more with face to face with Tektronix 520A.

Scopes get exactly same signal.

Settings so that highly comparable.
Tektronix 100MHz BW becouse Owon is 100MHz oscilloscope.


















Looked more deep this triangle corner becouse it is real "case" in real life. (Equipment what need service).  Just after voltage range change over 100mV p-p level there appear this ringing. (proportionally most high ringing with this level).

It is problem in this function generator - need service adjust (or repair) using oscilloscope. 
This is just borderline for Owon. (note that Tek is set for 100M BW)) If oscilloscope have not this signal quality or better this work need forget.


















Owon front end signal quality is amazing good as we look 0.5kEur price class. Maybe becouse they have designed it themselves, not try make cheap copy from some other.
If do copy it also may mean that copycat do not understand fully this circuit what he is copying. Then they may do some changes for more cheap without understanding how it affect and then we see "Siglent" type result.

If design and test in own lab, it need understand something and result may be this what Owon show here.



Why this noise is important.
Bad noisy oscilloscope (or example spectrum analyzer) is just piece of bullshit independent of how many features it have in UI. 
But then it is also pity that if there is good signal quality oscilloscope have poor UI. This is somehow "waste of resources".  But poor UI do not still destroy signal. Fine and rich UI do not rescue if signal is grap.

Of course it mean how reliable and with what accuracy you can tell something about signal under test.  (if you take example single shot, how you know what is oscilloscope made and what is really in signal under test - I think it is good to ask)
Then, noise affect also to Trigger and this is very important. Part of trigger instability come just from noise - naturally.



It is also good to imagine that these pictures are still pictures.
In practice with live screen human eye-brain system make some effects and it may mostly look better.  This effect is extremely clear if you run video with fast movements and then you stop it. Did you really know from how bad image your eye-brain complex produce image what you "see". We have high amount of image processing. This help also with oscilloscope in many cases.
If you have long experience with analog oscilloscope it may need some time before you learn how to look digital oscilloscope screen and what you look and what you "filter" away (you see but with intelligence you do not care)



Add:
Here one image what may tell something how BW affect.
It is just with same signal as before but now with full 500MHz front end BW. This is why I use 100MHz BW in Tek (becouse also Owon is 100MHz. But Owon BW is higher than Tek 100MHz filter. (Owon BW is around over 50% higher)





EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline electroguy

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 78
  • Country: au
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2012, 02:31:35 pm »
hi,

those screenshots you have look like a really clear signal!

i have SDS7102V (SDS710212191xx) firmware 2.7.0
i try to measure the 5V probe square wave on the PROBE COMP pin.
Can someone please compare to their SDS7102 and tell me if this is normal?
There seems to be a lot of noise if i zoom in... why?
first picture is with nothing connected at all, which to me looks good, nothing wrong with it.

But the others are zoom in of the 5V square wave from the PROBE COMP signal. The last photo is the GND of the probe connected to the tip. Something seems wrong? 800mV noise? maybe the grounding is not connected inside CRO?

I tried both inputs, i tried different probes, same result

ideas?

Thanks.
There are 10 types of people that understand binary, those that do and those that don't!
 

Offline electroguy

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 78
  • Country: au
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2012, 02:15:09 pm »
is there anything going on inside this scope at about 14.5khz (69us) ? backlighting? anything else? just wondering why it is happening at exactly 69us every single time. weird.
There are 10 types of people that understand binary, those that do and those that don't!
 

Offline arekm

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 165
  • Country: pl
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2012, 05:42:30 pm »
On mine
 

Offline electroguy

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 78
  • Country: au
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #12 on: July 06, 2012, 11:53:09 pm »
Thanks.
I found that if i try grounding the tip using the ground terminal near the tip of the probe, it is much better than using the aligator clip connected to the ground half way down the probe. Maybe the probe is faulty? But both probes do the same thing, so i don't know...
Something strange is it also picks up the signal and the noise when the probe is about 10mm away from the pin (without touching the pin). Is that normal? You can clearly see the 14.5khz spikes.

There are 10 types of people that understand binary, those that do and those that don't!
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #13 on: July 08, 2012, 09:17:41 am »
On mine

This looks like well known CH1 noise issue in units what are first generation "improved HW"  late 2011.
It was some first manufacturing lots after Owon change original front end mechanical construction.
There is simple solution for this. There is also available instructions for this if you littlebit use search in forum.
Also Owon send needed small part to you if problem is this known and if you have enough experience and sklls to do it. (it need disassemble whole unit before this part can change and it need do carefully so that do not damage anything inside. But overall it is simple work. No need soldering anything.

What is this unit manufacture lot? (leave 3 last numbers out from whole serial number)

in this your picture:
« Last Edit: July 08, 2012, 09:22:16 am by aghp »
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline arekm

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 165
  • Country: pl
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #14 on: July 08, 2012, 02:56:52 pm »
It's sds71021149, so it's buggy right?
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #15 on: July 08, 2012, 03:18:42 pm »
It's sds71021149, so it's buggy right?

Yes together your image and this 1149..
There is small change need in harware (mechanical).
There need cut one noise road from Z-plate to CH1 input through GND.
Z-plate itself is very noisy.. it collects lot of EMI inside machine and there are noise current trawelling through it.
(one metal pillar from Z-plate go to inside CH1 analog part shield and there it pollute very sensitive area of GND) This metal pillar need change to nylon pillar. It solve this problem.

(later this whole construction have changed very different. )

You can also find detailed Illustrated instructions how to do it.

You can ask Owon this small part, I think they will ship it to you if you can do it yourself... or you can negotiete with Owon some other solution.
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline asbokid

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 57
  • Country: gb
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #16 on: July 29, 2012, 01:01:01 am »
What is the latest news on the Owon SDS7102 and its LAN protocol for communicating trace data to a PC?

In the past Owon was generous and supportive of open source code. It released the protocol specifications for the USB interface of its PDS scope family.
The Owon USB protocol supports two types of trace data - vector-based and bitmap.  Vector-based is excellent for scientific analysis, especially long-term trends.

Is the 7102 trace data format and its IP protocol publicly documented for us, please?

This is important for people who need to use Owon oscilloscopes with Unix/Linux PCs.

cheers, asbokid
« Last Edit: July 29, 2012, 08:55:34 pm by asbokid »
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #17 on: July 30, 2012, 01:45:35 pm »
Here is latest available version. (V1.3)
Not good but better than nothing and more new than original V1.0 what was first version after PDS series.
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline asbokid

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 57
  • Country: gb
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #18 on: July 30, 2012, 11:17:46 pm »
Thank you, aghp.

So the scope trace "datagram" format for the Owons is documented, and the USB specs (endpoints, etc) are there. There's a brief description of the libusb functions used: from the libusb-0.1 synchronous API.    Nothing as yet, though, documenting the TCP/IP network protocol(s) used by these scopes.  e.g. the network ports used, handshaking commands, data transfer commands, etc.   It would make sense to find re-use of the USB data transfer protocol in the firmware?   Would be good to know though.

Are owners generally happy with this generation of scope from Owon?

cheers, a
 

Offline arekm

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 165
  • Country: pl
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #19 on: July 31, 2012, 12:12:33 pm »
Could anyone check what probes are attached to SDS7102?

I've got replacement osciloscope with "T5060 60MHz/5MHz 16pF/115pF" probes. I guess they send me wrong probes since this is 100MHz osciloscope.

Edit: SDS7102 comes with T5100 probes (100MHz).
« Last Edit: July 31, 2012, 01:00:30 pm by arekm »
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #20 on: July 31, 2012, 01:25:06 pm »
Could anyone check what probes are attached to SDS7102?

I've got replacement osciloscope with "T5060 60MHz/5MHz 16pF/115pF" probes. I guess they send me wrong probes since this is 100MHz osciloscope.

Edit: SDS7102 comes with T5100 probes (100MHz).

With SDS7102 T5100 probes or equal. 100MHz of course. (also these have low frequency BW with 1x setting, of course. It is typical for all probes what ahve 1x/10x selection)

T5060 probes are for SDS6062. So if you have get SDS7102 with T5060 probes they are wrong.
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Offline jstan

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 2
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #21 on: August 03, 2012, 08:28:58 pm »
Hello

I just bought Owon sds 7102V version: 2.6.2. It's my first scope and i wanted to check it.So I took it to work to test it with agilent 33220A generator. I checked 8 Mhz and 20 Mhz square wave and I thought it would be be sharper( I heard that DSO can measure square wave which has 5 times less frequent than BW ). Maybe I'm doing something wrong with oscilloscope settings or it's just normal? I think i checked all the settings. I also connect generator with BNC cable without probes but the effect was the same, maybe this generator is old and have some faults( they use it in another department to generate only kHz signals ).

Thanks for any help.
 

Offline KTP

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 512
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #22 on: August 03, 2012, 09:03:27 pm »
The 33220A has a rise time of around 12ns...so for your 20mhz wave there just isn't a lot of time for the pulse to get to the high point before it has to turn around and go back low.

This is why I had the idea of making a little cheap add-on board for function generators such that faster rise time pulses and faster noise glitches could be experimented using existing slower rise time waveform generators.   But nobody has responded to that thread/idea, so maybe only you and I are interested  :P
 

Offline jstan

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 2
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #23 on: August 05, 2012, 07:48:31 pm »
Thank for pointing me out. I didn't realize that this awg have such long rise time. I don't have any awg so i won't be interested in your ad-on.
 

Offline mihlit

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 1
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #24 on: November 13, 2012, 11:31:39 am »
Hi,
I'm considering buying this oscilloscope in local store. They have it on sale, so I'm afraid it can be some old version. How can I find out what HW version they have? Is there some sticker on the oscilloscope? What is the latest hw version? Are there some version I should not buy?
Thank you
 

Offline arekm

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 165
  • Country: pl
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW
« Reply #25 on: November 13, 2012, 11:36:50 am »
AFAIK serial number (on sticker and in "about" menu) is like this - SDS71021209xxx:

SDS7102 - model
12 - year
09 - week
xxx - number in batch

so buy fresh unit.
 

Offline aghpTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • !
  • Posts: 196
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #26 on: January 11, 2013, 07:49:40 pm »
SDS7102V
This time version is 2.8.2 and some note, related perhaps to HW.
I can not do real compare face to face with exactly all same with earlier version but it "looks like" signal capture quality have littlebit better or this is just normal random variations between single units.


Becouse someone have asked including also Owon name:

Quote from: kape
How slow is the image save speed of the DS2000-series compared to other scopes (Owon, Hantek..)?
I was surprised how slow these are compared to other (like Tektronix). If I recall correctly, on those more expensive models it won't take many seconds...

Some data about Owon.
Test: PC (IBM T42 and winXP SP3) USB  <----> Owon SDS7102V  (version 2.8.2)
PC running Owon Oscilloscope version 2.0.8.11
Test: Transfer  .BMP images to PC continuously, time 60sec. Result 48 images stored.
One bmp image (800x600x24) every 1.25s   
(of course waveform data is faster)

BMP image to USB memory stick. (Verbatim old and cheap 4G) Around ~5-6s

This is slow but need also remember that there need push first save button and then use defaul file name or edit it and then enter and  then start transfer and this time is looked here.
Maybe this time is not so meaningfull becouse there come also "human time".

If save "Wave" to usb stick it is more fast than my finger if use 1k memory and with 10M memory it takes  around 30s.
With 10M memory from scope sto PC using Owon PC software and USB connection it takes around 4 second.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 08:01:07 pm by aghp »
EU: Owon oscilloscopes and in Finland also  some Siglent selected equipments. All with our  lab deep Q.C. in Finland.  Surplus test equipments. Repair service. 40 year experience about electric and electronic repair, service and design. Local Owon SDS-Series  repair service for our customers.
 

Online Hydrawerk

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2616
  • Country: 00
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #27 on: January 11, 2013, 09:06:43 pm »
Well, the Owon SDS scopes are OK, but do not forget the big disadvantage... It has low waveform update rate - only up to 33 waveforms per second. Please check Marmad's video at 26:46 http://youtu.be/eqcEi6ru4ZM?t=26m46s Probably they used a slow memory IC, or so...
Then, there are no tools to manage the huge 10MB memory, like mark or search.
Amazing machines. https://www.youtube.com/user/denha (It is not me...)
 

Offline kape

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 9
  • Country: fi
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #28 on: January 12, 2013, 10:55:30 am »
Becouse someone have asked including also Owon name:

Quote from: kape
How slow is the image save speed of the DS2000-series compared to other scopes (Owon, Hantek..)?
I was surprised how slow these are compared to other (like Tektronix). If I recall correctly, on those more expensive models it won't take many seconds...

Well, Kari/rf-loop/aghp - I hope that 'kape' from Finland - whose total of 3 posts in the Rigol DS2000 Review thread all mention or reference the Owon - is not another of your 'alter-egos' here on EEVBlog (or a close friend or relative), but it certainly wouldn't surprise me. In any case,  I'll leave that to the Admins here to sort out.

marmad, I can confirm that I have no closer relation to aghp. Please let's not try to start any war here:)
My old analog scope got broken and I was looking for affordable alternatives within this lower cost category of DSOs (including the two most interesting alternatives, SDS7102V from Owon and DS2072 from Rigol). As the user manual of either of these products won't tell you all the details, I was asking for details through this forum from users that actually own the device.
I found out that both scopes have their advantages. It just depends quite a lot of the application they are used for.

And thanks aghp for the BMP image save speed to USB stick. I think that I previously read somewhere that the Owon would take tens of seconds to save a single BMP-file to USB-stick. That was the main reason for asking further details about both oscilloscopes.

Still haven't decided which scope (SDS7102V or DS2072) is better for my needs....

PS. When discussing with aghp about the good and bad features of SDS7102V, I told him that my intended application also covers hunting fast digital signal glitches. He honestly told me that the Rigol DS2072 would maybe suit my application better than the Owon (instead of keep selling me the scope he has). That's what I value the most in salesmen!

BR,
Petri
 

Offline marmad

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2979
  • Country: aq
    • DaysAlive
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #29 on: January 12, 2013, 04:43:30 pm »
marmad, I can confirm that I have no closer relation to aghp. Please let's not try to start any war here:)

Sorry, Petri - no offense intended. In any case, the war (more like a squabble) between aghp and myself had been going on awhile.

Quote
Still haven't decided which scope (SDS7102V or DS2072) is better for my needs....

If you don't plan to ever earn any money using the DSO - or you are on a really tight budget now and plan to upgrade in the future - or if you MUST have battery portability OR VGA output now - get the Owon.  If you want a better long-term investment, get the Rigol. As I've mentioned before - and I'm sure most people who've had both scopes in their hands would agree - there is no comparison in terms of design, features, and build quality. The Rigol costs 2 - 2.5x more than the Owon - but you get many times more than that in terms of value. I owned the Owon for about 5 weeks - and I knew everything about it in the first 7 days or so. I've owned the Rigol  about 10 weeks - and I'm still discovering new features or enhancements that I hadn't realized were there,

Quote
PS. When discussing with aghp about the good and bad features of SDS7102V, I told him that my intended application also covers hunting fast digital signal glitches. He honestly told me that the Rigol DS2072 would maybe suit my application better than the Owon (instead of keep selling me the scope he has). That's what I value the most in salesmen!

The only ongoing problem I had with aghp was that almost anytime anything negative about the Owon was mentioned (especially in the Owon Review thread I started), he would feel compelled to jump in and counter or mitigate the criticism. There are other dealers on this blog - who sell Rigols, Hanteks, etc - that don't do this - because they realize that even though they might actually be 'right' about something, the fact that they have a financial motive to be 'right' sometimes colors the issue.     
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #30 on: March 13, 2013, 02:33:20 pm »
Some small power supply modification I have implemented in my OWON.

I had same power supply noise problem as many have reported here, so I had a look and try to improve somehow this.
Inside flyback smps is very noisy and generate large amount of noise inside and outside of the oscilloscope.
Getting this in a shielding cage will be next step, but for now I had a look on capacitors.
Original ones are very poor quality with high ESR.
PS before modifications.
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #31 on: March 13, 2013, 02:34:53 pm »
and after.
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #32 on: March 13, 2013, 02:48:24 pm »
Original capacitors have been replaced with organic semiconductor, tantalum and low ESR Samwha.
Here is the ESR of original C18 - 100uF/16V.
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #33 on: March 13, 2013, 02:50:15 pm »
This was replaced with organic semiconductor one.
His ESR is 22 times lower.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 03:00:25 pm by tvicol »
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #34 on: March 13, 2013, 02:57:50 pm »
Original 470uF capacitors have been replaced with Samwha.
Here is original ESR.
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #35 on: March 13, 2013, 02:59:25 pm »
Samwha ESR and comparison between original and replacement.
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #36 on: March 13, 2013, 03:06:15 pm »
In final following capacitors have been replaced:
C9
C10
C11
C16 - replaced with tantalum
C20
C21
C22 - replaced with 330uF/400V (mounted in battery compartment)
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #37 on: March 13, 2013, 03:11:34 pm »
Measurement of V8.4P before and after.
50mV/div
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 03:14:13 pm by tvicol »
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #38 on: March 13, 2013, 03:18:04 pm »
V-7.6 before and after.
 

Offline AndrejaKo

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 283
  • Country: cs
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #39 on: March 13, 2013, 03:21:56 pm »
Interesting procedure! Do you have exact part numbers of components you used? I can't read them on the photos.

I'm not sure how to interpret results of V8.4P. If both images are 50 mV/div, to me it seems as if there's no improvement. On the first image, we have noise of almost 3 divs and on the second we have also the noise of almost 3 divs, but it's shifted up a little bit. Could you please explain that in greater detail? I feel as if I'm missing something obvious here.

The -7.6 V rails looks great on the other hand.
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #40 on: March 13, 2013, 03:24:57 pm »
LED R before and after.
 

Offline tvicol

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 13
  • Country: ro
    • Vicol Audio
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #41 on: March 13, 2013, 03:31:43 pm »
Interesting procedure! Do you have exact part numbers of components you used? I can't read them on the photos.

I'm not sure how to interpret results of V8.4P. If both images are 50 mV/div, to me it seems as if there's no improvement. On the first image, we have noise of almost 3 divs and on the second we have also the noise of almost 3 divs, but it's shifted up a little bit. Could you please explain that in greater detail? I feel as if I'm missing something obvious here.

The -7.6 V rails looks great on the other hand.

I used what I had in my workshop.
Almost any brand name, low ESR/ESL cap will do a good job.
Rubycon ZL and Rubycon ZA are even better than Samwha.

Well, the improvement for V8.4P is quite low. All measurements are at 50mV/div (see down left button) with my 25years old oscilloscope. Still serving me well.  :)

Next step is to add few ferrite´s and try to isolate SMPS with some Al/Cu foil.

I have also upgraded the firmware and for the time been I have no more ground issues. :-)

That´s all for time been.
Hope this information will be useful to others as well.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 03:37:00 pm by tvicol »
 

Offline AndrejaKo

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 283
  • Country: cs
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #42 on: March 13, 2013, 03:36:15 pm »
Well do post results when you do all that. Good luck!
 

Offline StubbornGreek

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 290
  • Country: us
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #43 on: March 13, 2013, 04:17:16 pm »
Great job. I'm curious how much the ferrites and shield will help. Thanks for posting your results.
"The reward of a thing well done is to have it done"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Offline Giorg

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 25
  • Country: it
    • G--labs
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #44 on: March 23, 2013, 05:08:25 pm »
how can I check wich HW revision I have?

The scope has been updated to 2.8.2 from the vendor for sure.

serial is :SDS71021251013

thanks!
 

Offline rf-loop

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4134
  • Country: fi
  • Born in Finland with DLL21 in hand
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #45 on: March 23, 2013, 06:51:39 pm »
how can I check wich HW revision I have?

The scope has been updated to 2.8.2 from the vendor for sure.

serial is :SDS71021251013

thanks!

AFAIK this serial come out from factory with version 2.8.2

I have seen several (original factory) SDS71021246xxx and SDS71021251xxx  and in all these what I have seen version 2.8.2. installed in Zhangzhou factory.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2013, 06:56:31 pm by rf-loop »
EV of course. Cars with smoke exhaust pipes - go to museum. In Finland quite all electric power is made using nuclear, wind, solar and water.

Wises must compel the mad barbarians to stop their crimes against humanity. Where have the (strong)wises gone?
 

Offline VanitarNordic

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 277
  • Country: 00
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #46 on: April 09, 2013, 09:49:44 am »
I upgraded my SDS7102 to the 2.8.3 version. Upgrades for each model are available here:

http://www.owon.com.hk/down-en.asp?bigclassname=software_upgrading
« Last Edit: April 09, 2013, 10:23:02 am by VanitarNordic »
 

Offline kozi

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 1
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #47 on: January 31, 2014, 02:28:43 pm »
I upgraded my SDS7102 to the 2.8.3 version. Upgrades for each model are available here:

http://www.owon.com.hk/down-en.asp?bigclassname=software_upgrading

Above site seems to be down.  |O
Is there any new URL for FW DL ? O0
 

Offline AndrejaKo

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 283
  • Country: cs
Re: Improvements in Owon SDS7102 HW/FW and some tests
« Reply #48 on: January 31, 2014, 03:10:55 pm »
You can try to download from from the Chinese site at http://www.owon.com.cn/service_s.asp?SortID_1=3&SortID_2=0 but currently, they want you to fill out a form before they give you access to the file.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf