Oscilloscope Demo Boards - are they worth it?

[petreza]

My first oscilloscope - Rigol DS4014 - is on the way. I want to test it when it arrives and start to learn how to use it. Rigol makes an oscilloscope demo board DK-DS6000:

http://www.tequipment.net/Rigol/DS6000-DK/Analog-Demo-Board/?v=7444

Could you please take a look at its specifications and tell me if it is worth it? Not so much as a price (I can get it at a discount and resell it once I am done) but as functionality. In other words, is it just a toy or is there real educational value in it?

Thanks!

[ataradov]

Those are mostly useful for scope salesman. I don't really see the value of this board for an actual user.

If you are buying a scope, presumably you already have some boards that you can poke around for training. You won't have access to nicely glitched signals, but then again, you are not likely to run across them in a real life, so by the time you actually need to know how to set a trigger on a glitch, you will have to figure it out again.

[tautech]

Siglent's new STB-3 has more functionality for US$199.00.
http://www.siglentamerica.com/prodcut-fjxx.aspx?fjid=4990&id=1488&tid=1&T=2
These are quite new and I've had to wait a while to get one. While not cheap they are quite useful for learning some of the complex tasks a DSO is capable of. I've found the selection of serial protocol outputs useful with a scopes Decoding suite.
There's also two 8 channel headers for MSO signals.
Worth it ? Depends on your scope experience.
For all the plain and glitchy waveforms.....maybe. For the selection of Serial Protocols.......yep.

There is a manual for it in a link in the site above ^....I haven't checked that one yet, the one I had emailed to me was marked "Provisional"......
As time allows I'm still finding my way through this test board, I can vouch it will keep you amused for hours.

This online pic shows only the bottom side, all the output loops, BNC's, selection buttons and mode LED's are on top.



Top Side


Any DSO screenshot requests?

[neil t]

I personally have found enough educational value bread boarding circuits to probe and play with
and  also found that my electronics skills and oscilloscope skills are rising at about the same level,
it seems to me if I can build / program it I should be able to probe or decode it to the same degree.

[HighVoltage]

I have found these demo boards very useful in looking a learning about complex signals and also for the purpose of teaching others.
If you buy them used, you can sell them again for the same amount of money that you have paid for them

[julian1]

I purchased an inexpensive Feeltech sig-gen with my 1054z - and felt it was very helpful for quickly getting a feel for using the scope. Just very practical things - like playing around with impedance matching (50ohm versus high-Z), different triggering approaches, what harmonics/ringing looks like on square waves etc.

A sig-gen doesn't do a lot of the things that the demo-board does (bus protocols etc) - but it is probably more useful for general circuit prototyping.

[Fungus]

My first oscilloscope - Rigol DS4014 - is on the way. I want to test it when it arrives and start to learn how to use it. Rigol makes an oscilloscope demo board DK-DS6000:

http://www.tequipment.net/Rigol/DS6000-DK/Analog-Demo-Board/?v=7444

If you can afford to spend that much on a "first oscilloscope" that you don't know how to use then yes, it's worth every penny.

[MrWolf]

Heres good "demo board", but need to be bit careful, it's 3.3V:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDue
Edit: If you will go down that path might want to invest in one of these or similar:
https://www.olimex.com/Products/USB-Modules/USB-ISO/
https://www.adafruit.com/products/2107

[Shock]

If you don't read your oscilloscope manual from front to back you might as well hold out on buying it. Because you will be reading a manual written very similar to your oscilloscope manual from front to back.

In order to get familiar with a lot of functions on the scope it might be useful to get a cheap low voltage isolated or battery powered signal/function generator, if you have an isolated bench supply to power it that works. They are dirt cheap on Ebay, worth it in crappy parts alone they start at $2!

As hinted above the most important thing to a new scope owner is ensuring you're not grounding a voltage/signal already above or below mains earth ground with the ground clip, or exceed any input specifications.

Here is the video Dave did on it.

[rstofer]

When I wanted to play with serial decoding, I just programmed an Arduino to send a character string.  Same with SPI.  I suppose I could find something around here that uses I2C and try that as well.

You can generate PWM signals with the Arduino as well as simple on-off waveforms.

It just takes a little coding...

[petreza]

Thank you all for the input.
Thank you for the recommendations. I will check them out.

As far as budget - yes the $2300 retail hurt but there was the academic discount etc. so that helped. I was considering the MSO1074z but the extra functionality of the DS4014 seemed to be worth it even with more than double the price and the sacrifice of the Logic Analyzer. Plus the MSO is 100MHz  70MHz while the DS4014 is 500MHz  100Mhz. True, there is the DS4014E - a $400 cheaper, slightly crippled version - however it comes with cheaper probes. I watched a video (or was it an online article) where they showed how the high bandwidth was really important for accurate measurement even for much lower Hz signal than the oscilloscope max. The probes, they explained, are significant piece in that equation.

If you don't read your oscilloscope manual from front to back you might as well hold out on buying it. Because you will be reading a manual written very similar to your oscilloscope manual from front to back.

In order to get familiar with a lot of functions on the scope it might be useful to get a cheap low voltage isolated or battery powered signal/function generator, if you have an isolated bench supply to power it that works. They are dirt cheap on Ebay, worth it in crappy parts alone they start at $2!

As hinted above the most important thing to a new scope owner is ensuring you're not grounding a voltage/signal already above or below mains earth ground with the ground clip, or exceed any input specifications.

Here is the video Dave did on it.

I am planning on getting an AWG really soon - I know that paired with the oscilloscope it would be great learning tool. For now I am considering Siglent SDG2042X unless someone advises me otherwise.
(Rigol DP832 power supply is already on the way.)

Thanks for the link. I have watched this video before and was aware of the issue. Will watch it again before connecting anything.

[tggzzz]

A good way of proceeding is to take a circuit where you know what is happening, and measure what is happening. Alter the scope controls and verify that the display changes in the way you expect. Note any deviations from what you expect, and do research to help understand whether the deviation is due to the circuit, your understanding, or your measurement technique.

And then continue to do that with each new piece of equipment you encounter thereafter!

If you have learned how to state what you can see, suspect, and what you think you need to know, you will find many people willing to help.

Personally I wouldn't worry about a demo board, except to quickly investigate a specific scope's performance.

[Daruosha]

If you have an Arduino lying around, take a look at this:

http://www.tek.com/lab-course/learn-digital-oscilloscope-operations-using-arduino-board-dut-signal-generator

[MrWolf]

BTW why I recommended Arduino Due - It has dual channel DAC.
Alternative is to use something like this with Uno:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/935
As free bonus you get to play with I2C.
So SDG2042X + pile of Arduino stuff 

[mtdoc]

If you have an Arduino lying around, take a look at this:

http://www.tek.com/lab-course/learn-digital-oscilloscope-operations-using-arduino-board-dut-signal-generator

That's pretty cool. Much better than the old days of putting a CRO and function generator in front of students and having them fiddle with knobs until they figured it out..

[Forser]

If you have an Arduino lying around, take a look at this:

http://www.tek.com/lab-course/learn-digital-oscilloscope-operations-using-arduino-board-dut-signal-generator

Thanks, really interesting.
Curious, it shows where to connect your Probe 1 and 2 but it never says if you should connect all probes to GND or only one of them.
I guess both probes are to be grounded to gnd pin?

[tautech]

If you have an Arduino lying around, take a look at this:

http://www.tek.com/lab-course/learn-digital-oscilloscope-operations-using-arduino-board-dut-signal-generator

Thanks, really interesting.
Curious, it shows where to connect your Probe 1 and 2 but it never says if you should connect all probes to GND or only one of them.
I guess both probes are to be grounded to gnd pin?

"Generally" only 1 Gnd (Reference) need be connected but for preservation of signal fidelity sometimes more.
Introducing another another "Reference" connection one must always be sure it is connected to the same point in the circuit and if the DUT is not Gnd referenced they can be placed most anywhere with caution and understanding. 

Sometimes when I'm using multiple probes to points with a common reference (Gnd) I remove all but 1 of the Gnd leads to prevent the chance of   

[21KUZY073]

there is new link to Arduino based demo board: https://www.tek.com/support/faqs/where-can-i-download-mps430-signals-and-arduino-code-arduino-courseware-labs