Rigol DP832 - Firmware list and bugs

[cidak]

There is a bug in firmware 00.01.11.00.00 relating to manual calibration. If you have installed this firmware then don't perform manual calibration on either V DAC or I DAC. Calibration of V ADC and I ADC appears to work properly though.

Calibration via a PC works fine.

Hi everyone, I'm the owner of DP811A, I installed the v1.11 firmware.
I made the calibration of the V-DAC and the I-DAC output voltages and now all wrong.    I tried for three days to redo the settings, to no avail. Then I read here on the forums that the 11.1 have a bug.
Now I have an old iron box unusable paid 750 Euros.

Someone can 'help me to solve this problem?

I contacted RIGOL EU Engineer Mr Thomas told me that I should not touch the calibration and now so I have no warranty and I have to send them by paying the repair.  To me this does not seem fair, I did not do the problem, but they did their damage with a firmware bug. 

  Someone SCPI commands for calibration, or any other solution to seat the power supply? 

THANKS! 

[amor4ti]

Hi..
I just got my DP832, and upon checking the "Sys Info" I was surprised to see only 3 things listed:
- Device Model      DP832
- Serial Number      DP8C......
- Digital Version      00.01.11

I wonder why I don't see "Analog Version", "Boot Version" or "Keyboard version" like others mentioned earlier in the thread! Any clue?

On the other hand, I would like to confirm that I used the new riglol 1.03d on my firmware (01.11) and I got all options activated 

Thanks to those behind this amazing keygen.

[TooOldForThis]

I wonder why I don't see "Analog Version", "Boot Version" or "Keyboard version"

You have to press extra buttons to get extended information.

Press Utility > SysInfo > M1, M3, M2
where "M1" is is the left-most button on the bottom of the display.

[amor4ti]

I wonder why I don't see "Analog Version", "Boot Version" or "Keyboard version"

You have to press extra buttons to get extended information.

Press Utility > SysInfo > M1, M3, M2
where "M1" is is the left-most button on the bottom of the display.

Thanks tooOldForThis...

So the extended information I got are:

- Analog Version: 02.02.02.02.02.02
- Boot Version: 01.09
- Keyboard Version: 01.01

[TooOldForThis]

- Analog Version: 02.02.02.02.02.02

Did you mean "01.02.02.01.02.02"?

[awsisme]

- Analog Version: 02.02.02.02.02.02

Did you mean "01.02.02.01.02.02"?

I don't think he did. Mine says .02.02.02.02.02.02 as well.

[amor4ti]

- Analog Version: 02.02.02.02.02.02

Did you mean "01.02.02.01.02.02"?

I just re-checked and Analog Version is 02.02.02.02.02.02  . Does that tell anything?
by the way, I bought my DP832 from China.

[TooOldForThis]

I have 1.11 on my DP832's and they have analog version 01.02.02.01.02.02.   This doesn't change after running the analog board update process ('Help', 'Help', M4, M2, M1  and  'Help', 'Help', M4, M2, M2)
I get the messages "Being configured the Analog Board" followed by "Code configuration Successful!" but the analog version stays at 01.02.02.01.02.02.     I assume that "01.02.02.01.02.02" means that each analog board has "01.02.02"
I guess reprogramming the analog boards is another thing in 1.11 that Rigol didn't test. 
Has anyone gotten to analog version 02.02.02.02.02.02 by SW upgrade from an older release?

[TooOldForThis]

A few months ago I ran Rigol's published instructions for manually calibrating a DP800 and wound up with a broken power supply.   DP832 rev 1.11 has a serious bug in its manual calibration software.  Any channel manually calibrated while running 1.11 becomes unusable.

Rigol obviously doesn't use the manual calibration process on their production line, they must use SCPI commands in an automated process.  Unfortunately, Rigol left the calibration commands out of their DP800 Programming Guide.   I set out to remedy that. 

In the attached document I've documented the remote calibration commands and how to use them.   I was able to fix my broken DP832 using this stuff.   

(edit: added PDF version of the same document)

[f1rmb]

A few months ago I ran Rigol's published instructions for manually calibrating a DP800 and wound up with a broken power supply.   DP832 rev 1.11 has a serious bug in its manual calibration software.  Any channel manually calibrated while running 1.11 becomes unusable.

Rigol obviously doesn't use the manual calibration process on their production line, they must use SCPI commands in an automated process.  Unfortunately, Rigol left the calibration commands out of their DP800 Programming Guide.   I set out to remedy that. 

In the attached document I've documented the remote calibration commands and how to use them.   I was able to fix my broken DP832 using this stuff.   

Thanks!

[Macbeth]

In the attached document I've documented the remote calibration commands and how to use them.   I was able to fix my broken DP832 using this stuff.   

Wow! Great stuff - very much appreciated. 

[ted572]

A few months ago I ran Rigol's published instructions for manually calibrating a DP800 and wound up with a broken power supply.   DP832 rev 1.11 has a serious bug in its manual calibration software.  Any channel manually calibrated while running 1.11 becomes unusable.

Rigol obviously doesn't use the manual calibration process on their production line, they must use SCPI commands in an automated process.  Unfortunately, Rigol left the calibration commands out of their DP800 Programming Guide.   I set out to remedy that. 

In the attached document I've documented the remote calibration commands and how to use them.   I was able to fix my broken DP832 using this stuff.   

TooOldForThis:

  Thank you very much for providing information on how to calibrate the DP832 Power Supplies.  I for one appreciate this very much, and I'm sure everyone else here does also.
  It is sometimes hard for me to keep track of everything required when carrying out an involved alignment/calibration procedure, where a single mistake can result in having to start over again, and sometimes again. . .    If you know what I mean.  So I put together a quick draft summation for my use.  This has proven very helpful to me.  And a friend of mine suggested posting it here in the event someone else could possibly benefit from it.  Please if you, or anyone else, sees something as being incorrect, please let me know and I will correct and re-post if significant.

  Thanks again 'TooOldForThis' (and obviously you are not) for telling us how to calibrate our DP832s.  Please feel free to use, and/or modify this attachment if you choose to.  Without your hard work I wouldn't have been able to assemble it.

Edited 12/16/2014:  Replaced the attached procedure with Rev. B to correct an error in Step 4 (command for turning ON CH1).

[Sparky]

A few months ago I ran Rigol's published instructions for manually calibrating a DP800 and wound up with a broken power supply.   DP832 rev 1.11 has a serious bug in its manual calibration software.  Any channel manually calibrated while running 1.11 becomes unusable.

Rigol obviously doesn't use the manual calibration process on their production line, they must use SCPI commands in an automated process.  Unfortunately, Rigol left the calibration commands out of their DP800 Programming Guide.   I set out to remedy that. 

In the attached document I've documented the remote calibration commands and how to use them.   I was able to fix my broken DP832 using this stuff.   

  Thank you very much for providing information on how to calibrate the DP832 Power Supplies.  I for one appreciate this very much, and I'm sure everyone else here does also.
  It is sometimes hard for me to keep track of everything required when carrying out an involved alignment/calibration procedure, where a single mistake can result in having to start over again, and sometimes again. . .    If you know what I mean.  So I put together a quick draft summation for my use.  This has proven very helpful to me.  And a friend of mine suggested posting it here in the event someone else could possibly benefit from it.  Please if you, or anyone else, sees something as being incorrect, please let me know and I will correct and re-post if significant.

TooOldForThis and ted572 --- Excellent contributions!  Thank you both for sharing your investigations and very helpful documentations.  I, and many others I suspect, really appreciate it!  I hope you don't mind me updating the first post with links to your posts containing the documents.  If you prefer I did not do it, please let me know.

[Macbeth]

I received the Update 00.01.13.00.01 today. Anyone else too?

Any idea what the update has improved? Do the "naughty" Riglol hacks still work?

[mcinque]

There were firmware versions that require specifics upgrade versions (a bad combination of firmware+upgrade can brick the PSU).
Considering how easy and fast some users apply an upgrade without even notice any bug on their PSUs, posting here the latest firmware (also without knowing exactly what it fixes) expose them to troubles and to some "help! my DP832 has lost its calibration/is bricked!" kind of posts (IMO).

[Sparky]

I installed the 01.13 firmware release onto my DP832 and updated the first post.  Here are some notes:

- All installed options (accuracy, etc.) remain enabled.
- Temperature measurement/display bug is fixed.  In addition, the temperature is displayed on the detailed system info screen (Utility > SysInfo > M1 > M3 > M2), rather than the "Test/Cal" screen.
- Analog board version updated to: 01.02.03.01.02.03
- Keyboard version still at 01.01
- Bootloader version still at 01.09.  If you already have bootloader 01.09 from a prior firmware release (e.g. 01.11) then no need to update the bootloader again. 

I wonder if someone can check if the calibration bug has been resolved??

Firmware: Download here

[TooOldForThis]

I wonder if someone can check if the calibration bug has been resolved??

I loaded 1.13 and tried manual cal of CH1, DAC-V.  It worked.  It appears that 1.13 fixed the manual cal bug introduced in 1.11.   The manual cal process is so colossally boring that I didn't try the other devices or the other channels.       

[Sparky]

I wonder if someone can check if the calibration bug has been resolved??

I loaded 1.13 and tried manual cal of CH1, DAC-V.  It worked.  It appears that 1.13 fixed the manual cal bug introduced in 1.11.   The manual cal process is so colossally boring that I didn't try the other devices or the other channels.     

Thanks for testing and providing feedback!  It's great news calibration is fixed since it had really messed up some people units (unless they followed your guide!). 

I've updated the first post -- it appears all known bugs are fixed!

[(In)Sanity]

Ok,  the current calibration (IDAC) on 1.13 is still messed up.  Anything above point 13 or 14 doesn't save.   Just tried it,   SCPI works fine of course.   Also I notice they duped the 3.00 amp cal point twice on #18 and #19.   

Edit:  Channel 2 seams fine with 16 points,  I had 19 on Ch 1.   No clue what's going on with it.  Going to nuke and start over.    Probably a false alarm.

Jeff

[TooOldForThis]

I just tried IDAC on CH1 and didn't have any problems.  After calibrating, I power-cycled and went back and verified the results at 0.1A intervals.  Everything was reasonably close from 0.1A to 3.2A.

I think they have fixed the bug introduced in 1.11 but there is another bug that was there before.  If you start a calibration and exit out, you have to power-cycle the device before starting again.  If you just go back into calibration, the results will be wrong.  As a test, I started IDAC cal and measured 0.070A for the first step and entered that value.  Then I exited cal and went back in (password 2012, etc.) and reselected IDAC.  This time the first step measured 0.100A.   I think what is happening is that the first time you enter calibration for a channel, they clear out the previous calibration settings so you get the raw hardware response.  If you try to repeat a device calibration with out power-cycling, they don't clear the old cal data and the power supply outputs values that are adjusted by the old cal data.   You could probably fix that by issuing the ":CALibration:Clear" SCPI command.  (that's the command that's no longer mentioned in the latest Rigol calibration document.

Normally, you wouldn't want to exit out of a calibration once you start, but I find it's easy to do accidentally.  When selecting which device to calibrate you have to press the VDAC, IDAC, VADC, or IADC button and then press the back arrow to get back to the main cal menu.   But when entering values and you want to change the +/- sign, if you press the back arrow after selecting +/-, it kicks you completely out of calibration mode.  That has bitten me several times.  If you don't power-cycle before starting again, the results will be wrong.

When in calibration mode, they should never correct the output using the cal data tables.  They try to achieve this by clearing out the tables when you enter calibration for the first time.   That is not good enough.  If you restart calibration or go back and repeat a cal step you've already done, the previous cal data is not blank and it will throw off the results. 

I fear that it's absolutely hopeless trying to explain that to Rigol.         

[(In)Sanity]

When in calibration mode, they should never correct the output using the cal data tables.  They try to achieve this by clearing out the tables when you enter calibration for the first time.   That is not good enough.  If you restart calibration or go back and repeat a cal step you've already done, the previous cal data is not blank and it will throw off the results. 

I fear that it's absolutely hopeless trying to explain that to Rigol.       

All of the points you made are valid.  I managed to get everything better than spec by using SCPI ,  clearing the channel with issues and re-creating the calibration points.  The interesting part is once this was all said and done I was actually able to go in to cal,  edit one or two data points,  come back out and everything else is still spot on.   I did this multiple times on more then one channel.   This was all confirmed with the 3457A and for the higher current ranges a precision trimmed current shunt.  I put it in a little box with 4m plugs on each end so I can use it with any meter.   

In any event I'm all back up and running with 1.13 and really good calibration.   

Thanks,

Jeff

[Sparky]

Some notes on firmware 01.13 changes:

1. Modification: Change the USB Device library to fix the bug that USB Device Communication unstable.
2. Enhancement: Change the LXI and SCPI library, add the multi-interface communication function, and improve the communication speed.
3. Enhancement: Add Russian menu.
4. Enhancement: Add keyboard lock function.
5. Modification: Optimize the timing accuracy of the Timer, the Delayer and the Recorder.

[ted572]

New DP832 Firmware 00.01.13 Installation Instructions.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/rigol-dp832-firmware-updates-and-bug-list/?action=dlattach;attach=128673

[dsolodov]

Got my unit today. As per the paperwork calibration was done 15-Sep-14.

The version information is as follows:
Device Model: DP832
Serial: DP8C...
Digital: 00.01.11.00.00
Analog: 02.02.02.02.02.02
Boot: 01.09
Keyboard: 01.01

[LaurentR]

Noticing odd artifacts in the linearity of the DP832 DAC (see this thread), I decided to write a script to calibrate the DP832 using TooOldForThis and ted572's instructions from this thread.

The script is written in Matlab. Be gentle, this is my first Matlab script 
I decided to use Matlab because a) I had never tried Matlab, b) I wanted easy graphing (not relevant to this script) and c) I wanted to get going quickly with SCPI and Agilent had several nice examples for the 34461A in Matlab.
Porting to C or Python should be reasonably straightforward. This is straight SCPI and there is no weird Matlab-ism except for one-dimensional arrays being multi-dimensional and starting at 1

The script is meant to be used with a DP832 and a 34461A. Other DMMs should be easy to add, but the current measurements require a step at 3.2A which can be challenging for many (like a plain 34401A). The 34461A has a 10A input, which turns out to be handy for this purpose.

Please read the notes carefully before using.

15-Feb-2015: Updated to v1.1 with some cleanup and tentative DM3068 support.