Rigol DS1054Z sound silencing -- You're welcome

[wnorcott]

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

The thing is loud

SOLUTION:

Accoustic sound deadening

BILL OF MATERIALS

1,  scrap piece of pink foam from shop floor, $0.00
2,  1.5" of ink from a Sharpie ink marker, $0.00
3,  1/300th of a $1 foam core art board from shop floor, $0.003
4,  Matchstick sized dab of Beacon Quick Grip adhesive, $0.002
5,  Used coffee stirrer from office wastebasket, $0.00
6,  Left hand of a discarded pair of disposible gloves, $0.00

ASSEMBLY COST

1, 15 seconds @ $120/hour,  $0.50



DESCRIPTION OF MATERIALS AND ASSEMBLY

foam


glue


glove used as gasket/batting


assembly


Finished product:



ENGINEERING OPTIONS CONSIDERED

(foam ear plugs)



OUTCOME

1, no more noise
2, warranty seal intact
3, no hardware purchases
4, earplugs retained for hunting season

[gsuberland]

Very amusing. I particularly enjoy the positioning of the glove. I'm trying to work out how the peg fits in as an engineering option though

[w2aew]

hopefully that's not blocking the air-flow through the ventilation holes...

[wnorcott]

Those are foam ear plugs used for hearing protection while shooting.

[wnorcott]

hopefully that's not blocking the air-flow through the ventilation holes...

It's fine the air escapes out the back of the unit and is adjustable by how much of the glove I care to stuff in there.
Quiet too:

[alsetalokin4017]

Oh, I can foresee this thread going far, with many alternative sound silencing solutions for the 1054z.

For example, you could have simply put the whole scope inside that old styrofoam beer cooler that you have left over from the last tailgate party. Cut some holes for the probe and power cables and bob's yer uncle. Could have saved that fifty cents labor charge, or most of it anyhow.     

[wnorcott]

The oscilloscope as shown above is both fully functional and library quiet unlike just putting it in a beer cooler.   100% unimpeded access.

Nice cool temps too it's been running like that with the mechanical attenuator fully engaged  and a temp probe at the fan exhaust and it's at 86 degrees F peak after 30  min of me using it.

[imidis]

I want to know what happened to the clothes pin 

[alsetalokin4017]

86 degrees! Heck, my scope is that warm even when it's unplugged! So I'm not sure the system will work for me.

Besides, the scope's fan noise helps block out the air conditioner noise in my lab, so I can hear my computer fans properly. 

(And with full control of the scope over the LAN connection using DSRemote, I don't even need physical access to the scope at all, other than to turn it on!)

[tablatronix]

I was going to try this also, i noticed a large amount of the sound is a resonance between the intake and exhaust layout, like a buffeting.

[technogeeky]

hopefully that's not blocking the air-flow through the ventilation holes...

I inadvertently reassembled a 1054z without the fan plugged in and ran it off and on for weeks, often a day or two at a time, with no ill effects. Probably no harm. I suppose actually blocking airflow is slightly worse, but still.

[Fungus]

I was going to try this also, i noticed a large amount of the sound is a resonance between the intake and exhaust layout, like a buffeting.

I ran the Rigol fan in free air and it was still quite noisy.

[alsetalokin4017]

If we can be serious for a moment....   

I have noticed that the scope is quite sensitive to changes in ambient and/or operating temperatures. I think this is even mentioned in the manual, where it says something like that the scope's self-calibration routine should be run if the ambient temperature changes more than a couple of degrees. And I have certainly found this to be true. If you compare, say, the baseline noise trace when the scope first starts up, with the same trace after a good few minutes of warming-up time, you may notice that the zero level has shifted (hopefully in the more accurate direction) and the noise (trace width) has decreased. Same with ambient temperature: operating on a cool day will likely show different zero-levels and noise levels than the scope had if it was self-calibrated during warmer weather.

YMMV of course but I've seen enough posts here about noise and baseline DC offsets that got better after self-cals that I think this is common to the type rather than just my scope. So... anything that affects the cooling of the scope may also hurt... or even perhaps help... the accuracy of the scope in varying ambient conditions.

What this means in practice, of course, depends on your use of the scope. For me, it means at least about an hour of runtime before I can depend on the full accuracy that the scope is capable of. Half an hour warmup and 17-19 minutes for the self-cal routine to complete. Plenty of time for another cup of coffee and a review of the DUT setup.  For others it may be totally insignificant. After all... it's only a 400 dollar scope.   


(Based on the noise complaints I actually bought one of the recommended quieter fans even before my DS1054z (the first one!) was delivered. This fan is still sitting in its original box, I've felt no need to install it.)

[tablatronix]

What kind of base level noise are you looking at/seeing, how many mv ?

I don't mind the fan white noise, its when humming that annoys me, so I think this will work for me, although I might try some dampening material and not foam, then again Ill probably void the warranty in a a few months anyway. lol

[Fungus]

What kind of base level noise are you looking at/seeing, how many mv ?

I don't mind the fan white noise, its when humming that annoys me, so I think this will work for me, although I might try some dampening material and not foam, then again Ill probably void the warranty in a a few months anyway. lol

If the 'scope can still run with a sock in the fan port then maybe a quieter fan plus a resistor to slow it down a bit might be a good option.