DSO's With The Best Save & Recall Features?

[ibd77]

Hello My name is Ian and I am new to the EEVBlog Forums.

I am a technician working in the field of servicing and repairing heavy industrial electrical rotating machinery such as motors and generators.
 One of my new recent roles is to test voltage outputs from inverter drives such as variable frequency, variable voltage drives.   The main requirement of this monitoring is to detect voltage transients, switch frequencies and most importantly rise times (delta voltage / delta time) as this can have a crucial effect on the insulation systems of motors.   Motor manufactures will specify a rise time characteristic that their insulation system must conform to.

We have look at different test products on the market including specialised motor test equipment as well as DSO's used in conjunction with differential probes as we are measuring line voltages greater than 415 VAC RMS 3 phases.   We are looking for switch rate frequencies in the ranges from 1Khz to 6Khz.

One of our main requirements with any test equipment is its ability to store wave forms for analysis at a later date.   As we generally have a very limited time in the field, our sole focus onsite is to capture and store data with analysis to be performed offsite.

We recently invested in an 4 channel Siglent SDS 2104X DSO for the purpose of data capture and post analysis.   However we were shocked to find that the DSO was unable to save or recall waveforms for later analysis.   We are no stranger to Siglent DSO's as we also have a 2 channel SHS 1102 hand held DSO with that unit performing well with save and recall of waverforms.   We were expecting the SDS to have the same save and recall features.   

Has anyone else experienced this issue with the SDS?

We contacted our vendor of the SDS and they confirmed our issue.   They have since contacted Siglent and awaiting their feedback.   It could possibly be fixed with a simple firmware patch however the SDS we have is not fit for purpose and we are looking to return the scope back to our vendor.

I am currently looking for alternative 4 channel DSO's and I quite like the look of Hantek PC-USB option.   Pairing this unit with a PC is desirable for me for the purpose of data capture, post analysis, onscreen measurement tools (for dv/dt) and report generation.

My question does anyone own an Hantek PC-USB DSO?
What are your thoughts about it and its software?
What is the save and recall feature like?

I downloaded and installed the software that is available online from Hantek to drive the 6000 series and it does look good.   However as I do not own an Hantek DSO, I can only use the software in demo mode.   I found an issue of trying to save the waveform in wms format it comes up with errors.   I am not sure if the error is the result of the unit being in demo mode or my PC's virus protection blocking it as it was flagged.   

Has anyone else had these issues with Hantek software when saving and recalling waveforms?

Are there any other cost effective DSO's on the market that could meet our needs?

[ADT123]

If you carry a laptop with you then using a PC oscilloscope is going to make saving and analyzing waveforms easier and the whole package more portable (I am biased on this as you can see from my signature).  Suggest you look for a unit that is USB powered so you dont have to worry about an extra cable.

Most USB scopes can not directly measure 415V 3 phase voltages, as far as I know there are only two aimed at your type of application:
https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/4444/picoscope-4444-overview
https://cleverscope.com/products/CS448

As you already have active diff probes however then most scopes will be OK.  As I work for Pico I will give you some options as I know waveforms can be saved / exported in a number of formats.
Lo cost 8 bit, 4 channel https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/2000/picoscope-2000-overview
High resolution https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/5000/flexible-resolution-oscilloscope
8 channels (if you want 3 phase V & I) https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/4824/8-channel-oscilloscope

[tautech]

@ibd77
Ian, attached is screenshot of a 0V saved REF waveform saved to USB stick then Recall'ed to appear as the blue trace, then Ch1 trace was moved lower and connected to the probe Cal output.


Little tricks like lowering the memory depth to keep the REF file small for faster saving and recall were used.
SDS2304X.

[nctnico]

Look at the GW Instek GDS2000E, MSO2000E or MDO2000E series. You can save & load trace data up to 1Mpts and use them for math and measurements as well. Unlike many other DSOs I have used you can move & scale the reference traces.

[ibd77]

If you carry a laptop with you then using a PC oscilloscope is going to make saving and analyzing waveforms easier and the whole package more portable (I am biased on this as you can see from my signature).  Suggest you look for a unit that is USB powered so you dont have to worry about an extra cable.

Most USB scopes can not directly measure 415V 3 phase voltages, as far as I know there are only two aimed at your type of application:
https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/4444/picoscope-4444-overview
https://cleverscope.com/products/CS448

As you already have active diff probes however then most scopes will be OK.  As I work for Pico I will give you some options as I know waveforms can be saved / exported in a number of formats.
Lo cost 8 bit, 4 channel https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/2000/picoscope-2000-overview
High resolution https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/5000/flexible-resolution-oscilloscope

8 channels (if you want 3 phase V & I) https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/4824/8-channel-oscilloscope

Thanks ADT, I will have a closer look at the PICO options.


What file formats are the waveforms stored in the PICO's?
When recalled, can the time base and voltage div be manipulated to zoom in on a portion of a waveform with interest in measuring rise time from an switching event?
Can the waveform then be screen captured for the purpose of report generation?

[ibd77]

@ibd77
Ian, attached is screenshot of a 0V saved REF waveform saved to USB stick then Recall'ed to appear as the blue trace, then Ch1 trace was moved lower and connected to the probe Cal output.


Little tricks like lowering the memory depth to keep the REF file small for faster saving and recall were used.
SDS2304X.

Thank you for your response Tautech.

Yes we had a fiddle with the ref mode on the SDS for waveforms but unfortunately you can cannot adjust the time base on the reference waveform to zoom in or out.   As a result, we can not analyse the reference waveform to measure the rise times in relation to switch events from the VSD.

This was frustrating as this seems to be the only option in the SDS to recall waveforms in comparison to our SHS which can recall waveforms with the ability to change the time base or switch channels on or off for later analysis.

[egonotto]

Hello,

as you ask for infos on Hantek PC-USB DSO
I report in
"
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/experience-with-dso-2074g/msg1194745/#msg1194745
"
my experience with a DSO 2074G which seems to be a Hantek DSO3064A.

You can save the data as text file or as excel file. But it seems not possible to load the data of all 4 channels and do measurements.

Best regards
egonotto