Rigol's New DHO800 Oscilloscope unbox & teardown

[dreamcat4]

it cannot be too hard to cut a piece of plastic and make a plug yourself. or use a found object. or to take a spare idc lying about and shove a hot glue gun in to it. then peel out the resulting 'vaguely rectangular' mess. or do the same with a neutral cure silicone sealant. or perhaps something else with just spacers or gaps being hollowed out. but to grab into the internal corners of the idc on the scope.

any 1 of numerous ways and you can fashion something appropriate. so long as it does not adversely accumulate static charges / discharges into the pins on the scope side. or otherwise cause something undesirable effect.

[Martin72]

cut front panel is easy, soldering bga is risky for me... so i'll leave it like that.. better not having LA than loosing the whole DHO...

I can't really imagine that there could be people who, in order to "save" 200 bucks(DHO804-->DHO914), would tinker with their scope by cutting holes in the case and soldering around the circuit board.

[Fungus]

it cannot be too hard to cut a piece of plastic and make a plug yourself. or use a found object.

This is 2023, use a 3D printer!

[2N3055]

cut front panel is easy, soldering bga is risky for me... so i'll leave it like that.. better not having LA than loosing the whole DHO...

I can't really imagine that there could be people who, in order to "save" 200 bucks(DHO804-->DHO914), would tinker with their scope by cutting holes in the case and soldering around the circuit board.

People do all kinds of things...

[TimFox]

it cannot be too hard to cut a piece of plastic and make a plug yourself. or use a found object.

This is 2023, use a 3D printer!

I asked for a simple commercially-available part, since I don't own a 3D printer.
The simple connector suggestion is reasonable.

[Serg65536]

Rigol DHO804 DHO800 random lines BUG
Frequency 188.1 kHz, increasing the time scale until random lines appear in the waveform window. Further timebase increase leads to waveform disappearance.
Firmware version 1.00. Roll mode off.


UPDATE: I can't reproduce this bug anymore. Maybe it was some fault due to extensive multiple hour testing, or simply I've should press the "Default" button, but now I don't know how to make it.

[Martin72]

@Serg65536:

Interesting and important videos - I think it would be better to place them in a new thread, perhaps a "Rigol DHO Bugs(?)" titled one.
Here they will get lost...

People do all kinds of things...

OMG...

[LinuxGuy123]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between the DHO800 and the MSO5000 series ?  Other than bandwidth. 

I will be needing a built in logic analyzer.   A signal generator would be handy too.  Will Rigol be making a DSO800 with a LA ?

Thanks 

[Martin72]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between the DHO800 and the MSO5000 series ?

Read and compare their specs, to be found on the rigol website.

Will Rigol be making a DSO800 with a LA ?

They already did - DHO900 series.

[Fungus]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between the DHO800 and the MSO5000 series ?  Other than bandwidth. 

They're completely different beasts. Too many differences to list here.

Will Rigol be making a DSO800 with a LA ?

They already did: https://www.rigolna.com/products/rigol-digital-oscilloscopes/dho900/

[sanman]

I received my unit on Friday and mounted it on a cheap Amazon arm. I really like it. Small and easy to move around as I work.

[mawyatt]

I received my unit on Friday and mounted it on a cheap Amazon arm. I really like it. Small and easy to move around as I work.

Nice, looks great.

What mount did you use?

Best,

[KungFuJosh]

I received my unit on Friday and mounted it on a cheap Amazon arm. I really like it. Small and easy to move around as I work.

That's cool! Adding VESA mounts on the back is the smartest thing I've seen from Rigol.

[ebastler]

It's really buggy in the stop mode. Waveform frequently disappears all the way through. It's hard to move and analyze signal.

Rigol DHO804 DHO800 random lines BUG
Frequency 188.1 kHz, increasing the time scale until random lines appear in the waveform window. Further timebase increase leads to waveform disappearance.
Firmware version 1.00. Roll mode off.

Thanks for finding and publishing these. I agree with Martin72 that these posts should be moved to a separate new thread like "Rigol DHO Bugs(?)" to make sure they don't get lost in the noise. I will ping the moderators and suggest that they move the posts, OK?

For some other scopes we have/had "bug list" threads where the first thread contains a loist of known as well as fixed bugs. Maintaining it is ongoing work for the original poster though -- if you want to do this, many thanks in advance!

[ebastler]

I can't really imagine that there could be people who, in order to "save" 200 bucks(DHO804-->DHO914), would tinker with their scope by cutting holes in the case and soldering around the circuit board.

Wouldn't be for me either. With the DHO800/900 series, the only "hack" worth doing is the bandwidth upgrade from DHO804 to 814, in my opinion. With the DHO900 models, you get actual hardware upgrades for every increment in price, and I think the pricing is reasonable:

• Logic analyzer port $100 (all DHO900 models)
• Signal generator $100 (DHO9xxS models)
• Four 350 MHz probes and more bandwidth, although with marginal sampling rate, $100 (DHO924 model)

The only nuisance is that there is no DHO904 model to start with. Hence if one is interested in any of the 9xx features, one actually has to pay an additional $100 (over the 804) for the 125 MHz bandwidth and can't apply any hack...

[tv84]

Rigol DHO804 DHO800 random lines BUG
Frequency 188.1 kHz, increasing the time scale until random lines appear in the waveform window. Further timebase increase leads to waveform disappearance.
Firmware version 1.00. Roll mode off.

  Can't beta testing detect this basic thing?  What type of quality control do these guys have in place?

[Kleinstein]

Rigol DHO804 DHO800 random lines BUG
Frequency 188.1 kHz, increasing the time scale until random lines appear in the waveform window. Further timebase increase leads to waveform disappearance.
Firmware version 1.00. Roll mode off.

The random lines exceeding the normal range is indeed odd. It happens in a range where on would normally expect aliasing to start (e.g. 190 kHz signal and 250 kSPS) - still there should be no higher values / amplitudes. This may be an artifact of the reconstruction filter.
With the even lower sampling rates it looks like there is no trigger - like trying to trigger from the digitized signal (which can be a good thing and is prised by some of the better scopes as a good feature). I don't mind not getting a aliased signal. Ideally there would be a warning if too much of the signal is suppressed by averaging / downsampling. Still this would be a feature I have not yet seen on any scope.

[2N3055]

Rigol DHO804 DHO800 random lines BUG
Frequency 188.1 kHz, increasing the time scale until random lines appear in the waveform window. Further timebase increase leads to waveform disappearance.
Firmware version 1.00. Roll mode off.

  Can't beta testing detect this basic thing?  What type of quality control do these guys have in place?

I warned people that Rigol released alpha stage software. First adopters are beta testers. Just keep reporting as much as you can so it gets fixed, nothing else to do. But hey, when R&S  released RTB2000 it was not much better.

[ebastler]

Can't beta testing detect this basic thing?  What type of quality control do these guys have in place?

They might have approached it as "Hey, it's all proven out in the DHO1000 and 4000, so we can go light on the testing"... 

Given the fact that it is derived from the larger DHO models, I wonder where those errors crept in. The FPGA is the main difference from the DHO1000 I believe, while the DAC and the microprocessor/SOC are the same? Seems conceivable that differences in the FPGA data processing are causing the bugs.

[Fungus]

I warned people that Rigol released alpha stage software. First adopters are beta testers. Just keep reporting as much as you can so it gets fixed, nothing else to do. But hey, when R&S  released RTB2000 it was not much better.

The DHO1000 has had recent firmware updates that fix (among other things):

- Truncation problem of enlarged waveform after stopping
- Data abnormality at the end of the high-resolution mode waveform

So... maybe these bugs are already fixed internally and they just need releasing for the 800/900.

[ebastler]

The DHO1000 has had recent firmware updates that fix (among other things):

- Truncation problem of enlarged waveform after stopping
- Data abnormality at the end of the high-resolution mode waveform

So... maybe these bugs are already fixed internally and they just need releasing for the 800/900.

"Recent" firmware updates? So it took them about a year to notice and fix these in the DHO1000? Not sure whether I find that reassuring...

[Fungus]

"Recent" firmware updates? So it took them about a year to notice and fix these in the DHO1000? Not sure whether I find that reassuring...

Haters gonna hate.

[ebastler]

"Recent" firmware updates? So it took them about a year to notice and fix these in the DHO1000? Not sure whether I find that reassuring...

Haters gonna hate.

Come on, man. I have been a happy DS1054Z user for 8 years or so, and have expressed a keen interest in upgrading to the DHO900 series in this and another thread. Certainly not a Rigol hater...

What is your take on Rigol's responsiveness in addressing bugs? If those bugs fixed "recently" in the DHO1000 are indeed the pretty glaring ones described by Serg65536, are you impressed?

[tszaboo]

cut front panel is easy, soldering bga is risky for me... so i'll leave it like that.. better not having LA than loosing the whole DHO...

I can't really imagine that there could be people who, in order to "save" 200 bucks(DHO804-->DHO914), would tinker with their scope by cutting holes in the case and soldering around the circuit board.

Honestly, I don't think it's that difficult. The front panel is covered by a label, you make a nice cover for it from PC, paper or carbon fiber or whatever, and then your plastic cutting skills won't even show.

I can't really imagine that there could be people who, in order to "save" 200 bucks(DHO804-->DHO914), would tinker with their scope by cutting holes in the case and soldering around the circuit board.

Wouldn't be for me either. With the DHO800/900 series, the only "hack" worth doing is the bandwidth upgrade from DHO804 to 814, in my opinion. With the DHO900 models, you get actual hardware upgrades for every increment in price, and I think the pricing is reasonable:

• Logic analyzer port $100 (all DHO900 models)
• Signal generator $100 (DHO9xxS models)
• Four 350 MHz probes and more bandwidth, although with marginal sampling rate, $100 (DHO924 model)

The only nuisance is that there is no DHO904 model to start with. Hence if one is interested in any of the 9xx features, one actually has to pay an additional $100 (over the 804) for the 125 MHz bandwidth and can't apply any hack...

I really don't think the bigger models are worth it. There are better models at the same price, or just slightly above. The price all adds up. Plus this thing is tiny, I would much rather have a bigger scope with bigger screen and more buttons and features. You know the ones that you only need few times, but if you don't have it...

BTW did we figure it out already if the 12 bitis just a marketing gimmick or actually useful on this scope?

[ebastler]

I really don't think the bigger models are worth it. There are better models at the same price, or just slightly above. The price all adds up.

Which competing model(s) with logic analyser and /or signal generator would you consider?

Plus this thing is tiny, I would much rather have a bigger scope with bigger screen and more buttons and features.

The portability is a plus for me; I do travel with the scope occasionally. For use at home I would add an external touch screen, 14" or so,  if I find the display too small. I have not run into missing features with my DS1xx4 over the years, hence am not concerned on the front. (But might not know what I am missing...)