Products > Test Equipment
Siglent SPD3303D review
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leonerd:
Just to add my thoughts on this unit:

Hardware-wise it's nice. A good shape, size, the buttons are useable, and so on.

However, software-wise the UI is quite a let-down. Given the size of the TFT screen, Siglent haven't made good use of it at all. It's little more than four large numbers and some status indications - a TFT-shaped translation of the actual LED digit displays on the 3303C.

When you're using the dial to adjust the setting of voltage/current, there's no onscreen indication that the numbers you're adjusting are the settings, and not live readout. After a short timeout, it goes back to live readout, with no display of the setting. To say again more clearly: While setting, you cannot see the live readouts. While displaying live readouts, you cannot see the set values.

The coarse/fine button makes it very inconvenient to enter such voltages as  5.50V. You have to dial to 5.00V in coarse, then in 0.01V increments all the way up from .00V to .50V - that's fifty clicks of the wheel. There are some "cursor left/right" buttons just below the wheel that could be used to move the adjustment position between 10V, 1V, 0.1V and 0.01V.

The operation of the "All on/off" button is less than ideal. When fewer than all three channels are turned on (which is fairly likely), pressing this button turns them all on. That feels rather unsafe to me - I would hope that if any channel is on, the button works as "All off". Only when all are off, does pressing it turn them all on. And even then I would want a confirmation, or maybe force me to long-press it to turn them all on. In its present mode of operation I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to touch it.

Speaking of "all three channels" - I know it's only really a two channel PSU with a cut-down 5V third, but there is no indication on the screen as to the status of the third channel. I don't know if the hardware itself has the capability to measure the live current being sourced by Ch3, or even know what voltage it is set to, but given as the button LED and the "All on/off" button respond to the status of Ch3, I suspect the management CPU is at least aware whether Ch3 is on or not. Could that be displayed on the screen too?

This is supposed to be fairly simply bench PSU - you should be able to set voltage and current levels, see live measurements of them, and turn on and off channels. And yet the UI on the screen fails to be useful at any of these basic operations.

All of these are software issues on the embedded - and upgradeable - firmware. All of these could be fixed. I see that Siglent themselves are a contributor on this forum; indeed on this very thread.

Siglent - I would love to see some improvements in this UI. For that matter, I'd love to help you make some improvements. All the hardware is there on this device, it just needs some nicer software to round it off into a really great PSU. I could throw a few mockups of display screens into this (or maybe a different) thread, see what people think to the ideas. I don't want to just complain for the sake of complaining; I'd like to help make it better. Maybe between us we can all work on improving the user experience with this device.
tautech:
Welcome to the forum leonerd.

One has to ask what FW version is installed?
leonerd:

--- Quote from: tautech on October 23, 2015, 08:00:29 am ---One has to ask what FW version is installed?

--- End quote ---

I did once manage to make it tell me:


--- Code: ---SCPI> *IDN?
    < Siglent Technologies,SPD3303,SPD30CE4xxxxxx,1.01.01.01.06R1,V1.2
--- End code ---

I do have an r2 image file, but lacking any change or release notes I can't tell if reflashing it would make a difference here. I don't have easy access to a Windows machine to run the Windows software to update it, so any reflash operation is going to involve either moving the heavy PSU, moving an even-heavier computer, or finding a Linux program that can do it.
FrankBuss:
Unfortunately last time I tried to update it, it didn't work, I got the messages "Failed to search device". Where can I download the latest firmware version and firmware update program? And what was changed?

Would be really nice to set the voltage in 0.1 V steps. Usually I need to set 3.3 V, 5 V etc., and almost never 0.01 V steps and then it is annyoing and time consuming to setup the voltage. Don't know if the arrow keys should be used for selecting the finer steps, maybe a short press on "Fine" selects 1 V and 0.1 V, and a long press on "Fine" selects 0.01 V steps. Shouldn't be much work to implement it. And fixing the problem with the wheel that it misses counts when turning fast would be nice, too. Then it would be a perfect power supply for me :) Changing the display format is a matter of taste, I can live with the current concept that it shows the set value when you turn the wheel and after a timeout the output value.
leonerd:

--- Quote from: FrankBuss on October 23, 2015, 11:44:20 am ---Unfortunately last time I tried to update it, it didn't work, I got the messages "Failed to search device". Where can I download the latest firmware version and firmware update program? And what was changed?

--- End quote ---

The latest firmware can be found by searching in

  http://www.siglent.com/ENs/gjjrj.aspx?id=15

Specfically, the file required seems to live currently at

  http://www.siglent.com/ENs/gjjrj-xq.aspx?id=1019&tid=15

I don't know of a program to update it, other than the original Windows control software supplied on the CD with the PSU.

The firmware updates don't appear to come with a list of changes or release notes, so it's hard to tell what's been changed.
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