The Siglent SDG1000 and SDG800 thread

[rf-loop]

@ tautech
Thank you!
i just upgrade my SDG805, does Siglent only release new FW in their website? any emails?

If I look my last 4 years cooperation with Siglent.

In history, there was no email information about new FW's.
FW updates need ask from Siglent. (also there was not public download)

After then this situation have changed better and better, lot of better if look what it have been in history. Still not enough if look future.

Time ago Siglent started public download center and today it works quite well  but also this need some develop to be better, specially FW and software changelog need be more accurate.

Siglent  have also started email notifications to counterparts/distributors least about important updates. Also with mandatory updates they may recommend and ask we inform directly to our customers.

Example last SDG800 series one update was in this category and Siglent send email information about this mandatory update.
Immediately after I get this message from Siglent I search who all have purchased SDG800 series from me and send email notification to every customer directly. I do not know how other sellers do.

Overall it can say that after sales customer care need develop better and better. Not only Siglent but also distributors need develop. This also may differentiate class A sellers and class C sellers.  It may be also important part of product reputation.

Siglent need continuously develop themselves, and it can see they do,  but it is not at all enough.

Sellers/distributors need also develop themselves.  This is important part of devices overall quality. Overall quality is much more than device itself quality in carton out from factory door.

Good after sales (and pre sales) customer care is important for manufacturer reputation and brand.  Equipments quality need develop, software (including FW) quality need develop, all area in customer care need develop. Also warranty fail repair or change services need develop, also repair services for user made fails need develop, spare parts distribution need develop.

Also, if go more forward, there need develop distributors and repair services product training.  This Siglent journey is only just at the beginning of the way from class C to class B and lets hope that least direction is to higher class. It is fully possible.  The road is long rocky and sometimes trees fall road. But journey continue...  we want do it better, we can do it better, we do it better.


(edited clearer)

[hwj-d]

Hi, i'm new, but long time forum fan

Just today got my new SDG1025, and i'm happy   
but doesn't know much about this Hardware-Version.

Latest FW (Siglent Web) is 1.1.2.1R1?

Can anyone confirm these topicalities?

Thanks a lot,
also for all these informations and experiences which i was able to benefit

[rf-loop]

Hi, i'm new, but long time forum fan

Just today got my new SDG1025, and i'm happy   
but doesn't know much about this Hardware-Version.

Latest FW (Siglent Web) is 1.1.2.1R1?

Can anyone confirm these topicalities?

Thanks a lot,
also for all these informations and experiences which i was able to benefit

Please, do not try update SDG1000 using SDG800 FW

AFAIK, Latest for SDG1000 series is 1.01.01.37R3 !

[hwj-d]

Please, do not try update SDG1000 using SDG800 FW

AFAIK, Latest for SDG1000 series is 1.01.01.37R3 !

Yeah right. I see. 
Thank you rf-loop.

[milamber]

Hi, i'm new, but long time forum fan
Just today got my new SDG1025, and i'm happy   
but doesn't know much about this Hardware-Version.

Hi, I am also looking for an SDG1025 and I am confused by the different designs.
The Siglent webpage shows a different design than your new SDG1025 on the photo in Reply #251.

Here is the Siglent picture:
http://www.siglent.com/ENs/generator/SDG1000

Batronix does also show this designs:
http://www.batronix.com/shop/waveform-generator/Siglent-SDG1025.html

Which one is the current design? Some eBay sellers also offer the SDG1025 in the design as hwj-d has received it.

Is any of those designs HW 01-xxx and the other HW 02-xxx? Which one is which?

And is it true, that the square wave quality is fixed in HW 02-xxx, as this thread says:
http://siglent.freeforums.org/old-sdg1000-possible-improvement-for-square-wave-quality-t27.html

-milamber

[tautech]

Hi, i'm new, but long time forum fan
Just today got my new SDG1025, and i'm happy   
but doesn't know much about this Hardware-Version.

Hi, I am also looking for an SDG1025 and I am confused by the different designs.
The Siglent webpage shows a different design than your new SDG1025 on the photo in Reply #251.

Here is the Siglent picture:
http://www.siglent.com/ENs/generator/SDG1000

Batronix does also show this designs:
http://www.batronix.com/shop/waveform-generator/Siglent-SDG1025.html

Which one is the current design? Some eBay sellers also offer the SDG1025 in the design as hwj-d has received it.

Is any of those designs HW 01-xxx and the other HW 02-xxx? Which one is which?

And is it true, that the square wave quality is fixed in HW 02-xxx, as this thread says:
http://siglent.freeforums.org/old-sdg1000-possible-improvement-for-square-wave-quality-t27.html

-milamber

Welcome to the forum.

The front panel design is the same as it's always been, there were minor internal changes some time ago and the only other change that I'm aware of are in FW to correct bugs.
The image in reply #251 is of the device info page that shows the FW#, HW#, SN#, Boot# etc. It's accessible from within the Utilities menu and the only black screen in the UI.
The last FW update was in July last year and this suggests the bug count is now very low in these units.

[rf-loop]

Is any of those designs HW 01-xxx and the other HW 02-xxx? Which one is which?

And is it true, that the square wave quality is fixed in HW 02-xxx, as this thread says:
http://siglent.freeforums.org/old-sdg1000-possible-improvement-for-square-wave-quality-t27.html

Perhaps you also have noted date of this information?  It is History!
There was problem in very first hardware version (and this hardware is circuit inside equipment what produce waveforms. Not outer box)
It was year 2013 this whole (still quite marginal) problem with Square/rectangle wave quality.
After then Square/rectangle (Square function on generator) waveform have worked ok and quality is as specified.

There can do "square" wave or rectangle waves using two functions.
1. Square (with duty adjustment, duty adjust range depending frequency (max 20 - 80%)
2. Pulse (Also with this you can produce square wave (50% duty) or using vide range of duty. In this mode you can adjust duty %  OR pulse width and interval/frequency.

These are produced very different way inside circuit. Both have disadvantages and advantages.
This can look more deeply but here now: If need very low frequencies, normally Square is better to do using Pulse function. If need higher frequencies and low cycle to cycle time jitter it is better to use Square function. Also Pulse function max frequency is 5MHz when Square function max is 25MHz. 

Simply: There is not known issues with signal quality today. It works as its working principle is. (fixed lenght Arb with fixed frequency sampling and with square function, square derived from internal DAC output sinewave using conventional comparator method. Pulse function is done as pulse directly from DAC). There is specifications and afaik it do what it promise.  This is today very mature product in its class.

I know something about it and one reason is that I have personally quality controlled and tested every single unit what I have sold but because Siglent can some times do small cosmetic changes example in front panel colors/shapes I can not quarantee what is just today exactly. This last live image in this forum looks like what I have last seen.

[Chai]

Is it normal for my new sdg1025 to ask me to select a language every time it starts up? Does it not save this setting?

[tautech]

Is it normal for my new sdg1025 to ask me to select a language every time it starts up? Does it not save this setting?

Yes.
No.

We've often asked Siglent to eliminate this feature in FW but as they sell on the international market and to a lot of learning institutions(students play tricks  ) they've retained this boot-up language setting on most of their entry level equipment.

1 keystroke on any button to make an adjustment overrides the language setting and normal programming returns. 

[Chai]

Is it normal for my new sdg1025 to ask me to select a language every time it starts up? Does it not save this setting?

Yes.
No.

We've often asked Siglent to eliminate this feature in FW but as they sell on the international market and to a lot of learning institutions(students play tricks  ) they've retained this boot-up language setting on most of their entry level equipment.

1 keystroke on any button to make an adjustment overrides the language setting and normal programming returns. 

Good enough for me! I was worried I had a funky unit. 

[malekia]

I recently returned an SDG1025.
Functionally it was fine. Square wave wasn't too great at higher frequencies, but this may be common in this price range.
My main reason for sending it back was that I couldn't tolerate the display's horrible color-scheme any longer. Your mileage may vary.

[Coll]

I currently own a SDG1025 I am loving it so far but I am having a bit of an issue with it. Channel 1 DC utility can give me +/-10 volts max. Channel 2 however is only giving me a max of +/-3 volts. Is this something that is supposed to happen? Or did I possibly mess up a setting somewhere?

[nctnico]

I currently own a SDG1025 I am loving it so far but I am having a bit of an issue with it. Channel 1 DC utility can give me +/-10 volts max. Channel 2 however is only giving me a max of +/-3 volts. Is this something that is supposed to happen? Or did I possibly mess up a setting somewhere?

That is one of the unfortunate limitations of the SDG1000 series  I have cursed it a couple of times already.

[Macbeth]

I recently returned an SDG1025.
Functionally it was fine. Square wave wasn't too great at higher frequencies, but this may be common in this price range.
My main reason for sending it back was that I couldn't tolerate the display's horrible color-scheme any longer. Your mileage may vary.

I kind of agree with you on the colour scheme. It's not obvious what channel you are working with, and the CH1 / CH2 being backwards doesn't help. I am one of the 10% of all males that have that red/green colour blindness gene. It's really trivial in real life, but I suspect it shows up with interfaces like this. Others seem perfectly happy 

Anyone could always flash the LeCroy Wavestation firmware instead and then CH1/CH2 are in order and I think it has a much better colour scheme. Though you lose the frequency counter and I expect all the most recent bug fixes too.

[Macbeth]

I currently own a SDG1025 I am loving it so far but I am having a bit of an issue with it. Channel 1 DC utility can give me +/-10 volts max. Channel 2 however is only giving me a max of +/-3 volts. Is this something that is supposed to happen? Or did I possibly mess up a setting somewhere?

That is one of the unfortunate limitations of the SDG1000 series  I have cursed it a couple of times already.

IIRC the LeCroy firmware switches the CH1/CH2 purely in software, and that includes the 10v and 3v limits too. Which makes me wonder why? The individual channels hardware can do 10V just by software alone... Perhaps it's an overall power thing that is being enforced over both channels?

[Coll]

I currently own a SDG1025 I am loving it so far but I am having a bit of an issue with it. Channel 1 DC utility can give me +/-10 volts max. Channel 2 however is only giving me a max of +/-3 volts. Is this something that is supposed to happen? Or did I possibly mess up a setting somewhere?

That is one of the unfortunate limitations of the SDG1000 series  I have cursed it a couple of times already.

IIRC the LeCroy firmware switches the CH1/CH2 purely in software, and that includes the 10v and 3v limits too. Which makes me wonder why? The individual channels hardware can do 10V just by software alone... Perhaps it's an overall power thing that is being enforced over both channels?

Maybe, if you were real careful with it, if could be possible to remove the limit and have both channels support 10 volts then right?

[Spivey]

I just received a new SDG1010.  Apologies if these things have been mentioned here before, but I found

(a) There's a fan, even on the 10MHz instrument.  It's substantially quieter than the fan in my scope, though, so no worries.

(b) It's possible to get rid of the Select Language prompt at power-on by doing Utility / System / PowerOn=Last.  That also makes it remember the last waveform settings at power-on.

(c) There's a bandwidth upgrade option accessible at Util /  Bandwidth Update.  It prompts for a 'license' before it will update the bandwidth.  But that tells us anyway that at least some of the higher bandwidth models share the same hardware.  10MHz is plenty for me, so I won't be going there.

Utlity / EditInfo tells me I have Softwre version 1.01.01.37R3 and Hardware version 04-00-00-23-28.

As a first impression, I think it's very decently made for the price.

-- Mike

[tautech]

I just received a new SDG1010.  Apologies if these things have been mentioned here before, but I found

(a) There's a fan, even on the 10MHz instrument.  It's substantially quieter than the fan in my scope, though, so no worries.

Interesting, thanks for that info.

My demo 1010 that's ~3 yrs old doesn't have a fan, obviously Siglent have now added one for when they decide to make BW upgrades available.


BTW welcome to the forum.

[tautech]

Latest SDG800 series FW update:
Version: P12R2
http://www.siglentamerica.com/USA_website_2014/Firmware&Software/Labview/SDG800%20P12R2%20EN.rar
22.3 Mb

Changelog from the website:

Fixed some bugs:
 a) A bug in file system could cause the generator never startup       
 b) Can not wake up from screen saver from time to time       
 c) A bug which will cause the instrument stay at boot Screen
 d) Some Typo in English Help system

Edit
Please note the Firmware Update Instructions need be followed.
There are specific instructions depending on the FW version that exists in your unit.

[Curtis]

Just received my SDG830 that I had ordered online from amazon.com. I paid $242.00 which I thought they had made a mistake on the model number, and I was not  sure they would send the right one, but sure enough it was the 830!! The first thing I did was update the firmware to the latest version. Coming from a "heath kit" signal generator I had bought and assembled back in the very early 80, the Siglent 830 is far more cooler. My scope which is a very old Tektroinx's 422 will be my next upgrade. Not to sure which way I go on that, but the "Rigol" DS1054Z is looking to be my best bet.

[tautech]

Just received my SDG830 that I had ordered online from amazon.com. I paid $242.00 which I thought they had made a mistake on the model number, and I was not  sure they would send the right one, but sure enough it was the 830!! The first thing I did was update the firmware to the latest version. Coming from a "heath kit" signal generator I had bought and assembled back in the very early 80, the Siglent 830 is far more cooler. My scope which is a very old Tektroinx's 422 will be my next upgrade. Not to sure which way I go on that, but the "Rigol" DS1054Z is looking to be my best bet.

That's an outstandingly good price, the RRP on the Siglent US website is $332. $90 less 

Have you installed the FW Version P12R2 linked above? It's an important one.

[Curtis]

Yes I did. It came with 1.08 , and now it says 1.08.01.12R2. Not sure what all the update gives me over the old, but I am sure it is good. Does the "P" in the FW mean it is different than what I have ?

[tautech]

Yes I did. It came with 1.08 , and now it says 1.08.01.12R2. Not sure what all the update gives me over the old, but I am sure it is good. Does the "P" in the FW mean it is different than what I have ?

No, not at all. When we talk of FW updates we generally just leave the "P" out, it was just that I had copied and pasted from above which was pasted from the website. 

The FW changelogs describe the fixes.

[burkm]

I looked through my accessories, which came with the Siglent SDG 1025 (CD and so forth), and didn't find the EasyTest software mentioned in the service manual for calibrating the signal generator.
Without it not much can be done, can't it ? Does anyone have this software or can it be downloaded somewhere ? Didn't find anything on the Net yet ?
How do you calibrate the unit, which seems to be doable only through a software interface mentionend in the service manual.

[tautech]

I looked through my accessories, which came with the Siglent SDG 1025 (CD and so forth), and didn't find the EasyTest software mentioned in the service manual for calibrating the signal generator.
Without it not much can be done, can't it ? Does anyone have this software or can it be downloaded somewhere ? Didn't find anything on the Net yet ?
How do you calibrate the unit, which seems to be doable only through a software interface mentionend in the service manual.

So does the unit no longer meet advertised specs? 
Have you run the internal self cal?

Does the UI report any error?
How old is your unit, Siglent products have three years warranty.