I managed to get my hands on a UTD-2102CM from my Uni-T supplier but for various reasons I only had a few hours to play with it before I had to return it (but not because the supplier didn't let me keep it for longer). Lacking proper equipment (and knowledge) to perform any real test, basically for the most part I just literally "get my hands on it"
Anyway, I just wanted to quickly show this video where you can see that it is capable of showing some very steady and smooth waveforms at the 50ns time base. The waveform updates are also smooth at the 5ns and 2ns time bases but I don't have a proper function generator to generate a meaningful waveform at those frequencies so they are not shown. At ALL other time bases, there's a lot of flickering on the screen.
This scope does support triggering off both the rising and falling edges, so I tried following fellow forum member
marmad's technique to find out the waveform capture rate but with only an el cheapo Chinese function generator board (which is really unstable at low frequencies below a hundred Hz or so) to work with I failed to get any reliable result. The only somewhat repeatable results I got were around 9Hz at the 5ms time base and 14Hz at the 2ms time base.
So here's the short video clip:
This scope does support triggering off both the rising and falling edges, so I tried following fellow forum member marmad's technique to find out the waveform capture rate but with only an el cheapo Chinese function generator board (which is really unstable at low frequencies below a hundred Hz or so) to work with I failed to get any reliable result.
Franky:
Thanks for this attempt, but looking through the UTD2000M manual, it says the following about rising/falling Edge triggering: "Set to trigger at the rising and falling edge of signal once each."
This sounds as if it's doing 'alternating' Edge triggering - and not 'either' (every) Edge triggering - so my method wouldn't work. So it wasn't a problem with your FG.
Franky:
Thanks for this attempt, but looking through the UTD2000M manual, it says the following about rising/falling Edge triggering: "Set to trigger at the rising and falling edge of signal once each."
This sounds as if it's doing 'alternating' Edge triggering - and not 'either' (every) Edge triggering - so my method wouldn't work. So it wasn't a problem with your FG.
You are probably right.
Looking at the short video clip do you agree the waveform update rate is significantly higher at the 50ns time base than the other ones?
The scope looks nice. Is it better than Rigol DS1000?
The scope looks nice. Is it better than Rigol DS1000?
I've never owned or used a Rigol DS1000 so I can't really compare. I would definitely say it's better than the Owan SDS7102 though. Screen looks more crisp (though smaller than Owon's). And I like the Uni-T's user interface more, just more intuitive to use. The Uni-T only allows up to 4 measurements to be displayed at any one time though (unless you press "measure"->"all").
The Uni-T only allows up to 4 measurements to be displayed at any one time though (unless you press "measure"->"all").
... and didn't allow to hide menu, right? That's maybe not really best, but well, better than bugs (as sawn on Hantek in previous fw versions) while switching menu off.
Btw, can you check what about the 16mpoint? Can this data be exported to flash drive? Is it sample buffer or recorder buffer (or both, like it can be on Hantek)?.
The menu can be turned off, but when you do that the space on the right will be taken by the 4 measurements so they won't cover the waveform. The actual waveform display area only measures about 5.5" diagonally.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to test the storage features.
The Uni-T only allows up to 4 measurements to be displayed at any one time though (unless you press "measure"->"all").
... and didn't allow to hide menu, right? That's maybe not really best, but well, better than bugs (as sawn on Hantek in previous fw versions) while switching menu off.
Btw, can you check what about the 16mpoint? Can this data be exported to flash drive? Is it sample buffer or recorder buffer (or both, like it can be on Hantek)?.
Oh, speaking of memory depth I forgot to mention that the UTD2102CM can only do either “general” or “deep”, which means it's either 6k pts or 16M, nothing in between.
I wish you tried feeding it in with some live composite video signal. That could have given us some ballpark estimate on the update rate...
I wish you tried feeding it in with some live composite video signal. That could have given us some ballpark estimate on the update rate...
Why would that give a ballpark estimate?
By ballpark I mean subjective evaluation only:) Not scientific or empirical, but it would be clear immediately are we talking really fast update rate on a complex signal like Rigol DS2000 or simillar, or more like Owon and other budget scopes.
Since claim for this model is 150k updates, I think that it would be quick and dirty method to verify if this claim has any validity.
By ballpark I mean subjective evaluation only:) Not scientific or empirical, but it would be clear immediately are we talking really fast update rate on a complex signal like Rigol DS2000 or simillar, or more like Owon and other budget scopes.
Since claim for this model is 150k updates, I think that it would be quick and dirty method to verify if this claim has any validity.
But how could you tell immediately? The DSO doesn't do any intensity grading so it doesn't bring any extra information to the screen that way. I think a more quick and dirty approach would be to send it a signal with a repetitive glitch, and try to roughly observe how often it's flashing on the screen.
Well, I think that I could spot that high update rate on changing video signal, even without intensity grading. But also I might be wrong, I haven't tried it before.
Since Franky didn't have a lot of time to play with it, this was my idea of the quickest and easiest check.
I agree that glitch spotting would give us more empirical data, but that setup also requires more time and resources.
Below is a follow up from Russ:
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Well, using the method below...
I took my rigol dg1022 and tested the UTD2102CM
The fastest I could get this to trigger and see what the tests were is this:
(Attached 1st Photo)
That's 239khz on the counter and I was seeing this trigger Anomaly. From what I can tell that's a lot faster than what the guy has shown in the video on the same time base.
??
What do you get from this test with the Information provided?
Helpful?
This being the first time trying this test... I can't tell if that's good or bad.
Thoughts?
I can't get it to work on any faster sec/div... I don't know if the window is to small for me to see it or what.
Here is the rest I could get. ( if you need higher res photos let me know. Im using my phone...
(Rest of the attached photos)
Below is a follow up from Russ:
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Well, using the method below...
What method?
My method? As stated above, my method won't work on this Uni-T (or any DSOs that don't have 'either' Edge triggering). Any 'perceived' results would be erroneous.
He just told me that the Uni-T actually has 'either' edge triggering.
Russ:
Yes both edge triggering, this is what I used as a guide to get the results I gave you.
No trigger out.
But I could not seem to find the WFPS past 100ns. It's like in the window was to small for me to see when the one edge flickers???
Not sure why I could not find it. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
He just told me that the Uni-T actually has 'either' edge triggering.
Uni-T manual states:
"Set to trigger at the rising and falling edge of signal once each."
As mentioned above, that sounds like ALTERNATE Edge Triggering - not EITHER. There are two types that manufacturers use - with, it appears, 'alternate' Edge being found on most low cost DSOs.
You can test if your DSO supports real 'either' Edge very quickly by setting it to 5ms/div, then sending it a sine wave between 1 - 12Hz (step 1Hz). If none of those 12 frequencies produces a stable, non-moving waveform (with just a single edge showing), then your DSO is skipping potential triggers and doing 'alternate' Edge .
You can test if your DSO supports real 'either' Edge very quickly by setting it to 5ms/div, then sending it a sine wave between 1 - 12Hz (step 1Hz). If none of those 12 frequencies produces a stable, non-moving waveform (with just a single edge showing), then your DSO is skipping potential triggers and doing 'alternate' Edge .
In that case the Uni-T does have either edge triggering. I am pretty certain I saw pretty stable one edge waveform down in that frequency range (though my FG is pretty unstable at those frequencies) for both the 5ms and 2ms settings.
Hi,
Russ was kind enough to upload a YouTube video showing the basic functions of the UNI-T scope
and trying to apply Marmad's method for the wfrm/s rate.
Russ thank you for your time and effort.
The screen is excellent, the scope seems pretty responsive and the menu is very easy to look at and use.
Thank you hgg and Russ! We finally have more information about this scope on the internet
I'm still watching the video but I kind of feel silly that I missed the "Fast ACQ" option while I had the scope to play around with! That seems to be the key feature to the Uni-T claimed 150k wfms/s rate.
I do agree that the menu system is quite well organised and intuitive to use. If intensity grading is not an important factor in your application this is actually not a bad scope in the sub $500 price range.
Just finished watching the video. So there does seem to be something going on at the 50ns (and 5ns and 2ns) time bases as I stated in my opening post, even though I never had the Fast ACQ turned on. Perhaps that's why Uni-T is stating their waveform capture rate as ">150k" instead of just "150k"?
Franki, I think this Uni-T oscilloscope may have intensity grading.
The operator's booklet is ambiguous on the subject, but it mentions a display feature not readily available on cheaper scopes.
The best way to find out, it seems, would be to display a sine wave with, say 100% amplitude modulation in high acquisition rate mode, while the waveform light intensity is turned down. Hopefully, the analogue scope effect should become apparent, where the nodes are brighter than the rest of the display.