Rigol's New DHO800 Oscilloscope unbox & teardown

[Veteran68]

Plus the new Siglents are huge - as big as the previous generation where the Rigol is small/cute.

Okay, I get that you love Rigol and love to hate on Siglent, but this is a bit much. 

Neither are on par with legacy CRT scopes that were two feet wide and three feet deep and weighed 90 pounds.

The Siglents aren't "huge." They're still quite compact for what they offer, and while I don't have confirmed measurements at hand, I'd expect their area is comparable for similar class of scopes. The SDS1000 adopts the newer vertically stacked design with BNCs shifted left below the screen and fewer controls to the right, so they are taller but also more narrow. The SDS800 looks to be very similar in size to the SDS1104X-E (I've heard claims it's based on the same mold) and Rigol DS1054Z formfactor. None of which are "huge." I have the SDS1104X-E sitting beside the DHO1074, and by comparison the DHO is "huge" -- which one would expect given it's 10" screen.

If I want small/cute, I'll grab one of my portable handheld scopes. The DHO800/900 is right in that weird space that's too big to be a handheld and a bit too small for a bench scope with a touchscreen UI. For my bench, I *want* a larger touchscreen. I have the Rigol DHO1074 and for me it's the perfect size for a touch UI on the bench and not large at all for a bench scope. Now that I've used it, I honestly don't think I'd be happy with either Siglent's or Rigol's 800 class scopes with their smaller screens. If the emphasis on UI is moving to touch, then the screens MUST be larger.

I bought a Siglent electronic load, it was riddled with bugs and the fit and finish was horrible. I sent it back and bought an Instek which is very good but it cost more. You get what you pay for I guess, I'm used to Keysight, Tek and other better brands. It's a tool, I don't want too many work arounds or I dump it.

I honestly don't think the DHO800/900's are that bad and I like the footprint, if it was a bigger scope I wouldn't have bought it. The fit and finish is pretty good too.

Apart from the Rigol fanboys, I think most will acknowledge that on a quality and professional scale, Siglent has been pulling away from Rigol in this mid-tier category. In the beginning, they were strictly budget tier, but now are positioning themselves as being more pro than Rigol, encroaching on the territory formerly dominated by the top tier HPAK/LeCroy/R&S brands. Sure, Siglent has had their stumbles, but so have all the others. And Rigol seems to stumble more out of the gate where Siglent is usually more polished at release now.

I would definitely rank Rigol above the Hantek/FNIRSI/OWON brands but also below Siglent.

I have the Rigol DHO1074 (fully upgraded) and there's a lot I really like about it, especially for the BF price I paid (I don't think I'd be nearly as happy if I'd paid MSRP though). I like that Rigol is pushing the market to respond and be competitive on next-gen capabilities, even if they release premature products to do it. But I also own several pieces of Siglent gear including an electronic load, and I have few complaints about any of it. It's been great. To be honest, I'm happy enough with my Siglent gear that I wouldn't have even considered Rigol if Siglent had an answer to the DHO1000 series at a comparable features/price point. Should the SDS1000 be released at a good price point, even if a bit more than the DHO, I'll most likely be trading up to it.

[Robaroni]

One reason is compact portability which I'll use it for.

[Robaroni]

Personally I love Keysight meters, the 34401A was a classic right out of the box and I still use one, the 34465A is a keeper too. For me, again, for me, the extra cost is worth it. Tek scopes are high on my list too. I traded a Tek scope for the RTB2004 and I've been disappointed with it. Sure, it's ten bits and loaded but it had a lot of bugs and now the coarse/ fine horiz. stopped working in the coarse position, to me it's a dog.

I think the DHO924s is better than the old boat anchor Teks though, just in versatility the new scopes win hands down.

Personally I don't own enough Chinese instruments to claim any one is better than the next, like I said the Rigol is my backup scope that I can bang around or when I need portability, it's great for what I'm using it for, Siglent doesn't make a scope this size so Rigol beat them out of the gate.

I use a stylus pen and the monitor does what it's intended.

[shapirus]

Has anyone had success with a 5 GHz WiFi dongle with this scope? There is a known 2.4GHz device that is known to work, but 5 GHz is usually a better idea. How do we know whether a certain device is going to work? There should be a way to list the enabled/available WiFi-related modules in the kernel that this scope is running -- has anyone looked into this?

[Randy222]

Has anyone had success with a 5 GHz WiFi dongle with this scope? There is a known 2.4GHz device that is known to work, but 5 GHz is usually a better idea. How do we know whether a certain device is going to work? There should be a way to list the enabled/available WiFi-related modules in the kernel that this scope is running -- has anyone looked into this?

Why is 5GHz a better idea? You don't need wifi speed with a DHO scope.

1st, the DHO only came with one .ko KLM driver, for the Realtek 8188eu wifi chipset. This driver is discussed a lot in the 800/900 hacking thread.
2nd, you can use whatever USB wifi you want, as long as a driver was compiled for the DHO OS (android kitkat or something).
3rd, browse latest few pages in the 800/900 Hacking thread, he got the Edimax EW-7611ULB working, but it's a 2.4GHz + Bluetooth device, no 5GHz.

[shapirus]

Why is 5GHz a better idea? You don't need wifi speed with a DHO scope.

Two reasons (valid for my case -- might not be the same for everybody):

- band usage: there are a couple dozens of neighbours' and my own devices in the 2.4 GHz band, whereas the 5 GHz band is virtually free;
- speed is not too important, but latency definitely is (for the web UI), and I am seeing consistently lower latency and lower packet loss rate with the devices connected to the 5 GHz access point. This may be because of how crammed the 2.4 GHz band is (but may also be because of my specific router & client combinations).

1st, the DHO only came with one .ko KLM driver, for the Realtek 8188eu wifi chipset. This driver is discussed a lot in the 800/900 hacking thread.

So basically no 5 GHz chipsets support out of the box, then.

2nd, you can use whatever USB wifi you want, as long as a driver was compiled for the DHO OS (android kitkat or something).

Kernel modules are compiled for a specific version (and for specific compile-time options as well) of linux kernel, not to mention the CPU architecture. I'm not sure how it goes with android: are all builds of a specific version of android have the same linux kernel version and build configuration? In desktop linux distributions, for example, modules package and kernel package are mutually-dependent and won't work with other versions, and there can be multiple versions of kernel in the same distro.
Either way, compiling or finding a required module might be feasible, however not necessarily practical in terms of effort vs gain.

3rd, browse latest few pages in the 800/900 Hacking thread, he got the Edimax EW-7611ULB working, but it's a 2.4GHz + Bluetooth device, no 5GHz.

Well I googled before posting, but I was looking specifically for a 5 GHz experience.

[AndyBig]

Has anyone had success with a 5 GHz WiFi dongle with this scope? There is a known 2.4GHz device that is known to work, but 5 GHz is usually a better idea. How do we know whether a certain device is going to work? There should be a way to list the enabled/available WiFi-related modules in the kernel that this scope is running -- has anyone looked into this?

Here one of the users seemed to have a successful experience connecting Wi-Fi 5GHz - https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hacking-the-rigol-dho800900-scope/msg5275762/#msg5275762

[Fungus]

I honestly don't think the DHO800/900's are that bad and I like the footprint, if it was a bigger scope I wouldn't have bought it. The fit and finish is pretty good too.

It's one of those things where you have to see it in person to understand it.

When you see it, you just know.

[Fungus]

I still wondering why small scopes like 800/900 even come with a screen.

If there was a no-screen option of the 804, I would have bought that.

It's a nice idea but would it really be much smaller/cheaper?

Would you still want the knobs on the front? There's some controls on the the front that I've never touched but others I use a lot (eg. trigger level, horizontal time base, vertical scale).

[Fungus]

I still wondering why small scopes like 800/900 even come with a screen...
If there was a no-screen option of the 804, I would have bought that.

because we need the screen. why consider rigol at all? there are more compact solution... https://www.picotech.com/products/oscilloscope

Not the same at all, that requires a PC software running on it. You can't just connect it to a screen and it works as an oscilloscope.

[pdellacapanna]

Here is the DHO804 FW1.14 image (Thanks to @hubertyoung) with the DHO924 vendor file preloaded. Extract using 7zip then flash using HDD Raw Copy Tool (compressed image). If there is an vertical offset then use self cal or extended self cal.

https://mega.nz/file/UjBC3KRY#Kqv1BCHNQdPcUGMfR8IqbuUwHUsUhU4GpO1keTAXqf8

Hi,

• This is what I've done:
  1. Run the Win32 Disk Imager
  2. Backup the SD
  3. Flash the SD with the image from the link
  4. Run the claibartation (offset gone) - device identifies as DHO804
  5. Connect the scope to ethernet
  6  Run adb:
      6.1 adb devices
      6.2 adb connect 192.xxx.x.xxx:55555
      6.3 "adb pull /rigol/data/vendor.bin"
      6.4 backup the generated vendor bin file from the adb folder to a new location
      6.5 copy in the adb folder the  DHO924 vendor.bin file
      6.6 "adb push vendor.bin /rigol/data"

Is this procedure usable with firmware 00.01.02?

[AceyTech]

Multi-part question:

Have y'all found any functions on the DHO8/900 series that can't be done via the touchscreen only?
Optionally, is the web interface 100% usable without touching the physical buttons and knobs? -or the touchscreen?

Assuming Mouse & Keyboard are in use, BTW

[ebastler]

Have y'all found any functions on the DHO8/900 series that can't be done via the touchscreen only?

The "touch lock" button on the keypad seems to have no touchscreen equivalent at all.

More seriously: Some adjustments are more awkward without the knobs -- you can either use imprecise finger gestures or somewhat tedious on-screen keypad entry. But you can adjust everything using the touch screen only, I believe.

(Disclaimer: This is based on my DHO1000 use. But I think the two scopes are equivalent in that respect, with the DHO1000 having an extra physical button or two.)

[shapirus]

The SD card is now fixed with some sticky fabric tape instead of hot glue (as was the case in Dave's video):

[Randy222]

The SD card is now fixed with some sticky fabric tape instead of hot glue (as was the case in Dave's video):

Was it really hot glue? I would think temp of hot glue could melt the plastic of small sd card.
Maybe it was a type of silicone?

[shapirus]

Was it really hot glue? I would think temp of hot glue could melt the plastic of small sd card.
Maybe it was a type of silicone?

Maybe, who knows. Just wanted to show that it's different now, although it's kind of expected, since Dave's scope was from one of the early batches, maybe even pre-release.
Btw it is stuck there really hard, I had to warm it up a little with hot air.

[maxspb69]

The melting point of hot glue is no more than 100 degrees Celsius, it cannot damage the plastic of the SD card.

[Randy222]

The melting point of hot glue is no more than 100 degrees Celsius, it cannot damage the plastic of the SD card.

Melting point is not applied glue temp. Much hotter for flow.
100C 212F
Some ("typical") hot glue is 2x that.
But then again, I am sure Rigol would be using a very low temp hot glue to glue in some stuff like SD card.
I've just always seen glues on electronics to be silicone types that can be applied at room temp and air cure. Some cure soft, some very stiff.

Code: [Select]

A glue gun’s temperature can vary depending on the model and brand, but they typically operate between 375 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Hobby/craft glue most likely the reference.

[Veteran68]

I've used hot glue quite a bit and I've never seen it melt anything. Ordinary hot glue is pretty common in electronics, I find it on circuit boards often where you'd normally find silastic. For example it's commonly used with 3D printer boards to secure JST connections for stepper motors, thermocouples, and sensors.

[Fungus]

I've used hot glue quite a bit and I've never seen it melt anything.

I'm sure we've all got some on our hands before. It's not third-degree...

[Aleksandr]

Can someone tell me which protective glass is suitable for the oscilloscope screen? Or stick a protective film?

[shapirus]

Thought I'd post some rising edges here. One, two, three, and four channels enabled, one screenshot for each case.
Edges were produced by a single SN74LVC1G14 @5V VCC, signal was captured using a stock probe with a spring connector for ground, directly on the IC's pins. Ch2 is the input signal coming from a signal generator.
No 50 Ohm-terminated connection, sorry -- I still need to get some cable, connectors, terminators etc.

Comparing to what others posted earlier, it seems to be the limit of this scope (same numbers with the Leo Bodnar's generator).

I wonder how fast an edge the SN74LVC1G14 can produce. I want to build a pulse generator and have this IC in mind, but the datasheet doesn't specify rise/fall times, only the propagation delay, which is 0.9ns min / 4.4ns max at 15pF load at 5V VCC. I remember someone mentioning that it has rise/fall times well below 1ns. The idea is to make a pulse gen that will definitely be faster than this scope can capture, to verify probes etc.

[Randy222]

Can someone tell me which protective glass is suitable for the oscilloscope screen? Or stick a protective film?

I got InnoSURE for Garmin Drivesmart 6.95"

It's the right size, matte and gloss glass options, but I have not yet stuck it to the DHO804

[Houseman]

Guys, my DHO914S arrives tomorrow and I'm ready to try DIY LA logic module PLA2216, it runs great on my MSO5000 oscilloscope.
And then I will talk about dismantling DHO914S look at the AFG module structure inside it, and by the way, I want to get a free DHO924S.
I also have to assemble VESA100 as a fixation bracket, please wait for my homework.

Hi Souldevelop.
Still can't figure out howto upgrade my DHO914S into DHO924S....
Had a DHO800 upgraded to DHO924 but can't know for this extended version. Any help appreciated.
Thank You.

[Fungus]

Still can't figure out howto upgrade my DHO914S into DHO924S....
Had a DHO800 upgraded to DHO924 but can't know for this extended version. Any help appreciated.

You need a vendor.bin for DHO924S.

(you can make your own using the script that's floating around)