Siglent SDS2000X Plus Hack

[CustomEngineerer]

I'm almost certain I remember it needing to be done in steps as well. Thats how I did it on mine. 100->200->350->500. It was already 100 when I started so the first license I installed was the 200.

[tautech]

so the 2104x plus showed up today got a great deal its brand new.

It should have arrived with the free 200 MHz BW upgrade !

If not already installed (check System Info) insist your supplier provides the free BW upgrade license !

[Martin72]

I'm almost certain I remember it needing to be done in steps as well.

Hmmm...Was it so...too long ago for me.

[mastershake]

hmmm so should i put them in one at a time just to be safe then? and can we do the commands over the web interface or do we have to use telnet like for the waveform generator?? i have the interface up and running now

[mastershake]

so the 2104x plus showed up today got a great deal its brand new.

It should have arrived with the free 200 MHz BW upgrade !

If not already installed (check System Info) insist your supplier provides the free BW upgrade license !

i dont see anywhere it shows its been updated. still shows 2104x plus in the info screen

no it was def not updated to 200 this unit. but using the commands its now a 2504x plus. now to add all the extras in there. this one was actually REALLY easy to do. i ended up doing them one at a time just to be on the safe side i rebooted between each one. this also showed me if the upgrade stuck after a reboot. so far so good

okay need help one more time and i think i got them all where do i find the 2000xp_fg code and the 2000xl_16la code? i tried all of them none work for those two. was i supposed to put those in before doing the 500 upgrade? all the rest of them took fine. mine doesnt show mso or awg in the options menu to install either? help me out please and then im done with upgrades for a while. im lost with these two. thank you

[tautech]

so the 2104x plus showed up today got a great deal its brand new.

It should have arrived with the free 200 MHz BW upgrade !

If not already installed (check System Info) insist your supplier provides the free BW upgrade license !

i dont see anywhere it shows its been updated. still shows 2104x plus in the info screen

no it was def not updated to 200 this unit.

FYI:
https://siglentna.com/news-article/2000-series-oscilloscope-power-up-promotion/

Your reseller has slipped up and now owes you !
That was a $1200 upgrade for free !

[mastershake]

i cant complain to much for what i paid but yeah ill contact them and see what they say.

and for some reason using the web interface for the fg and 16la worked fine no idea why it wouldnt take them from the front of the unit. but they are all unlocked now. the fg is the awg and tbe 16la is the mso (which is what i figured they were).

according to that page i just fill out the form and they send me the upgrade card (which i dont really need now lol) but i guess ill take it anyway. i may be ordering another one of these for my other office im torn between another one of these and another brand to have something different. we will see. i love that these can be upgraded so easily though. everything seems to be working now. i still cant figure out why it took the codes from the web interface but refused them all from the front of the unit. every code went through fine when i added them into the web interface but all of them said invalid from the front of the unit. and i triple checked every code they were all put in correctly and all in lower case. oh well they are in now but still doesnt make any sense.

i doubt ill get anywhere with them regarding anything with the 200 upgrade. i got 35% off the unit which was already on sale for around 1050. so im not worried about it at this point. i had a damaged shipment and they made good by giving me the code for that discount so i took the code and grabbed one of these since ive been eyeing them for a while. i could have spent more but this will im sure serve my purposes for now.

[bingo600]

It should have arrived with the free 200 MHz BW upgrade !

If not already installed (check System Info) insist your supplier provides the free BW upgrade license !

Doesn't it seem like you can register your scope at the bottom of the promo page, and have Siglent e-mail the license card ?



/Bingo

[BillyO]

ok great. i was reading some pages back where people were doing it in steps thats why i was confused.

You do need to do it in steps.  The different steps effect more than just the VGA.  Other parts of the scope get changed.  If you go directly to 500 without going first to 200 and then 350 you will get strange performance.  Maybe you just need to do the 200 or the 350, but one of those enables something that if it is not enabled 500MHz does not operate correctly.  You will not have 500MHz BW and higher frequency signals will be significantly distorted.  It only takes a few seconds to do each BW license and re-boot so it's not much of an effort.

Not only has this been tested and verified, it is quite telling to note that Siglent do not sell a direct 100 - 500 license or 200 - 500 license.  Only a 350 to 500 license.

[mastershake]

thats what i thought so im very glad i did it that way. but being it started at 100 already did i need to do 100 first? then 200 etc? i started with 200, then 350, then 500.

and does anyone know why it didnt show the first two options as the correct name when putting the codes in for those 2? where the fg is awg and the 16la is the mso? will everything be okay now? it took them and they show they are activated permanently. but as i said for some reason it would only accept them from the web address and not the front of the unit so i found that odd ive done a bunch now and know for sure how to enter the codes all lower case and in the right boxes of 4 etc. i just want to be sure it will function properly now.

thank you so much for your time and help with this. i really appreciate it very much.

[BillyO]

thats what i thought so im very glad i did it that way. but being it started at 100 already did i need to do 100 first? then 200 etc? i started with 200, then 350, then 500.

No, you did not need to do 100 first.  Just 200, 350 then 500.  However, there will be no harm in doing the 100 first.  Just a few seconds lost.

and does anyone know why it didnt show the first two options as the correct name when putting the codes in for those 2? where the fg is awg and the 16la is the mso? will everything be okay now? it took them and they show they are activated permanently. but as i said for some reason it would only accept them from the web address and not the front of the unit so i found that odd ive done a bunch now and know for sure how to enter the codes all lower case and in the right boxes of 4 etc. i just want to be sure it will function properly now.

thank you so much for your time and help with this. i really appreciate it very much.

Can you post images of your information screens ("System Info" and "Software Options")?

[KungFuJosh]

thats what i thought so im very glad i did it that way. but being it started at 100 already did i need to do 100 first? then 200 etc? i started with 200, then 350, then 500.

and does anyone know why it didnt show the first two options as the correct name when putting the codes in for those 2? where the fg is awg and the 16la is the mso? will everything be okay now? it took them and they show they are activated permanently. but as i said for some reason it would only accept them from the web address and not the front of the unit so i found that odd ive done a bunch now and know for sure how to enter the codes all lower case and in the right boxes of 4 etc. i just want to be sure it will function properly now.

thank you so much for your time and help with this. i really appreciate it very much.

There is no upgrade code for 100, it starts that way. You did it fine.

The names are basically the same thing in different forms:

FG = Function Generator = AWG = Arbitrary Waveform Generator.

16LA = 16 Channel Logic Analyzer = MSO = Mixed Signal Oscilloscope.

In this case the MSO really means they added a logic analyzer probe connection to the front of the DSO. Which is also an SPO, just to add to the confusion. 😉

[tv84]

There is no code for 100, it starts that way.

Sure there is. One can always see the associated BW code by doing SCPI:

MCBD?

[KungFuJosh]

There is no code for 100, it starts that way.

Sure there is. One can always see the associated BW code by doing SCPI:

MCBD?

I meant no upgrade, since it starts that way. 😉

[tv84]

I meant no upgrade, since it starts that way. 😉

I believe that but even the "starts that way" means Siglent had to assign that BW through a code. AFAIR the absence of a code isn't BW=100MHz.

[KungFuJosh]

I believe that but even the "starts that way" means Siglent had to assign that BW through a code. AFAIR the absence of a code isn't BW=100MHz.

Maybe absence of a code = 2GHz 🤣🤣

[tv84]

Maybe absence of a code = 2GHz 🤣🤣

You're right. It wouldn't be the first time for Siglent with previous equipments!!   

[Martin72]

]You do need to do it in steps.  The different steps effect more than just the VGA.  Other parts of the scope get changed.  If you go directly to 500 without going first to 200 and then 350 you will get strange performance.  Maybe you just need to do the 200 or the 350, but one of those enables something that if it is not enabled 500MHz does not operate correctly.  You will not have 500MHz BW and higher frequency signals will be significantly distorted.

If this is the case, I would be interested to know why in a technical sense.
All bandwidth variants have the same board, do you have to "get used to" the board that it no longer reaches up to 100Mhz, but higher?
Would really interest me.
Yes, the bandwidths are indeed staggered, must have a reason.
With the 2000HD, on the other hand, there is a license that directly unlocks from 100 to 500Mhz.

[BillyO]

If this is the case, I would be interested to know why in a technical sense.

So would I.

The only thing I can think of is that at least two different methods are used to achieve the results and that different licenses enable to eh different methods.

I'm not sure Siglent would be keen on letting use know.

Perhaps there is a clue in the specs from the data sheet.  For 100MHz, 200MHz and 350MHz the ratio between quoted BW and risetime is 0.35, however for 500 MHz the ratio is 0.4.

My guess is you could go directly from 100 to 350, then successfully install the license for 500MHz.

Does anyone know what VGA is used in this scope?

Edit:
Seems it's a LMH6518.   So no real help there as all BW options are simply programmable up to 900MHz.  All the lower BW would be implemented with first order filters internally.  The only clue is still in the .4 ratio from the Siglent data sheet.  Maybe the 350 MHz is selected via the VGA and the 500MHz is some kluge on that rather than enabling the 650MHz filter in the 6518.  Perhaps a high pass filter in the jfet front end to boost gain at higher frequencies?

[KungFuJosh]

My guess is you could go directly from 100 to 350, then successfully install the license for 500MHz.

Whether that would work or not, I don't know. However, if you check their site, they only offer stepping BW upgrades, none of the options for the SDS2000XP skip BW levels.

[BillyO]

Whether that would work or not, I don't know. However, if you check their site, they only offer stepping BW upgrades, none of the options for the SDS2000XP skip BW levels.

Yeah, I don't know what's up with that.  If you look at the spec sheet for the VGA/PGA each BW option (20, 100, 200, 350, 650, 700, 900) are all just selectable with a single code sent to it through it's serial (I2C) interface.  Maybe there is something in firmware to discourage someone buying the 500MHz license and installing it on a 100MHz licensed unit.

Edit:
It seems there may be another clue in the fall-back to 350MHz if more than 2 channels are enabled.  Perhaps the 500MHz is  acheived through enhanced sampling?

[tautech]

It seems there may be another clue in the fall-back to 350MHz if more than 2 channels are enabled.  Perhaps the 500MHz is  acheived through enhanced sampling?

On the same ADC.
These scopes have 2 ADC's and the BW limit is automatically engaged when you activate a 2nd channel.

1 ch on each ADC meets Nyquist and SW allows for 500 MHz capability.

[BillyO]

On the same ADC.
These scopes have 2 ADC's and the BW limit is automatically engaged when you activate a 2nd channel.

1 ch on each ADC meets Nyquist and SW allows for 500 MHz capability.

That's probably how it's done.

[tautech]

On the same ADC.
These scopes have 2 ADC's and the BW limit is automatically engaged when you activate a 2nd channel.

1 ch on each ADC meets Nyquist and SW allows for 500 MHz capability.

That's probably how it's done.

Sit down with yours, nothing connected and engage/disengage channels and you will see.
Sampling rate and mem depth change with active channels.
4ch X-E are similar dividing sampling and mem depth relative to channels engaged.

[BillyO]

Sit down with yours, nothing connected and engage/disengage channels and you will see.
Sampling rate and mem depth change with active channels.
4ch X-E are similar dividing sampling and mem depth relative to channels engaged.

Yep, I'm aware of that.