Hacking the Rigol DHO800/900 Scope

[Proxy64]

I just received my 804, firmware 01.01
Bandwith and Mem depth option installed easily with the tuto #334
Then WiFi dongle installed, based on TheRetroChannel youtube video.
All works perfectly.

At the first boot, because of all posts about the fan, I was worried about the noise, but sincerely that was a good surprise, my Tektronix, my power supply and my UPS all are worse and the UPS is running 24/24. Probably environment and different sensitivity to noise.
But if it’s an issue for you, beaware with quiet fan, most of them have very low air flow. And forget to block the original fan,really a bad idea.

Boot time is not relevant for me too, I don’t think it is to work on a lab, but yes that could be to use it on the ground.

Now use it   

[JDW]

I just received my 804, firmware 01.01
Bandwith and Mem depth option installed easily with the tuto #344

It's not difficult to apply text links, so to help people who come after and read what you wrote, I have linked Post #344 in the quote above.  If everyone could post a link when citing earlier posts, that would be fabulous.

I just ordered my DHO804 from the Jiutian Instrument Store on AliExpress, as per the private conversations I've had with several people in this forum about their good experience using that particular seller.  The price was right too, at only $358.66, which beats even TEquipment with the EEVBlog discount code ($375.06 with free domestic US shipping).  (And because I reside in Japan, I save a whole lot more by going with AliExpress versus TEquipment due to shipping charges.)  AliExpress also tends to put pricing on the shipping documents that is rather low, so as to avoid import taxes most of the time.  I was also surprised to see it is expected to arrive Dec. 24th. Today is Dec. 12th.  Interesting.

I will be doing the Dave-recommended hack upon arrival.

[Proxy64]

I bought it on Aliexpress Rigol store, really good contact with their team.
That was a black week, final price 326.89$

[JDW]

I bought it on Aliexpress Rigol store, really good contact with their team.
That was a black week, final price 326.89$
(Attachment Link)

Very nice "Black Friday" price, to be sure.
Did the Rigol store put $326.89 on the shipping documents, or a lower price?

In any case, these prices are low enough for most hobbyists to get the scope, and thanks to this hacking thread, we now know how to enjoy it even more.

[Proxy64]

  If everyone could post a link when citing earlier posts, that would be fabulous.

Good suggestion 
Did it

  Did the Rigol store put $326.89 on the shipping documents, or a lower price?

A lower price, 130$, but I haven’t asked them to do that !
The package has been randomly selected for inspection by customs and I had to give a proof of payment with threat of penalty if the declared amount was false. Finally no penalties but had to pay tax on the full price of 365$ not on the reduced price of 326$ ! But better than penalties, tax could be doubled

[enson72]

I just received my 804, firmware 01.01
Bandwith and Mem depth option installed easily with the tuto #344

It's not difficult to apply text links, so to help people who come after and read what you wrote, I have linked Post #344 in the quote above.  If everyone could post a link when citing earlier posts, that would be fabulous.

I just ordered my DHO804 from the Jiutian Instrument Store on AliExpress, as per the private conversations I've had with several people in this forum about their good experience using that particular seller.  The price was right too, at only $358.66, which beats even TEquipment with the EEVBlog discount code ($375.06 with free domestic US shipping).  (And because I reside in Japan, I save a whole lot more by going with AliExpress versus TEquipment due to shipping charges.)  AliExpress also tends to put pricing on the shipping documents that is rather low, so as to avoid import taxes most of the time.  I was also surprised to see it is expected to arrive Dec. 24th. Today is Dec. 12th.  Interesting.

I will be doing the Dave-recommended hack upon arrival.

Such links should be fixed in the header of the topic. It's hard to find in the messages.

[the Chris]

But if it’s an issue for you, beaware with quiet fan, most of them have very low air flow.

This fact cannot be stressed enough. If possible, always try to identify model and maker of the fan in place and get its datasheet where volumetric flow and static pressure are stated. If a 1:1 replacement is the intension, the new one should offer the same flow and pressure capabilities. Often, the noise reduction is limited to about 3db then using modern low noise fans.

The potential to lower noise further is greater when replacing one fan with multiple ones, where you can accept either lower pressure or lower flow per fan depending on series or parallel installation. However, the more complex the airflow, the more it is neccessary to.measure the final effective flow of the system to be sure it matches the original one.

[Veteran68]

But if it’s an issue for you, beaware with quiet fan, most of them have very low air flow.

This fact cannot be stressed enough.

Exactly. Too many people don't understand the science and practical application of airflow and cooling.

To be honest in this case there's usually more wiggle room for a general cooling function, where the tolerance window can be pretty wide. But I often see this mistake in 3D printing. 3D print heads typically include 2 types of fans/coolers: one for the hotend which melts the plastic, and another to cool the printed part. Beginners will inevitably want a "quieter" fan for one or both, and go for something like a Noctua -- but there's a reason that such silent fans are rarely included by the printer manufacturer. They don't realize that the right amount of airflow is critical in printing. Too little airflow from a quiet fan and your hotend will overhead and suffer heat creep, or your parts don't cool quickly enough to support the next layer. OTOH too much airflow cools too quickly and you wind up with layer adhesion issues or the printed part warping. So it's crucial to match the airflow to the printer and use case. Sometimes this can even change between different filament types and require a different cooling profile based on what's being printed.

[enson72]

But if it’s an issue for you, beaware with quiet fan, most of them have very low air flow.

This fact cannot be stressed enough.

Exactly. Too many people don't understand the science and practical application of airflow and cooling.

To be honest in this case there's usually more wiggle room for a general cooling function, where the tolerance window can be pretty wide. But I often see this mistake in 3D printing. 3D print heads typically include 2 types of fans/coolers: one for the hotend which melts the plastic, and another to cool the printed part. Beginners will inevitably want a "quieter" fan for one or both, and go for something like a Noctua -- but there's a reason that such silent fans are rarely included by the printer manufacturer. They don't realize that the right amount of airflow is critical in printing. Too little airflow from a quiet fan and your hotend will overhead and suffer heat creep, or your parts don't cool quickly enough to support the next layer. OTOH too much airflow cools too quickly and you wind up with layer adhesion issues or the printed part warping. So it's crucial to match the airflow to the printer and use case. Sometimes this can even change between different filament types and require a different cooling profile based on what's being printed.

Noctua, like Be quiet, is very different, with a different flow. But they all have one thing in common: quiet work for a long time. The computer has a Zalman power supply. The cooler started to crack after a year. I picked up a similar stream of be quiet SILENT WINGS, 3 years of complete silence. Exactly the same problem was with the cooling of the processor. I put a similar Noctua and forgot. Quieter does not mean less flow. The noise depends on the size (speed), the type of bearing, the quality of the bearing, the quality of the lubricant, the quality of the blades, their shape, balancing. Manufacturers of equipment are trying to reduce its cost, so they put the cheapest coolers. This is the easiest way to save money. For example, Zalman puts Noname coolers in its very decent power supplies. Why? Are they better than Noctua? Or is there no Noctua with the right flow?))

[JDW]

This is the easiest way to save money.

The easiest way for all of us to have saved money would have been for Rigol to have designed a quiet or silent cooling system from the get-go.  I simply do not understand why the otherwise intelligent folks at Rigol cannot understand that they could have made the device a tad bit deeper to accommodate a large and quiet cooling fan.

I have an old TDS1012 scope from Tektronix that is 100% silent.  Sure, it's old tech and deeper overall than the Rigol, but that's beside the point.  The DHO804 could have been made almost as small as it is now, yet very quiet or even silent.  It doesn't take much brain power either, as evidenced by all the fan hack talk in this thread by people who trying to fix the design flaw after the fact.

[Martin72]

Maybe Rigol is just smarter than other suppliers of cheap scopes.
In any case, I don't know of any other brand where people want to tinker with it first.
But to Rigol's credit, Siglent's direct competitor is louder.

[Proxy64]

For fan the truth is on datasheet not on a marketing sheet.
For old Tektronix my 400MHz 2465B is at least 200% noisier 
Replace original internal fan by an external fan, this is more experimentation than theory, many parameters change then an IR camera would be your friend.

[enson72]

For fan the truth is on datasheet not on a marketing sheet.
For old Tektronix my 400MHz 2465B is at least 200% noisier 
Replace original internal fan by an external fan, this is more experimentation than theory, many parameters change then an IR camera would be your friend.

It is not the cooler that is making noise, but the air directed across the radiator fins. They tried to reduce the noise by applying 8v instead of 12v to it. But it's useless. This is how air raid sirens are designed. Apparently, the designers did not know about this. And the main goal was to make the body as thin as possible. In addition, this arrangement of the ribs prevents the efficient use of the air flow from the cooler, increases the wear of its bearings. And almost any external cooler can handle this air flow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=D7l5s7ZKz7M  There is also a very similar sound here))

[Proxy64]

From the LAN connection, is there a way to access to the local storage to get saved file ?
I didn’t see anything on the web interface, but maybe I missed something!
Not yet tested,  maybe there is a smb share ?

[Fungus]

From the LAN connection, is there a way to access to the local storage to get saved file ?
I didn’t see anything on the web interface, but maybe I missed something!
Not yet tested,  maybe there is a smb share ?

It runs an FTP server as well as a web server. 

I use WinSCP to access files directly.

[Proxy64]

It runs an FTP server as well as a web server. 

Tip-top thank you !
On MacOS finder "Connect to the server"  ftp://192.168.xxx.xxx

Maybe, that can help someone:
Default login “admin” and password “rigol”

[hexpope]

Thanks guys for all your time in hacking the scope. I will probably buy myself one for Christmas and join the reversing club,  Will dump what ever you guys need during the season.

[Randy222]

It's not difficult to apply text links, so to help people who come after and read what you wrote, I have linked Post #344 in the quote above.  If everyone could post a link when citing earlier posts, that would be fabulous.

I just ordered my DHO804 from the Jiutian Instrument Store on AliExpress, as per the private conversations I've had with several people in this forum about their good experience using that particular seller.  The price was right too, at only $358.66, which beats even TEquipment with the EEVBlog discount code ($375.06 with free domestic US shipping).  (And because I reside in Japan, I save a whole lot more by going with AliExpress versus TEquipment due to shipping charges.)  AliExpress also tends to put pricing on the shipping documents that is rather low, so as to avoid import taxes most of the time.  I was also surprised to see it is expected to arrive Dec. 24th. Today is Dec. 12th.  Interesting.

I will be doing the Dave-recommended hack upon arrival.

Those units are very new builds and will come with firmware 1.01.02

[Randy222]

I'm thinking about one of these... I use them in all my PC builds these days. They're completely silent.



I/m gonna 3D print an adapter adapter to attach it to the VESA holes.

They make brushless 90-92mm x 14-15mm thick fans that can run low 1100 rpm's. That's still way more flow than the tiny one inside.

I would however not disable the internal fan, just slow it down to about silent, this way there's two fans in case one fan fail. IIRC someone wrote that you can control the int fan speed from within an OS file.

I was gonna attach a microcontroller to ext fan for pwm control, but it's not needed here, will likely just tap int fan wire to control an IGBT on the ext fan, and then add a fan resistor to slow down ext fan to an acceptable flow rate. Gonna use a usbC splitter to power ext fan.

[Proxy64]

Those units are very new builds and will come with firmware 1.01.02

Got mine 2 days ago firmware V00.01.01
Same version on Rigol website

[bluesky-ca]

I would however not disable the internal fan, just slow it down to about silent, this way there's two fans in case one fan fail. IIRC someone wrote that you can control the int fan speed from within an OS file.

I was gonna attach a microcontroller to ext fan for pwm control, but it's not needed here, will likely just tap int fan wire to control an IGBT on the ext fan, and then add a fan resistor to slow down ext fan to an acceptable flow rate. Gonna use a usbC splitter to power ext fan.

Any links or other info on how to get at the fan control - the more I use the scope the more the fan noise bothers me - for now I put a large fan and the combination changes the overall pitch where I don't find it objectionable, but would be great to find a solution without voiding the warranty.

[bluesky-ca]

Has anybody looked at the built in keys and if they send key codes ?   I am using a mouse to interact with a lot of the menus and it works well but right now the only button that seems to work is the left click - would be nice to be able to use the middle, right and the scroll wheel, or maybe it is just my mouse that is not doing that.

The function I would love to perform is to be able to press the [X] sub-window closing icon - right now I find it faster to press the built in Menu button ie first time it brings its own window and the second press closes it.

[Randy222]

Those units are very new builds and will come with firmware 1.01.02

Got mine 2 days ago firmware V00.01.01
Same version on Rigol website

My bad, meant to write
v00.01.02 dated Nov 9 2023

I am not sure when the newer hardware was coming off assembly line, but apparently there's definitely new calibration code for it.
I think if the unit is super new, like the ink is still drying, it will have the v00.01.02 firmware.

[vanyas]

Where I can download DHO914 vendor.bin? Can't find in this topic (

[Randy222]

Where I can download DHO914 vendor.bin? Can't find in this topic (

Check out Reply #555 on: December 03, 2023 , a few pages back.
Maybe Fungus can help?