Hantek HDG2002B AWG: 5Mhz or 100MHz? Let's see!

[idpromnut]

What model versions of the device don't have the HF counter and LAN port? What models has all the equitment?

Furthermore, what is the difference between the 2000B and the 2000C?

HDG2002B 5 MHz
HDG2012B 10 MHz
HDG2022B 20 MHz
HDG2032B 30 MHz
HDG2062B 60 MHz
???HDG2082B 80 MHz
HDG2102B 100 MHz
HDG2032C 30 MHz
HDG2052C 50 MHz
HDG2072C 70 MHz
HDG2102C 100 MHz

I seem to remember that the 'B' models don't have either LAN or HF counter, while the 'C' models do.

[nbritton]

What model versions of the device don't have the HF counter and LAN port? What models has all the equitment?

Furthermore, what is the difference between the 2000B and the 2000C?

I seem to remember that the 'B' models don't have either LAN or HF counter, while the 'C' models do.

I can't find the C models for sale anywhere online. Hank had the C model listed on their english website but now it's mysteriously gone, the only place I can see it listed now is on their chinese website.

[nbritton]

What does the 16 channel digital output do on this device? Does it only output a cock signal or does it do more?

[nbritton]

Can someone with a 300 MHz scope test the square wave output on a hacked HDG2000B that as been properly re-calibrated post hack?

I suspect the device might surprise us with what it is actually capable of when properly calibrated and measured.

[Howardlong]

Can someone with a 300 MHz scope test the square wave output on a hacked HDG2000B that as been properly re-calibrated post hack?

I suspect the device might surprise us with what it is actually capable of when properly calibrated and measured.

All below with 50 ohm termination, scope is Agilent/Keysight MSO7104B 1GHz BW scope at 4GSa/s. 10MHz square wave with different amplitudes to check output buffer slew rate. 8 averages taken.

100mVp-p (50mVp-p with 50 ohm termination)


500mVp-p (250mVp-p with 50 ohm termination)


1Vp-p (500mVp-p with 50 ohm termination)


10Vp-p (5Vp-p with 50 ohm termination)

[ebastler]

Many thanks, Howard!
So, around 30 MHz bandwidth out of the generator. Nicely in the middle of the range discussed in the thread's headline ;-)

[wojt]

Has anyone succeeded in uploading and playing user waveform via USB SCPI? Every time I send "source1:func user" the HDG reboots.

[Howardlong]

Furthermore, is it possible to get settings like screen saver and beep to retain between boots?

[nctnico]

Any update on how the alternative firmware is coming along?

[Robot1]

Well just read through 37 pages  Anyways I am wondering if someone whom has one of these would recommend this over a Siglent SDG1025? I am a 3rd year engineering student studying robotics, looking to use this to test control circuits up to 10Mhz but as a student I have a limited budget. I have read poor reviews of the Hantek oscilloscopes and am curious to how the fg compares to a Siglent unit.

Haven't posted much on the forum as im to busy always reading and learning

Many thanks from Canada
-Chris

[Howardlong]

Well just read through 37 pages  Anyways I am wondering if someone whom has one of these would recommend this over a Siglent SDG1025? I am a 3rd year engineering student studying robotics, looking to use this to test control circuits up to 10Mhz but as a student I have a limited budget. I have read poor reviews of the Hantek oscilloscopes and am curious to how the fg compares to a Siglent unit.

Many thanks from Canada
-Chris

I have both the Hantek and the SDG1025. There is no doubt that the firmware in the Hantek as it stands currently makes it little more than a toy I'm afraid. It's buggy to say the least and it crashes frequently. The SDG1025 has much more mature software. The main thing I don't like about the Siglent is that reading the display at an angle (say it's on the shelf above the bench) isn't great, I had to do a bit of a re-org on the bench around the Siglent so it could be positioned to be readable. The UI on the Siglent also takes a short while to get to grips with, knowing where things are. But it doesn't crash, and I don't have to double check what's coming out of it when I hook it up to a circuit, unlike the Hantek.

[idpromnut]

Well just read through 37 pages  Anyways I am wondering if someone whom has one of these would recommend this over a Siglent SDG1025? I am a 3rd year engineering student studying robotics, looking to use this to test control circuits up to 10Mhz but as a student I have a limited budget. I have read poor reviews of the Hantek oscilloscopes and am curious to how the fg compares to a Siglent unit.

Haven't posted much on the forum as im to busy always reading and learning

Many thanks from Canada
-Chris

Allow me to give you my take, as another Chris from Canada (that's just odd!): I have the Hantek 2002B with the current firmware, and I'm pretty much looking to replace it with a SDG1025

[Berni]

I recently got one of these and needed to calibrate it. Was way too time consuming but the user "fremen67" has wrote an excel VBA script to do it on a Rigol scope.

Because i don't have one of those i modified it to work with Keysight Infiniium scopes(Tested on a MSO9254A but should work on all of them). It might also work with older 5000 to 7000 series scopes. Also i fixed the script to also work in countries that use a comma as a decimal separator (SCPI commands use a dot).

So here it is in case anyone else with a HP / Agilent / Keysight scope needs it

[Robot1]

Well just read through 37 pages  Anyways I am wondering if someone whom has one of these would recommend this over a Siglent SDG1025? I am a 3rd year engineering student studying robotics, looking to use this to test control circuits up to 10Mhz but as a student I have a limited budget. I have read poor reviews of the Hantek oscilloscopes and am curious to how the fg compares to a Siglent unit.

Many thanks from Canada
-Chris

I have both the Hantek and the SDG1025. There is no doubt that the firmware in the Hantek as it stands currently makes it little more than a toy I'm afraid. It's buggy to say the least and it crashes frequently. The SDG1025 has much more mature software. The main thing I don't like about the Siglent is that reading the display at an angle (say it's on the shelf above the bench) isn't great, I had to do a bit of a re-org on the bench around the Siglent so it could be positioned to be readable. The UI on the Siglent also takes a short while to get to grips with, knowing where things are. But it doesn't crash, and I don't have to double check what's coming out of it when I hook it up to a circuit, unlike the Hantek.

Well just read through 37 pages  Anyways I am wondering if someone whom has one of these would recommend this over a Siglent SDG1025? I am a 3rd year engineering student studying robotics, looking to use this to test control circuits up to 10Mhz but as a student I have a limited budget. I have read poor reviews of the Hantek oscilloscopes and am curious to how the fg compares to a Siglent unit.

Haven't posted much on the forum as im to busy always reading and learning

Many thanks from Canada
-Chris

Allow me to give you my take, as another Chris from Canada (that's just odd!): I have the Hantek 2002B with the current firmware, and I'm pretty much looking to replace it with a SDG1025

Thank you for the feedback! It was much appreciated and I ended up buying the SDG1025    Just picked it up today and going to start playing with it. From my first impression of playing for 10 mins before getting on to studying it seems very intuitive and like a nice bit of equipment for the price point.

Thanks again!

Chris

[Simon]

So are these still hakable ? the thread started over a year ago and they are still on ebay for £209, should i get one. All the other signal generators seem to be silly money or Siglents.

[Berni]

So are these still hakable ? the thread started over a year ago and they are still on ebay for £209, should i get one. All the other signal generators seem to be silly money or Siglents.

It has worked on mine using firmware from 15.Aug.2015 .Sadly i am not very happy with how buggy the whole thing is when using it for anything more than basic sine triangle square.

[Simon]

hm, even the 20MHz version is not badly priced, found one at £200 or less, can live with that and look into hacking it later. Sadly I've not spotted anything else I'd be happy with that is not priced out of this world, seems sig gens are pricier than scopes, I'm not rushing off to buy a siglent, I'm no fan of owon having experienced their scope and I'm getting fed up with people advertising generators that can only do the frequency advertized on one waveform type and all others are significantly (order of magnitude) lower frequency than the headline.

[Berni]

hm, even the 20MHz version is not badly priced, found one at £200 or less, can live with that and look into hacking it later. Sadly I've not spotted anything else I'd be happy with that is not priced out of this world, seems sig gens are pricier than scopes, I'm not rushing off to buy a siglent, I'm no fan of owon having experienced their scope and I'm getting fed up with people advertising generators that can only do the frequency advertized on one waveform type and all others are significantly (order of magnitude) lower frequency than the headline.

Yes that is the reason i got mine, it was really cheep off ebay and it has some really nice specs going for it.

Oh and keep in mind that due to the not super high 250MS/s sample rate ans fixed clocking implementation it can sometimes suffer quite a bit of "DDS jitter" at high speeds. For example 20MHz output (Not an integer multiple of 250) will have its edges jump around by 4ns. This tends to be not all that visible on a sine wave (Will still clearly show up on a spectrum analyzer tho) but since that square wave only has a 50ns period it means that its period will jump around by as much as 8% as the square wave will be made from a combination of 48ns and 52ns long pulses that average together over the long term to 50ns.

Not to alarm you since most low end DDS based signal generators will have this flaw. Its just that the fast sampling (1GS/s and such) ones hide the flaw better. But to be fair in a lot of cases the jitter won't cause any issues. Just know that if you use such a jittery clock on a ADC or DAC its performance will plummet, also might possibly send some fast PLLs in to a bit of a weeble wobble. Just something to be aware of when you are using one.

[Howardlong]

If the test is "how long did it remain on the bench?" then I'm afraid this device didn't fair at all well.

It has the hardware of a reasonable low end AWG, but the software is just so broken I can't recommend it, other than for a bit of soldering practice to add the LAN port or high speed frequency counter, and the fun of hacking it. Even when I do use it, I daren't apply it to a DUT without checking what it's generating first.

If you do add the high speed frequency counter, be aware that the latest software breaks this (and the low speed one too).

[Simon]

Well I've ordered a 20MHz variant and yes I begin to suspect that the reaon it has 16bit DAC is that it uses the resolution to generate low voltage signals too, rather than have a viariable output.

My only other option would be one of those really cheap and nasty generators that have a very poor user interface (we have one at work because it's all they would buy of course).

[Howardlong]

Well I've ordered a 20MHz variant and yes I begin to suspect that the reaon it has 16bit DAC is that it uses the resolution to generate low voltage signals too, rather than have a viariable output.

My only other option would be one of those really cheap and nasty generators that have a very poor user interface (we have one at work because it's all they would buy of course).

From memory of the calibration process, it has ISTR three voltage ranges.

[Berni]

It does switch in some voltage ranges with a relay inside so not really a problem there, but the relay and the signal going in to the DAC are not all that much in sync.

This means that as you cross the relay click boundary one way you may get an output that briefly drops to a very small amplitude before going to the new voltage level, but what is much worse is when you cross it the other way you get a much bigger signal than set for a short moment before it jumps back down to what you set it to. So careful if it is connected to something sensitive.

I am already considering getting one of those Siglent 2000X because i learned that i simply can't trust that the unit is outputting what the front panel is claiming it is. If you can look past the bugs it is still a good signal gen for the money and might be a good choice for a hobbyist. But i do serious R&D work in my lab so when i need a piece of equipment i expect it to work as it should, rather that babysit it all the time by constantly verifying that it is outputting what i set it to. But on the other hand i cant afford to buy only top notch professional gear(I still do have a quite a bit of hp/agilent gear), i am ok with a cheep piece of test gear performing not so great but as long as it works as it should. I love the cheep 50 dollar Atten hot air station i had for some time. Sure it looks and feels cheep as heck, but it got the job done every single time i needed it. I like it so much that i will probably never buy another hot air station until this one stops working. Tools don't have to be expensive to be good, or perform the best but they at least have to work reliably if you ask me.

Don't let this discourage you from buying one of these Hanteks. Just be mindful that this is not a true professional tool, its just something half way between a proper tool and the $10 ebay crap.

[Simon]

any idea if they are short circuit protected ?

[Berni]

any idea if they are short circuit protected ?

All signal generators with a 50Ohm output should have no problem driving a short circuit on its output for an indefinite amount of time. What might kill it tho is a short circuit to a large voltage supply rail like 24V or perhaps it needs to be as high as 48V.

[luizhdinizf]

anyone knows a way to comunicate this instrument with a c or python or another interface with a ubuntu 14.04 computer over usb?