New toy(?) scope Fnirsi DPOX180H, claimed 180MHz/500MSps (May 2023)

[Evi]

Bravo!

[Evi]

What pisses me off is the lack of visible calibration results.
Here's what I found:
if the measurements are underestimated, it is necessary to calibrate the base line and the system by applying a negative voltage to the input, approximately at the level by how much less the measurement is. And vice versa.

Well, and then you will figure it out yourself. I have voiced the idea.

[pcprogrammer]

Most likely the setup in the DPOX180H is similar to the 1013D. The baseline calibration uses the offset generated with PWM to get an ADC reading of 128 and it then looks at the differences between the two (or four in this new one) ADC's to get more or less the same output from each. It assumes an open input, which allows you to make adjustments with a supplied voltage.

Since the design of the sampling hardware looks just like what is in the 1013D, I suspect that they are overclocking the ADC's. To get the 500MSa/s they have to create the proper clock signals for each of the two chips with the needed 45 degree phase difference between them, and merge the sample data in the right order. The jitter I saw in Dave his review video most likely is caused by the imperfection in it all.

I do wonder if they used more of the available memory in the FPGA, or that they reused the crappy design of the 1013D. The front end looks different, but not sure if it improved much, going by the remarks in this thread.

[Sobakin76]

Just received this new toy, but sorry for not reading all the texting before.
FW upgraded to V4, and what I mentoined:
1. Is it decoupling capacitor (for channel AC coupling) too small, causing at even 1kHz square waveform (probes @10X properly compensated with DC coupling and looks ok) to be very distorted? (1st pic)
2. At 50nS/div with both channels enabled there is some BW limitation (all BW limiting options are disabled), 100nS/div and 20nS/div and other near, as well as 50nS/div with only single channel enabled seems all OK. (2nd+ pics)

[PlasMan]

Found a way how to edit FNIRSI's custom wave that is used for scope generation. it is by drawing samples in an audio software and tweaking in hex editor due to a bug in audio editor

Nik,

Thanks for your very interesting method for reading and editing the Capture data.cap files.  I have tried to duplicate your method but unfortunately I cannot get the DPOX180H to generate the Capture folder or the data.cap files.  It only sends my laptop the Screenshots and the Waveform folders.  There is no Capture folder with data.cap files on the USB Drive (D:) .

Do you have any good advice?

[Nik]

Found a way how to edit FNIRSI's custom wave that is used for scope generation. it is by drawing samples in an audio software and tweaking in hex editor due to a bug in audio editor

Nik,

Thanks for your very interesting method for reading and editing the Capture data.cap files.  I have tried to duplicate your method but unfortunately I cannot get the DPOX180H to generate the Capture folder or the data.cap files.  It only sends my laptop the Screenshots and the Waveform folders.  There is no Capture folder with data.cap files on the USB Drive (D:) .

Do you have any good advice?

What is on drive D then?
Have you tried a new fw?

[Nik]

Yesterday when I used device for the first time in a while I noticed that it is very buggy and frequently require reboot. fw: v4.
The bug is on triggering in Single. In Run mode it show previous waveform upon changing time or V scale. Other bug is after some successful triggering in Single it starts to skip and require reboot.

[ptluis]

Yesterday when I used device for the first time in a while I noticed that it is very buggy and frequently require reboot. fw: v4.
The bug is on triggering in Single. In Run mode it show previous waveform upon changing time or V scale. Other bug is after some successful triggering in Single it starts to skip and require reboot.

welcome to the club! set your horizontal timebase to 20s and then try to exit the frozen state the scope enters. the only way I've found is to press menu and H+ alternate several times to get it out of the frozen state. It's a shame fnirsi doesn't care to solve basic firmware defects and only care about sales. I've sent them several videos showing problems that turn the device useless, but not a single answer. there are cheaper options in this price range. btw don't even try to set 50s timebase or you'll have to open the case and disconnect the battery because you can't turn the device off. at least on my unit. Really bad device.

[csuhi17]

When I froze it, long pressing the on/off button helped me.

Nik
If it freezes, have you tried the arrows?
If you press too many buttons, it slows down even more.

If the time base is above 100ms/div and there is nothing connected to the input and you press an AUTO button, the rolling mode will speed up.
At 20 and 50s/div, after pressing auto, you have to press an arrow, if you press another button, it freezes.

These are not practical uses, but it should still be able to handle this.

[PlasMan]

Nik,

You asked:

What is on drive D then?
Have you tried a new fw?

All that is on drive D is the waveforms folder and the screenshot photos folder.  I did not try new firmware and I do not know how to tell what firmware is loaded. 

I contacted FNIRSI by email and asked them about the Capture data.cap files and they told me:

"The DPOX-180H device only supports saving screenshots and waveform files in the firmware".

I can't do tests right now since I gave away the DPOX180H for Christmas.  I have ordered another from China which is coming on a slow boat.

Do the Capture data.cap files still work now that you have installed V40?

Thanks,

PlasMan

[Nik]

Nik,

You asked:

What is on drive D then?
Have you tried a new fw?

All that is on drive D is the waveforms folder and the screenshot photos folder.  I did not try new firmware and I do not know how to tell what firmware is loaded. 

I contacted FNIRSI by email and asked them about the Capture data.cap files and they told me:

"The DPOX-180H device only supports saving screenshots and waveform files in the firmware".

I can't do tests right now since I gave away the DPOX180H for Christmas.  I have ordered another from China which is coming on a slow boat.

Do the Capture data.cap files still work now that you have installed V40?

Thanks,

PlasMan

Those files are hidden system files. To see them you may need to turn on such visibility option in windows settings.

[Nik]

When I froze it, long pressing the on/off button helped me.

Nik
If it freezes, have you tried the arrows?
If you press too many buttons, it slows down even more.

If the time base is above 100ms/div and there is nothing connected to the input and you press an AUTO button, the rolling mode will speed up.
At 20 and 50s/div, after pressing auto, you have to press an arrow, if you press another button, it freezes.

These are not practical uses, but it should still be able to handle this.

Yea, I have seen all those bugs. Device is buggy and not reliable. I am thinking to buy a rigol, but it is much bulky, pricey and have no battery and has its own bugs, but functionality is much better.

[PlasMan]

Nik,

You asked:

What is on drive D then?
Have you tried a new fw?

All that is on drive D is the waveforms folder and the screenshot photos folder.  I did not try new firmware and I do not know how to tell what firmware is loaded. 

I contacted FNIRSI by email and asked them about the Capture data.cap files and they told me:

"The DPOX-180H device only supports saving screenshots and waveform files in the firmware".

I can't do tests right now since I gave away the DPOX180H for Christmas.  I have ordered another from China which is coming on a slow boat.

Do the Capture data.cap files still work now that you have installed V40?

Thanks,

PlasMan

Those files are hidden system files. To see them you may need to turn on such visibility option in windows settings.

Thanks Nik.  I will look for hidden system files when my DPOX180H gets delivered.

I recently bought a Rigol DHO914S and I like it a lot.  It is much better than the DPOX180H but it is also much larger and heavier.  The DPOX180H will mostly stay in the tool bag for field use.

PlasMan

[krakatit]

After reading all these issues I would massively suggest the vendor to open source the firmware. This can cause many poor users to turn to hackers with a collaborative effort and probably increase sales as well.

[mebel]

   It is much better than the DPOX180H but it is also much larger and heavier. 


Tell me something about price...

[cynric]

Bug found: When using cursors with zoom mode, the cursor-based calculations do not scale with the zoom. Screenshots attached, zooming in on the generator stepped sawtooth should give a much smaller interval measurement - as it is this feature is useless..

Also: You should be able to move the baseline above and below the display area - at least in stop mode - to allow inspection of small portions of larger signals, like ripple on the upper half of a square wave.

And lastly: It would be nice if double pressing one of the channel buttons (or pressing CH1/2 when in the CH1/2 menu) would immediately enable/disable that channel.

Maybe someone of you guys with a contact to Fnirsi can forward this in the hope of a firmware update?

Apart from that I am really impressed by this thing! Much more of a useful tool than expected, surprisingly good user interface, reasonable feature set, yet affordable.

[SAIT_Tim]

Hi, does anyone know if this is a bug or is it working as intended please?

I've been trying out this handy little device and quite enjoying it. Unfortunately I have a bad habit of leaving things on and draining the battery, so I was eager to set the auto shutdown schedule. I thought this would shut the scope off after the set period of IDLE time (maybe no button presses), but instead it seems to shut it down while you're in the middle of using it when it reaches the duration you've set. Its particularly frustrating as the device doesn't save your current setup at power off.

Also, at normal power off it doesn't prompt 'are you sure?' or require a long press or anything so if you touch the power button by mistake...

Thats with the latest (V4) firmware I could find.

[Randy222]

I got my 180h, and I like it. Much better scope stuff than zoyi 703s.

[naiclub]

I got my 180h, and I like it. Much better scope stuff than zoyi 703s.

Does it have a multimeter mode?

[csuhi17]

I got my 180h, and I like it. Much better scope stuff than zoyi 703s.

Does it have a multimeter mode?

DPOX180h No

[naiclub]

I got my 180h, and I like it. Much better scope stuff than zoyi 703s.

Does it have a multimeter mode?

DPOX180h No

I want a variety of uses. Not very focused on specific tasks

[Randy222]

I already have good MM.
Got the 703 for mostly the scope side, with MM just a bonus.
But 703 scope not there yet, buggy FW.
180h is just scope, but has the FFT I was looking for.

[Old man 45]

I have been using the oscilloscope a lot and I have some comments. Although most are already handled in various tests. The performance of the oscilloscope is excellent one must say, but it may be overly sensitive to high frequencies. However, if one activates the 20 MHz limit on the channels and sets "Auto Bandwidth Limit" to "3", and then saves the whole configuration by clicking "Save Current Configuration", the instrument becomes less sensitive to high frequencies – and also starts up in that mode after turned off. You can always change the bandwidth back to the required level as needed. High bandwidth (higher than needed) and amplification often lead to unwanted interference.

One of the most frustrating aspects of using the oscilloscope was plugging in the connectors to the input and the generator output. Although the modified variant is better, it's not perfect either. Therefore, I created a simple extension that works well, which you can see in the pictures. Two cheap BNC extenders and some scrap stuff plus a little work made the trick.

Regarding the question of whether type 1 or type 2 is better, I think Type 2, that version has larger keys and is easier to insert the BNC connectors in. Bigger keys are better to operate. It may also lock better. However, I chose Type 1 because of its lower price. The performance of both types is identical - they only differ in their wrapping as far as I can see.

An updated manual is also attached 😊

[RAPo]

Yesterday, I added a SMA connector for the new version (yellow).
For the old version (blue one) one of the first things I added was some banana jacks.

[Randy222]

Yesterday, I added a SMA connector for the new version (yellow).
For the old version (blue one) one of the first things I added was some banana jacks.

Blue old?

They sell the "new" version in both colors.
I got a "new" version, in blue.