Siglent CP6030 Current Probe - A very, very short Review

[Martin72]

Hi,
As the title says, just a very short review of the current clamp.
I bought it to see if it could replace our old Tektronix systems (A6302/AM503B) because the Teks take up a lot of space.
Until now, however, there were no current clamps that could compete with the Tek - can the Siglent do it?
The CP6030 costs €2080 excluding tax.
As with all other scope manufacturers (with the exception of Tektronix) that offer current clamps, this current clamp is not really from Siglent.
In another thread, a member pointed out that the "original" came from Cybertek:

http://www.cybertek.cn/info/989

This Cybertekt is not only found at Siglent, Rigol and R&S also offer it under their own names.
The current clamp comes in a now unavoidable small, sturdy case, the workmanship of the clamp is very good, everything makes a high-quality impression.
A power supply unit with various plug attachments is included.
Today I had a short time to measure it before it is sent for external calibration (we can't use it before then).
The noise level is excellently low, well below 1mA, I was surprised - or not, because it has a high output level of 1V/A in the low range.
Then I connected it to my shielded adapter and connected the Bodnar pulser.
The current is low and the frequency is high, does that work well? It went well.
Rise time is around 6ns, you can easily see the waveform, is identical to what the Tek outputs, except for the overshoots which are probably due to the high impedance (1Mohm is required for operation).
Then I used the Bodeplot, we have 6 siglent SDS2104Xplus at work, plus an SDG1062X via USB.
What can I say, the linearity is very good, better than the Teks we have at work and better than all the other "Tek clones" I have tested before.
All in all, a very impressive performance, especially for the money.
So everything perfect? Not really.
The CP6030 has no manual offset correction (but the automatic one works very well), and the head is also quite sensitive to magnetic fields, as well as the overshoots mentioned above.
In practice, however, this hardly matters, so I can say that there really is an alternative to the good old Tektronix system.
Very good.

Conclusion:
+Very low noise
+Very good linearity, easily under 0.3dB
+Basic accuracy of 1%
+Very small amplifier/supply unit
+Degaussing function
+Price/performance

-No manual DC offset correction option
-Sensitivity to magnetic fields
-Overshoot at high frequencies, due to impedance

Pictures:
Case interior view, view of supply unit, noise level, risetime, bodeplot with 1dB resolution, bodeplot with 0.5dB resolution, both with amplitude and phase

Martin

[alm]

Thanks for the review!

The noise level is excellently low, well below 1mA, I was surprised - or not, because it has a high output level of 1V/A in the low range.

That's indeed much better than I expected based on the range, though sounds like it might still be a bit higher than the Tek with its dedicated ranges. At least the version with external amplifier (AM503/AM503A/AM503B/AM5030). The TCP202 version is probably worse, though I haven't used it. Also the demands on the scope's noise floor will be higher if you need to go down to the sub-mA level.

How does the size of the probe head compare? Is it similar to the Micsig?

1 MOhm output impedance with what looks like a plain 50 Ohm BNC cable is an odd design in my opinion. The amplifiers Tek made to output into 1 MOhm were generally designed to fit directly on the scope input to minimize the unterminated stub length (like the Type 134 AC current probe amplifier) or very low bandwidth (AM502/ADA400A).

[TopQuark]

As with all other scope manufacturers (with the exception of Tektronix) that offer current clamps, this current clamp is not really from Siglent.
In another thread, a member pointed out that the "original" came from Cybertek:

http://www.cybertek.cn/info/989

This Cybertekt is not only found at Siglent, Rigol and R&S also offer it under their own names.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/zlg-zcp30-50mhz-x1x10-acdc-current-probe/

I got two of these last year under another brandname (ZCP30). I think it is basically the same cybertek probe given the similar spec and test results, though the ZCP30 does have manual offset adjustment function. The probes are indeed great for the price...

Except that Micsig recently slashed their 50MHz current probe to 3471 RMB (482 USD) in China . Sure it is 1V/2A for the sensitive range, VS 1V/1A of the Cybertek probe, but I could get two Migsig for less than what I paid for the ZCP30.

As with all other scope manufacturers (with the exception of Tektronix) that offer current clamps,

Not 100% certain, but I believe these days Hioki makes the current probes for Tek. Hioki seems to be the leader, they even have a 120MHz probe with 0.1V/A, 1V/A and 10V/A ranges. 

https://www.hioki.com/us-en/products/current-probes/wide-band/id_6732

[Martin72]

Hi TopQuark,

Except that Micsig recently slashed their 50MHz current probe to 3471 RMB (482 USD) in China

I'm not surprised.....
I wonder where you can get the cybertek or your ZCP30 from, because I think you still pay something for the name.
2080 plus VAT is too much for me privately, even if the probe makes an excellent impression.
As I said, at first I thought the Siglent came from Hioki, but with all the visual similarities it's hard to get through...

[Martin72]

How does the size of the probe head compare? Is it similar to the Micsig?

I would say yes, here some pics of my selfmade "probe adapter" for "hf" current measurings - While the tek probe fits easily with space, the siglent probe fits "exactly" with nearly no space around.

[TopQuark]

Hi TopQuark,

Except that Micsig recently slashed their 50MHz current probe to 3471 RMB (482 USD) in China

I'm not surprised.....
I wonder where you can get the cybertek or your ZCP30 from, because I think you still pay something for the name.
2080 plus VAT is too much for me privately, even if the probe makes an excellent impression.
As I said, at first I thought the Siglent came from Hioki, but with all the visual similarities it's hard to get through...

The ZCP30 is sold by a Chinese company called ZLG.
https://www.zlg.cn/data/upload/software/Osc/ZCP30.pdf

They are actually pretty legit and have been developing and selling their own scopes for more than a decade. They recently announced a 1GHz 12 bit scope with some interesting features.
https://www.zlg.cn/osc/osc/product/id/344.html

I don't think they are interested in selling to international customers at all, same goes for Cybertek. You can get the ZCP30 from a couple of chinese online retail stores, but other than that I don't think they sell it outside of china. The ZCP30 probe still sells for roughly the same price I mentioned in my post, around 1200 USD.

[Martin72]

As I said, at first I thought the Siglent came from Hioki, but with all the visual similarities it's hard to get through...

Here pics from two excellent high current probes, Lecroy CP500 and Siglent CP5500.
The lecroy is made in japan, the siglent made in china.
They look like twins.