Rigol DSA 815

[JW]

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:37:22 GMT nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in
Message id: <512e2745.3137214671@news.kpn.nl>:

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:58:53 -0500 "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in Message id:
OYGdnYJii_toarHMnZ2dnUVZ_oOdnZ2d@earthlink.com>:


Nico Coesel wrote:

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:28:51 +0100 Leif Neland <leif@neland.dk> wrote in
Message id: <mn.caec7dd21308c8fd.130671@neland.dk>:

JW har bragt dette til verden:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:11:30 -0500 "Charles" <charlesschuler@comcast.net
wrote in Message id: <kg3olo$dtv$1@dont-email.me>:

This is a moderately priced spectrum analyzer covering 9 kHz to 1.5 Ghz with
a tracking generator option.

If you do RF, check it out.

No affiliation with Rigol. None. Nada.

No thanks. For a little more money ($3K) I could get an Agilent 8562A good
to 22GHz.

So $3K is just a little more money than $1,295 ?

Nice to know your reference...

In addition to what Michael said; When and if something goes wrong with
the HP, I have the complete set of service manuals with component level
information - I can fix it myself. Parts are plentiful for the HP as well.
What about the Rigol?

By the time your Rigol breaks down, Ebay will be swamped with 'for
parts' units.


All needing the same parts, or they wouldn't be on Ebay.

Probably. I wouldn't be surprised if it consists of 1 or 2 circuit boards
loaded with all sorts of chips that cannot be removed economically (BGA,
etc.) by your average tech. And with no service data, you likely wouldn't
be able to figure out what needed replacing anyway.

It seems you have very little experience with repairing equipment.

You'd be wrong in your assumption. I've probably repaired more test
equipment in my life than you've ever even seen. I worked for 3 years for
a fairly large used test equipment company ( www.techrecovery.com ) as
their only component level tech. When I realized I could make a whole lot
more money buying broken equipment, doing the repairs, and reselling on
Ebay, I left them.

ObShameless Plug:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/techman7734/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Although my stock is a bit low at the moment as in Jan and Feb I sold over
$25K worth of equipment, if anyone sees anything they like, I'd knock 10%
off on a private sale.

At this point there are several used equipment dealers who send their
stuff to *me* for repair.

What breaks most often is the PSU, inputs or outputs.

Of course.

These are mostly
built around standard chips and easy to repair (especially true for
modern low and mid range equipment). If the logic gets defective it is
usually caused by the power supply going wrong. And then there are the
occasional bad solder joints but those are rare. All in all most
equipment can be serviced even without a service manual as long as you
think logically.

Sometimes that is true, but many times not. I've seen just about
everything under the sun go wrong or bad. Likely because I've repaired
thousands of instruments.

 

[George Herold]

On Feb 28, 6:50 am, JW <n...@dev.null> wrote:

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:37:22 GMT n...@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in
Message id: <512e2745.3137214...@news.kpn.nl>:





JW <n...@dev.null> wrote:

On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:58:53 -0500 "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terr...@earthlink.net> wrote in Message id:
OYGdnYJii_toarHMnZ2dnUVZ_oOdn...@earthlink.com>:

Nico Coesel wrote:

JW <n...@dev.null> wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:28:51 +0100 Leif Neland <l...@neland.dk> wrote in
Message id: <mn.caec7dd21308c8fd.130...@neland.dk>:

JW har bragt dette til verden:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:11:30 -0500 "Charles" <charlesschu...@comcast.net
wrote in Message id: <kg3olo$dt...@dont-email.me>:

This is a moderately priced spectrum analyzer covering 9 kHz to 1.5 Ghz with
a tracking generator option.

If you do RF, check it out.

No affiliation with Rigol.  None.  Nada.

No thanks. For a little more money ($3K) I could get an Agilent 8562A good
to 22GHz.

So $3K is just a little more money than $1,295 ?

Nice to know your reference...

In addition to what Michael said; When and if something goes wrong with
the HP, I have the complete set of service manuals with component level
information - I can fix it myself. Parts are plentiful for the HP as well.
What about the Rigol?

By the time your Rigol breaks down, Ebay will be swamped with 'for
parts' units.

  All needing the same parts, or they wouldn't be on Ebay.

Probably. I wouldn't be surprised if it consists of 1 or 2 circuit boards
loaded with all sorts of chips that cannot be removed economically (BGA,
etc.) by your average tech. And with no service data, you likely wouldn't
be able to figure out what needed replacing anyway.

It seems you have very little experience with repairing equipment.

You'd be wrong in your assumption. I've probably repaired more test
equipment in my life than you've ever even seen. I worked for 3 years for
a fairly large used test equipment company (www.techrecovery.com) as
their only component level tech. When I realized I could make a whole lot
more money buying broken equipment, doing the repairs, and reselling on
Ebay, I left them.

ObShameless Plug:http://www.ebay.com/sch/techman7734/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg...

Neat! Say the four channel Aglient 'scope 54831B for only ~$600 looks
like a steal. Is this 600MHz? Is there something wrong with it? (I
wonder if my wife will let me buy another 'scope?)

Re the Rigol: I think Dave did a tear down of it on his eevblog.

George H.

Although my stock is a bit low at the moment as in Jan and Feb I sold over
$25K worth of equipment, if anyone sees anything they like, I'd knock 10%
off on a private sale.

At this point there are several used equipment dealers who send their
stuff to *me* for repair.

What breaks most often is the PSU, inputs or outputs.

Of course.

These are mostly
built around standard chips and easy to repair (especially true for
modern low and mid range equipment). If the logic gets defective it is
usually caused by the power supply going wrong. And then there are the
occasional bad solder joints but those are rare. All in all most
equipment can be serviced even without a service manual as long as you
think logically.

Sometimes that is true, but many times not. I've seen just about
everything under the sun go wrong or bad. Likely because I've repaired
thousands of instruments.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

 

[Nico Coesel]

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:37:22 GMT nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in
Message id: <512e2745.3137214671@news.kpn.nl>:

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:58:53 -0500 "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in Message id:
OYGdnYJii_toarHMnZ2dnUVZ_oOdnZ2d@earthlink.com>:


Nico Coesel wrote:

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:28:51 +0100 Leif Neland <leif@neland.dk> wrote in
Message id: <mn.caec7dd21308c8fd.130671@neland.dk>:

JW har bragt dette til verden:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:11:30 -0500 "Charles" <charlesschuler@comcast.net
wrote in Message id: <kg3olo$dtv$1@dont-email.me>:

This is a moderately priced spectrum analyzer covering 9 kHz to 1.5 Ghz with
a tracking generator option.

If you do RF, check it out.

No affiliation with Rigol. None. Nada.

No thanks. For a little more money ($3K) I could get an Agilent 8562A good
to 22GHz.

So $3K is just a little more money than $1,295 ?

Nice to know your reference...

In addition to what Michael said; When and if something goes wrong with
the HP, I have the complete set of service manuals with component level
information - I can fix it myself. Parts are plentiful for the HP as well.
What about the Rigol?

By the time your Rigol breaks down, Ebay will be swamped with 'for
parts' units.


All needing the same parts, or they wouldn't be on Ebay.

Probably. I wouldn't be surprised if it consists of 1 or 2 circuit boards
loaded with all sorts of chips that cannot be removed economically (BGA,
etc.) by your average tech. And with no service data, you likely wouldn't
be able to figure out what needed replacing anyway.

It seems you have very little experience with repairing equipment.

You'd be wrong in your assumption. I've probably repaired more test
equipment in my life than you've ever even seen. I worked for 3 years for

And you never seen a teardown of a Rigol scope

a fairly large used test equipment company ( www.techrecovery.com ) as
their only component level tech. When I realized I could make a whole lot
more money buying broken equipment, doing the repairs, and reselling on
Ebay, I left them.

It seems the used equipment market is so much better at your end. I
recently restored a TDS544A but its hardly worth the effort from a
financial perspective. And I was extremely lucky someone offered a
working color CRT board for an absolute bargain. Perhaps it was the
shortest buy-it-now offering on Ebay ever

These are mostly
built around standard chips and easy to repair (especially true for
modern low and mid range equipment). If the logic gets defective it is
usually caused by the power supply going wrong. And then there are the
occasional bad solder joints but those are rare. All in all most
equipment can be serviced even without a service manual as long as you
think logically.

Sometimes that is true, but many times not. I've seen just about
everything under the sun go wrong or bad. Likely because I've repaired
thousands of instruments.

I've done some repair work in the past but mostly the cases other
people couldn't fix. Nowadays I only fix equipment for my own use. Or
just convert the CRT or STN screens to TFT screens.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Nico Coesel]

George Herold <gherold@teachspin.com> wrote:

On Feb 28, 6:50=A0am, JW <n...@dev.null> wrote:
On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:37:22 GMT n...@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in
Message id: <512e2745.3137214...@news.kpn.nl>:





JW <n...@dev.null> wrote:

On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:58:53 -0500 "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terr...@earthlink.net> wrote in Message id:
OYGdnYJii_toarHMnZ2dnUVZ_oOdn...@earthlink.com>:

Nico Coesel wrote:

ObShameless Plug:http://www.ebay.com/sch/techman7734/m.html?_nkw=3D&_armr=
s=3D1&_from=3D&_ipg...

Neat! Say the four channel Aglient 'scope 54831B for only ~$600 looks
like a steal. Is this 600MHz? Is there something wrong with it? (I
wonder if my wife will let me buy another 'scope?)

That one caught my eye as well but if you read carefully the $600 will
get it 'upgraded' to Windows XP.


--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
--------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Charles]

Re the Rigol: I think Dave did a tear down of it on his eevblog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY0acWrCYjw

 

[JW]

On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:49:16 GMT nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in
Message id: <512fb1b6.3238191140@news.kpn.nl>:

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:37:22 GMT nico@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in
Message id: <512e2745.3137214671@news.kpn.nl>:

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:58:53 -0500 "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in Message id:
OYGdnYJii_toarHMnZ2dnUVZ_oOdnZ2d@earthlink.com>:


Nico Coesel wrote:

JW <none@dev.null> wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:28:51 +0100 Leif Neland <leif@neland.dk> wrote in
Message id: <mn.caec7dd21308c8fd.130671@neland.dk>:

JW har bragt dette til verden:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:11:30 -0500 "Charles" <charlesschuler@comcast.net
wrote in Message id: <kg3olo$dtv$1@dont-email.me>:

This is a moderately priced spectrum analyzer covering 9 kHz to 1.5 Ghz with
a tracking generator option.

If you do RF, check it out.

No affiliation with Rigol. None. Nada.

No thanks. For a little more money ($3K) I could get an Agilent 8562A good
to 22GHz.

So $3K is just a little more money than $1,295 ?

Nice to know your reference...

In addition to what Michael said; When and if something goes wrong with
the HP, I have the complete set of service manuals with component level
information - I can fix it myself. Parts are plentiful for the HP as well.
What about the Rigol?

By the time your Rigol breaks down, Ebay will be swamped with 'for
parts' units.


All needing the same parts, or they wouldn't be on Ebay.

Probably. I wouldn't be surprised if it consists of 1 or 2 circuit boards
loaded with all sorts of chips that cannot be removed economically (BGA,
etc.) by your average tech. And with no service data, you likely wouldn't
be able to figure out what needed replacing anyway.

It seems you have very little experience with repairing equipment.

You'd be wrong in your assumption. I've probably repaired more test
equipment in my life than you've ever even seen. I worked for 3 years for

And you never seen a teardown of a Rigol scope

Nope - it doesn't interest me in the least. To be honest, I don't bother
with low-end stuff. For myself, I only do HP/Agilent, Tek, Keithley, and
Rohde and Schwarz. Although I will take in repair orders for other brands,
nobody has ever asked me to take a look at any Rigol equipment.

a fairly large used test equipment company ( www.techrecovery.com ) as
their only component level tech. When I realized I could make a whole lot
more money buying broken equipment, doing the repairs, and reselling on
Ebay, I left them.

It seems the used equipment market is so much better at your end. I
recently restored a TDS544A but its hardly worth the effort from a
financial perspective. And I was extremely lucky someone offered a
working color CRT board for an absolute bargain. Perhaps it was the
shortest buy-it-now offering on Ebay ever

I don't bother with TDS500 or TDS64X series anymore. Got tired of changing
out all those leaky caps, washing boards, and hunting for open traces in
the ACQ boards. Tedious work! Although I think the 500D series of scopes
didn't have that problem.

 

[JW]

On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:07:51 -0800 (PST) George Herold
<gherold@teachspin.com> wrote in Message id:
<c97ef32a-9089-4e1e-b0b4-89173da8ff06@m12g2000yqp.googlegroups.com>:

On Feb 28, 6:50 am, JW <n...@dev.null> wrote:

[...]

ObShameless Plug:http://www.ebay.com/sch/techman7734/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg...

Neat! Say the four channel Aglient 'scope 54831B for only ~$600 looks
like a steal. Is this 600MHz? Is there something wrong with it? (I
wonder if my wife will let me buy another 'scope?)

There's nothing wrong with it, other than you needing to supply the scope.


The Military bought a lot of the 54831 (M) scopes, and they've been
hitting the surplus market in the last few years. However, when they
bought them they stipulated that the scopes come with Windows 98 (blech)
for some reason. Upgrading them to XP makes these scopes much more
desirable.