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Rigol DS2072

2013/12/07 By staze

Rigol DS2072When I first picked up the electronics hobby, I asked a simple question on the EEVBlog forum: Should I save for a month and buy the Rigol DS1052e (a good, albeit older, scope), or save for 3 and buy the DS2072. Answers were mixed, but most said to buy the DS2072. Then there was Dave (eevblog owner) that posted a video specifically covering the differences. I took all this, and proceeded to ignore it and got the DS1052e. It was a good scope. I used it for several months. But, the opportunity to buy the DS2072 came up, and I took it. Do I regret the first purchase? No. Do I like the DS2072 better, hell yes ((though, I will say, it’s a bit less intuitive, and far more complex. The DS1052e was cake to use, and just worked. I still struggle with doing some basic things on the DS2072, but I haven’t used it as much as the DS1052e)).

So, the real question becomes, what was a big selling point? The fact that someone on the EEVblog forums finally figured out how to hack the DS2072 up to the 200mhz version, and unlock all the options (making an $800 scope into a $2000 scope). I know the scope is miles ahead of my previous scope, but like I said, at this point in my hobby, a lot of it is bells and whistles. The screen is very nice. The 500µV/div setting is very nice. The display persistence is very nice. The LAN functionality, along with the huge memory depth is extremely nice. But for just looking at noise on a voltage rail, or on a CMOS/TTL line, there is very little difference in functionality. Sure, I haven’t found a really intermittent glitch yet that the new scope would catch with it’s 50,000 waveforms/sec update rate… but I’m not sure those are THAT common in repairs.

All and all, I really do like the scope. I think it will serve for several years, and using the trigger out, I could easily slave my old DS1052e off it, and get two more channels.

Would I recommend the scope? Yes, and no. I do like the scope, and I would buy it again in similar situations, but for someone just needing a scope, I would still suggest either the DS1052e for ~$300, or for less than $600, you can get the DS1074z, a 4 channel scope that has almost all the same features of the DS2000 series, AND two extra channels. And for a little more, you can add a 2 channel arbitrary waveform generator (AWG). Totally worth it! Only complaint about the DS2000 is really the seemingly unnecessary complexity.

Special thanks to tequipment.net for the amazing EEVblog discount they offer, excellent customer service, and overall, wonderful experience. Thanks!

[xrr rating=4.75/5]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: DS2072, Oscilloscope, Rigol, Tequipment.net

Keithley 196 Repair

2013/11/25 By staze

KEITHLEY_196Knowing no end of Multimeter repair, I decided to pick up a Keithley 196 I found via eBay, then managed to purchase it privately through PayPal for a song (~$50).

The unit arrived a bit worse for wear, but with some Superglue and JB-Weld, I was pretty much able to repair all the case damage. The power switch also needed some percussive maintenance to get it to work reliably. Visual inspection showed only that one of the two Polystyrene Capacitors (68pf 500V) had been melted at some point. After poking it with a probe, the cap started making a very bad buzzing noise, so I replaced it temporarily with a Silver Mica cap of the same rating.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Electronics Tagged With: Capacitors, Keithley, Keithley 196, Multimeter, Polystyrene, repair

Thor: The Dark World

2013/11/11 By staze

thor the dark world posterThor: The Dark World, in short, was a different movie from Thor. The original Thor, much like its director Kenneth Branagh, was extremely Shakespearean. And many people either loved it, or hated it for that. I was in the former camp, but I’ve known several in the latter. Thor: The Dark World however, was very much a Marvel movie. More action, less depth, etc. Is this a bad thing, no, not at all. The movie was still quite good, but it just didn’t feel like a true sequel other than the same characters existing in both. There was very little action in the first movie, it mainly focused on character, and plot. The second movie, however, had a lot of action, and at times, I’ll admit it dragged on just a bit too long (not Iron Man 2 long, but still, longer than was necessary).

The movie focuses largely around a relatively shallow enemy that reminds me a lot of the antagonist from Star Trek. There, but really not very deep… only wanting to bring about his own vision of the universe, and revenge. They did more than Star Trek to flush him out as the antagonist, but not a whole lot. On the “good guy” side, viewers were obviously expected to be Marvel fans, with several references, and tie ins, to the original movie, and Avengers. I would imagine someone viewing this movie without the others would enjoy it, but be rather lost on much of the plot.

The cast of the movie, as usual, was extremely well selected, and there seemed to have been no recasting from the previous movie. The acting and direction were also superb. The only flaw really was that the movie left it’s former Shakespearean roots behind and went to the Marvel storeroom for action and motivation. Overall, I enjoyed it, and I would certainly place it above most other Marvel sequels (save maybe Spiderman 2). Recommended, though maybe not the 3D version I watched as it probably isn’t worth the extra expense.

[xrr rating=4/5]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Avengers, Marvel, Thor: The Dark World

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