Battery powered bench top Oscilloscope recommendation wanted - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: euzer
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 05:01:53 pm
content: Hi.I'm after a recommendation of a decent battery powered bench (not hand held) oscilloscope with some specs ofBW >= 100MHzPreferably 4 channelMemory >= 4MpointsLi-ion rechargeable batterySerial decode options.Rigol do the DS6000 but supposedly the Li-ion can't be supplied outside China. Already have a mains Agilent DSO6000 which can be had with a factory fit battery pack, but would prefer something different, cheaper and more up to date.Thanks.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2015, 07:16:48 pm
content: Quote from: euzer on October 08, 2015, 05:01:53 pmYou say bench and battery powered.......for isolation needs?If so, there are some solutions, please give us the bigger picture.

author: baoshi
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 06:18:31 am
content: Depends on how they ship. You can request sea shipment that doesn't have Li-ion restriction.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 07:10:59 am
content: With those specs there are not many scopes out there.Also do note that that Rigol wont have much of a feature wise advantage over the Agilent as well as it wont be as fast as the Agilent on large memory sizes. Pretty much the only thing you gain is the deep 140Mpt memory. Those DSO6000s may be old but they still hold there own against the latest scopes in the lower price ranges.If you want to have the battery just for isolation i would recommend you instead just buy a 1:1 mains isolation transformer and plug the scope in to that. But be very careful when you do that as it can be very unsafe.Another thing you might want to look at is high voltage differential probes. These probes can handle about 500V of common mode on its inputs while the scope can see the diference. This lets you do things like watch high side current sense resistors or the gate of a high side switching transistor.

author: euzer
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 08:42:45 am
content: Quote from: tautech on October 08, 2015, 07:16:48 pmIt's primarily for isolation yes. It's for development use and the equipment that it's used on has Earth detection circuitry and it's preferable for us not to connect earth to equipment ground. It does get moved from locations by several people so it would be nice to not have a bulky isolation transformer to move. The voltages typically measured aren't particularly high, < 80V p-p, typically <50v DC. We do have an old HP 20&200:1 20MHz differential probe but it's bulky and eats batteries. Some compact 100MHz scope powered diff probes may be a solution but they tend to be pricey and only for lower voltages (so I've been told - I haven't checked). I know you can use two probes and the scope math function to get a differential. A battery powered scope seemed an ideal solution, if it exists. There seems to be a lot more scope manufacturers than there used to be and thought someone could offer a suggestion. The agilent/keysight 6000 series although a decent scope does seem a bit dated (we've had ours almost 10 yeas) with the deep form factor and it's pricing in relation to the 5000 and 3000x series seems relatively expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if this range was next in line for a overhaul.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 08:49:04 am
content: Don't know about Rigol battery, but maybe someone can examine their scope and provide some feedback.My first scope was an Owon PDS; it didn't come with a battery. In back, I find two leads. That is all. 8.4VDC between leads. I see that the space accommodates exactly 8x 18650 cells. So I made up a pack and soldered it in. Two stacks of 4 cells in parallel and bingo, we have lift off. Not that the PDS has the specs you need, but the XDS series might come closer to hitting the mark.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 09:33:11 am
content: Quote from: euzer on October 09, 2015, 08:42:45 amThe ideal solution would be an isolated channel DSO however they are expensive and I'm not aware if any come with Decode options. Probably Tek or Keysight offer such models.Failing that something like this 100MHz Pintek differential probe should do all you want:http://www.pintek.com.tw/product_detail/landersound/index.php?Product_SN=19267&Company_SN=6002&Product_Site_Classify_SN=17072

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 10:37:19 am
content: I have a wacky idea to design a battery powered replacement PSU for the Rigol DS1054Z

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 10:39:27 am
content: Several Owon scopes have a battery option:List here:http://www.saelig.com/PSBEAO/PSBEA010.htm

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 04:28:56 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on October 09, 2015, 10:37:19 amOh i would love to see that. Since that scope doesn't really get very hot it might actually run for a while on batteries.I cant imagine the optional battery for the Agilent 6000 being very good. The scope eats power like crazy so the battery would need to be huge to last a reasonable amount of time.

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 05:04:55 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on October 09, 2015, 10:37:19 amRigol totally should have offered a battery option, the scope is plenty small enough to be considered portable.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2015, 06:38:57 pm
content: Quote from: TheSteve on October 09, 2015, 05:04:55 pmAnd not just Rigol, how hard would it be for manufacturers to add a rear DC jack for say 12V (SLA's) and then have real portability.For several old CRO's that have a pre-regulator supplying ~20-40V to the SMPS, battery operation is quite a simple conversion.But luckily modern compact DSO's do not draw much power so can be easily powered with a cheap mains inverter from 12V batteries.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2015, 02:55:47 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on October 09, 2015, 10:37:19 amSomebody already did it. Apparently it works from 38V DC upwards (higher is better - 50V is good).Maybe you could do a video on this - a couple of crocodile clips on the mains plug and DC input.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2015, 04:32:01 pm
content: MicSig tablet oscilloscope?

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2015, 10:15:20 pm
content: The Rigol DS1054Z will work reliably off 48V. I often run mine off four 12V SLA batteries connected in series.I also have the OWON SDS7102V which I got with a battery and lasts for about 6 hours per charge.Floating the oscilloscope is generally a bad idea. In fact the OWON has a screw on the back to earth it when run off a battery. Of course I never bother earthing my oscilloscope when it's running from a battery because it's normally in a situation when it's not practical nor is it necessary, since I'm not using it on mains equipment.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2015, 06:53:40 am
content: And then there is the common trick of warping the earth prong in packing tape before plugging it in in order to do floating measurements. Very unsafe

author: View[+]Finder
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 13, 2015, 04:43:39 pm
content: Attn, Dave:I have the Keysight (Agilent (h/p)) MSO-X 2012 and in your teardown, the mains p/s connects to the mainboard with a connector that looks very much like the one on a PC motherboard (old style) minus the coloring of the wires. There are many DC 12V p/s that can be used to make a PC run on batteries--I have done this for years--and the dropout voltage on the p/s is low enough to use LiPo 3S to power the scope.Before I open my scope to check conformance to a PC pinout, is this a dumb idea--to go battery power? My reason is to isolate so that using an EKG hookup to a human (me, for example) doesn't result in a reboot or 'bricking' of my central nervous system. The standard is for 'isolation' but is there another way?Thanks,Donal