Rigol DM858E "Hack/upgrade"??? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: DaveBlackburn
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 09, 2025, 03:10:19 pm
content: Hi!Considering how easy it has been to hack/upgrade the Rigol scopes in the past, has anyone tried or heard of hacking the Rigol DM800 series bench multimeter?DM858e to DM858?https://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-multimeters/dm800/I have the lower version but no access to the higher version to see if the hardware is the same.I wonder if it is a software upgrade for the higher version.Dave

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2025, 06:44:02 pm
content: Chances are high that there are true differences in the hardware. An example is the shunt for a 3 A vs 10 A range. Chances are also that the better version has actually more memory and a better voltage reference. They may well still used the same PCB layout, but different parts populated. So I very much doubt that one could do a firmware hack or software upgrade. Even of some parts (like the memory or reading speed) are a SW limit only the other changes would not allow to just change the SW side.I would consider it more like similar to the situation with the Sigilent 3055E and 3055: same software but lower grade parts in some areas and this causes lower accuracy in many ranges. Here they differ in the PCB layout to use different parts that are not pin compatible.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2025, 11:37:20 pm
content: Quote from: Kleinstein on May 09, 2025, 06:44:02 pmHere there are 3 models but the west only gets SDM3045X and SDM3055 and they are different HW.The East don't get SDM3045X but instead SDM3055X-E that provides 5.5 digits unlike its 4.5 digit brother SDM3045X.Enhancements to the 4.5 digit model have been done....

author: DaveBlackburn
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 11, 2025, 02:21:08 pm
content: I was at lease hoping the current shunt would be the same. Ann upgrade to 10a would be nice.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2025, 08:28:52 pm
content: Quote from: DaveBlackburn on May 11, 2025, 02:21:08 pmAll the SDM range supports 10A current measurement and some models also support an external shunt to provide 30A capability.This external shunt plugs straight into the front sockets for you to select the higher 30A range it make available.It's very similar to an old HP external bench meter shunt and tests we did on one while visiting Defpom recently showed the SCD30A to be more accurate.https://siglentna.com/product/current-shunt-2/

author: DaneLaw
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2025, 09:01:58 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on May 11, 2025, 08:28:52 pmRigol Siglent, Siglent Rigol...not easy.OP is likely referring to his Rigol DM858E and the small hope of getting 10A in play on that unit.Best bet is to compare, Quuite a few models in this 7" rigol formfactor-line do borrow from each other, but componentwise and what differs between DM858E & DM858..I don't think has been fully concluded(yet)

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2025, 06:59:06 am
content: We don't know for sure what the difference is hardware wise. They would normally save on the expensive parts (e.g. shunts, high voltage divider, voltage reference, fuse, maybe ADC, burn in / testing), without the need to change much to the overall circuit.The different high current ranges are a clear indication that there are different shunts with a different resistance.They give the burden voltage - so not so much using only a faction of the range, though much of the drop is from the fuse.The part that a software hack may get is the reading speed and maybe the memory. This part may be just a software thing. However with a different shunt one would likely not be able to just use the other firmware.For a higher current range, I would looks for an external shunt and some math with the DMM in voltage mode.

author: yozas
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2025, 08:04:10 am
content: I have read that they are selling new hardware revision 1.02 now, fixing some autoranging problems and low resistance when measuring in some voltage ranges, anyone tried those yet?