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Function generators (again)

G

George Herold

Jan 1, 1970
0
We need a function generator (FG) to recommend to customers for
various experiments. We were reselling the protek 8003, but I found
out today that protek is no more! So I’m back searching.
We’d like to just have one function generator that could ‘cover’ a few
different experiments.
For one we need Sine waves from 0.5 to 2 Hz, with at least 10mHz
resolution.
(1 mHz would be nicer.) (This seems to eliminate a lot of the low end
FG’s out there.)

The other function would be sine wave sweeps and bursts, frequencies
from hundreds of kHz to 5 MHz at a minimum.

Oh price, The protek was selling for ~$300. Something near that
would be nice. lets say no more than $1k.

So I’ve been through the usual suspects, Rigol, B&K, Instek, Fluke.
Tek, Agilent.

The only one that fits the bill is the Rigol DG1022. I seem to recall
someone having issues trying to program it. I don’t really need that
function for our customers. But it would be nice for my own use.
Any idea if Rigol has fixed that?

Any other candidates?

Thanks
George H.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
George said:
We need a function generator (FG) to recommend to customers for
various experiments. We were reselling the protek 8003, but I found
out today that protek is no more! So I’m back searching.
We’d like to just have one function generator that could ‘cover’ a few
different experiments.
For one we need Sine waves from 0.5 to 2 Hz, with at least 10mHz
resolution.
(1 mHz would be nicer.) (This seems to eliminate a lot of the low end
FG’s out there.)

The other function would be sine wave sweeps and bursts, frequencies
from hundreds of kHz to 5 MHz at a minimum.

Oh price, The protek was selling for ~$300. Something near that
would be nice. lets say no more than $1k.

So I’ve been through the usual suspects, Rigol, B&K, Instek, Fluke.
Tek, Agilent.

The only one that fits the bill is the Rigol DG1022. I seem to recall
someone having issues trying to program it. I don’t really need that
function for our customers. But it would be nice for my own use.
Any idea if Rigol has fixed that?

Any other candidates?

I have the Mastech SFG-2120. The first one had major issues but after
they sent me a new one it's fine. However, it seems to be permanently
out of stock.
 
G

George Herold

Jan 1, 1970
0
My B&K 4003A is nice. Digital counter but otherwise all analog, no
programming.

Thanks, I'm not sure analog will work for the low frequency
application.

There we are looking at the resonance of a torsional harmonic
oscillator.
Freq ~ 1 Hz and Q's of 0.5 to 100 (or more) So being able to step
through the resonance digitally is very nice.

The Rigol looks sharp
http://www.rigolna.com/products/waveform-generators/dg1000/dg1022/

(At least they don't look to be going away unlike protek.)

George H.
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
George Herold said:
We need a function generator (FG) to recommend to customers for
various experiments. We were reselling the protek 8003, but I found
out today that protek is no more! So I=92m back searching.
We=92d like to just have one function generator that could =91cover=92 a fe=
w
different experiments.
For one we need Sine waves from 0.5 to 2 Hz, with at least 10mHz
resolution.
(1 mHz would be nicer.) (This seems to eliminate a lot of the low end
FG=92s out there.)

The other function would be sine wave sweeps and bursts, frequencies
from hundreds of kHz to 5 MHz at a minimum.

The Siglent SDG1005 comes to mind. Lecroy sells these under their own
brand name.
 
G

George Herold

Jan 1, 1970
0
The Siglent SDG1005 comes to mind. Lecroy sells these under their own
brand name.

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

Hnmm that's interesting thanks. It looks a bit like the Atten
ATF20B.. which was panned here,
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/atten-atf20b-teardown/

Seems like there are zillions of FG's.

George H.
 
We need a function generator (FG) to recommend to customers for
various experiments.  We were reselling the protek 8003,  but I found
out today that protek is no more!  So I’m back searching.
We’d like to just have one function generator that could ‘cover’ a few
different experiments.
For one we need Sine waves from 0.5 to 2 Hz, with at least 10mHz
resolution.
(1 mHz would be nicer.)  (This seems to eliminate a lot of the low end
FG’s out there.)

The other function would be sine wave sweeps and bursts, frequencies
from hundreds of kHz to 5 MHz at a minimum.

Oh price,  The protek was selling for ~$300.  Something near that
would be nice.  lets say no more than $1k.

So I’ve been through the usual suspects, Rigol, B&K, Instek, Fluke.
Tek, Agilent.

The only one that fits the bill is the Rigol DG1022.  I seem to recall
someone having issues trying to program it.  I don’t really need that
function for our customers.  But it would be nice for my own use.
Any idea if Rigol has fixed that?

Any other candidates?

Thanks
George H.

can it be a pc based one?

-Lasse
 
J

Jamie

Jan 1, 1970
0
George said:
We need a function generator (FG) to recommend to customers for
various experiments. We were reselling the protek 8003, but I found
out today that protek is no more! So I’m back searching.
We’d like to just have one function generator that could ‘cover’ a few
different experiments.
For one we need Sine waves from 0.5 to 2 Hz, with at least 10mHz
resolution.
(1 mHz would be nicer.) (This seems to eliminate a lot of the low end
FG’s out there.)

The other function would be sine wave sweeps and bursts, frequencies
from hundreds of kHz to 5 MHz at a minimum.

Oh price, The protek was selling for ~$300. Something near that
would be nice. lets say no more than $1k.

So I’ve been through the usual suspects, Rigol, B&K, Instek, Fluke.
Tek, Agilent.

The only one that fits the bill is the Rigol DG1022. I seem to recall
someone having issues trying to program it. I don’t really need that
function for our customers. But it would be nice for my own use.
Any idea if Rigol has fixed that?

Any other candidates?

Thanks
George H.
I have a DG1022 and it works very well. The programming issue is the
PC software. I loaded it, it seems to work, just not very glamorous as
some may expect.

My latest use of this gen was a QAM and QPM experiment, where I used
both channels to test some application theories.

I see they're still lots of venders out there offering them but I
wouldn't pay over $400. I just don't think they are worth over that.


Jamie
 
G

George Herold

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a DG1022 and it works very well. The programming issue is the
PC software. I loaded it, it seems to work, just not very glamorous as
some may expect.

  My latest use of this gen was a QAM and QPM experiment, where I used
both channels to test some application theories.

  I see they're still lots of venders out there offering them but I
wouldn't pay over $400. I just don't think they are worth over that.

  Jamie- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks Jamie, The dg1022 lists for $379 on the rigol web site.
(If we buy in bulk (25-50) we may be able to wrangle a discount.)
I figure we'll order one to play with,
Rigol seems like 'brand name' now.
Say what's the shortest pulse it will output?

George H.
 
G

George Herold

Jan 1, 1970
0
can it be a pc based one?

-Lasse- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hmm that's an interesting question. I don't want to be in the postion
of helping customers to get the pc interface working.

What do you have in mind? A usb thing with some bnc connectors might
work.

George H.
 
G

George Herold

Jan 1, 1970
0
The Atten ATF20 is a real piece of crap. Skip that one but the Siglent
seems to be OK.

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

- Show quoted text -

OK thanks.

It's like a jungle out there for low end test gear.
George H.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
George said:
[...]
can it be a pc based one?

-Lasse- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hmm that's an interesting question. I don't want to be in the postion
of helping customers to get the pc interface working.

What do you have in mind? A usb thing with some bnc connectors might
work.

If you go that route make sure that the generators is totally,
positively, one-hundred percent isolated at the USB link. Else all hell
can break loose and you'll be in the business of noise fixing. "Hey,
George, they installed this new elevator and now ..."

I think Velleman has some USB-based generators that are isolated but not
all of them are. You'll have to go through and check the specs.

Other than that Lasse's idea is a good one because it can get you back
into your previous old $300 price range.
 
J

Jamie

Jan 1, 1970
0
George said:
Thanks Jamie, The dg1022 lists for $379 on the rigol web site.
(If we buy in bulk (25-50) we may be able to wrangle a discount.)
I figure we'll order one to play with,
Rigol seems like 'brand name' now.
Say what's the shortest pulse it will output?

George H.

Hmmm, shortest pulse..

Pulse width are in the range of
500uHz up to 3Mhz

But in order to generate a standing pulse you need
to define the other parameters too, like Delays, levels,
source etc.
http://www.rigol.com/download/Oversea/DG/User_guide/DG1022_UserGuide_EN.pdftrigger


Scroll down a bit but don't miss the back panel options while you're
scrolling :)

Jamie
 
G

George Herold

Jan 1, 1970
0
George said:
[...]
can it be a pc based one?
-Lasse- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Hmm that's an interesting question.  I don't want to be in the postion
of helping customers to get the pc interface working.
What do you have in mind?  A usb thing with some bnc connectors might
work.

If you go that route make sure that the generators is totally,
positively, one-hundred percent isolated at the USB link. Else all hell
can break loose and you'll be in the business of noise fixing. "Hey,
George, they installed this new elevator and now ..."

I think Velleman has some USB-based generators that are isolated but not
all of them are. You'll have to go through and check the specs.

Other than that Lasse's idea is a good one because it can get you back
into your previous old $300 price range.

Thanks Joerg, I must admit a preference for a self contained box.
But some customers may like a computer thing.

The rigol for $379 seems like a decent deal. We use to buy the
proteks for $300... (and have to resell them for more... obviously)
There were a bit dicey. (I wonder if the crappy fans took them down?)

Any price increase will be passed on, and the rigol may be better
value for the money.

Hey at 20MHz the rigol can replace the SG9000,

http://shop.vetcosurplus.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=7455
(we don't pay that much for them.)
that we resell with optical pumping (OP).
The OP uses a fixed frequency RF and sweeps the B-field,
but it's sometimes easier for students to understand a fixed field and
swept frequency.

George H.
 
U

Uwe Hercksen

Jan 1, 1970
0
George said:
For one we need Sine waves from 0.5 to 2 Hz, with at least 10mHz
resolution.
(1 mHz would be nicer.) (This seems to eliminate a lot of the low end
FG’s out there.)
Hello,

what about a generator with DDS (digital direct synthesis)? They are
very good for low frequencies and good resolution.

Bye
 
R

Rick

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jamie said:
Hmmm, shortest pulse..

Pulse width are in the range of
500uHz up to 3Mhz

But in order to generate a standing pulse you need
to define the other parameters too, like Delays, levels,
source etc.
http://www.rigol.com/download/Oversea/DG/User_guide/DG1022_UserGuide_EN.pdftrigger

Scroll down a bit but don't miss the back panel options while you're
scrolling :)

Jamie
You might take a look at this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/8MHz-DDS-Fu...ultDomain_0&hash=item2c66722160#ht_5580wt_918

It does not have an enclosure but works well. I have used mine for two
years with no problems. There are several with different specs and outputs
for as low as $8.

Rick
 
R

Rick

Jan 1, 1970
0
message










You might take a look at
this.http://www.ebay.com/itm/8MHz-DDS-Function-Signal-Generator-Source-Mod...

It does not have an enclosure but works well. I have used mine for two
years with no problems. There are several with different specs and outputs
for as low as $8.

Rick- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

That's interesting. How the 'bleep' can they make it so cheaply?

George H.

I used to buy a relay from a New York company for $2.44 in 100's. They
pissed me off so I started looking in China for relays. I now buy the SAME
one for 63 cents with free shipping. Where is the fat?

Rick
 
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