🔍 DOS1104 Oscilloscope: Budget-Friendly 4-Channel Scope Review for Beginners

[@bobisyouruncle1]

Just a note. This is the same as the OWON SDS1104. Downloading its manual is much more elaborate.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Yeah i noticed that when i was doing some research on the availability of firmware for scope , but actually didn't think to use the manual , thanks mate , ill post the link in the video to the manual very useful

[@RetroUpgrade]

Pinned - link in description

[@HerrAlien]

Looks like the scope will help. Enjoy using it.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Thanks i will , planning on using it to improve my ZX spectrum TUV to RGB cart/mod , using the math function to measure the YUV at the chip and at the port and subtracting the Chip from the port to get only the noise and use a third probe to see if i can find what is inducing the noise , if there noise is present on the cart edge connector i can do destructive filtering ( adding a inverted signal of the noise signal to remove it from the video signal) enough babbling :) thanks for the comment and support

[@bobisyouruncle1]

Just ordered this scope. I'm exited to test it out 😊. Huge upgrade from my DSO150, which has served me well though, but for audio design, i need 2channels, better sensitivity as well as FFT. For months I've been searching, comparing prices and specs and finally came across a great deal. I also like the usb power method.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Happy for you its a really good scope of you ignorer the quirks of the scope menúes. I am working on making this one portable installing a USBC power bank inside. There is loads of space

[@bobisyouruncle1]

Scope arrived in one piece and working very well. First time i switch it on, it came up in English, but the next morning it came on in chinese😂 Luckily I quickly found the English setting again by pressing the Utility buttton. There is an option to save the configuration internally, which i did. Now English is default and my last screen display appears when boot up. Cool.

[@RetroUpgrade]

@@bobisyouruncle1 Very happy for you man :) , enjoy it its a really nice scope , been using it on my vectrex in my last video , also being digging around the setting and played with the math functions (future video) trying to identify noise in a video signal so i can reduce it . and yeah mine was in Chinese when i got it so hade to swap first time too :P

[@budgetmerch]

Seems nice enough. Looks very similar to the Rigol I had. For what you paid for it, being a digital scope, it's hard to beat. Very usable. Don't blow it up, though - USB does provide a path to ground if you connect to a computer that has a mains connection. so you will need a power bank if you want to prevent that. I am just saying that for anyone who might not realise that - not necessarily you, if you already know. Great for a laptop on battery only, though. 👍My laptop is always mains powered because it is always on so I wouldn't want to power it from that. That would be an easy mistake to make.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Exactly , ill pin your comment :) , thank you for the feedback

[@bobisyouruncle1]

Mine didn't include a power wart/block, so i tried a 2A cellphone power wart/block. The signals were spiked, so i now use a atx's 5v tap and the signal is nice and clear.

[@Dutch_off_grid_homesteading]

Heya, that looks like a very nice scoop I'm thinking of baying 1 so very nice to see this review wel done

[@RetroUpgrade]

Thanks Dutch always a pleasure mate ,thanks for the support :), any question you might have leave it in the comments and i can do a follow up with all the questions answered in a video 😉

[@bobisyouruncle1]

Perhaps there is an option to keep the menu on screen which may then retain your setting when pressing run stop?

[@RetroUpgrade]

Thanks will check it out later today . Need to fix my vertex that broke on me 😭

[@andymouse]

Please don't take this as an horrible comment but as this is your first scope and it's like your first love ..Perfect ! might I suggest that you don't !! get used to the 'Autoset' buttons. I think it's better to try and approach the scope having a reasonable idea what you want to measure and set the timebase and amplitude first and if it won't work then its your get out of jail free card !!. Call me old fashioned but it's a great way to become aware of what you see at deeper level good luck with the subb's should be 1K soon...cheers !!!

[@RetroUpgrade]

Hi , thanks again , just got 1k subs :D, anyways nono i don't mind at all , anything i do wrong please point it out i want to improve. and yeah Richard said the same thing yesterday 🤣, so i am doing all manual settings now , still don't know where to find 50% of the settings yet but i just need to get used to the menus and navigation and i will be fine , cheers mate

[@andymouse]

@@RetroUpgrade your welcome :)

[@bobisyouruncle1]

Enjoy your scope my friend. Ignore negative comments. This is a really nice usefull machine. Enjoy.

[@andymouse]

SQUEAK ! just subbed saw you on Dicky's channel thought I would have a look at your work......cheers !!

[@cg125fimotoge6]

Is there firmware update?

[@RetroUpgrade]

I couldn't find any firmwares for this so i sent a email to the manufacturer and they replay that they will uploaded in the nere future to the hanmatek site , i am going to rip the firmware from min as well as show the internal. There are apparently different versions of same device , other viewer is sending me pictures of the internals of his version to compare , video coming soon waiting for a part to "upgrade" the scope . cheers mate

[@stevenbliss989]

USB is NOT isolated from ground, BUT if you use a power brick, it will be. It is noce that you can power it that way. :)

[@stevenbliss989]

With a plug pack USB you don't have a ground, BUT it is still not clean, so I would use a USB power brick.

[@RetroUpgrade]

@stevenbliss989 already ordered a power bank for it and was thinking of building it in the device and having bank power input to the scope DC input and hook up 5v internal from the power bank output to the scope making it portable and less noisy 😁. Ofc if used while charging we are back to square 1

[@stevenbliss989]

@@RetroUpgrade Nice idea! :) ...hope the internal thing works out, it would be AWESOME! :)

[@SINHRO-FAZA]

Питание данного осциллографа не совсем изолированно от сети, т.к. в каждом БП есть конденсатор, который связывает земляную клейму высоковольтной части с низковольтной на выходе из USB (для минимизации пульсаций, такое есть практически вов сех БП.), но данный осциллограф можно запитать от powerbank, и тогда щупом можно проверять высоковольтные сетевые приборы, не боясь спалить его внутренности.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Да, именно так, я заказал внешний аккумулятор и установлю его внутри в следующем видео. Спасибо за комментарий.

[@SINHRO-FAZA]

@@RetroUpgrade Кстать обратил внимание, что заставка совсем другая, нежели в моём таком же осциллографе, было бы интересно узнать внутреннюю начинку прибора (может не только программно но и структурно на уровне железа они разные), есть ли возможность сфотографировать внутри и дать тут ссылки на фото ?. Если интересно вам, я могу свои фото вам дать.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Да, это было бы интересно, я планирую снять видео, показывающее всю внутреннюю электронику и пытающееся разорвать прошивку, видео сделает его портативным с помощью внешнего аккумулятора, установленного внутри прицела. Я сделаю папку на Google Диске, куда вы сможете загрузить изображения :)

[@lexilex7560]

Did you manage to store something in external drive. I am not able to…

[@RetroUpgrade]

sorry for the delay, yeah i have saved wave form to the drive , USB was formatted to fat32 hope this helps , EXfat should work to

[@FileFixer007]

4 channel Rigol dont cost 10 times more. You can buy Rigol DHO804 for double price of that DOS1104 scope. Also Rigol DHO804 can be easy hacked for free and with all of that it worth it to pay double in any aspect.

[@RetroUpgrade]

While that's true :) , the rigol dho814 is the 100mhz 4 channel variant is better but it cost right around 500€ , for hobbiest 200€ is already a stretch normally , for a professional 100% the rigol is a better buy , and regarding the hacked firmware , that is a really good rezone for the rigol but i am pretty sure ppl will hack this bottom dollar scope as well. already a few threads on the web regarding this topic :)

[@scotshabalam2432]

@@RetroUpgrade Don't gas light us by saying "Rigol's for professionals!" you don't know what other peoples' specifications for test equipment are to make that claim.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Yeah I ment if you are choosing between these 2 scopes,😂😂. If you are made of money 🤑 you can always go keysight or other major brand. Budget scopes have their place but like I said not for everyone. And if you know your specifications for your work scope you are not looking for a 200€ scope.

[@scotshabalam2432]

@@RetroUpgrade Every engineer on the planet is going to have specifications for their equipment and a $200 price point is not budget pricing that's just wasting money on stuff that might not suit your needs.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Guessing you missed the entire point of the video. Oh well. Read the title again. The scope is definitely useful for more then engineers. But it's fine everyone buys what they need and can afford. This scope is well over what I need to designe and improve my PCB designes. It's enough for Richard on LER. 40+years experience repairing electronics. If you are working on high speed electronics GHz+ yeah buy a 10k scope usally it's part of your jobb and they pay for it. But don't say it's useless because it doesn't suit your needs.

[@cg125fimotoge6]

この動画をありがとう、現在中国の貨幣、元が下がるのを待って購入します。

[@y_x2]

All button need debouncing!

[@RetroUpgrade]

Yep , you should always debounce, in hardware or software, but i have gotten away with not debouncing a few times , but yeah really recommend debouncing properly if you are making a product or something important / sensitive.

[@TzOk]

Oh, yes - you can fry this thing. Grounds of all channels are still connected together and they float at the common voltage of ~90V, coming from the ungrounded switchmode PSU.

[@RetroUpgrade]

Hi, ok yeah technically you are correct you can blow it up if you want to. but removing the Earth ground reference from the scope gives some benefits to , i am to much of a noob to explain exactly how, but Dave from the EEVBlog made a nice video explaining this in detail : kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpKofaR3pJmeobMsi=ZN3YfFvR4NVccuvj OH yeah btw i just tested continuity from USB PC connecto ground(on the scope) and the Scope BNC prob grounds and they are connected so if the scope is connected to the PC it will become earth ground referenced(Most PC usb are earth ground ref) and be in danger of shorting if the product being scoped also has same reference . and thanks for the feedback appreciate all of it

[@TzOk]

@@RetroUpgrade Removing ground from the scope is a futile benefit - if you connect the GND clip to the live wire, you will not only feed live into all other GND clips but also expose mains voltage on all metal elements on the front panel. Under a properly grounded oscilloscope, this would trip the RCD, here you have no protection at all. It indeed gives you the benefit of using one (and only one) channel as a "poor man's differential probe", but it is extremely unsafe, and if you really want to isolate something from mains it is the DUT, not the testing/measurement equipment.

[@RetroUpgrade]

@TzOk yeah agree with you there mains voltage electronics like PSU are dangerous and should only be worked on by qualified ppl. This type of scope I would never use for mains power ofc due to the ground as you explained. Good thing is you can ground it via the usb port I guess 😂. Really appreciate the input. Still a bit of a noob when it comes to scopes and your feedback can help others . Already pined this so others can see 😊 Cheers

[@TzOk]

@@RetroUpgrade The problem is, that isolating the oscilloscope from the PE is somewhat helpful only while working with mains. There is no other reason for doing that. And when doing so, you may only use one channel out of 4. I mean, I wouldn't call this an advantage of this scope, because in 99% of other cases, you really should ground it with an extra wire connected to the PE...

[@RetroUpgrade]

@@TzOk Hmmm, so to make it Mains safe , i should tie it to ground somehow , the Input is a barrel jack so that's not going to work, guess i could mod in a ground wire with a crocodile clip that can be clipped on to ground pin on the outlet when ever working on mains , to make sure i don't put 220v to the BNC Connectors , i am usually very carful so i probably wont kill my self, and i do check if the circuit has a HOT ground before connecting ground so i should be able to use it on PSU but yeah , so these small handheld scopes can be a death trap i guess if not grounded correctly . hadn't thought about that :)