EEVblog

Inside the National Instruments NI VB-8034 Virtual Bench. A 350MHz 4 channel mixed signal oscilloscope, arbitrary waveform generator, power supply, and I/O module that can connect to the PC, tablet or phone via USB, WiFi, or Ethernet.
www.ni.com/virtualbench/
Datasheets:
Xilinx Kintex 7 www.xilinx.com/support/documen...
ADC08D1520 ADC www.ti.com/product/ADC08D1520
CRF Reed Relay: standexelectronics.com/wp-con...
High Speed OpAmp: www.ti.com/product/THS3091
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[@RadRider33]

I actually had the pleasure of designing a few of the power supplies inside this guy a few years back. Pretty cool to see something you've worked on in a shipping product!

[@userPrehistoricman]

+RadRider33 That's really awesome.

[@EEVblog]

+RadRider33 Small world!

[@theirisheditor]

The video ad that played before the start of this video here was for this same NI VirtualBench product. For those that haven't seen the ad, it showed how a light bulb improved upon the kerosene lamp, the washing machine improved upon hand washing and that the NI VirtualBench will be the way forward in the lab. If the 4 digit price just needs a decimal point placed in the middle and I'm sure it would... ;-)

[@DrFrank-xj9bc]

Really beautifully designed.Thanks for the teardown.

[@matthewrichardson828]

@23:00 I've had so many bad experiences using built in ADC's in MCU's that I'll never do it again. I stick to SPI ADC interfaces for resolution and isolation.

[@repje2010]

Very nice device !! and Dave you did a very nice teardown ! I love it the way you do that :-) Greetings, Mark from the Netherlands

[@hitechespresso]

What an impressive and badass instrument!

[@hene193]

At 30:00 "496 dollars. US of course" And the image says "All prices are in AUD" lol dave :)

[@EEVblog]

+Hene193 DOH!

[@williammontes5538]

+EEVblog so which is the right currency?

+william montes Pesos.

[@williammontes5538]

Toni Lähdekorpi Thanks

[@SidneyCritic]

Lets put a V8 on a roller-skate, Nah, lets put TWO V8s on a roller-skate.

[@chrisridesbicycles]

They must have written the whole software and HDL stuff in Labview so they need this big-ass hardware. ;)

[@Ivo--]

Can't wait for the review!

[@badman2oo8]

Nice Breakdown!

[@Antilevitation]

looks awesome!

[@jeromevuarand3768]

Next to the "Heat Sink Detect #4" arrow, there is a number "4" cast in the heatsink itself, which refers to the screw. So it might just be an assembly hint (like the power supply binding post colours on the front panel PCB). Or maybe the detection is done by testing electrical continuity between two screws.

[@AmRadPodcast]

Pretty impressive quality, but I have to say with that price point I'd just go out and get some Rigol gear, a couple of other goodies and use the rest to book a vacation at the beach.

[@jakp8777]

Good idea. Instead of hiring you, ill hire the chinese and take a vacation while you are unemployed.

[@AmRadPodcast]

+jak p (skiguy09) sounds like a plan

[@markwebcraft]

+The Current Source You do realize that the rigol gear would not come with "The Smell" right? I dont know how you would get anything done without that.

[@AmRadPodcast]

Mark Webcraft Ah, major oversight on my part.Thank you for pointing that out! :)

[@shana_dmr]

+The Current Source After paying around $4k on Rigol 350 MHz four channel scope and buying couple of other goodies I don't think your vacation will be too festive;)

[@tmdrake]

I want this for Christmas!

[@gerardojimav4076]

I was waiting for this!!

[@bombapiotr]

Always dreamed about one of these.

[@PelDaddy]

Nice teardown... Now turn it on!

[@battlecoder]

(18:48) I think the heatsink "detect" points are marked on the heatsink itself, because the PCB label matches the "4" engraved on the metal. I can't tell if they are testing points other than #4, though. I didn't see connections to the other rings on the PCB (although they could perfectly be in the inner layers I guess). I realize this video is kinda old now, but great teardown as usual, Dave! I can't believe I missed this one.

[@txm100]

What are those metal boxes with the half open top? And what are they for?

[@Psychlist1972]

"Thermal Sponge" would be a great band name.

[@enlishbob]

+simontay1984 Hard core Electro?

[@mianoso]

+enlishbob HOT core Electro

[@jdog987]

Instant 90's nostalgia with that mention Pete. There is a band called Sponge, and I think we could re-appropriate the lyrics here: ♫When I tear-down, so much compound, tiny little screws, I've had it up to here..♫ kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmeYf4Gea9t9lbM

[@solognabologna]

damn the aesthetic design is really nice

[@wi_zeus6798]

Can someone please explain how the +/- 25V is giving out 50W of power? Is it effectively 50V at 1A, when measured across the output?

[@mrstevenund]

I know NI has had custom chips in the past. I don't know if they still do. We have the 2-channel version at work and love it! I'd love to see how the insides compare to the 4-channel.

[@timmgiles]

Great tear down and a great piece of kit. I would also like to see what the current version of the software is like - if you get the chance.

[@colibrimecatronic9922]

29:57 Dave: "US off course. Yankee money". Digikey:"All prices are in AUD".

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Could they be implementing a SPDIF for connection between the two FPGA chips?

[@OneBiOzZ]

i have used kintex FPGAs before ... for 10gb SFP+ transfer of PCIe acquisition cards what the hell are they using it for in this?

[@EEVblog]

+Alyx BioHaz It'd a lot'a FPGA that's for sure.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Heatsink sense probably to avoid cooking the expensive FPGA - minimal cost to implement so makes sense

[@Jeff121456]

+mikeselectricstuff my guess is more than one blew up before they added that.

[@JamesPotts]

Yeah, those Kintex chips can dissipate a lot of heat if they're "full" and running at a reasonable clock.

[@iamjadedhobo]

+mikeselectricstuff Given all the test pads on both sides of the board, my guess is that this thing is production tested without the heatsink. Of course you don't want it to overheat while verifying it works properly ;)

[@EEVblog]

+mikeselectricstuff Kind of a huge and obvious manufacturing step to miss though, but yeah, nothing wrong with over engineering.

[@EEVblog]

+iamjadedhobo Could very well put itself in a lower power test mode. In fact the heatsink sense could enable the test mode.

[@MDFRESCUER]

Good teardown.

[@augustus4711]

Is this thermal conductive foam material reusable? Because, it seems it stays in its compressed form, once used, and there may be not enough mechanical pressure to ensure proper thermal conductivity if reused?

[@priestblood]

I just bought a Agilent hp 54645D without the logic leads can you do I teardown of the leads as would like to see if I can make some as I haven't seen any on ebay and I don't want to just put a wire from plug .I am itching to use it

[@rymannphilippe]

Very nice tear down. Would be interesting to see some comments from NI about the huge overpower inside this instrument? I understand the professional layout and insane build quality, this ends in an expensive price of shore. Nothing wrong for a instrument for school. But why put this lot of power and memory (money) inside and don't use it??? This channel grows great and I love every video. Thanks Dave!

[@toomasrett3931]

Hello. I have used NI USB-6251 DAQ in the past. My speculation for the extra FPGA processor is to run locally, instead of of of your computers slow USB connection. Allowing all processes to take place simultaneously without any real-time lag between control and read-back of data. I like this tear-down... Thanks, Tom

[@MeakerSE]

Those thermal pads are not designed to be adhesive, it's just a side effect of the amount of compression they allow for great contact. Notebook graphics cards use them on the VRM portions of the heatsink a lot too.

[@mUbase]

Hey Dave! Loving the teardown especially!! I'm wondering why, at 43:09 when you are looking at the double sided thermal tape there is a place for a TQFP chip that goes UNDER the heatsink! ?? Why would that be there??

[@darylynn621]

For the cost? does it support a display?

[@Nanocosm]

Is another reason to use an LDO in a bench supply that has a switching pre regulator to have a small output capacitance? You have a big cap on parallel with the load on a standard switcher.

[@theh0r5e90]

Whats all this distortion stuff,Anyhow?

[@pratherat]

I'm surprised no mention was made of the board-mounted threaded inserts. I've never seen those before.

[@obefab]

Exactly the sort of equipment that was bought on my high school. Overpriced stuff, that no student was able to use. I think the main intention of the teacher was to spend the budget, even if we just measured the characteristics of some transistors and diods. Wasted money. Giving the students a analog oscilloscope most of them would have failed when they have had to change the timescale. But for sure there is some AUTO button that does this job for you.

[@zaprodk]

At 25:31 i see a bank of SMD-components that look like they 'code' the board version into the board. Either for visual check, or to be read by software.

[@szoszaty]

Hi Dave, at 36:39 that is an LMK0482x Ultra Low-Noise JESD204B Compliant Clock Jitter Cleaner with Dual Loop PLLs from TI.

[@322doug]

someone help me out here one time, i just built a bench power supply , it has adj volts and amps, what size pots do i need for these, i know dave said stay away from the chinese single turn, but that's all i remember???? b

[@brunofonseca9686]

Anatel's decal on the back. Looks like NI has its eyes on Brazil.

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

Loved that tear down Dave..... Looks like that big heat sink with the thermal sponge under it forms its shapes when its applied from new, I bet Ti will have to replace it before it goes on sale to ensure it will mould itself properly. I think to get it to sit right after removal will be difficult.

[@Graham_Langley]

+Michael Hawthorne Agreed - I wish him luck getting it properly back together plus he'll have to replace the phase change pads on the FPGAs.

[@milleranalytics]

+Michael Hawthorne Yes, thermal gap pad such as this is typically designed to be a one-time use or it can deform and not provide the proper compression.

[@shelvacu]

"all the electrons are gonna fall out" I thought this was gonna get old. It hasn't :D

[@iankellogg]

good call on the comparators 41:10 SNx4LVC541A Octal Buffers/Drivers With 3-State Outputs

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Those look Exactly like PTC fuses... Just not the usual green colour

[@Jordanma36]

+mikeselectricstuff can confirm.

[@Graham_Langley]

+mikeselectricstuff Yup. LF = Littelfuse.

[@power-max]

I think I saw some simalar units to these when I was at UVA for an open house, I thought they were a bit cheap and crappy compared to "real" tools, like trying to to bundle everything into one multi tool unit. I'm glad to see those things are actually really well built!

[@power-max]

Haha, now I am at UVA for EE, and get to use these every week. Software is a bit clunky, disappointed in it, given the quality of the unit itself.

[@ASilentS]

I think I took a BNC splitter from the lab once back at university. Don't think i'd be bold enough to nick a whole bit of kit.

[@shelvacu]

"smells like a top quality instrument" Uh, Dave, are you feeling okay? Have you had any head injuries recently?

[@DjZorlag]

If the price was lower or country of origin different, surely more negatives would have been found!

[@Bodragon]

Did they let you keep that thing?

[@tyttuut]

Did anyone else see that PTC fuse around 10:30? Massive! Never seen one like it.

[@robertbackhaus8911]

Love the solid screw mount surrounding the USB port. No board flexing as persons jam USB plugs in with unnecessary force. They really have designed these to be abused, haven't they!

[@timlipinski2571]

Did you use some thermal paste when you put it back together ? Maybe a teardown of an UPS. Thank you for the video ! tjl

[@albinekb]

Why didn't they make it "modular"? With multimeter as it own board, that way if a student fucks up it's much easier to fix. Just replace the burnt board?

[@roygillotti4615]

+Albin Ekblom A Modular design cuts into the profit margin.

[@tritonmole]

I love NI ELVIS II+ workstation. Its like a giant Arduino with 100x more functionality. I wish i could wonder out of the university`s lab department with one in my lap.

[@KieranHarkin]

How do you readout the values? lol

[@ghargreaves]

The "Blast Shield" around the DMM is actually a shroud for the temperature controlled oven to keep the DMM at a specific temperature regardless of incoming air temperature or exhaust fan speed. The heat sink is large because the scope and ARB are also temperature controlled.

[@michelfeinstein]

I didn't see any heaters on the video, did you?

[@ghargreaves]

+MFeinstein At 5:55 and 17:00 there's what looks like a row of 1/4W, 1206 resistors on the inside of the shield but the outside of the isolation. You can see it again at 19:57 topside and 20:29 bottomside.

[@michelfeinstein]

+The Free Parts Bin that's pretty common on DMMs, Dave even explain them rapidly, it's a cheap way of making a high voltage input resistor... The total voltage will divide itself in each resistor in series, so you can use 10 resistors that have 1/10th the maximum voltage limit each, instead of one resistor that will need to take the whole high voltage itself and usually are pretty expensive.

[@Graham_Langley]

+The Free Parts Bin Too substantial for a simple airflow shroud and looks like it could be polycarbonate .

[@ghargreaves]

+MFeinstein I wasn't talking about the string of resistors inside the EMI cage. I was talking about the straight resistors outside the EMI cage.

[@matthewlepper3662]

What! Where's the GPIB? What kind of NI product is this? The heatsink on the o-scope board reminded me of a telecom system I once worked on. We had single heatsink spanning multiple BGAs, but in our case, the bottom of the heatsink was milled to match the contours of the components. Since there's still some variation in the final assembled height of components after soldering, we used a two-part thermal adhesive to attach the heatsink to the board. The only way to get the heatsink off was to soften the glue using a heat-gun. Expecting something similar, I thought the heatsink was going to win this time. Cheers from the SIli-valley!

[@linuxmintman]

if you could you please take a look at the NI DAQ? It comes in an educational format with a FPGA.

[@tmdrake]

This sounds cool

[@movax20h]

31:10, No. This Zynq is not 150 or 200$. It is about 50$ tops. More like 30$. I do have boards, with custom made complex chips, AND Zynq high end dual core ARM and fpga fabric, and it is all 90$ total (with "profit")!

[@raindogred]

Gilding Lily factor (GLF is high with this one... I believe is exponentially grows with each unit of $1000 > $2000. For an all in one multimeter-scope..L_g = x_0(1+r)^g - done the math..theoreticslly.this one would be audiophile quality as well.

[@jcc4tube]

The Kintex devices have much faster deserializers than the Zynq devices. Maybe they use the Kintex for receiving the many Gbit/sec from the A/Ds and the Zynq so they get the networking and seriously fast ARM cores. The Zynq-010 devices can be had for $50 in the cheapest package.

[@crapcbm]

BEAUTY !!!!

[@kieferonline]

Just a guess, but I believe the plastic tray around the multimeter fuses on the bottom is to protect students from sticking their fingers further inside the case. That's the one part of the case they're likely to crack open.

[@vimtut0r709]

+kieferonline Maybe, but it makes no sense having the same thing on the opposite site where noone could reach the pcb without opening the case.

[@VaughnRhinehart]

Surprised to see this kind of high caliber design in an educational product. I assume this is made for beginners in electronics because advanced students would likely be supplied separate instruments for each of these purposes.

[@wesleyhayes1847]

Price point seems high till you consider how it will integrate easily with ni software such as labview or test stand. Can imagine it'd be great for school

[@TheAmmoniacal]

They should put a 15-19" LCD screen on the unit (whatever the size is), maybe a flip-open solution like a laptop. Would make it massively more practical for little added cost.

[@wolfgangbeginners-mind2853]

It dose have a FFT check out the data sheet, and they go up to 500 Meg

[@uwezimmermann5427]

the Kensington lock will not protect it from being nicked by the students but from being "borrowed" by your colleagues...

[@260nob9]

Hi Yah Dave. Love your tube though tell me? +/- 25V @ 1 Amp = how many Watts?

[@olafnew]

+260 NOB +25V*1А+|-25V|*1A=50W. Dave is absolutely right, as he is counting both negative and positive.

[@260nob9]

Yes cheers though am a little skeptical that the NI VB would produce this?

[@williamhayden7711]

The good news is one day these puppies will be on Ebay for hopefully a great price.

[@williamhayden7711]

***** 8-10 years is my guess. Better off buying dedicated tools.

[@yesitsdawid]

I need to get one. :)

[@yesitsdawid]

or not. Dave just said the price

[@jordanjohnson714]

I think you like it

[@vehasmaa]

Its Dave teardown detection they implemented with that heat sink detection :P

[@rsagdahl]

The price in Sweden is > 50.000 SEK in $ 6.250. Should have been gold plated for that sum.

[@electronicsNmore]

Outrageous price for that unit. I'd rather buy another jet ski. LOL

[@krass76]

don't think you can make a jet ski count as a bussiness expense though...

[@martinda7446]

Do you think they will overlook the cocaine and hookers?

[@martinda7446]

PS I bought one of 'em lunch.

[@BMRStudio]

Soooo when the EEVblog University will open in the new office? :))))))

[@kg4boj]

Not a single bodge wire on the board? RF shielding everywhere? Top class high quality FPGA? Probably one of the most beautiful designs I've seen in a long while.

[@bluephreakr]

This entire thing, despite it being well-built, appears to be using more expensive kit for the heck of it. I am sure for what it's intended, they could get away with cheaper hardware while keeping the same build quality and results.

[@bobweiss8682]

+bluephreakr It's intended for the educational market, where outrageous prices for hardware are the norm. Worst part is, after a few months in a classroom, these things will be abused and beat to hell.

[@EEVblog]

+bluephreakr They could, but that's traditional National Instruments for you.

[@gillianseed4419]

thieves usually don't care how the money gets spent

[@symik3]

Our school is in connection with National Instruments and they gave our school 7 of these. We are not allowed to use it(first year) but as far as i know the second grades are not allowed too.

[@symik3]

+Gerald Musy Probably :D

[@phoenixcrp]

Minute 28 I saw it coming: NI vs Dave 1-0 Fortunately, nothing can resist a good screwdriver in a steady hand. Good on you, mate.

[@DrTune]

at 33:24 Dave goes on about the Zynq and the larger FPGA not apparently having much interconnect but it seems unquestionable that there'd be a ton of that on the inner board layers; your're routing two large BGA FPGAs together in a piece of test equipment, pretty much the only way to go. That thing really does have a fuck-ton of FPGA action going on.

[@Keex11]

Power factor correction built in? Then as a bonus this will pay for itself after a year. Just leave it plugged in and you'll save money on your bill!

[@8BitMusics1]

i need one of those.

[@ChipGuy]

2 min into video and it already "paid off" for me. Extra earth screw on the back. I am currently doing a project that is gonna need exactly that. Why didn't I think of an extra earth terminal before? DOH Thanks!

[@EEVblog]

+Chip Guy Vids They can be handy.

[@steubens7]

quality quality quality quality quality quality quality quality

[@marianoaldogaston]

my guest is that the heatsink detect #4 is just to assembly people make the number 4 on heatsink be in the right side

[@rymannphilippe]

It have a sense wire. I think the big chips will melt without heatsink and hope not power up without sensing.

[@pinterelectric]

Because they can!

[@commodork]

If I had the cash, I'd be buying one of these.

[@simonfitch1120]

Looks like a bit of dodgy hand-soldering at the bottom of that NI chip, @ 38:22. I see flux residue and some solder nastiness.

[@MrSergeng]

@22:00 "Analog Devices AD4610 Very Schmick Low-Noise Low-Everything Super-Duper Whiz-Bang Bob's Your Uncle Operational Amplifiers" LOL Dave, imagine that being the product description on the datasheet :D

[@Graham_Langley]

+MrSergeng National Semi's datasheet for the LH0033C and LH0066C was headed 'Fast and Damn Fast Buffer Amplifiers'.

[@osgeld]

you can double that price if you want competent software, the stuff that comes with it is undoubtedly gimped beyond use, and the SDK is designed to be as difficult as possible ... just like ever other NI product I have ever used. Which is a lot

[@kay486]

wheres the shrubbery?

[@dickpacincko]

around the 38 min mark he said its a 350 gig scope haha that's pretty beefy

[@Keith_Ward]

Well there you go Dave, that's why you *always* turn it on first, THEN take it apart. How else are you going to know whether or not taking it apart is what screwed it up?

[@kg4boj]

+Keith Ward He has confidence in his skills ;-)

[@Keith_Ward]

+Peter “Crackpot Pete” Carlson I have confidence in his skills too ... what if it is bad out of the box? Just saying it's good to have a known reference point.

[@kg4boj]

Keith Ward Believe me, they have enough confidence in his skills to NOT want to send him a bad one.

[@mbaker335]

Very very nice. At 38:20 there is an A71L chip in mid field that looks like three of its legs are unsoldered! Odd.

[@khronscave]

+mbaker335 And what's with that solder splash(?) around the bottom-right 4 pins of that National Instruments chip?

[@userPrehistoricman]

+mbaker335 It has? The A71L looks fine to me.

[@zlotvorx]

+KhronX Looks like it is "repaired". Bunch of small components not reflowed 100%, others appear cracked (C750 on bottom)...

[@khronscave]

zlotvorx Hastily, perhaps - that thing could've used (way) more flux there :)

[@zlotvorx]

KhronX I have a feeling that it's made just to fill a market gap. For sure there is a way to improve it, and in the same time it leaves place to upgrade if needed (or payed for).

[@tomsawyer8645]

Whew, 350mhz 4 channel, triggered. Sweet! I want one.