Oh.

 

It’s a beaut, nice one Wendy haha what’s a DSO

 

Gotta remember, the stroke really did leave me with brain damage, but I'm having fun (that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it). Took me 4 months to save for this.

 

You setup looks very sharp and is a heck of a lot more tidy than mine ever was.

 

This is embarrassing. I can't figure out how to switch the input to DC mode. Anyone?

 

This is embarrassing. I can't figure out how to switch the input to DC mode. Anyone?

Press CH1 or CH2 button.
On the screen, select the Coupling softkey. Use the control knob to select your option.

 

Press CH1 or CH2 button.
On the screen, select the Coupling softkey. Use the control knob to select your option.

Or keep pressing the softkey to increment through all options available.

 

Got it. Thx.

 

Or keep pressing the softkey to increment through all options available.

DSO use requires a little bit different way of thinking due to their greater functionality, GUI and menu structure.
It's not at all difficult if we remember to link what we want to do/change to what it's associated with.
Generally every function button (Channel, Display, Acquire, Utility etc) is a short description of the functionality we will find in each menu structure and many function buttons also serve as a toggle to turn that function ON or OFF.
Measurements, Cursors and Math are common examples however all front panel function buttons that have a backlight behave in this way toggling ON or OFF.
When we enter any of the function button menus the buttons below the display allow for navigation into each submenu where as just mentioned those softkeys can be used to toggle/increment down through each submenu which I find more intuitive than using the multifunction control however as you can use either it's personal preference which method to use.
Whenever we enter a submenu a light below the multifunction control illuminates indicating where to change a setting and some menu items that need a numeric input can also be adjusted with a virtual keypad that is activated with a press of the multifunction control.
When a virtual keypad is active units and designators can be selected by navigating to each with the encoder and selection is done with a press.
The above is just a quick wander around the front panel functionality and there's many more little gems in the SDS1202X-E for you to discover.

Later lessons on customizing this DSO by setting User Defaults so the Default key returns your fav settings plus tips on setting fixed zero positions for horizontal and vertical settings. Fixing Horizontal can be particularly comforting for those that have only used CRO's before.

 

There is no doubt I have a learning curve ahead of me, all part of the fun. I had a capacitor give up the ghost on a circuit I was working on (probably due to age). It gave a loud pop and started warming up. Swelling came later. Guess that helps explain the noise I was seeing on the power buss.

 

Yep, that could have been it.

I had a capacitor give up the ghost on a circuit I was working on (probably due to age)

You are not that old, but we all make mistakes.

 

Enjoy it! Just remember when you had an attachment to put a Polaroid camera on the face of the CRT. The scope was setup for a single sweep and triggered. Then you yanked the film out of the camera and if things went well you had a Polaroid black and white for your screen shot. Overall a real nice scope for general purpose use. The cost is actually very reasonable for what you get.

Ron

 

Back when I had two hands I used a digital camera. Some of my older threads have pictures taken that way.

 

LOL. looks like the first thing you did was turn the beeper OFF.
Enjoy, these are fine little DSO's.

Hah... That is the first thing I do when a new product arrives that beeps all the way.

Congratulations on the new oscilloscope, Wendy.

 

You can turn the annoying beeps off? Now I gotta find that feature... wheres the Easter egg games they used to hide in these?

 

You can turn the annoying beeps off? Now I gotta find that feature...

Utility>Sound.

As promised some tips for SDS1202X-E and its 4ch brothers.

Fixing the horizontal reference position for to mimic the left hand edge of the display triggering position.
DSO's as they are a digital storage scope use the center of the display as their 0s position and in doing so display both pre and post trigger waveform information. Those coming from a CRO might not initially get to grips with this and set their 0s position to the left edge of the display where when the timebase is adjusted the 0s position set moves by an amount relative to the timebase setting change.
This nuisance can be addressed by fixing the 0s position with a feature called Horizontal Fixed Position in the Reference POS menu that can be found on P4 in the Utility menu.



Similarly we have a Vertical Fixed Position feature where a Vertical Fixed Offset setting can be useful when DC coupling must be used and this feature shifts the 0V position to help keep a waveform on the display when magnified.
Have a play with each of these 2 features to decide if they will be of use to you.....remember you can always bail out of any of these settings with a press of Default.

More tips later.......

 

I'm probably going to have to get used to using the differential mode, since ground on the inputs is a hard earth gnd. I prefer my input floating as with a DVM. My bench top is also well grounded. I've had one ground loop situation already. Experience is knowing your mistake the second time you make it.

 

Utility>Sound.

As promised some tips for SDS1202X-E and its 4ch brothers.

Fixing the horizontal reference position for to mimic the left hand edge of the display triggering position.....

As I suggested Defpom has just done a quick vid on using some the X-E features:

 

Does this oscilloscope have FFT capability?

 

Yes. Click on MATH.