• building a hobby-lab

    From will@21:1/5 to All on Wed Apr 11 05:33:23 2018
    Gents:

    First post.

    I'm populating a home hobby-lab to support some amusing experiments in 2- photon light-scattering vis Levinthals Paradox. Previous attempts proved unsuccessful. I'm improving test equip all-around. First item is a
    digital Oscilloscope ( replacing a data-logger ) : I'm looking at the
    Siglent SDS100-series: 4-channel 200-Mhz bandwidth. Will be used to trouble-shoot photo-transistor based detection circuits. Price ~ $700.
    I've always used HP/Tektronics or Fluke, but now retired I'm priced out
    of the grant-money market. Of-course the Goldilocks freq is 10^15 Hz, but
    you have to pray for sub-harmonics vis protein folding. Anyrate what do
    you think about the OScope choice ?

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  • From Phil Hobbs@21:1/5 to will on Thu Apr 12 10:55:56 2018
    On 04/11/18 01:33, will wrote:
    Gents:

    First post.

    I'm populating a home hobby-lab to support some amusing experiments in 2- photon light-scattering vis Levinthals Paradox. Previous attempts proved unsuccessful. I'm improving test equip all-around. First item is a
    digital Oscilloscope ( replacing a data-logger ) : I'm looking at the
    Siglent SDS100-series: 4-channel 200-Mhz bandwidth. Will be used to trouble-shoot photo-transistor based detection circuits. Price ~ $700.
    I've always used HP/Tektronics or Fluke, but now retired I'm priced out
    of the grant-money market. Of-course the Goldilocks freq is 10^15 Hz, but
    you have to pray for sub-harmonics vis protein folding. Anyrate what do
    you think about the OScope choice ?


    I'm a boat anchor fan myself. Check out eBay for scopes. I've bought
    eleven of them there, and have had zero duds. Something in a nice Tek
    TDS 544A (500 MHz, 1Gs/s) can be had for under 5 bills.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    --
    Dr Philip C D Hobbs
    Principal Consultant
    ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
    Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
    Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

    http://electrooptical.net
    http://hobbs-eo.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From will@21:1/5 to Phil Hobbs on Thu Apr 12 15:56:02 2018
    On Thu, 12 Apr 2018 10:55:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs wrote:

    On 04/11/18 01:33, will wrote:
    Gents:

    First post.

    I'm populating a home hobby-lab to support some amusing experiments in
    2-
    photon light-scattering vis Levinthals Paradox. Previous attempts
    proved unsuccessful. I'm improving test equip all-around. First item is
    a digital Oscilloscope ( replacing a data-logger ) : I'm looking at the
    Siglent SDS100-series: 4-channel 200-Mhz bandwidth. Will be used to
    trouble-shoot photo-transistor based detection circuits. Price ~ $700.
    I've always used HP/Tektronics or Fluke, but now retired I'm priced out
    of the grant-money market. Of-course the Goldilocks freq is 10^15 Hz,
    but you have to pray for sub-harmonics vis protein folding. Anyrate
    what do you think about the OScope choice ?


    I'm a boat anchor fan myself. Check out eBay for scopes. I've bought
    eleven of them there, and have had zero duds. Something in a nice Tek
    TDS 544A (500 MHz, 1Gs/s) can be had for under 5 bills.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    PH:

    Appreciate your comments. Having used HP/Tektronics/Fluke for 50-years
    I'd love a classic-form OScope. However ... I profoundly distrust eBAY merchants ( very sharpsters ) and eBAY payment methods. You are prolly a
    much quicker business-man than I am. I prefer to deal direct with
    manufactures ( my coffee mugs come right from the Vermont potters-wheel
    and my light-scattering-cuvettes direct from a small Chinese silicon
    foundry).

    The $200 difference between shyster-Bosco on eBAY and warranted grant- polished paid-delivery + support Siglent is small beans. Too bad Siglent
    does not sell a well-priced sine/squ/ramp 25 MHtz function generator and
    indeed eBAY products never include the cables. Kinda like selling a
    kitchen table with no legs, but that's eBAY style.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Ralph Mowery@21:1/5 to All on Fri Apr 13 13:06:22 2018
    In article <panvii$18d$1@dont-email.me>, willscranton@butchersboulevard.commypanprofile says...


    Appreciate your comments. Having used HP/Tektronics/Fluke for 50-years
    I'd love a classic-form OScope. However ... I profoundly distrust eBAY merchants ( very sharpsters ) and eBAY payment methods. You are prolly a
    much quicker business-man than I am. I prefer to deal direct with manufactures ( my coffee mugs come right from the Vermont potters-wheel
    and my light-scattering-cuvettes direct from a small Chinese silicon foundry).

    The $200 difference between shyster-Bosco on eBAY and warranted grant- polished paid-delivery + support Siglent is small beans. Too bad Siglent
    does not sell a well-priced sine/squ/ramp 25 MHtz function generator and indeed eBAY products never include the cables. Kinda like selling a
    kitchen table with no legs, but that's eBAY style.



    If you pick the sellers that have 50 or more transactions and near 100% feedback you are probably ok. I understand ebay stands behind them also
    so you canget a refund.

    I have bought sevreal used things off ebay for close to $ 1000 and a
    service monitor for $ 1700. All wree as advertised or better.

    China has some new function generators on ebay for less than $ 100 that
    do well up to about 5 MHz with square waves and 25 with sine waves. I
    bought one and there is a modification that costs about $ 20 or less in
    parts from Mouser or Digikey that makes it work even better.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Phil Hobbs@21:1/5 to will on Sat Apr 14 00:49:27 2018
    On 04/12/18 11:56, will wrote:
    On Thu, 12 Apr 2018 10:55:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs wrote:

    On 04/11/18 01:33, will wrote:
    Gents:

    First post.

    I'm populating a home hobby-lab to support some amusing experiments in
    2-
    photon light-scattering vis Levinthals Paradox. Previous attempts
    proved unsuccessful. I'm improving test equip all-around. First item is
    a digital Oscilloscope ( replacing a data-logger ) : I'm looking at the
    Siglent SDS100-series: 4-channel 200-Mhz bandwidth. Will be used to
    trouble-shoot photo-transistor based detection circuits. Price ~ $700.
    I've always used HP/Tektronics or Fluke, but now retired I'm priced out
    of the grant-money market. Of-course the Goldilocks freq is 10^15 Hz,
    but you have to pray for sub-harmonics vis protein folding. Anyrate
    what do you think about the OScope choice ?


    I'm a boat anchor fan myself. Check out eBay for scopes. I've bought
    eleven of them there, and have had zero duds. Something in a nice Tek
    TDS 544A (500 MHz, 1Gs/s) can be had for under 5 bills.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    PH:

    Appreciate your comments. Having used HP/Tektronics/Fluke for 50-years
    I'd love a classic-form OScope. However ... I profoundly distrust eBAY merchants ( very sharpsters ) and eBAY payment methods. You are prolly a
    much quicker business-man than I am. I prefer to deal direct with manufactures ( my coffee mugs come right from the Vermont potters-wheel
    and my light-scattering-cuvettes direct from a small Chinese silicon foundry).

    The $200 difference between shyster-Bosco on eBAY and warranted grant- polished paid-delivery + support Siglent is small beans. Too bad Siglent
    does not sell a well-priced sine/squ/ramp 25 MHtz function generator and indeed eBAY products never include the cables. Kinda like selling a
    kitchen table with no legs, but that's eBAY style.


    That's not my experience at all, but it's your money.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    --
    Dr Philip C D Hobbs
    Principal Consultant
    ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
    Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
    Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

    http://electrooptical.net
    http://hobbs-eo.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Liebermann@21:1/5 to willscranton@butchersboulevard.comm on Sat Apr 14 16:45:02 2018
    On Thu, 12 Apr 2018 15:56:02 -0000 (UTC), will <willscranton@butchersboulevard.commypanprofile> wrote:

    The $200 difference between shyster-Bosco on eBAY and warranted grant- >polished paid-delivery + support Siglent is small beans. Too bad Siglent
    does not sell a well-priced sine/squ/ramp 25 MHtz function generator and >indeed eBAY products never include the cables. Kinda like selling a
    kitchen table with no legs, but that's eBAY style.

    Most of my now antique lab equipment was purchased on eBay: <http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/lab.html>
    There's plenty more stored in various corners. I tend to buy low cost
    "for parts" equipment, and fix them myself. If I really want to buy
    something to repair, I buy three of them: <http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop5.html>
    That's one of the benefits of buying HP, TEK, and other name brand
    equipment. If you need schematics, manuals, and parts 40 years later,
    you can find them. For example, the HP 8640B signal generator is
    known for having the output RF power amp get blown up. 40 years
    later, you can get replacement pullout:
    <https://www.ebay.com/itm/362098534959>
    <https://www.ebay.com/itm/232157976158>
    I could probably build a complete generator from scrap parts found on
    eBay. I doubt if you could find repair parts for a Siglent scope even
    today. I just downloaded the "service manual" on the Siglent SDS2000X
    scope. <https://www.siglentamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2017/10/SDS2000X_ServiceManual_SM0102X-E02A-1.pdf>
    No schematics, no parts list, some adjustments, and an assembly
    drawing showing only the test points.



    --
    Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
    150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
    Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
    Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From will@21:1/5 to Jeff Liebermann on Tue Apr 17 17:33:53 2018
    On Sat, 14 Apr 2018 16:45:02 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

    On Thu, 12 Apr 2018 15:56:02 -0000 (UTC), will <willscranton@butchersboulevard.commypanprofile> wrote:

    The $200 difference between shyster-Bosco on eBAY and warranted grant- >>polished paid-delivery + support Siglent is small beans. Too bad Siglent >>does not sell a well-priced sine/squ/ramp 25 MHtz function generator and >>indeed eBAY products never include the cables. Kinda like selling a
    kitchen table with no legs, but that's eBAY style.

    Most of my now antique lab equipment was purchased on eBay: <http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/lab.html>
    There's plenty more stored in various corners. I tend to buy low cost
    "for parts" equipment, and fix them myself. If I really want to buy something to repair, I buy three of them: <http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop5.html> That's one of the benefits of buying HP, TEK, and other name brand
    equipment. If you need schematics, manuals, and parts 40 years later,
    you can find them. For example, the HP 8640B signal generator is known
    for having the output RF power amp get blown up. 40 years later, you
    can get replacement pullout:
    <https://www.ebay.com/itm/362098534959> <https://www.ebay.com/itm/232157976158>
    I could probably build a complete generator from scrap parts found on
    eBay. I doubt if you could find repair parts for a Siglent scope even
    today. I just downloaded the "service manual" on the Siglent SDS2000X
    scope. <https://www.siglentamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2017/10/
    SDS2000X_ServiceManual_SM0102X-E02A-1.pdf>
    No schematics, no parts list, some adjustments, and an assembly drawing showing only the test points.

    JL:

    You make solid points about the importance of quality test equipment.
    I've prolly argued the same way to my EE lab students. Yet now, retired, totally unsupported with time and opportunity to attack a single amusing experimental task I find efficiency-of-tools the prime virtue.

    A ( plug-N-play ) $700 Siglent Oscope that helps me build photon
    detectors, and then serves as part of the detecting system provides
    enormous value. I can focus on component design & experimental issues
    knowing I'll drop dead before my Oscope needs repair.

    I would not have thought that way 20 years ago, but I think that way
    now.

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