January 01, 2025 Tahmid
I got the Owon SDS6062V scope back in 2014 when it seemed a great deal compared to brands like Tektronix and much better than cheaper analog or portable digital scopes. These days, I've been using the Rigol DS1202 for hobby projects which is a better part, in my opinion. Of course, none of these are as nice as the Keysight MSOX scopes at work.
I've demonstrated the Owon scope in previous projects such as Generating complementary PWM with adjustable deadtime for the RP2040 and Stereo audio player using the PIC32, MCP4822, microSD card and the MDDFS library (back in 2015!). The dials on the front panel seem to all be "broken". When turning the dials, the response is erratic. For example, when turning the time division dial clockwise, sometimes the time division goes up, sometimes down, sometimes it jumps all the way down to the minimum or will jump up and back down. The same is true for all the other dials. Searching online revealed that this seems to be a common issue with the scope, with the encoders having worn out with age. Some sources suggested using filter caps on the output of the encoders (dials). However, this didn't help with mine. So I decided to just replace the encoders themselves.
The instructions for taking the scope apart and getting to the front panel PCB that houses the encoders is very well documented in the service manual. I uploaded a copy of the Owon service manual on Drive: Owon Service Manual (Drive mirror)
Fig. 1 - Owon SDS-6062V oscilloscope with original dials and caps
Fig. 2 - Scope with the encoders replaced
Fig. 3 - The front panel PCB with the encoders soldered
After accessing the front panel PCB, I desoldered all the encoders. I could not find part numbers for these encoders and just went ahead and bought a standard 10-pack of encoders (
Amazon link). Fig. 4 shows that the ordered parts are quite a bit taller than the ones on the scope. However, with the different encoder caps as shown in Fig. 5, the height difference is substantially removed. When I was looking online for which encoders to order, I found several sources suggesting ordering "standard encoders" without part numbers. So my hope here is that if someone is trying to change the encoders on their scope, they have a reference part to order if they're lost.
Fig. 4 - Encoders for the scope. Left = encoders removed from the scope PCB. Right = encoders ordered from Amazon.
Fig. 5 - Encoders with their corresponding caps mounted. Left = encoders removed from the scope PCB. Right = encoders ordered from Amazon.
Once the new encoders are soldered into the panel, the scope dials now worked as expected. The replacement encoders I used all have steps in them. The scope's horizontal position encoders did not have steps. I didn't mind this at all and actually quite like the additional tactile feedback.
I am also a big fan of the look of the new encoder caps! The spruced up scope is shown in Fig. 2. This was a simple fix, but I wanted to document the service manual and the encoders here for someone else to find useful! This breathes new life into this trusty scope and hopefully it can continue functioning!
Here are some fun shots of the interior of the scope!
0 comments:
Post a Comment