First checks after oscilloscope unboxing

oscilloscopetesting

You bought your first entry level oscilloscope (e.g. Rigol DS1004Z series, 4 Channels, 50-100MHz, 1Gs/s) and while it is slowly warming up to room temperature you are wondering if the unit you have is really working well and did not suffer any damage from shipping etc.

Since your next complex measurement equipment is a multimeter, you wonder how to test it. Like, for a new computer you run memory test, hdd test, burn in tests (like mprime), so what is kind of an equivalent for oscilloscopes that can make you certain it is functioning mostly correctly?

Besides the built in square wave generator, what can you measure and check if it is properly displayed?

I am thinking of something like

  • A simple (breadboardable? though probably not at 100MHz) circuit that is almost guaranteed to work and can be used to check most things like bandwidth and accuracy of the scope.
  • A signal source that is rather easily accessible to most people and has quite known characteristics that when off tell you something is wrong.

Note: I am not asking about how to get familiar with the scope, but rather than some simple checks that assess it is functioning probably correctly.

Best Answer

If the square-wave looks fine after probe compensation and the scope passes self-check/self-calibration, then there really is nothing you can do at your level.

To properly check it, you'd need a good lab and you don't have that. Presumably, manufacturer would have performed quality control on the unit and did factory calibration with equipment much better than you have, so if you trust the manufacturer, you should be fine. If you don't, then, as I wrote previously, there is nothing you can do without proper equipment.

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