Rigol DS1000CA series User manual

RIGOL
Quick Guide
DS1000CA Series Oscilloscope
Aug. 2011
RIGOL Technologies, Inc.

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Guaranty and Declaration
Copyright
© 2011 RIGOL Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Trademark Information
RIGOL is a registered trademark of RIGOL Technologies, Inc.
Publication Number
QGA03100-1110
Notices
RIGOL products are protected by patent law in and outside of
P.R.C.
RIGOL reserves the right to modify or change parts of or all
the specifications and pricing policies at company’s sole
decision.
Information in this publication replaces all previously
corresponding material.
RIGOL shall not be liable for losses caused by either incidental
or consequential in connection with the furnishing, use or
performance of this manual as well as any information
contained.
Any part of this document is forbidden to be copied or
photocopied or rearranged without prior written approval of
RIGOL.
Contact Us
If you have any problem or requirement when using our products,
please contact RIGOL Technologies, Inc. or your local distributors,
or visit: www.rigol.com

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Safety Notice
Review the following safety precautions carefully to avoid any
personal injuries or damages to the instrument and any products
connected to it. To avoid potential hazards, please use the
instrument as specified by this manual only.
The instrument should be serviced by Authorized personnel
only.
Avoid Fire or Personal Injury.
Use Proper Power Cord.
Only use power cords designed for the instrument and authorized
by local country.
Ground The Instrument.
The instrument is grounded through the Protective Earth lead of the
power cord. To avoid electric shock, make sure that the earth
terminal of the power cord is properly connected to the Protective
Earth lead before connecting any of the input or output terminals of
this instrument.
Connect The Probe Properly.
The earth lead of the probe should be equal to the earth potential.
Please do not connect the earth lead to high voltage.
Observe All Terminal Ratings.
To avoid fire or shock hazard, observe all ratings and marks on the
instrument and check your manual for detailed information about

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ratings before connecting the instrument.
Do Not Operate Without Covers.
Do not operate the instrument with covers or panels removed.
Use Proper Fuse.
Use the specified type of fuse with certain ratings..
Avoid Circuit or Wire Exposure.
Do not touch exposed junctions and components when the unit is
powered.
Do Not Operate With Suspected Failures.
If you suspect damage occurs to the instrument, have it inspected
by qualified service personnel before further operations. Any
maintenance, adjustment or replacement of components must be
performed by RIGOL authorized personnel.
Keep Proper Ventilation.
Inadequate ventilation may cause temperature increase which
would damage the instrument. So please keep the instrument well
ventilated during operation and inspect the intake and fan regularly.
Do Not Operate in Wet Conditions.
In order to avoid short circuit inside the instrument or electric shock,
please do not operate in humid environment.
Do Not Operate in Flammable and Explosive Environment.
In order to avoid damages to the device or personal injuries, please
do not operate in flammable and explosive environment.

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Keep Product Surfaces Clean and Dry.
To avoid the influence of dust and/or moisture in the air on the
performance of the instrument, please keep the surface of the
instrument clean and dry.
The disturbance tests of all the models conform to class A
standard on the basis of EN 61326: 1997+A1+A2+A3, but
do not conform to class B standard.
Measurement Category
The DS1000CA series Digital Oscilloscope can make measurements
in Measurement Category I.
Measurement Category Definitions
Measurement Category I is for measurements performed on circuits
not directly connected to MAINS. Examples are measurements on
circuits not derived from MAINS, and specially protected (internal)
MAINS derived circuits. In the latter case, transient stresses are
variable; for that reason, the transient withstand capability of the
equipment is made known to the user.
WARNING
IEC Measurement Category. The HI and LO input terminals can be
connected to circuit terminals with up to 300 VAC line voltage under
IEC Category I installation conditions. To avoid the danger of
electric shock, do not connect the input terminals to circuits with
greater than 300Vrms line voltage.
Transient overvoltage is also present in circuits that are isolated
from mains. The DS1000CA series Digital Oscilloscopes can safely
withstand up to 500Vpk transient overvoltage. Do not use this

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equipment to measure circuits where transient overvoltage could
exceed this value.

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Safety Terms and Symbols
Terms in This Guide. These terms may appear in this manual:
WARNING
Warning statements indicate the conditions or practices
that could result in injury or loss of life.
CAUTION
Caution statements indicate the conditions or practices
that could result in damage to this product or loss of data.
Terms on the Product. The following terms may appear on the
product:
DANGER indicates a hazard may immediately happen.
WARNING indicates potential hazard may happen.
CAUTION indicates damage to the instrument or other devices
connected to the instrument may happen.
Symbols on the Product. The following symbols may appear on
the product:
!
!
High
Voltage
Refer to
Manual
Protective
Earth
Terminal
Earth
Ground
Terminal
Chassis
Ground
Terminal
!

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Necessary Inspection
1．Inspect the shipping container for damage.
If your shipping container appears to be damaged, keep the
shipping container or cushioning material until you have
inspected the contents of the shipment for completeness and
have checked the oscilloscope electrically and mechanically.
If your instrument has been damaged during shipping, please
contact your shipper and carrier for compensation. RIGOL will
provide no free repair or replacement.
2．Inspect the instrument.
If there is any mechanical damage or defect, or if the
instrument does not pass electrical and mechanical tests,
please contact your RIGOL sales representative.
3．Check the accessories.
Please check the accessories according to the accessory list
below.
If the accessories are incomplete or damaged, please contact
your RIGOL sales representative.

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I. Instrument Appearance
DS1000CA Series Appearance
II. Standard Accessories
A Power Cord Two Passive Probes
A USB Cable A CD-ROM* A Quick Guide
NOTE*: The CD-ROM includes User’s Guide and Application
Software.

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III. Options
BNC Cable USB-GPIB Adapter
Instrument Carrying Bag RS232 Cable

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How to Connect Power Cord
After inspecting the instrument and the accessories, connect the
power cord as shown in the following figure and power on the
instrument.
After power-on, press the power botton on the top of the instrument
to start the instrument. If the instrument does not start, please
check if the power is correctly connected. After that, if the
instrument still does not work correctly, please contact RIGOL.

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How to Connect Probe or BNC
1．Connect the probe
Connect the signal to CH1 using the probe according to the method
shown in the figure above:
Set the attenuation switch on the probe to “10X”. Align the slot of
the probe connector with the socket of the BNC connector and insert,
then rotate the probe clockwise.
When the probes are used for the first time, you should compensate
the probes following the method below:
(1) Set the attenuation switch on the probe to “10X”and connect
the probe to CH1 on the oscilloscope. Connect the probe head
to the probe compensation signal output terminal and connect

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the ground alligator clip to the probe compensation ground
terminal. Press CH1, and set the attenuation coefficient of the
probe to 10X. Then press AUTO.
(2) View the waveform displayed on the screen and compare it with
the followings.
Over Compensated Correctly Compensated Under Compensated
(3) If necessary, use a non-metallic driver to adjust the variable
capacitor of the probe until the displayed waveform is as the
“Correctly compensated”in the figure above.
(4) Repeat the above steps if necessary.
2．Connect the BNC
Insert the BNC cable to the BNC conector on the front panel of
the oscilloscope, rotate it clockwise to lock the BNC.

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How to Connect USB Devices
DS1000CA series oscilloscope supports USB flash devices and can
be conneted to PC or printer throught USB interface. The instrument
provides a USB Host and a USB Device interface.
USB Host (Front Panel)
USB Device(Rear Panel)

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Troubleshooting
1. The screen remains dark (no display) after power on:
(1) Check if the power is correctly connected or if the battery
is correctly installed.
(2) Check if the power switch is really on.
(3) Check if the fuse is burned out. If the fuse needs to be
changed, please return the instrument to the factory and
the RIGOL authorized personnel will change the fuse for
you.
(4) After the above inspection, restart the oscilloscope.
(5) If it still does not work correctly, please contact RIGOL.
2. The signal is sampled but no waveform of the signal is
displayed:
(1) Check if the probe is correctly connected to the signal
connecting wire.
(2) Check if the signal connecting wire is correctly connected
to the BNC (namely channel connector).
(3) Check if the probe is correctly connected to the item under
test.
(4) Check if there are signals generated from the item under
test (you can connect the probe compensation signal to
the problematic channel to determine which has problems,
the channel or the item under test).
(5) Resample the signal.
3. The voltage tested amplitude is ten times higher or
lower than the actual value:
Check whether the attenuation coefficient of the channel

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complies with the attenuation ratio of the probe.
4. There is waveform display but not stable:
(1) Check the trigger signal source: check whether the
Source item at the front panel complies with the signal
channel actually used.
(2) Check the trigger type: general signals should use “Edge”
trigger and video signal should use “Video”trigger. Only
when the proper trigger type is used, can the waveform be
displayed stably.
(3) Try to change the Coupling to “HF Reject”or “LF Reject”
to filter out the high-frequency or low-frequency noise that
disturbs the trigger.
(4) Change the trigger sensitivity and the trigger holdoff
setting.
5. No display after pressing Run/Stop:
Check if the MODE at the trigger panel (TRIGGER) is on
“Normal”or “Single”and if the trigger level exceeds the
waveform range. If yes, set the trigger level to the middle or set
the MODE to “Auto”. Besides, pressing the Auto button could
automatically finish the above setting.
6. The display of waveform is ladder-like:
(1) The horizontal time base might be too low. Increase the
horizontal time base to increase the horizontal resolution
and improve the display.
(2) If Type is “Vectors”, the lines between the sample points
may cause ladder-like display. Set Type to “Dots”to solve
the problem.

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7. Unable to connect to PC or the PictBridge printer by
USB：
Check the IO Setting menu in UTIL to make sure whether the
setting in USB Device matches the currently connected device.
If needed, restart the oscilloscope.