UNI-T UTG962E Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator Review, Teardown and Experiments
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- In this video, I did an in-depth review, teardown and testing of the UNI-T UTG962 AWG. If you are interested in getting one, you can find it here: bit.ly/3a1F8Ct
Here are the sections included in this video:
Intro: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
Basic features: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
Modulation: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
Spectrum Analysis: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
Dual channel experiments: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
Frequency counter/Voltage output: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
PC software: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
Teardown: • UNI-T UTG962E Function...
DC output issue - If you had put a 50 Ohm load across your multimeter inputs, the DC voltage would have been correct. This is true in every output signal mode... if you set your o-scope to Hi-Z input, and the sig gen to 50 Ohm load, you will get double the output voltage that the sig gen says it's doing.
How can we do it
Hi Kerry,
1st time viewer and wanted to thank you for your time.
I picked up one of these after seeing a few other quick reviews and really appreciate your going more indepth with the functions. I'm very new to this and trying to understand how to use it with vintage audio gear troubleshooting and restoration. If you have recommendations along those lines, your reply will be greatly valued.
Best Regards,
Jack
Thank you for this nice introduction to the UTG962E. This is very useful information, I just ordered one and appreciate knowing a bit more about it. Thanks!
You are welcome! Glad it was helpful!
Perfect usefull review. You clearly describe the positive and negative points. Very good.
For those interested, w2aew has a good video (#137) on why the ouput level is "wrong" at 50 ohms.
Outstanding review!
Thank you for your comprehensive presentation. I am going to purchase one function generator for my (just) retired hobby electronics lab and I was wondering about that model. I will try to find it locally. Good job!
I purchased the generator and already received it. Good price for its performance. Thanks again to you as you saved me a lot of research and time.
Yes I just purchased one coming soon great video Kerry
Was the DC output offset off because it was expecting a 50 ohm load. It had a 50 ohm output impedance and with a 50 ohm termination the voltage divider would be 1/2.
Correct. The generator assumes that its output is connected to an input that has a matching impedance and displays the amplitude based on that assumption.
Really cool inexpensive unit, I'll pick one up - thanks for the overview!
You are welcome!
Why does everyone “pick one up”? One says “I’ll buy one”.
Excellent review, thanks!
You are welcome!
Very Detailed Video ! Thanks
Got this unit for my cassette deck tuning job. I avoided going with the traditional lab-like dual channel FG as it looked a bit dated and limited for the price and this was cheaper.
Since I already knew the quality standards of the brand I opted to go for it... I am very pleased. It's precise and pretty quick... not the most intuitive interface but you get familiar with it after some time.
One downside that I am afraid is by design you can't set up both channels at the same time. You can synch the output of the channels, time shift the output but each time I have to change the frequency length I have to manually enter the values for each channel, each time I want to turn on or off a channel I must do it individually. Not overly sure if there's a way to act on both but it might well be a marketing strategy to remind that you could bought the next model up the range.
thank you for your knowledge
:D
Very nice review 👍 The 50 Ohm / HiZ output modes is just the displayed amplitude level. I think that the output is always 50 Ohm actually. It should better be called Load Impedance instead.
the scale of this thing is an optical illusion
Only if you ignore the size of a BNC - that gives it something you can scale to.
Thanks for sharing. 😉👌🏼
You are welcome!
Good review. 👍 Have you checked the voltage to ground hot & neutral from a BNC cable coming off the 962? I find anywhere from 50VAC to 120VAC depending on the power adapter I use with mine. Typical? It appears I had a floating ground on the BNC for output 1 that caused some of the high measurements. I had to deform the BNC connector shell on the 962 to get it to fit tighter. Now the voltages are ~25vac but still higher than I'd expect. I did not check current.
You made my Day ! Sad of looking "Funktion-Generator Tests" performed with an Oszilloskope 😅.
With SA you are able to see the Harmonics !!!! Good job ......
Addendum : always be sure you are in the linear range of your SA mixer ,not having "Alias"harmonics from your SA. But I am sure you know the effect and you re aware of it ( intermodulation free range ).
Greets from Germany
Still waiting for the delivery. This is really cheap and nice. :D
FYI, you can just list "chapter" times, and CZcams will auto-create links, in both description & comments... E.g.,
9:33 Modulation
Didn't know that. will have to give it a try.... Thanks!
@@KerryWongBlog yep, but you have to start with 0:00 as the first chapter, exactly like this in order for CZcams to parse the list
@@oriole8789 Good to know! Thanks!
Very useful information - thank you. I have one arriving soon and am wondering if anyone has used a right-angle BNC adapter so the cable isn’t sticking out so far on the side of the unit. I couldn’t find a test cable with a right-angle BNC, so I’m planning to use an adapter but I’m a little worried about signal degradation. Any thoughts?
Bnc with one good quality adapter should still perform extremely well.
Great review, thanks
I have the 962 and the UNI-T UTD 2152 scope. I need to transfer a stored signal on the scope to the 962. As per Uni-T, the file formats are incompatible. Do you know of any way I can reformat the csv file on the 2152 to be accepted by the 962? The signal in question is the spark generated by an electronic ignition. I can store the primary signal of the coil and by inductive coupling the secondary signal.
Since this is a complex waveform, I am attempting to design an interface circuit to provide a +12 volt pulse to a tach. This ignition is connected as a positive ground 6-volt system. I have a voltage inverter and boost to take the -6 volts and convert it to +12 so that supply is available for the interface.
The only format the 962 appears to accept is a .bsv. It will output a .png file.
Any help would be appreciated.
The markings on my microcontroller were not rubbed off. It's a GD32F207 ZCT6
Thanks for the review. Did you look at the noise and distortion of the output at sub-volt levels?
Didn't check that specifically but based on what I saw on the SA I'd think it meets the spec.
@@KerryWongBlog Many thanks.
cool !!!
Спасибо
I enjoy your channel. I have the UTG962 as well and I believe I have found a problem with it's firmware. Wonder if you can confirm. When generating a signal of 14 MHz sinewave, when I turn on AM modulation with 1 KHz sinewave the output drops by 6 dB. It does NOT seem to drop if I use other modulation like FM, etc. This 6 dB drop is observed even if the AM depth of modulation is set to 0%. Can you confirm?? do you believe this is a firmware issue?? Thanks!
do you recommend getting this one or spend more on a siglent/rigol?
Similarly spec'd Rigol waveform generators cost about twice to 3x one of these units. If you're curious just compare the spec sheets on both. If you don't have a function generator this UNI-T will probably be fine depending on your application to get you started. If you need finer waveform accuracy, better interface/software, higher frequencies, more features etc, then you'll need to look at much higher end Rigol units or other well known manufacturers with a corresponding increase in price. So as always with this stuff, "it depends", but this is great as a starting point for function generators.
At least the thing uses real DACs, as opposed to the junky non-monotonic R-2R DACs used in the simpler unit I got a few years ago!
What is 962E vs non-E version???
Thanks I thin this is a great gen for the price;)
I think so as well.
I am a bit confused: Is the output impedance of each channel adjustable between 1Ω to 999Ω, plus high-Z (manual p. 9), or is it only 50 Ohms and high-Z? Looks to be a good instrument, thank you.
hI, You can select 50 ohm or high impedance (typical 1 meg ohm), you don´t need values in between. 50 ohms is the standard and high impedance is intended for osciloscopes or other devices that yo cannot terminate with 50 ohms. don´t worry about that, just with those two values you´re just fine.
The multimeter is high impedance when measuring in volts, and the generator is seto to 50 ohm, is normal plus volt.
You must set the generator output to highZ
Thanks for posting. I wonder if its worth the money given that wonky optical display.
I see on the display it shows 0 mv. Can you tell this to generate 50 micro volts on a given frequency? Such as 14.125 mhz?
Barry
you meant mili hertz right?
Hi, I didn't find the maximum output current for output DC. Do you know it ??
output impedace is 50ohm so you can calculate it, output voltage is 20Vp-p with no load so it is likely 141mA max taking the Vrms of 20 to be 7.07Vrms
Can you put out a trigger signal for the sweep on the second channel of the awg?
Yes, the trigger signal can be outputted via either channel 1 or channel 2.
The minimum for any Arbitrary generator is a Trigger, Channel1, Channel2. Anything less is worthless.
Excellent overview and demo. Does anyone know if it is possible to output two sine waves to one channel? Is that just a matter of modulating one freq with a second freq? thanks
I always wonder, why would all these companies sand off the chip/s? Oh and thanks for the review!
Hi thank you very much for your very valuable and helpful tutorial I see that when you connect the generator to the SA you use a dc blocker ?
is this mandatory ? would a cap on the + side be enough ? which value ?
will the generator performance be better at audio frequencies (i.e. from 20 to 20kHz)? i am seriously thinking to buy one if this is the best unit for Q/P ratio
thanks a lot gino
Most SAs cannot tolerate any DC offset so a DC blocker is recommended. Since SAs are mainly used for higher frequencies, a capacitor in the range of 100-1000pF should be sufficient.
@@KerryWongBlog Hi, thank you very much for your very kind and valuable reply
My main interest would be to find a spectrum analyzer and signal generator solution for use in audio so from 20 to 20kHz to check some preamplifiers for THD and noise my main interest
Devices that output 2-3Vrms at max
I therefore imagine that the capacitor will have to be larger
Since I'm an amateur I wanted to start with a sound card plus signal generator to keep the cost down.
A quality entry level audio analyzer the qa403 already costs around 600USD
If I am passionate about the activity then I could invest more
For now I would like to find a signal generator that is not too expensive but is not a toy let's say
UTG900 MainBoard
Edition: v1.02 20190426
UTG900 Key&Display
Edition: v1.03 20150428
From the lower marking we can see that this series has been around since at least 2015 and that the last revision of the main board was in 2019. How long has this series been known to the US market? It;'s new to me. I wonder if the units without the 'E' are an older version since UNI-T doesn't arbitrarily put letters in the model numbers of their multimeters without them designating something.
HI, i just receive the UT962E but it is in chinese i don't know how to change the language?
hit "utility" and the last menu item (the fourth) is "system". Then click on the third option "language" you should then see your language choices.
@@KerryWongBlog THANKS A LOT KERRY
How can i install the software on raspberry pi os, i think the software is only for windows !
Windows.
Can do this generate aplitude modulated waves ??
Yes, I demonstrated that in the video.
Nice generator BUT it would be much better if it has noise random periodic function and first of all a BATTERY driven option, 1 hour of operation at least.
a power bank outputs the 5v it needs so I dont see why you cant do that.... better to use a power bank than a battery that dies inside the unit
@@rokiedecentra9656 Half the reason for wanting battery operation would be to get rid of the noise from the switch-mode psu. If you use a power bank, you're just substituting another switch-mode psu that lifts the 3.7V batteries to give 5V output. I'm going to try a 12V battery with a linear regulator like 7805. My sig gen draws around 0.5A, so a smallish sized heatsink will do the job. Perhaps a 2S li-po battery pack with a linear regulator might provide a long-term solution.
@@RexxSchneider it will do switching conversion internally to get the high voltage rails so would it make that much of a difference
@@rokiedecentra9656 Hard to tell without trying it. It may improve it, but it certainly can't make it any worse. I'm not terribly impressed with the noise on low amplitude signals generated.
If all you want is to have a floating ground on your signal generator then a power bank is fine - I've used one for that without any problems.
can both channels be used both at the same time using different frequencies?
Yes. One thing to note is that both channels are ground referenced (meaning they are not isolated from each other).
Can you get a strange attractor Lissajous with 2 complex waveforms?
You could generate a "attractor" like figure by designing your waveforms (just search oscilloscope art). However, it won't be a true strange attractor as the info stored in X/Y waveform is finite and periodic.
looks identicle to my digitech qc1938 scope mine more expensive and has some features you dont have
Cannot figure out how to turn off modulation.
Just press "Mode" again.
@@KerryWongBlog Ha Thanks! I Figured it out right after I sent this.
Are you at your work place doing this video?
No, it was in my workshop.
Why would a regular Joe with tons of tools need this? Any cool things I can do with this around the house or garage? How 'bout an oscilloscope? Thank you.
If you have to ask the question, you don't need either tool.
I was considering buying this until you revealed that arbitrary waveforms created with the editor cannot be stored on the device, but must be downloaded from a pc every time. I mean, wtf? I have an old feeltech fy6600, and you can readily store your waveforms on the machine itself (though the PC software sucks, but that is a whole other story). I thought the Uni-T would be an upgrade from the Feeltech, which I have had for about six years. but after seeing that ridiculous limitation, no thank you. I will hang on to my trusty old Feeltech for now!
Note that your multimeter is not perfect either, it is rated at 0.5% accuracy.
Unfortunately this is 260 now
Not any more, they now cost more than low end digital oscilloscopes!!!
Is there a label or any kind of EXTERNAL markings which might indicate a date of manufacture, a serial number which would imply the same, and/or regulatory certification markings? On its UNI-T multimeters, letters after the model number signify some significant difference and an "E" doesn't mean "English model."
I've seen claims from sellers selling UTG932/962 without the "E" suffix that there is no difference and that the "E" stands for "English model." That makes no sense to me since the language can be easily changed via the setup menu and, as I have said, a letter after the model number means something significant with UNI-T multimeters.
From experience, I trust China-based sellers as far as I can throw the nation of China which is why I'm asking this along with the discovery from your dissection of your "E" model that, based upon the keyboard and display PCB, this item has been around since at least 2015, possibly only in China.
The software is Windows only. :(
:( I wonder if uni-t will release interface specifications
What is needed is a some open-source file specs. for waveforms. That way, make the waveform on any platform, save it to a file, and load the file into the AWG. That way, just use the AWG as a USB storage device.
amd it doesn’t even work. Too old, never updated
@@ozzymandius666 i think some use csv files to generate arb waveforms
Craaaaaap! with a fancy layout but just given shit measures
Thank you to have deleted 2 times my comment where I told that unfortunately to me it doesn't work the driver. Good luck
I don't delete comments. Comments do not meet CZcams community guidelines are automatically withheld.
@@KerryWongBlog My comment was not violating any CZcams guideline.
I listed in bullet points what doesn’t go with the drivers, what I did to try to make them work and didn’t worked at all. I also stated I contacted the manufacturer several times and I have not received any answer. Hence: not any violation. They where visible for 1 minute about, and then removed
@@Not-Only-Reaper-Tutorials Oh, sorry to hear that. Wondering if there is a bug in CZcams 's commenting system. But I don't manually remove comments.
@@KerryWongBlog I have not clue. Certainly my message is not held, since you didn't find it. My channel all the comments are held, and I regularly see them and approve all. Just my comment was removed. Not one but 2 times. The first time I thought it was my mistake. Then I republished it. It was there for a couple of minutes, then removed. That's definitely not nice action.
@@Not-Only-Reaper-Tutorials Thanks for letting me know. It's odd indeed. I just checked the withheld comment section and didn't see yours in there either...
Спасибо