Great project Steve. I've put out the word to our local ham radio group to check out this series of videos if they're looking for a very economical generator for their bench.
Thanks, I bought one and have started to order the parts for the modifications. For what it's worth there are some very nice potted, PCB mountable transformers by MAKRAI in Hungary which are less bulky than the ones you used. They are available from a number of EBay traders.
Great job :D I have one of these and will be doing the mods. this gave me some ideas for isolating my pololu programmer... last time i used it i blew my computer up and the programmer and the circuit i was working on :( thanks for the great content!
Hi John, there's quite a difference - there are some vents built into the bottom of the case, so with the fan I didn't see anything more than 2°C higher than ambient in the free space of the case. Without the fan the internals reached 15°C higher, but the 15V transformer was alarmingly warm at full load into 50 ohms.
PROBLEM! I could only find the IL612-2 at Digi-Key, but you have to buy 10! Is there a more common part to substitute? -- Also, what type connectors are you using?
Can you please explain why you wish to have the signal generator's exposed grounds (BNC connectors, USB connector) isolated from mains ground. A simple solution to the safety concerns is simply to connect the mains ground (green-wire in the USA) to the signal system ground (power supply negative) which in turn are connected to the BNC and USB connectors.
It means you can connect the signal generator to any point in your circuit and not worry about stray return paths. It's not a necessity, but it means you could drive some high side transistors easily for example.
i noticed you have not made videos for a long time. I baced my buying equipment on your opinion and tare down and love your fix and upgrade of products.
No particular reason - both are valid options. The nice thing is that they are buffered outputs, so you don't need to worry about the impedance of your pull-up resistor which you'd typically use on a standard transistor output opto.
Another interesting video. I'm planning a very similar upgrade of my own unit. I see you've used the IL600 series though - any particular reason for that choice? Those look a bit awkward to use, by way of "coil current" and so on. I've always been more a fan of the Analog Devices range; in particular the ADuM1201 would do well here. That's the chip I'm planning to use in mine.
Yes absolutely. Just watch size of the pull up resistor if you use the output transistor in open collector configuration as it'll effect the rise time. The baud rate isn't too high though so shouldn't be too challenging.
OMG, just add a grounded power cord... Changing out the entire power supply is unacceptable. Your turning this inexpensive device into something no one would want to touch... We are used to switching power supplies, they are everywhere.
Nice finishing touch; worthy of a purchase.
Great project Steve. I've put out the word to our local ham radio group to check out this series of videos if they're looking for a very economical generator for their bench.
Thanks Dino for your support.
Thanks, I bought one and have started to order the parts for the modifications. For what it's worth there are some very nice potted, PCB mountable transformers by MAKRAI in Hungary which are less bulky than the ones you used. They are available from a number of EBay traders.
Thanks Stephen for the info.
Great job :D I have one of these and will be doing the mods. this gave me some ideas for isolating my pololu programmer... last time i used it i blew my computer up and the programmer and the circuit i was working on :( thanks for the great content!
Glad it was of use to you. All the best.
Thanks for sharing. The 10MHZ PLL mod would be a really nice video for learning purposes. It would also be useful in its own right.
Thanks.
OK, well I'm planning on building my own GPSDO using a uBlox module which may use a PLL - it may get covered there.
How did the case temps compare Steve with & without the fan, did you see much of difference?
Cheers
John
Hi John, there's quite a difference - there are some vents built into the bottom of the case, so with the fan I didn't see anything more than 2°C higher than ambient in the free space of the case. Without the fan the internals reached 15°C higher, but the 15V transformer was alarmingly warm at full load into 50 ohms.
PROBLEM! I could only find the IL612-2 at Digi-Key, but you have to buy 10! Is there a more common part to substitute?
--
Also, what type connectors are you using?
Perhaps the Si8421AB? Connectors are Molex KK I think.
@@sdgelectronics - This should work, from Mouser: ISO7721FDWVR
Thanks for writing back!
@@markopinteric yes, it should work fine
Can you please explain why you wish to have the signal generator's exposed grounds (BNC connectors, USB connector) isolated from mains ground. A simple solution to the safety concerns is simply to connect the mains ground (green-wire in the USA) to the signal system ground (power supply negative) which in turn are connected to the BNC and USB connectors.
It means you can connect the signal generator to any point in your circuit and not worry about stray return paths. It's not a necessity, but it means you could drive some high side transistors easily for example.
Thanks Steve.
Thanks Robert
i noticed you have not made videos for a long time. I baced my buying equipment on your opinion and tare down and love your fix and upgrade of products.
Videos should resume soon...
Excellent as usual. One question, why the galvanic isolators as opposed to opto isolators?
No particular reason - both are valid options. The nice thing is that they are buffered outputs, so you don't need to worry about the impedance of your pull-up resistor which you'd typically use on a standard transistor output opto.
Another interesting video. I'm planning a very similar upgrade of my own unit.
I see you've used the IL600 series though - any particular reason for that choice? Those look a bit awkward to use, by way of "coil current" and so on. I've always been more a fan of the Analog Devices range; in particular the ADuM1201 would do well here. That's the chip I'm planning to use in mine.
The Analog Devices isolators are just as suitable for this design - I mainly used what I had to hand. Thanks
Can someone post a working link for the software? Seems that I got a different more basic version
USB data signals are 3.3v not 5v. Only the power supply is 5 volts. Just saying.
Andrei H , it was three years ago and nothing has changed. LOL
Thumbs up :)
Where can i find the usb modification diagram
00:50 You surely mean 2200uF, not 22000uF.
Yep, apologies
No need to apologise mate. Just thought you might want to edit or at least know. I think most folk would know what you meant anyway.
***** Annoyingly there's no way to make minor edits after the upload. Thanks for watching :)
How much did it cost to do these upgrades?
A lot of the parts are general items I had laying around. I'd estimate around £25
I guess I should have asked how much it would cost if you had to buy all those parts.
Yes, the £25 is about the cost for the components if you purchased them from the likes of RS or Farnell.
Could I use optoisolators ?
Yes absolutely. Just watch size of the pull up resistor if you use the output transistor in open collector configuration as it'll effect the rise time. The baud rate isn't too high though so shouldn't be too challenging.
Right, thank you for the tip ! Nice build and video. With my unit I measured no voltage between the BNC and ground and obviously no current.
@@sdgelectronics, I believe you meant "affect," in place of "effect."
OMG, just add a grounded power cord... Changing out the entire power supply is unacceptable. Your turning this inexpensive device into something no one would want to touch... We are used to switching power supplies, they are everywhere.
I bought two... dumb... but less money than a fraction of a good unit.