Video summary
The video documents a significant power-on voltage issue discovered on a Rigol DP832 programmable DC power supply, specifically affecting Channel One. Upon initial startup, the device unexpectedly outputs approximately 33 volts instead of its intended low-voltage state, posing a serious risk to connected equipment that might be rated for lower voltages like 12 volts or less. While Channel Two functions correctly and tracks the dialled voltage immediately, Channel One remains stuck at this dangerous high voltage until the user manually intervenes. The presenter notes that this behavior was not noticed previously but highlights the potential for catastrophic damage to sensitive circuits if a device is left connected during startup without prior knowledge of this glitch.
To resolve the problem, the creator decides to update the instrument's firmware from version 1.16 to 1.19. The initial update process described in the manual involves specific button sequences while the unit is powered off with a USB cable connected, but the presenter encounters difficulties following these exact steps. After removing the USB cable and rebooting the device, the update appears to complete successfully on its own. Post-update testing reveals that the startup voltage issue has been largely corrected; instead of jumping straight to 33 volts, the output now rises gradually to around 2 volts before settling at the target 3 volts, which is significantly safer for most applications.
Although the residual 2-volt output upon startup is not ideal, it is deemed acceptable compared to the original 33-volt hazard, as it is unlikely to damage standard components unless they are extremely sensitive to voltages under two volts. The presenter also investigates whether any current is being delivered during this startup phase by connecting a red LED, which briefly lights up before failing, indicating that some current is indeed present. Despite this minor imperfection, the update successfully eliminates the critical high-voltage spike, restoring the power supply to a safe and functional state. The video concludes with an invitation for viewers who have experienced similar issues or circuit damage due to this bug to share their experiences in the comments section.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
Hello everybody. Welcome back to my
vlog. All right, so this is a a little
video um going to show you the issue I
found on my Rial
DP 832.
Now,
I never noticed this before,
and maybe I should, but if you look at
the
um multimeter here, this is directly
from the output of the rile.
I'm going to turn it on.
And as you can see here, we're straight
up to 33.369
volts.
Now, it's uh kicked in. Good. Now, the
output voltage 3 volts as it should be
and it it tracks, you know, to whatever
voltage I'm dialing in, it goes to where
it should do. And that's the same on
channel two. But let me just show you
channel two now, just as uh
Oh, come on. I undid the thingies to
make this easy for myself. Right. Now,
let me show you channel two. want to
switch on.
Channel 2 doesn't have that that issue.
And that is a problem. I mean, imagine
that you've got, you know, a device
connected. It can only take 12 volts
maximum, let's say, and you've got it
connected to your power, you turn it on,
you're automatically putting three
volts. That can um, you know, that can
cause you to
Yeah, that that's not a good thing. as
Davy Jones would say, that could cause
you to have a bad day. And uh All right,
so that's one thing. All right, so let's
get rid of this. And there's no more
issues. I'm just going to show you now
if I can
the firmware version.
Uh
system info.
I don't know if you can see that. A
little bit closer.
Let me just bring it a little bit
closer. Come on.
All right. So, we got firmware version
um 1.16.
Okay. It says digital version, which is
the firmware version. Look, DP832A. It
thinks it's an 832A.
I can query seen quite clearly be seen
by it. It's a DP832.
And it's one of the older ones as well.
It's I got it, I don't know, seven years
ago, six years ago, something like that.
Anyway, so um yeah, so it's had it, you
know, the mods done screen and and bits
and pieces as you can see. Right. So,
we're going to try firmware update and
see if that makes any difference now
because I got to pull all this out
um and mess about. I'm going to do it
off camera, pull it out. I got me I got
me gel foil on me disc.
Got it here on me disc already.
And so it's a case of putting it in and
doing the firmware update. So I'll be
back in a minute. Okay, so I've pulled
it out and I've got the USB
in the back. Now the idea is now we're
going to power on. And when the rival
comes up with the three dots, we're
going to hit the help button. So let's
power on. USB in three dots. Quickly hit
help button.
As you can see, look, it's starting to
do the upgrade process. At least putting
the information in.
All right. Two out of two.
Um, all right. Right.
Not quite sure there.
Suppress to proceed to the waveform
configuration interface. Notice that the
dark gray buttons underneath the screen.
If I want to press help button twice to
open the help menu
and these buttons in order.
Help. Help.
Well, that didn't do anything on mine.
Um,
right. So, once it finishes the update,
the instrument will proceed to the
waveform configuration interface.
Notice that the five dark gray buttons
underneath here
are defined as M1, M2, 3, four to five.
And uh
uh from left to right, press the help
button twice to open the help menu.
Once. Twice.
Um
then press the buttons in order M4, M2,
M1 to update analog board one.
So M4, M2, and M1. So if I say M4, M2,
and M1, that's not doing anything. Let's
just turn that off
and reboot it. You're not supposed to
make any changes when you're doing that.
You're not supposed to turn the power
off, but it seems like it's just gone
through and done it.
All right. All this stuff's off.
If I press help now, get nothing.
I press output on. I got nothing on
anything.
Oh, I wonder if that's because it's got
the um USB in the back still. I suppose
that be one of the things you do
um if the instrument fails to read the
update file. Mine didn't do that.
It's just I've not been able to go
through the procedure
uh buttons in order to update the
different boards.
All right, let's pull the thing out the
back.
Yeah, I'm going to set you there for a
second. Pull this out the back.
So, we've no longer got the USB thing in
there.
And see what happens now.
All right.
So, does that turn on? Ah, okay. It
turns on.
Now, let's have a little look in the
utility system info. And now look, as
you can see, it says
1.19
where it was 1.16.
So the actual um
the actual update procedure
isn't quite what it says it is. Can I
press the help buttons now? Yeah, I can.
All right, cuz that's what I couldn't do
before.
Uh let's just go back on here.
and uh going to add the utility. Press
help. Now press the desired key to get
the corresponding information. Press
that. Select. Okay. So that works. Let's
get out of there. Now what I want to see
is what happens on this output thing
when I first switch it on. So let's just
push this back a little bit.
Turn that off.
put our meter back in the view
and have a little look
on the output
on
there. Right, fingers crossed.
Ah, look, nothing on the output.
Beautiful.
All right. Well, let's just check that
we do actually have an output. Yep,
three volts. Okay, so that sorted that
out.
I wonder who if anybody got caught out
with that if you had a um you know a
circuit just left on there and you just
happened to power up and it do your
circuit some damage. I wonder if you
know there's anybody out there that's
got that as a feedback. I got to just
double check that because um
yeah, you you got no idea of the cold
chill that ran down my spine when I
first saw that that did that. I was
like, "Wow, no."
You know, all the things been playing
around with that could have been
damaged.
Uh all right. Well, let me just just
look at that. Um
look at it. just uh right just look at
that meter.
It goes up to like just over like a volt
two volts flashes on the two volts,
doesn't it? Well, that's much better
than it hanging on 33 whatever volts. Uh
so I'm really pleased that I've done
that now. Yeah. And it seems like
everything else is left in there cuz if
I turn that on, look, there's still many
volts and milliamp and currents and
watts and so that's all I wanted. I
don't don't even care if it doesn't give
me some of the other stuff cuz I never
really use it. But that starting up with
um 33 volts there was a was a spine
chiller for me when I first noticed it.
Anyway, that's it. That's the end of the
advert ended the advert the video. Uh
we've done the update. It's worked. It's
cured that issue um on the output of
channel one. Oh, let's just do a quick
check on channel two actually. just
[snorts] make sure it hasn't deferred it
elsewhere. We knew channel 2 was okay
before. So, uh, let's have a little look
now.
And yeah, I mean, it would be nice if
channel one, um, didn't put any voltage
out at all, but 2 volts isn't really
going to hurt anything,
unless you're working with something
specific that has to be under two volts.
And, uh, for me, that's not going to
happen. hasn't happened yet. It's uh 3
volts I think was the lowest for me.
Maybe if you got an LED on there, but
for that amount of time. And uh I don't
know if there's any current output.
Might be interesting. Take a peek at
that. All right. So, I decided I'm going
to do a quick little check. I've gone
for a uh red LED cuz they they take the
less the least amount of power and I
know that these ones don't really need
a great deal. So,
Let's
pop this on here. Like this.
All right.
Get that on there.
So, we got all eyes on the LED. For
that, I'm going to turn this light off
so we can capture
the slightest amount. And if I just
zoom that into there, right, let's have
a look.
Oh.
Oh, did you see that? So, it does have a
wee bit of current with it. That was
actually the the current here is on 1
amp and there's no uh there's no current
limit on it or off it. But it is
interesting to see that for an instant
we can off the power of the LED.
But still
Oh, wrong way.
It's still better
than uh 33 volts continuous for a while
until it's uh gets rid of that startup
screen.
Let's just
Now that's interesting.
The LED doesn't seem to be working
anymore. So, let's uh just set the
current
to something really small.
Oh, what am I doing? Come here. Let's uh
let's just back out of that. So, let's
set the current to something really
small.
And uh
20 m, right? 3 volt doesn't matter.
Yeah, doesn't matter. We turn it on. We
killed our LED.
So, there's enough power goes out of
there to kill your LED.
Don't know. Uh
but it's still better than 33 volts. So,
I'll leave it as that for now. Anyway,
guys, thanks for watching. Hope this is
helpful. If uh you've had any
experiences with these blowing your
circuits or anything like that and uh
you you haven't done the the update to
firmware 1.19,
um hey, stick it down in the comments.
And um
yeah.