Description
I bought a $37 arbitrary waveform signal generator (FY3200) from AliExpress. It claims 24 MHz, dual channel, 12-bit resolution, and 250 MSa/s — sounds great for the price, right? Well, Almost.
⚠️ Not sponsored. Affiliate links below. Thanks for supporting.
Arbitrary Waveform Signal Generator:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3qCzA9h
Much Better Version of Signal Generator:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c4ORrrg3
Digital Isolators. Perfect for UART isolation:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3DUH97h
On the first test, I found a serious design flaw: 160 V floating on the ground of the BNC connectors. In this video, I’ll:
🔧 Fix the dangerous grounding issue by replacing the power inlet with a grounded C14 inlet
🔧 Add USB electrical isolation to protect the computer.
🔧 Calibrate the generator frequency against a GPSDO reference.
🔧 Test harmonic distortion using a tinySA spectrum analyzer.
For $37, this little signal generator is far from perfect — but after some simple modifications, it becomes a safe and surprisingly useful lab tool.
🔧 Mods: grounding, USB isolation, frequency calibration
📡 Tests: sine wave harmonic distortion at 1 MHz, 5 MHz, 15 MHz
—
🧪 Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:15 First impressions & specs
0:24 Grounding problem demonstration
1:08 Fixing the grounding
3:01 USB isolation mod
5:10 Frequency calibration
5:53 Test waveforms
6:08 Harmonic distortion tests
7:26 Verdict & conclusion
#FY3200 #SignalGenerator #AliExpress #ElectronicsLab #Mods #DIY #tinySA #AWG