# Hantek 6022BE USB Digital Oscilloscope (Newbie Review)



## ShaneInMN (Sep 27, 2013)

I'm fairly budget minded, chances are, if you're looking for an Oscilloscope but don't want to spend the 200-300$ on one, you may be interested in this one.

In the box, you get:

USB PC Based Oscilloscope
Software CD
2x Probes (1x-10x switchable)
1x USB cable
Calibration Tools
3 sets of Plastic colored rings to mark your probes

I received mine last Wednesday. I had a hell of a time with it at first, mostly because I had no clue what I was doing. After several hours I finally figured it out and it was light a lightbulb going on.

If you don't know how to use an Oscilloscope, you may well do fine with this, but you are still going to need to know some basics. For car audio, you are going to want to use the probes in 10X mode. I only had to plug up one of the USB ports to my computer, but there is a 2nd USB plug that is split off of the main cable (red) that you can plug in for additional power if the single plug does not work. The software was easy to install and works fine with Windows 7. If you do not right click and run the application as administrator, you probably won't be able to save your settings and also receive an error when you close the application regarding failure to save some sort of configuration file. Overall, I wasn't very impressed with the software, but for what it was being used for, it works.

I suggest to calibrate the probes to begin with. Mine were off. There are a couple of metal loops on the front of the oscilloscope where you can clip/hook your positive and negative leads to get a square wave, then you can use the calibration screwdrivers included with the scope to make them look nice and square. The resolution of the waves is a little rough though you can adjust the intensity of the grid as well as the signal wave.

For the newbies (mostly because I had a hard time finding this information), I'll describe how to check levels/gains. If you already know this part you can skip past it.

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For checking the max volume of your HU, you want to make sure your EQ/crossovers/levels/everything is set flat, volume is at 0. Disconnect your pre-amp RCA's from your amps and play the corresponding sine wave from your HU. 40Hz for your sub pre-amps, 1KHz for your full range pre-amps. Connect one of your probes leads (I used the aligator clip, which is usually the negative) to the center pin of the RCA, then used the hook inside of the probe to clip onto the outer metal shield. You can do check both the R and L RCA's at the same time with this scope. Increase the volume to about 1/4 of the way up, and click on the Auto icon button at the top of the software. This will automatically set your horizontal and vertical adjustments to show you the sine wave in your view with a decent resolution. As you slowly increase the volume of the HU, you will notice that the sine wave will grow and you will no longer see it well in your grid, so click on auto again.

Keep doing this process until you either reach max volume without producing a square wave (clipping), or until you see the wave form begin to clip. Back it down 1 level on the HU volume, this is your max HU volume for that particular set of preamp outs. You want to do this with all of your preamp RCA's. Make sure the front/rear are being tested with the 1KHz test tone, and the sub is being tested with 40Hz. I recommend those frequencies, or something in that ballpark. Take the lower number of all the tests and this is your max HU volume. Write it down. Don't play your volume higher than that number.

Once your RCA's are done, you now can set the gains on your amplifier. Disconnect all speakers from the amp, plug the RCA's back in, and hook up your probe hook (positive) to the positive speaker lead coming from the amp. I had to cut some test speaker wire to run from my amp as they're mounded under the seats, then run that wire up towards the top of the seat where the probes could be hooked onto them easier. You are going to do basically the same thing with your amplifier that we did with the HU, except a little differently.

Set your volume knob where YOU want your maximum volume to be. Some people say 3/4 of the way to max, some people say 1/2, whatever you want, but I will say that the lower you go, the more risk of clipping when changing music sources. The less volume you need to get maximum power, the quicker you'll reach it, we're setting the gains (sensitivity). You'll make it more sensitive with a lower max volume. I have mine at 24/35 which is about 70% max volume.

For a mono amp, you'll just need one probe. Make sure the bass eq/boost is all the way down, the gains are all the way at minimum, and the crossover is off. Clip the hook (positive) inside the probe to the positive speaker wire running from the monoblock amp, then hook up the aligator clip (negative) to the negative speaker wire. Put in a sub frequency test tone (40Hz), set it to repeat and play it. Adjust the volume up to where you decide you want your max volume to be, hit the auto button on the software to have it automatically adjust the horizontal and vertical settings. If you have a nice sine wave, start increasing your gains slowly. You may need to click the auto button again if the wave form goes out of view. Keep doing this until your wave starts to square off, then back it down until it's a nice sine wave once again. Now your mono amp is set to give maximum unclipped power at the max volume that you determined from the HU.

For the full range amp, you can use one probe or both. I used both probes for this to speed up the process. On my particular amp, I have two sets of gains, one for channels 1/3 and the other for 2/4. I put in the 1KHz test tone, and followed the same process as I did for the mono amp. Start the volume off low, then slowly increase, reclicking on Auto on the software to keep the entire wave form within the grid, then once I started to see the wave square off, I backed it down a bit until it was a nice sine wave once again. If all is good, you should have near identical gain positions for both gain controls.

Now your mono amp and full range amp will be putting out maximum unclipped power at the maximum volume that you determined.

You can hook all of your speakers back up and test it with some music.

Keep in mind, using test tones is not a substitute for music, music is dynamic and will play louder than the test tones, so keep that in mind. I learned the hard way when I put in an extremely loud recording and the amp cut off. Trust your ears, if it sounds pretty damn loud, you probably should be playing it at a lower volume, to save your ears and your equipment.
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Overall, I am happy with this oscilloscope. I have nothing else to base it off of. It's lightweight, portable, does the job I wanted it to do, and was relatively affordable ($70 shipped).

The drawbacks:

I didn't see accurate information within the software, like what frequency the wave form was in, but I might have to chalk that up to being inexperienced with this equipment. 

You need a computer to use it, so extra room is needed for a laptop.

The software was a little laggy at times, I assume the processor inside of the unit is not as quick as the stand alone units, either way it got the job done, and at the end of the day, to me that's what matters.

Specs:

*Input:
Max. sample rate:Real-time sampling:48MS/s
Channels:2Channels
Bandwidth:20MHz(-3dB)
Vertical resolution:8bits/channel
Gain range:20mV~5V/[email protected] probe(20mV,50mV,100mV,200mV. 500mV,1V,2V,5V/div 1,2,5sequence).200mV~50V/[email protected] probe.2V~500V/[email protected] probe.20V~5KV/[email protected] probe
Range:8divisions
Offset level:+/-4divisions
Coupling: DC
Offset increments:0.02div
Impedance:1M ohm 
DC accuracy:+/-3% 
Input protection:-5V~+5V(without external attenuation)
Display Mode:Y-T,X-Y

*Timebase:
Timebase range:1ns/div~5000s/div(1ns,2ns,5ns,10ns,20ns,50ns,100ns,200ns,500ns,1us,2us,5us,10us,20us,50us,100us,200us,500us,1ms,2ms,5ms,10ms,20ms,50ms,100ms,200ms,500ms,1s,2s,5s,10s,20s,50s,100s,200s,500s,1000s,2000s,5000s/div 1,2,5 sequence)
Acquisition mode:Realtime sampling.
Range:10 divisions
Buffer Size:MAX.1M samples

*Trigger
Type:Edge trigger:Rising edge,falling edge
Mode:Auto,Normal and Single
Autoset:Yes
Range:8 divisions
Trigger level:+/-4 divisions
Settabillity:0.02div increments

*Math
Measurements:Vp-p,Vmax,Vmin,Vmean,Vrms,Vamp,Vtop,Vbase,Vmid,positive overshoot,negative overshoot,cycle mean,cycle RMS,period,frequency,positive pulse width,negative pulse width,rise time(10%~90%),fall time(10%~90%),positive duty cycle negative duty cycle
Math:Addition,Subtraction,Multiplication,Division
FFT:Rectangular,Hanning,Hamming,Blackman Window

*Square Output
Type:Square
Volt: DC 3.3V(+/-10mV)
Frequency:100Hz~50KHz(+/-2%)

*Physical

Interface:Universal Serial Bus(USB 2.0)
Dimensions:200x120x35mm

*Support: Windows NT/2000/XP/VISTA/7


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