The RIGOL DHO804 Digital Oscilloscope is the four-channel, 70 MHz model in the DHO800 Series. It is developed for engineers, technicians, laboratories, educational institutions and electronics service teams that require high vertical resolution and multi-channel signal analysis in a compact instrument.
Built on RIGOL’s Centaurus technology platform, the DHO804 uses a native 12-bit analogue-to-digital converter. This provides 4,096 vertical quantisation levels compared with 256 levels from a conventional 8-bit oscilloscope. The increased resolution helps reveal small voltage variations, power-supply ripple, noise, overshoot and waveform distortion.
70 MHz Analogue Bandwidth
The DHO804 provides:
- 70 MHz analogue bandwidth
- Four analogue input channels
- Typical rise time of 5 ns or less
- Native 12-bit vertical resolution
- Selectable 20 MHz bandwidth limit
- 1 MΩ analogue input impedance
It is suitable for analysing:
- Microcontroller clock and control signals
- PWM and pulse waveforms
- Sensor and actuator outputs
- Power-supply ripple
- Switching regulator control signals
- Analogue amplifier circuits
- Audio and instrumentation signals
- Embedded communication interfaces
- Phase and timing relationships
- General electronics faults
The DHO804 does not have a separate external trigger input. The external trigger connector is provided only on the two-channel DHO802 and DHO812 models.
Four Analogue Channels
The four-channel configuration allows engineers to observe several related signals at the same time.
Typical measurements include:
- Clock, data, enable and reset lines
- Input and output waveforms
- Voltage and current relationships
- Multiple power rails
- Sensor output and controller response
- High-side and low-side control signals
- Reference and measured signals
- Multi-stage start-up sequences
Four analogue channels are particularly useful when troubleshooting circuits where a single event affects multiple signals or system sections.
Native 12-Bit Vertical Resolution
The DHO804’s 12-bit acquisition system supports:
- 4,096 vertical quantisation levels
- Improved small-signal visibility
- Better ripple and noise analysis
- More detailed amplitude measurements
- Clearer representation of waveform distortion
- Improved observation of small AC signals on DC rails
This makes the oscilloscope suitable for:
- Power-integrity testing
- Sensor circuit development
- Low-noise analogue testing
- Battery-powered electronics
- Audio circuit analysis
- Reference-voltage evaluation
- Power-supply measurements
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Channel-Dependent Sampling Rate
The maximum real-time sample rate depends on the number of enabled analogue channels:
- One active channel: 1.25 GSa/s
- Two active channels: 625 MSa/s per channel
- Three or four active channels: 312.5 MSa/s per channel
The oscilloscope uses shared acquisition resources. Engineers should therefore consider the number of active channels when capturing fast signal transitions.
Deep Acquisition Memory
The DHO804 provides a maximum memory depth of 25 Mpts.
Memory allocation is:
- 25 Mpts with one active channel
- 10 Mpts per channel with two active channels
- 5 Mpts per channel with three or four active channels
Deep memory allows users to record longer signal intervals while retaining useful sample detail.
It is beneficial for:
- Long serial communication packets
- Power-supply start-up sequences
- PWM and pulse-train analysis
- Embedded-system timing measurements
- Long control sequences
- Intermittent fault investigation
- Production monitoring
- Extended waveform capture
The product page should not state 25 Mpts per channel during four-channel operation. The verified full-channel allocation is 5 Mpts per channel.
UltraAcquire Waveform Capture
The DHO804 supports:
- Up to 30,000 wfms/s in Vector mode
- Up to 1,000,000 wfms/s in UltraAcquire mode
Fast waveform capture improves the probability of detecting:
- Rare glitches
- Runt pulses
- Timing violations
- Signal dropouts
- Unstable waveform edges
- Abnormal pulse widths
- Intermittent noise
- Communication errors
The digital phosphor display uses 256 levels of intensity grading to distinguish frequently occurring waveform behaviour from less common events.
Hardware Waveform Recording and Playback
The DHO804 supports hardware waveform recording and playback of up to 500,000 frames.
Users can:
- Record successive waveform events
- Replay captures continuously
- Review frames individually
- Compare normal and abnormal signals
- Perform measurements during playback
- Apply waveform calculations
- Decode recorded serial activity
- Investigate intermittent faults
This feature is useful when a fault appears only after extended operation or under particular operating conditions.
Low-Level Signal Measurement
The oscilloscope provides vertical sensitivity from:
The low vertical range supports:
- Power-supply ripple measurement
- Sensor output testing
- Amplifier noise analysis
- Reference-voltage testing
- Small analogue waveform measurement
- Audio and instrumentation signals
The 500 µV/div range uses digital magnification and should be considered accordingly during precision measurements.
Trigger Functions
The DHO804 provides a broad selection of trigger modes, including:
- Edge
- Pulse width
- Slope
- Video
- Pattern
- Duration
- Timeout
- Runt
- Window
- Delay
- Setup and hold
- Nth edge
- RS232/UART
- I2C
- SPI
- CAN
These trigger functions help isolate narrow pulses, missing transitions, timing errors, invalid communication conditions and intermittent signal abnormalities.
Serial Bus Triggering and Decoding
The DHO804 supports protocol triggering and decoding for:
- RS232/UART
- I2C
- SPI
- CAN
- Parallel bus
Protocol data can be displayed beside the electrical waveform or in an event table.
This helps engineers identify:
- Missing acknowledgements
- Invalid data
- Timing problems
- Communication interruptions
- Incorrect voltage levels
- Noise-related errors
- Physical-layer faults
RIGOL’s current product information identifies serial bus triggering and decoding as standard DHO800 capabilities.
Automatic Measurements and Statistics
The DHO804 supports 41 automatic waveform measurements, including:
- Maximum and minimum voltage
- Peak-to-peak voltage
- Average and RMS voltage
- Frequency and period
- Rise and fall time
- Positive and negative pulse width
- Duty cycle
- Overshoot and preshoot
- Slew rate
- Phase
- Delay
Up to ten measurements can be displayed simultaneously. Measurement statistics help users evaluate signal variation across repeated acquisitions.
FFT and Waveform Mathematics
The oscilloscope provides waveform maths and frequency-domain analysis functions, including:
- Addition
- Subtraction
- Multiplication
- Division
- FFT
- Integration
- Differentiation
- Square root
- Logarithmic operations
- Logic operations
- Low-pass filtering
- High-pass filtering
- Band-pass filtering
- Band-stop filtering
FFT analysis supports up to 1 Mpts and peak search for identifying dominant frequency components.
Typical applications include:
- Harmonic analysis
- Switching-frequency measurement
- Noise-source identification
- Clock-spectrum evaluation
- EMI troubleshooting
- Detection of unwanted oscillations
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Mask Testing and Histogram Analysis
The DHO804 includes mask-based pass/fail testing for repetitive waveform validation.
A pass/fail event can be configured to:
- Stop acquisition
- Activate the beeper
- Save a screenshot
- Update test-count statistics
Histogram analysis supports horizontal, vertical and measurement histograms for evaluating waveform distribution and signal stability.
Digital Voltmeter and Frequency Counter
The DHO804 includes a digital voltmeter supporting:
- DC voltage
- AC RMS voltage
- AC+DC RMS voltage
It also includes a precision frequency counter with:
- Frequency measurement
- Period measurement
- Selectable 3-to-6-digit resolution
- 48-bit totaliser
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7-Inch Capacitive Touchscreen
The DHO804 includes:
- 7-inch capacitive multi-touch display
- 1024 × 600 resolution
- Gesture-based operation
- 256 intensity levels
- Adjustable persistence
- Flex Knob control
- Split-screen display
- HDMI external display output
The touchscreen provides access to waveform controls, measurements, protocol decoding and analysis functions.
Compact and Portable Design
The instrument measures approximately:
- 265.35 mm wide
- 161.75 mm high
- 77.38 mm deep
Its compact design supports VESA 100 × 100 mounting, helping save workspace in laboratories and test stations.
USB Type-C Power
The DHO804 uses a USB Type-C power input rated at:
This supports portable operation with a compatible power source and makes the oscilloscope suitable for field testing, mobile laboratories and industrial maintenance.
Connectivity and Remote Control
Standard interfaces include:
- USB Host
- USB Device
- 10/100 LAN
- LXI-C
- HDMI output
- AUX output
- Web Control
- USB Type-C power input
- Probe compensation output
The USB, LAN and HDMI interfaces are standard across the DHO800 Series. Web Control and remote programming support automated testing and remote laboratory operation.
No Digital Logic Channels or Built-In AFG
The DHO804 does not include:
- Digital logic channels
- A logic-analyser probe interface
- A built-in function generator
- An arbitrary waveform generator
- Bode plot analysis
- A separate external trigger input
Users requiring digital logic analysis or an integrated AFG should consider an appropriate DHO900-series model.
Applications
The RIGOL DHO804 is suitable for:
- Embedded-system development
- Microcontroller debugging
- Four-channel analogue analysis
- Power-supply testing
- PWM waveform measurement
- Sensor and actuator testing
- RS232, I2C, SPI and CAN debugging
- Power-rail ripple analysis
- Audio electronics
- Electronic equipment maintenance
- Production-line validation
- Research and development
- Engineering education
- Field troubleshooting
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Why Buy from RevineTech?
RevineTech supplies test and measurement instruments for electronics development, industrial testing, education, maintenance and research applications.
Technical selection support can cover:
- DHO804 model selection
- Passive probe requirements
- High-voltage differential probes
- Current probes
- Serial bus testing
- USB Type-C power requirements
- Calibration documentation
- VESA mounting accessories
- Automated test integration
