PICO picoscope 3204 User Manual
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PICO picoscope 3204 User Manual

Picoscope 3000 series pc oscilloscopes
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PicoScope 3000 Series
PC Oscilloscopes
User guide
Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
PS3000044 1.4

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  • Page 1 PicoScope 3000 Series PC Oscilloscopes User guide Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved. PS3000044 1.4...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    ....................26 4 Advanced features ....................29 5 Using different modes ....................30 6 Programming 4 Troubleshooting .....................32 ....................32 1 Software error codes ....................33 2 Powering the 3204/5/6 5 Glossary .....................34 ......................37 Index PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 3: Introduction

    BNC terminals as this may result in a large current flow causing damage to the product and/or connected equipment. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 4: Safety Warning

    Contact with voltages outside the protection range may cause physical damage. Mains voltages Pico Technology products are not designed for use with mains voltages. To measure mains, use a differential isolating probe specifically designed for a high source voltage.

  • Page 5: Ce Notice

    The licensee agrees to allow access to this software only to persons who have been informed of these conditions and agree to abide by them. Usage The software in this release is for use only with Pico products or with data collected using Pico products. Copyright Pico Technology Limited claims the copyright of, and retains the rights to, all material (software, documents etc.) contained in this release.

  • Page 6: Warranty

    Goods will be free from defects in material and workmanship. Pico Technology shall not be liable for a breach of the warranty if the defect has been caused by fair wear and tear, wilful damage, negligence, abnormal working conditions or...

  • Page 7: Product Information

    . Standard oscilloscope connectors PicoScope 3000 Series PC Oscilloscopes have standard oscilloscope connectors. The input impedance is also standard, so the x10 function on scope probes works correctly. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 8 The signal generator can also be used to compensate x10 scope probes when set to output a square wave. Ground loops If you experience excessive noise or voltage offsets when using the PicoScope 3204/5/6 variants, you may have a ground loop problem. See Powering the 3204/5/6 for advice on overcoming this.

  • Page 9: Specifications

    (2) 1 BNC shared with external trigger. Variable frequency 100 Hz to 1 MHz. 5 V square wave, 1 V sine wave and triangle functions. Repeat sweep function. Dual slope function. 600 W output impedance. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 10: Technical Reference

    The oscilloscope is not responding to commands from the PC. PS3000_CONFIG_FAIL The configuration information in the oscilloscope has become corrupt or is missing. PS3000_OS_NOT_SUPPORTED Driver supports Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, 2003 or later. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 11: Functions

    This function opens a PicoScope 3000 Series PC Oscilloscope. The API driver can support up to four oscilloscopes. None. Arguments if the oscilloscope fails to open, if no oscilloscope is found, Returns >0 (handle) if the device opened. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 12 Oscilloscope is attached to the computer. PS3000_BATCH_AND_SERIAL Returns the batch and serial number "CMY66/052" of the oscilloscope. PS3000_CAL_DATE Returns the calibration date of the "21Oct03" oscilloscope. PS3000_ERROR_CODE Returns one of the Error codes. "4" PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 13 Flashes the LED on the front of the oscilloscope three times and returns within one second. handle, the handle of the PicoScope 3000 Series PC Oscilloscope. Arguments Returns if a valid handle is passed, if not. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 14 (short handle) Shuts down a PicoScope 3000 Series PC Oscilloscope. Arguments handle, the handle, returned by ps3000_open_unit, of the oscilloscope being closed. Returns if a valid handle is passed, if not. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 15 ±100 mV PS3000_200MV ±200 mV PS3000_500MV ±500 mV PS3000_1V ±1 V PS3000_2V ±2 V PS3000_5V ±5 V PS3000_10V ±10 V PS3000_20V ±20 V PS3000_50V ±50 V Not available on all variants. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 16 If this pointer is null, nothing would be written here. if all parameters are in range, otherwise 0. Returns PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 17 Sweep functions are not available if the oscilloscope is in streaming mode. The signal generator is available only on the PicoScope 3204/5/6 PC Oscilloscope variants. See remarks and specifications for more information. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 18 Remarks The PicoScope 3204 variant has a simple 1 kHz square wave signal generator for scope probe calibration. With this variant, therefore, only two arguments of this function have any effect:...
  • Page 19 2 ns. Returns If ETS is enabled, the effective sample time will be returned. Zero if ETS is disabled or one of the parameters is out of range. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 20 If this is set to zero the oscilloscope will wait for a trigger indefinitely. Returns if one of the parameters are out of range, otherwise 1. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 21 Note: The actual time may differ from computer to computer, depending on how fast the computer can respond to I/O requests. if one of the parameters is out of range, otherwise 1. Returns PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 22 Returns if streaming has been enabled correctly, otherwise if a problem occurred or a value was out of range. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 23 ( meaning 'not ready'). (meaning 'device not attached') is returned if the endpoint transfer fails indicating that the unit may well have been unplugged. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 24 Call this function to stop the oscilloscope from sampling data. If this function is called before a trigger event occurs, the oscilloscope may not contain valid data. handle, the handle to the required device. Arguments Returns if an invalid handle is passed, otherwise 1. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 25 The actual number of data values per channel returned, which may be Returns less than if streaming. is returned if one of the no_of_values FALSE parameters is out of range. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 26 Use time_units ps3000_get_timebase in order to acquire the most suitable time_units. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 27: Advanced Features

    The driver can buffer up to 32K samples of data per channel, but the user must ensure that the ps3000_get_values () function is called frequently enough to avoid buffer overrun. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 28 Oversampling is taking more than one measurement during a time interval and returning an average. This reduces the effects of noise, and increases the effective vertical resolution of the oscilloscope. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 29 Maximum 3.4.10 Signal generator The PicoScope 3204/5/6 PC Oscilloscopes have a built-in signal generator which is set using ps3000_set_siggen(). The output of the 3204 is a fixed-frequency square wave, while the 3205 and 3206 can produce a selection of accurate frequencies from 100 Hz to 1 MHz, and the waveform can be set to sine, square or triangle and swept back and forth in frequency.

  • Page 30: Using Different Modes

    7 Transfer the block of data from the oscilloscope using ps3000_get_times_and_values 8 Display the data 9 Repeat steps 5 to 8 as necessary 10 Stop the oscilloscope using ps3000_stop Only the 3204/5/6 variants provide this function. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 31: Programming

    Note: The functions which return a TRUE/FALSE value, return 0 for FALSE and 1 for TRUE, whereas Visual basic expects 65 535 for TRUE. Check for > 0 rather than =TRUE. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Page 32 65 535 for TRUE. Check for > 0 rather than =TRUE. 3.6.5 Agilent Vee The example function ps3000.vee is in the drivers sub-directory. It uses procedures that are defined in ps3000.vh. It was tested using Agilent Vee version 5. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 33: Troubleshooting

    USB socket and restart your computer. Ensure that mention of the oscilloscope can be found in the USB section of the Windows Device Manager. If the oscilloscope is not mentioned there, consult Pico Technical Support for further advice. PicoScope or PicoLog reports error code 4, or 6.

  • Page 34: Powering The 3204/5/6

    PicoScope 3000 Series User Guide Powering the 3204/5/6 The PicoScope 3204/5/6 PC Oscilloscopes are normally powered from the USB port of the computer. If the computer and the equipment under test (EUT) are both referenced to the same ground, a "ground loop" may be created. This may degrade the DC accuracy and noise performance when measuring small signals.

  • Page 35: Glossary

    ETS should not be used for one-shot or non-repetitive signals. External trigger This is the BNC socket marked E on the PicoScope 3204/5/6 PC Oscilloscopes. It can be used to start a data collection run but cannot be used to record data. As it shares the same connector as the signal generator output, these two functions cannot be used at the same time.
  • Page 36 This is a software product that accompanies all our oscilloscopes. It turns your PC into a data logger and chart recorder. PicoScope 3000 Series An oscilloscope range comprising the PicoScope 3204, 3205, 3206, 3224 and 3424 PC Oscilloscopes. PicoScope software This is a software product that accompanies all our oscilloscopes.
  • Page 37 A value, in bits, indicating the degree of precision with which the oscilloscope can convert input voltages to digital values. Calculation techniques can improve the effective resolution. Voltage range The range of input voltages that the oscilloscope will measure in a given mode. PS3000044 1.4 Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Page 38: Index

    Maximum input range Maximum sampling rate Memory buffer 26, 27 Multi-unit operation Error codes 15, 18, 24, 25, 27, 29 Excel macros External trigger 6, 8, 19, 27, 28 Normal mode Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved. PS3000044 1.4...
  • Page 39 Sampling rate (maximum) Scope probe Signal generator 6, 8, 16, 27, 28, 29 Software control Software error codes Specifications Spectrum analyser Square wave Streaming mode 21, 26, 29 Sweep System requirements Copyright 2005 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved. PS3000044 1.4...
  • Page 40 Pico Technology Ltd The Mill House Cambridge Street St Neots PE19 1QB United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1480 396 395 Fax: +44 (0) 1480 396 296 Web: www.picotech.com PS3000044 1.4 17.10.05...

This manual is also suitable for:

Picoscope 3206Picoscope 3224Picoscope 3205Picoscope 3424

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