Selecting The File Mode; Selecting The Time Stamp Format - Ametek L Series User Manual

L-Series and FCS-18- Graphical User Interface User Manual

8.4.2 Selecting the File Mode

Two file modes are supported, append and overwrite.
Append mode is useful for accumulating test data on the
same unit under test but broken up into multiple test
sessions. Overwrite is useful when old data is no longer
needed or has become invalid and needs to be replaced
while maintaining the same file name.
When selecting an existing data file, the Append mode will cause new
data to be appended to the existing data file. When overwrite is selected,
data in the existing data file will be replaced with the new data. When
appending data to an existing data file, make sure the selected phases and
parameters match those used for the previous data logging session or the
number of columns in the data file will be different between log sessions.
When appending to a new file, the file will be created first so the effect is the
same a selecting Overwrite mode.

8.4.3 Selecting the time stamp format

Each data file record entry is automatically time
stamped with the date and time the data was obtained
from the L-Series unit. The "time serial number" format
is practical when the data is to be analyzed or displayed
using a spreadsheet program such as Excel as this
format is identical to that used by Excel for tracking dates and times. To
display a "time serial number" in readable form, use the Cell, format, data,
time functions available in Excel. The "time serial number" is a floating point
number the integer part of which signifies the number of days past Jan 1,
1900. The decimal fraction of the "time serial number" represents the elapsed
time from 0:00:00 (12:00:00 A.M.) to 23:59:59 and ranges from 0 to
0.99999999
(11:59:59 P.M.). Use the Cell Format function in Excel to display the time
serial number as a text string. Using the serial number has the advantage
that it is easier to perform math on it. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to
interpret in other programs that do not support this format.
The ASCII string date and time format generates an ASCII string
formatted data and time stamp that can be used with any program.
Example:
The time stamp is always the first column of any data file.
72
ASCII String :
Serial number:
California Instruments
8/24/95 15:40:41
34935.65325
Rev D – March 2011