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Gamry Instruments EIS Box Operator's Manual

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EIS Box™
Instrument
Operator's Manual
Copyright © 2018 Gamry Instruments, Inc.
Revision 1.0
November 1, 2018
Gamry P/N 988-00071

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Summary of Contents for Gamry Instruments EIS Box

  • Page 1 EIS Box™ Instrument Operator’s Manual Copyright © 2018 Gamry Instruments, Inc. Revision 1.0 November 1, 2018 Gamry P/N 988-00071...
  • Page 3 If you have problems in installation or use of a system containing an EIS Box, please try to call from a phone next to your computer, where you can type and read the screen while talking to us.
  • Page 4 Limited Warranty Gamry Instruments, Inc. warrants to the original user of this product that it shall be free of defects resulting from faulty manufacture of the product or its components for a period of two years from the original shipment date of your purchase.
  • Page 5 Disclaimers Gamry Instruments, Inc. cannot guarantee that the EIS Box instrument will work with all computer systems, operating systems, and third-party software applications, hardware, or software. The information in this manual has been carefully checked and is believed to be accurate as of the time of release.

  • Page 7: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents Chapter 1:Safety Considerations ..................... 9 Inspection ......................... 9 Product Safety ........................9 Grounding in the EIS Box ....................9 Temperature and Ventilation ..................... 11 Defects and Abnormal Stresses ..................11 Environmental Limits......................12 Cleaning ........................... 12 Service ..........................12 RF Warning ........................
  • Page 8 Current to Voltage Converter ..................... 44 Current Measurement ....................... 44 Environmental ........................44 General ..........................44 Channel Characteristics ..................... 45 Appendix B: EIS Box Cell Connectors ..................... 47 Appendix C: CE Certificate ......................49 Certificate of Conformance ......................49 Index ............................. 51...

  • Page 9: Chapter 1:Safety Considerations

    AC mains to the chassis of the instrument. You must always use a line cord with a CEE 22 Standard V female connector on the instrument end of the cable. If your EIS Box has been provided without an AC line cord, or a cord that is not compatible with your local AC mains socket, obtain a line cord certified for use in your country.
  • Page 10 The EIS Box contains surge suppressors that limit the voltage difference between the EIS Box’s chassis ground and earth ground to about 28 V. These surge suppressors are not part of the safety mechanisms in the EIS Box. Instead they are present to limit the possibility of improper instrument operation or instrument damage due to...

  • Page 11: Temperature And Ventilation

    ±28 V. In the worst case this can cause catastrophic failure of the system. Do not connect an EIS Box to a cell in a battery or fuel cell stack when the cell voltage is more than 25 V from earth ground.

  • Page 12: Environmental Limits

    Use a cloth lightly dampened with either clean water or water containing a mild detergent, to clean the outside of the EIS Box enclosure. Alternatively, you may use isopropyl alcohol. Do not use a wet rag or allow fluid to enter the EIS Box enclosure.

  • Page 13: Rf Warning

    RF Warning The EIS Box has been tested for both radiated and conducted RF interference and for immunity to RF fields, and has been found to be in compliance with FCC Part 18 and EU Council Directive 2014/30/EU, the EMC Directive EN 61326:2013—Electrical equipment for measurement, control, and laboratory use—EMC...
  • Page 14 Safety Considerations...

  • Page 15: Chapter 2:Introduction

    Faraday shield to make quiet measurements, the EIS Box can be used with the cell exposed on a bench top. The EIS Box, like all of our instruments, requires a computer for its use. The EIS Box connects to this computer through an Ethernet or USB connection (see photograph below of rear panel).

  • Page 16: Software And Applications

    Introduction The EIS Box was developed to increase the throughput of your impedance testing program. Under the control of an external computer, the EIS Box connects one cell at a time, which makes an electrochemical measurement on that cell. The EIS Box has been integrated into all Gamry Instruments’ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy applications that run under the Gamry Framework.

  • Page 17: Chapter 3:General Operation

    Gamry Instruments Framework software. It allows many of the applications to increase their throughput by testing multiple cells in a single test run. This chapter of the EIS Box Operator’s Manual provides an overview of the operation of the EIS Box. It discusses the following topics: •...

  • Page 18: Operation Overview

    The most important function of these commands is to select which cell is active (connected to the EIS Box). You can think of an EIS Box as a complex switch with driving electronics. One of the eight cell cables on the EIS Box is switched so that it connects to the instrument’s cell cable.

  • Page 19: Keyword Definitions

    The computer software and instrument are responsible for taking the measurement and storing it. The EIS Box instrument in Figure 3-1 is shown as a “black box”. The relays in the EIS Box can carry currents up to 5 A.

  • Page 21: Chapter 4:Installation

    EIS Box, possibly creating a hazardous condition. Before connecting power to a “cold” EIS Box, allow at least one hour for the EIS Box to warm at room temperature.

  • Page 22: Computer Requirements

    If this occurs during data-acquisition, you may lose experimental data. If you place your EIS Box within an enclosed space, make sure that the internal temperature within that space does not exceed 45C, the maximum ambient temperature for the EIS Box. Be particularly careful if a computer or other heat-dissipating equipment is mounted in the same enclosure as the EIS Box.

  • Page 23: Reboot Your Computer After Software Installation

    Reboot your computer when the Gamry Setup program is done. The Setup program normally offers you the opportunity to do so. Following Setup, you may not be able to use your EIS Box until the drivers are loaded. Device driver installation may not occur until a while after the Windows Desktop appears. On a slow computer, or a busy computer with lots of active applications, the delay before driver installation can be a minute or more.

  • Page 24: Power-Up Test

    After connecting AC power to the EIS Box, toggle the Power switch on the front panel of the EIS Box. Watch the Power LED as the EIS Box powers up. It glows a steady blue. If you do not see a continuous blue color, contact technical support.

  • Page 25: Operation Via Usb

    The standard Cell Cable is 3 m long. The D-connector ends of the cables are connected to the appropriate ports on the front of the EIS Box. Always use the knurled screws on this cable to hold the cables in place.

  • Page 26: Running The Framework

    Installation Running the Framework Many newer electrochemical applications do not run as an application within Gamry Instruments’ Framework software. This is true of all applications that use Gamry’s Toolkit for instrument control. Gamry’s Framework software is the main application software for performing routine analysis associated for electrochemical measurements.

  • Page 27: Firmware Update

    There are three separate firmware images that can be updated in the field on your EIS Box. The first is the Instrument Firmware. This is the program that handles most of the functions of the EIS Box. The second is the Communications Firmware.

  • Page 29: Chapter 5:Calibration

    The standard EIS Box calibration calls for an external resistive dummy cell. Your EIS Box was shipped with a 200 Ω Calibration Cell, which includes a 200 Ω, 0.05% accurate resistor. After calibration, please place this dummy cell in a safe place where you can find it if your unit requires recalibration.
  • Page 30 • The system is being run in an environment that is very different from the previous operating environment. For example, if the EIS Box was calibrated at 15°C and you are now operating it at 30°C, you should recalibrate. Connect the Calibration Cell to the appropriately colored banana plugs on the Cell Cable.

  • Page 31: Chapter 6:Cell Connections

    Chapter 6: Cell Connections Cell Cable Overview The EIS Box has eight channels. Each channel has two Cell Connectors on the front of the EIS Box. The Current Connections are female 15-pin D-connectors, and the Sense Connections are male 15-pin D-connectors.

  • Page 32: Membrane Cell Connections

    If your cell is a typical glass laboratory cell, all of the electrodes are isolated from earth ground. In this case, you may be able to reduce noise in your data by connecting the EIS Box’s Floating Ground to an earth ground.

  • Page 33: Fuses In The Cell Cable

    Fuses in the Cell Cable The EIS Box can be damaged if currents much larger than 6 A flow into or out of the Counter electrode or Working electrode leads. Improper connection to a battery, fuel cell, or supercapacitor can cause this type of damaging current to flow.
  • Page 34 Figure 6-3 Drawing of Fuse-holder in the D-Connector Hood Four replacement fuses should accompany every Counter/Working cell cable shipped by Gamry Instruments. The Gamry Part Number for the small rectangular fuses is 630-00030. If you need to find replacement fuses locally, we currently only recommend Very Fast Acting, 6.3 A, Nano Fuses from the Littelfuse corporation...
  • Page 35 Testing for Open Fuses A Gamry Instruments Framework test checks for blown fuses without having you remove the fuses. A simple Potentiostatic test is run on the Calibration Cell. Run the test using the SET A VOLTAGE.EXP script in the Framework’s Utilities package.
  • Page 36 If the fuse test indicates an open fuse, and the fuses both check out a good with an ohmmeter, some other problem has occurred in the cables or the instrument. Contact Technical Support at Gamry Instruments as soon as possible.

  • Page 37: Chapter 7:Panel Indicators And Connectors

    Power Switch The Power LED The Power LED is on the lower right of the EIS Box front panel. It normally glows a continuous blue when the EIS Box is turned on and has passed some simple power-on tests. When the Power LED is off, these are possible causes: •...
  • Page 38 In addition to the pins used for cell connections, each EIS Box Cell Connector also uses four pins to read a cell cable ID. Gamry software can compensate for the cell-cable characteristics to attain optimal system performance in EIS (Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy).

  • Page 39: Rear Panel

    System Ground binding post The front-panel System Ground black banana jack is intended for one use only. When the EIS Box is used with cells isolated from earth ground, connecting the System Ground to earth ground may lower the noise measured in the system.
  • Page 40 The green Protective Ground binding post is a convenient access point to the protective (earth) ground in the EIS Box. It is connected to the third wire in the AC power cord and to the EIS Box’s metal chassis. This binding post can be connected to an additional earth ground to form a redundant protective ground.
  • Page 41 Panel Indicators and Connectors The USB port on the rear panel of the EIS Box is a Type B receptacle for a USB cable. Use a standard USB cable with a Type B USB (nearly square) connector to connect this port to a computer’s USB port.
  • Page 42 Do not replace the fuses with incorrect values or types, or in any way circumvent the fuse action. If your EIS Box routinely blows the AC line fuses it indicates a serious problem with the EIS Box. Contact Gamry Instruments, Inc. for repair information.

  • Page 43: Appendix A: Eis Box Specifications

    Appendix A: EIS Box Specifications All specifications are at an ambient temperature of 22C, with the EIS Box powered using the external power supply shipped with the unit, a standard shielded 3 m cell cables, and the cell enclosed in a Faraday shield. All specifications obtain after software calibration.

  • Page 44: Current To Voltage Converter

    Appendix A: EIS Box Specifications Current to Voltage Converter Maximum Full-scale Range ±5 Note 13 Minimum Full-scale Range ±50 µA Note 13 ±500 (after 100× gain) Voltage across Rm ±100 mV at Note 14 full scale Output Voltage (at Monitor and ADC in) ±3.0...

  • Page 45: Channel Characteristics

    4. Cell resistor 90 Ω connected between the counter and working electrode leads, in potentiostatic mode. 5. The A/D and signal-processing chain in the EIS Box allows measurement of voltage signals as large as ±6.5536 V. The voltage on the Work Sense lead can be as high as ±0.51 V when measuring 5A using a 60 cm cell cable.
  • Page 46 Error = Input Current Offset + Range Zero Offset × FS Current + Gain Tolerance × Measured Current The first term can generally be ignored on the EIS Box. The units for the error are amperes. 16. Drift can be approximated by simple drift in the Range Zero Error. In reality all three terms in the equation above can have drift.

  • Page 47: Appendix B: Eis Box Cell Connectors

    Multiple pins assigned to the same signal are connected together on the EIS Box’s Potentiostat board. If you must connect this using a special cell cable, you need a wire connected to any one of the D-connector pins.
  • Page 48 Appendix B: EIS Box Cell Connectors Table B-2 Sense Connector Pin(s) Signal Name CBL_ID2 One of four cable ID bits. Used to identify the type of cell cable attached to the unit. Pull to a logic High through a resistor. Ground to set the bit low.

  • Page 49: Appendix C: Ce Certificate

    Appendix C: CE Certificate-- Appendix C: CE Certificate Certificate of Conformance...

  • Page 51: Index

    Index AC line cord ........... 10 green cell lead ..........34 active cell ..........20, 21 ground ............. 49, 50 air-cooling ............12 Help system ........... 17 auxiliary electrode .......... 34 inactive blue cell lead ..........34 definition ..........21 Calibrate in Framework button ......
  • Page 52 Work Shield ........... 49 Working electrode ....33, 34, 35, 39, 49...

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