Technical data

Calibration Procedures 1

Measurement Techniques

E3632A Service Guide 9

Electronic load

Many of the test procedures require the use of a variable

load resistor capable of dissipating the required power.

Using a variable load resistor requires that switches be used

to connect, disconnect, and short the load resistor. An

electronic load, if available, can be used in place of a

variable load resistor and switches. The electronic load is

considerably easier to use than load resistors. It eliminates

the need for connecting resistors or rheostats in parallel to

handle power, it is much more stable than carbon-pile load,

and it makes easy work of switching between load conditions

as is required for the load regulation and load transient

response tests. Substitution of the electronic load requires

minor changes to the test procedures in this chapter.

Current-monitoring resistor

To eliminate output current measurement error caused by

the voltage drops in the leads and connections, connect the

current monitoring resistor between the (–) output terminal

and the load as a four- terminal device. Connect the

current- monitoring leads inside the load- lead connections

directly at the monitoring points on the resistor element (see

in Figure 1- 1).