PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscopes User guide PS2100044-1.0 Copyright 2006 Pico Technology Limited. All rights reserved.
I PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide Table of Contents 1 Introduction .............................................................................................1 1 Overview ...................................................................................................1 ...................................................................................................1 2 Safety symbols ...................................................................................................
Introduction 1 Introduction 1.1 Overview 1 The PicoScope 2104 and 2105 PC Oscilloscopes are low-cost handheld instruments that are fully USB 2.0-capable and backwards-compatible with USB 1.1. There is no need for an additional power supply, as power is taken from the USB port. With the PicoScope software, you can use your instrument as a PC Oscilloscope and spectrum analyser; and with the PicoLog software, you can use it as a data logger.
2 1.3 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide Safety warning We strongly recommend that you read the general safety information below before using your PicoScope PC Oscilloscope for the first time. Safety protection built in to the equipment may cease to function if the equipment is used incorrectly. This could cause damage to your computer, or lead to injury to yourself and others.
Introduction 1.5 3 CE notice The PicoScope 2104 and 2105 PC Oscilloscopes meet the intent of the EMC directive 89/336/EEC and have been designed to EN61326-1 (1997) Class A Emissions and Immunity standard. The devices also meet the intent of the Low Voltage Directive and have been designed to meet the BS EN 61010-1:2001 IEC 61010-1:2001 (safety requirements for electrical equipment, control, and laboratory use) standard. 1.
4 1.7 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide Trademarks Delphi is a registered trademark of Borland Software Corporation. LabView is a registered trademark of National Instruments Corporation. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Pico Technology Limited, PicoLog and PicoScope are internationally registered trademarks. VEE is a registered trademark of Agilent Technologies. Windows, Excel and Visual Basic are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. 1.
Product information 2 Product information 2.1 Minimum system requirements 5 For the PicoScope PC Oscilloscope to operate, a computer with the minimum system requirements to run Windows or the following (whichever is the higher specification) is required: Processor Pentium class processor or equivalent, minimum. Memory 32 MB minimum. Disk space 10 MB minimum. Operating system Microsoft Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP. Ports USB 1.1 compliant port minimum. USB 2.0 compliant port recommended.
6 2.2 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide Installation instructions Important Do not connect the PicoScope PC Oscilloscope to your PC until you have installed the software. Install the software by following the steps in the installation guide supplied with your oscilloscope. Connect the oscilloscope's USB cable to the PC. There is no need for an additional power supply as power is drawn from the USB port.
Product information 2.
PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide 8 3 Technical reference 3.1 Driver Once you have installed the PicoScope and PicoLog software, Windows will automatically install the driver when the PicoScope PC Oscilloscope is plugged in for the first time. The Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/2003 32-bit driver, picopp.sys, is installed in the Windows directory. It is loaded using an inf file, picopp.inf. 3.
Technical reference 3.3 Functions 3.3.1 ps2000_close_unit 9 short ps2000_close_unit ( short handle ) This function shuts down a PicoScope 2000 Series PC Oscilloscope. 3.3.2 Arguments handle, the handle, returned by ps2000_open_unit(), of the unit being closed. Returns 1 if a valid handle is passed, 0 if not. ps2000_flash_led short ps2000_flash_led ( short handle ) This function flashes the red light in the unit's pushbutton three times, and returns within one second.
10 3.3.3 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide ps2000_get_timebase short ps2000_get_timebase ( short short long long short short long handle, timebase, no_of_samples, * time_interval_ns, * time_units, oversample, * max_samples) This function discovers which timebases are available on the oscilloscope. This function should be called after channel and ETS options have been set. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device.
Technical reference 3.3.4 11 ps2000_get_times_and_values long ps2000_get_times_and_values( short long short short short short short short long handle, * times, * buffer_a, * buffer_b, * buffer_c, * buffer_d, * overflow, time_units, no_of_values ) This function is used to get values and times. It will not return any valid times if the unit is in streaming mode. It is essential for ETS operation. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device. times, a pointer to the buffer for the times.
12 3.3.5 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide ps2000_get_unit_info short ps2000_get_unit_info ( short char short short handle, * string, string_length, info ) This function writes information about the oscilloscope to a character string. If the unit fails to open, only information types 0 and 6 are available to explain why the last open unit call failed. Arguments handle, the handle to the device from which info is required.
Technical reference 3.3.6 13 ps2000_get_values long ps2000_get_values( short short short short short short long handle, * buffer_a, * buffer_b, * buffer_c, * buffer_d, * overflow, no_of_values ) This function is used to get values. It does nothing if ETS triggering is enabled. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device. buffer_a, pointer to the buffer that receives data from the oscilloscope. If the pointer is NULL, nothing will be written to it. See Scaling for details of data values.
14 3.3.8 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide ps2000_open_unit short ps2000_open_unit ( void ) This function opens a PicoScope 2000 Series PC Oscilloscope. The API driver can support up to four units. 3.3.9 Arguments None Returns -1 if the unit fails to open, 0 if no unit found, >0 (handle) if the unit opened ps2000_ready short ps2000_ready ( short handle ) This function checks to see if the oscilloscope has finished the last data collection operation.
Technical reference 15 3.3.10 ps2000_run_block short ps2000_run_block ( short long short short long handle, no_of_samples, timebase, oversample, * time_indisposed_ms ) This function tells the unit to start collecting data in block mode. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device. no_of_samples, the number of samples to return. timebase, a code between 0 and the maximum timebase (depending on variant).
16 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide 3.3.11 ps2000_run_streaming short ps2000_run_streaming ( short short long short handle, time_interval_ms, max_samples, windowed ) This function tells the unit to start collecting data in streaming mode. If the function is called when a trigger has been enabled, the trigger settings will be ignored. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device. time_interval_ms, the time interval, in milliseconds, between samples.
Technical reference 17 3.3.12 ps2000_set_channel short ps2000_set_channel ( short short short short short handle, channel, enabled, dc, range ) Specifies whether a channel is to be enabled, the position of the AC/DC switch and the input range. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device. channel, an enumerated type, must be PS2000_CHANNEL_A or 0. enabled, specifies whether the channel is active: TRUE = active, FALSE = inactive.
18 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide 3.3.13 ps2000_set_ets long ps2000_set_ets ( short short short short handle, mode, ets_cycles, ets_interleave ) This function is used to enable or disable ETS (equivalent time sampling) and to set the ETS parameters. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device.
Technical reference 19 3.3.14 ps2000_set_trigger short ps2000_set_trigger ( short short short short short short handle, source, threshold, direction, delay, auto_trigger_ms ) This function is used to enable or disable triggering and its parameters. Triggering is not available in streaming mode. Arguments handle, the handle to the required device. source, specifies where to look for a trigger. Use PS2000_CHANNEL_A (0) or PS2000_NONE (5). threshold, the threshold for the trigger event.
PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide 20 3.4 Advanced features 3.4.1 Sampling modes A PicoScope PC Oscilloscope can run in various sampling modes. At high sampling rates, the oscilloscope collects data much faster than a PC can read it. To compensate for this, the oscilloscope stores a block of data in an internal memory buffer, delaying transfer to the PC until a preset number of data points has been sampled. This is called block mode.
Technical reference 3.4.3 21 More on streaming mode In streaming mode, the computer prompts the unit to start collecting data. The data are then transferred back to the PC without being stored in oscilloscope memory. Data can be sampled with a period between 1 millisecond and 60 seconds. Data can be transferred by the PicoScope 2000 Series driver to a computer program in either normal or windowed mode.
22 3.4.7 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide AC/DC operation Using the ps2000_set_channel() function, the input can be set to either AC or DC coupling. When AC coupling is used, any DC component of the signal is filtered out. 3.4.8 Oversampling When the unit is operating in block mode at speeds less than the maximum, it is possible to oversample, which means taking more than one measurement during a time interval and returning an average.
Technical reference 23 3.4.10 Combining oscilloscopes With PicoLog or your own program, it is possible to collect data using up to four PicoScope 2000 Series PC Oscilloscopes at the same time. Each unit must be connected to a separate USB port, or, if a USB hub is used, it must be a powered hub. The ps2000_open_unit() function returns a handle to a unit, and all of the other functions require this handle for unit identification.
24 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide 3.5 Using different modes 3.5.1 Introduction The previous section on advanced features supplied the programmer with extended information on PicoScope 2000 Series PC Oscilloscopes. The C sample program, ps2000con.c, demonstrates how to use the functions of the driver software, and includes examples showing how to use each of the modes available. 3.5.2 Using block mode This is the general procedure for reading and displaying data in block mode: 1.
Technical reference 3.6 Programming 3.6.1 C 25 There are two C example programs: one is a simple GUI application, and the other is a more comprehensive console mode program that demonstrates all of the facilities of the driver. GUI example The GUI example program is a generic Windows application - that is, it does not use Borland AppExpert or Microsoft AppWizard. To compile the program, create a new project for an Application containing the following files: ps2000.c ps2000.rc and ps2000bc.lib ps2000.
PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide 26 3.6.2 Visual Basic The Win32\ subdirectory contains the following files: ps2000.vbp - project file ps2000.bas - procedure prototypes ps2000.frm - form and program Note: The functions that return a TRUE/FALSE value return 0 for FALSE and 1 for TRUE, whereas Visual Basic expects 65 535 for TRUE. To avoid this problem, check for > 0 rather than = TRUE. 3.6.3 Delphi The program ps2000.dpr demonstrates how to operate PicoScope 2000 Series PC Oscilloscopes.
Troubleshooting 4 Troubleshooting 4.1 Software error codes 27 Consult this section if you are a PicoScope or PicoLog user. If you are writing your own program, refer to the driver error codes section. PicoLog reports error code 1. This error is reported when you try to open more than 4 PicoScope PC Oscilloscopes on one machine. It is not possible to use more than 4 units with PicoLog. PicoScope or PicoLog reports error code 2.
28 5 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide Glossary AC/DC switch To switch between measuring alternating current and direct current, select AC or DC from the control on the oscilloscope toolbar of the PicoScope software application. Choose the setting to suit the characteristics of the input signal. Analog bandwidth The input frequency at which the signal amplitude has fallen by 3 dB, or by half the power, from its nominal value.
Glossary 29 PicoScope software This is a software product that accompanies all our oscilloscopes. It turns your PC into an oscilloscope, spectrum analyser, and meter display. Real-time continuous mode A sampling mode in which the software repeatedly requests single samples from the PC Oscilloscope. This mode is suitable for low sampling rates when you require the latest sample to be displayed as soon as it is captured.
30 PicoScope 2104 & 2105 PC Oscilloscope User Guide ps2000_get_times_and_values ps2000_get_unit_info 12 ps2000_get_values 13 ps2000_last_button_press 13 ps2000_open_unit 14 ps2000_ready 14 ps2000_run_block 15 ps2000_run_streaming 16 ps2000_set_channel 17 ps2000_set_ets 18 ps2000_set_trigger 19 ps2000_stop 19 Index A AC coupling 22 AC/DC switch 17, 21, 24 Accuracy 7 ADC 20, 22 Agilent VEE 26 Aliasing 22 Analog bandwidth 7 B Block mode 15, 20, 21, 22, 24 Buffer memory 20, 21 Buffer size 7 C C programming
Index Temperature 7 Test equipment 2 Threshold voltage 21 Time interval 21, 22 Timebase 7, 10, 15 Trademarks 4 Triggering 21 O One-shot signal 21 Operating environment Overload protection 7 Oversampling 22 31 7 U P PC connection 7 PC oscilloscopes 1, 3 Pico Technical Support 27 PicoLog software 1, 8 picopp.inf 8 picopp.
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