
iv 34401A Service Guide
WARNING
IEC Measurement Category II. The
HI and LO input terminals may be
connected to mains in IEC
Category II installations for line
voltages up to 300 VAC. To avoid
the danger of electric shock, do
not connect the inputs to mains for
line voltages above 300 VAC. See
"IEC Measurement Category II
Overvoltage Protection" on the
following page for further
information.
WARNING
Protection Limits: To avoid
instrument damage and the risk of
electric shock, do not exceed any
of the Protection Limits defined in
the following section.
Protection Limits
The Agilent 34401A Digital Multimeter provides
protection circuitry to prevent damage to the
instrument and to protect against the danger of
electric shock, provided the Protection Limits
are not exceeded. To ensure safe operation of
the instrument, do not exceed the Protection
Limits shown on the front and rear panel, and
defined as follows:
Note: The front-panel terminals are shown
above. The rear-panel terminals are identical.
The Front/Rear switch selects the terminal set
to be used. Do not operate this switch while
signals are present on the front or rear
terminals. The current-protection fuse is on
the rear panel.
Input Terminal Protection
Limits
Protection Limits are defined for the input
terminals:
Main Input (HI and LO) Terminals. The HI
and LO input terminals are used for voltage,
resistance, frequency (period), and diode test
measurements. Two Protection Limits are
defined for these terminals:
HI to LO Protection Limit. The Protection
Limit from HI to LO (Input terminals) is 1000
VDC or 750 VAC, which is also the
maximum voltage measurement. This limit
can also be expressed as 1000 Vpk
maximum.
LO to Ground Protection Limit. The LO
input terminal can safely "float" a
maximum of 500 Vpk relative to ground.
As is implied by the above limits, the Protection
Limit for the HI input terminal is a maximum of
1500 Vpk relative to ground.
Current Input Terminal. The current input
("I") terminal has a Protection Limit of 3A
(rms) maximum current flowing from the LO
input terminal. Note that the current input
terminal will be at approximately the same
voltage as the LO terminal.
Note: The current-protection circuitry includes
a fuse on the rear panel. To maintain
protection, replace this fuse only with a fuse of
the specified type and rating.
Sense Terminal Protection
Limits
The HI and LO sense terminals are used only
for four-wire resistance and temperature
measurements ("Ω 4W"). The Protection Limit
is 200 Vpk for all of the terminal pairings:
LO sense to LO input
HI sense to LO input
HI sense to LO sense
Note: The 200 Vpk limit on the sense
terminals is the Protection Limit. Operational
voltages in resistance measurements are
much lower — less than 10 V in normal
operation.
IEC Measurement Category II
Overvoltage Protection
To protect against the danger of electric shock,
the Agilent 34401A Digital Multimeter provides
overvoltage protection for line-voltage mains
connections meeting both of the following
conditions:
The HI and LO input terminals are connected
to the mains under Measurement Category II
conditions, defined below,
and
The mains are limited to a maximum line
voltage of 300 VAC.