5
Titan CPX Expander - Operation
ElectrostaƟc Discharge
Electrostac Discharge (ESD) occurs when a stac charge builds up on either
yourself or the Titan hardware, and then you touch the Titan hardware,
which rapidly dissipates the status charge. The spark of the discharge can be
so small that you don’t feel it, however, it can flaw a semiconductor. These
flaws may generate an immediate failure, or, in most cases, cause a slight
reducon in performance which will connue to degrade, eventually leading
to failure of the hardware. When you feel a stac shock, you are experiencing
a minimum of 3,000 volts of electricity.
Even though the input connectors have protecon to prevent ESD damage,
it is good pracce to always ground yourself and the Titan hardware while
connecng and removing sensors.
Always use approved ESD handling procedures to prevent ESD damage.
Grounding Titans
In general, grounding the Titan hardware to the test vehicle or test structure
will usually reduce noise pickup.
All of the analog inputs of the Titan hardware have a return path to ground.
However, it is very important that each sensor have only one return path to
avoid ground loops. When tesng a vehicle, oen the vehicle chassis and
Titan can have very large ground imbalances of one or two volts. In such
situaons, ground the sensors to Titan and use differenal inputs across
the sensor. A totally floang input (like a 9-Volt baery) must have one side
grounded at the point where used, either grounded to Titan or connected to
the vehicle chassis ground via a resistor (e.g. 10K ohm).
If there is a possibility that a floang sensor may be occasionally grounded,
install a 10K ohm resistor from the minus input to Titan ground. When the
sensor is floang, the 10K ohm resistance will reference it to Titan ground,
and when it is grounded, the resistor will allow the direct minus input wire to
reference the remote chassis ground.
Specific Warnings
When using a power adapter with the Titan, always connect the adapter to
the Titan before applying power. Never hot plug a Titan device under any
circumstances - hot plugging may damage the device!
General Guidelines and Warnings
