pico Technology PicoScope 4000 Series User manual

Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.
PicoScope 4000 Series
User's Guide
ps4000.en-1
PC Oscilloscopes

I
Contents
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
Contents
.....................................................................................................................................11 Welcome
.....................................................................................................................................22 Introduction
...........................................................................................................................................2
1 Using this guide
...........................................................................................................................................2
2 Safety symbols
...........................................................................................................................................2
3 Safety warning
...........................................................................................................................................3
4 FCC notice
...........................................................................................................................................3
5 CE notice
...........................................................................................................................................3
6 Software licence conditions
...........................................................................................................................................4
7 Trademarks
...........................................................................................................................................5
8 Warranty
...........................................................................................................................................5
9 Company details
.....................................................................................................................................63 Product information
...........................................................................................................................................6
1 What do I get?
...........................................................................................................................................6
2 System requirements
...........................................................................................................................................7
3 Installation instructions
...........................................................................................................................................8
4 Connections
...........................................................................................................................................9
5 Specifications
.....................................................................................................................................104 Programming with the PicoScope 4000 Series
.....................................................................................................................................115 Glossary
..............................................................................................................................................13
Index

Welcome 1
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
1Welcome
Thank you for buying a Pico Technology product!
The PicoScope 4000 Series of PC Oscilloscopes from
Pico Technology is a range of compact units designed to
replace traditional bench-top oscilloscopes costing many
times the price.
Here are some of the benefits provided by your new PicoScope 4000 Series PC
Oscilloscope:
Portability: Take the unit with you and plug it in to any Windows PC.
Performance: 12-bit resolution, large buffer with up to 32 M samples, fast USB
2.0 interface.
Flexibility: Use it as an oscilloscope, spectrum analyser or high-speed data
acquisition interface.
Programmability: The PicoScope 4000 series API lets you write your own
programs, in your chosen programming language, to control all the features of the
scope.
Long-term support: Software upgrades are available to download from our
website. You can also call our technical specialists forsupport. You can continue to
use both of these services free of charge for the lifetime of the product.
Value for money: You don't have to pay twice for all the features that you
already have in your PC. The PicoScope 4000 Series scope unit contains the special
hardware you need and nothing more.
Convenience: The software makes full use of the large display, storage, user
interface and networking built in to your PC.

PicoScope 4000 Series User's Guide2
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.ps4000.en
2 Introduction
2.1 Using this guide
You will sometimes see a symbol like this: This is the cross-reference symbol, and
it indicates the number of a page on which you can find more information about a
topic.
The abbreviation MS/s is used in this guide to mean megasamples per second.
2.2 Safety symbols
The following symbols appear on the front panel of the PicoScope 4000 Series PC
Oscilloscope.
Symbol 1: Warning triangle
This symbol indicates that a safety hazard exists on the indicated
connections if correct precautions are not taken. Read all safety
documentation associated with the product before using it.
Symbol 2: Equipotential
This symbol indicates that the outer shells of the indicated BNC
connectors are all at the same potential (shorted together). You
must therefore take necessary precautions to avoid applying a
potential across the return connections of the indicated BNC
terminals. Such a potential could cause a large current to flow,
resulting in damage to the product or connected equipment, or both.
2.3 Safety warning
We strongly recommend that you read the general safety information below before
using your oscilloscope for the first time. Safety protection built in to 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.
Maximum input range
PicoScope 4000 Series PC Oscilloscopes are designed to measure voltages in the
range ±100 V. All inputs are protected to ±200 V. Contact with voltages outside the
protection range may cause permanent damage to the unit.
Mains voltages
Pico Technology products are not designed for use with mains voltages. To measure
mains, use a differential isolating probe specifically rated for mains use.
Safety grounding
PicoScope 4000 Series PC Oscilloscopes connect directly to the ground of a computer
through the USB cable provided to minimise interference.
As with most oscilloscopes, avoid connecting the ground input to any potential other
than ground. If in doubt, use a meter to check that there is no significant AC or DC
voltage between the ground input of the oscilloscope and the point to which you
intend to connect it. Failure to check may cause damage to your computer or injury to
yourself and others.
The product does not have a protective safety ground.
2

Introduction 3
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
2.4 FCC notice
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is
operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can
radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference
in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his or her own
expense.
For safety and maintenance information see the safety warning .
2.5 CE notice
The PicoScope 4000 Series 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.
PicoScope 4000 Series PC Oscilloscopes 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 for measurement,
control, and laboratory use standard.
2.6 Software licence conditions
The material contained in this software release is licensed, not sold. Pico Technology
Limited grants a licence to the person who installs this software, subject to the
conditions listed below.
Access
The licensee agrees to allow access to this software only to persons who have been
informed of these conditions and agree to abide by them.
Usage
The software in this release is for use only with Pico products or with data collected
using Pico products.
Copyright
Pico Technology Limited claims the copyright of, and retains the rights to, all material
(software, documents etc.) contained in this release. You may copy and distribute the
entire release in its original state, but must not copy individual items within the
release other than for backup purposes.
Liability
Pico Technology and its agents shall not be liable for any loss, damage or injury,
howsoever caused, related to the use of Pico Technology equipment or software,
unless excluded by statute.
Fitness for purpose
Because no two applications are the same, Pico Technology cannot guarantee that its
equipment or software is suitable for a given application. It is your responsibility,
therefore, to ensure that the product is suitable for your application.
Mission-critical applications
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PicoScope 4000 Series User's Guide4
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.ps4000.en
This software is intended for use on a computer that may be running other software
products. For this reason, one of the conditions of the licence is that it excludes usage
in mission-critical applications such as life-support systems.
2.7 Trademarks
Windows is a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the USA
and other countries.
Pico Technology Limited and PicoScope are trademarks of Pico Technology
Limited, registered in the United Kingdom and other countries.
PicoScope and Pico Technology are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.

Introduction 5
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
2.8 Warranty
Pico Technology warrants upon delivery, and for a period of 24 months unless
otherwise stated from the date of delivery, that the Goods will be free from defects in
material and workmanship.
Pico Technology shall not be liable for a breach of the warranty if the defect has been
caused by fair wear and tear, wilful damage, negligence, abnormal working conditions
or failure to follow Pico Technology's spoken or written advice on the storage,
installation, commissioning, use or maintenance of the Goods or (if no advice has
been given) good trade practice; or if the Customer alters or repairs such Goods
without the written consent of Pico Technology.
2.9 Company details
Address:
Pico Technology Limited
James House
Colmworth Business Park
St Neots
Cambridgeshire
PE19 8YP
United Kingdom
Phone:
[phone]
Fax:
[phone]
Email:
Technical Support:
[email protected]
Sales:
[email protected]
Web site:
www.picotech.com

PicoScope 4000 Series User's Guide6
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.ps4000.en
3 Product information
3.1 What do I get?
Your PicoScope 4000 Series PC Oscilloscope kit contains the following items:
Reorder
code
Quantity
Description
PP492
1
PicoScope 4224 scope unit (PicoScope 4224 kit only)
PP493
1
PicoScope 4424 scope unit (PicoScope 4424 kit only)
MI007
2 or 4
x1/x10 switchable 60 MHz oscilloscope probes
(2 with PicoScope 4224, 4 with PicoScope 3424)
MI106
1
USB cable, for connection to the USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port on
your PC
DI025
1
Software and reference CD
DO115
1
USB Oscilloscope Installation Guide
MI144
1
Carry case
3.2 System requirements
To ensure that your PicoScope 4000 Series PC Oscilloscope operates correctly, you
must have a computer with at least the minimum system requirements to run one of
the supported operating systems, as shown in the following table. The performance of
the software will increase with more powerful PCs, including those with multi-core
processors.
Item
Absolute
minimum
Recommended
minimum
Recommended
full specification
Operating system
Windows XP SP2 or Vista (32-bit versions only)
Processor
As required
by Windows
300 MHz
1 GHz
Memory
256 MB
512 MB
Free disk space
(Note 1)
1 GB
2 GB
Ports
USB 1.1 compliant port
USB 2.0 compliant port
Note 1: The PicoScope software does not use all the disk space specified in the table.
The free space is required to make Windows run efficiently.
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Product information 7
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
3.3 Installation instructions
IMPORTANT
Do not connect your PicoScope 4000 Series
scope device to the PC before you
have installed the Pico software.
If you do, Windows might not
recognise the scope device correctly.
Procedure
Follow the instructions in the USB Oscilloscope Installation Guide included with
your product package.
Connect your PC Oscilloscope to the PC using the USB cable supplied.
Checking the installation
Once you have installed the software and connected the PC Oscilloscope to the PC,
start the PicoScope software. PicoScope should now display any signal connected
to the scope inputs. If a probe is connected to your oscilloscope, you should see a
small 50 or 60 hertz signal in the oscilloscope window when you touch the probe tip
with your finger.
Moving your PicoScope PC Oscilloscope to another USB port
Windows XP SP2
When you first installed the PicoScope 4000 Series PC Oscilloscope by plugging it into
a USB port, Windows associated the Pico driver with that port. If you later move
the oscilloscope to a different USB port, Windows will display the "New Hardware
Found Wizard" again. When this occurs, just click "Next" in the wizard to repeat the
installation. If Windows gives a warning about Windows Logo Testing, click "Continue
Anyway". As all the software you need is already installed on your computer, there is
no need to insert the Pico Software CD again.
Windows Vista
The process is automatic. When you move the device from one port to another,
Windows displays an "Installing device driver software" message and then a
"PicoScope 4000 series PC Oscilloscope" message. The PC Oscilloscope is then ready
for use.
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PicoScope 4000 Series User's Guide8
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.ps4000.en
3.4 Connections
Standard oscilloscope connectors
PicoScope 4000 Series PC Oscilloscopes have BNC oscilloscope connectors. The
inputs have an impedance of 1 MW, so they are compatible with all standard scope
probes including x1, x10 and x1/x10 attenuated types.
Connector diagrams
Front panel
PicoScope 4224
PicoScope 4424
A. Input channel A
B. Input channel B
C. Input channel C
D. Input channel D
E. LED: shows when the oscilloscope is sampling data
Rear panel
PicoScope 4224
PicoScope 4424
F. USB 2.0 port
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Product information 9
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
3.5 Specifications
Variant
PicoScope 4224
PicoScope 4424
Number of channels
2
4
Vertical resolution
12 bits
Analog bandwidth
20 MHz
(10 MHz on ±50 mV range)
Maximum sampling rate
(real-time sampling)
One channel in use
Two channels in use
Three or four channels in use
80 MS/s
80 MS/s (A+C, A+D, B+C, B+D)
20 MS/s (all other combinations)
20 MS/s
Buffer size
32 MS shared between enabled channels
Inputs
Input characteristics
Coupling
Voltage ranges
Overload protection
BNC, 1 MW|| 22 pF
Software-selectable AC/DC
±50 mV, ±100 mV, ±200 mV, ±500 mV,
±1 V, ±2 V, ±5 V, ±10 V, ±20 V, ±50 V, ±100 V
±200 V
Timebase
Ranges
100 ns/div to 200 s/div (real-time sampling)
Operating environment
Temperature range
Humidity
0°C to 45°C for normal operation
5% to 80% RH, non-condensing
Storage environment
Temperature range
Humidity
-20°C to +60°C
5% to 95% RH, non-condensing
PC connection
USB 2.0
Compatible with USB 1.1
Power supply
5 V @ 0.5 A max. (from USB port)
Dimensions
200 mm x 140 mm x 35 mm
Weight
< 0.5 kg
Compliance
European EMC and LVD standards
FCC Rules Part 15 Class A
Performance specifications
Timebase accuracy
50 ppm
Voltage accuracy
1% of full scale (15 °C to 40 °C)
Trigger resolution
1 LSB
Overshoot
12% max.
Crosstalk
approx. -60 dB on equal ranges
approx. -40 dB from ±100 V range to ±100 mV range
Specifications correct at 18 August 2008
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PicoScope 4000 Series User's Guide10
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.ps4000.en
4Programming with the PicoScope 4000 Series
An Application Programming Interface (API) is supplied free of charge with the
PicoScope 4000 Series scopes. You can install it from the product CD (if you enable
this option in the installer) or by downloading it from our website at www.picotech.
com. The software includes a Programmer's Guide in PDF format.

Glossary 11
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
5Glossary
AC/DC switch. To switch between AC coupling and DC coupling, select AC or DC
from the control on the PicoScope toolbar. The AC setting filters out very low-
frequency components of the input signal, including DC, and is suitable for viewing
small AC signals superimposed on a DC or slowly changing offset. In this mode you
can measure the peak-to-peak amplitude of an AC signal but not its absolute value.
Use the DC setting for measuring the absolute value of a signal.
Analog bandwidth. The input frequency at which the measured signal amplitude is
3 decibels below the true signal amplitude.
Buffer size. The size of the oscilloscope buffer memory, measured in samples. The
buffer allows the oscilloscope to sample data faster than it can transfer it to the
computer.
Device Manager. Device Manager is a Windows program that displays the current
hardware configuration of your computer. On Windows XP or Vista, right-click 'My
Computer,' choose 'Properties', then click the 'Hardware' tab and the 'Device Manager'
button.
Driver. A program that controls a piece of hardware. The driver for the PicoScope
4000 Series PC Oscilloscopes is supplied in the form of a 32-bit Windows DLL,
ps4000.dll. This is used by the PicoScope software, and by user-designed
applications, to control the oscilloscopes.
ETS. Equivalent Time Sampling. Constructs a picture of a repetitive signal by
accumulating information over many similar wave cycles. This allows the oscilloscope
to create a composite cycle that has more samples, and therefore better time
resolution, than a single cycle. Note: cannot be used for one-shot signals.
Maximum sampling rate. A figure indicating the maximum number of samples the
oscilloscope can acquire per second. The higher the sampling rate of the oscilloscope,
the more accurate the representation of the high-frequency details in a fast signal.
"MS/s" is an abbreviation for megasamples (millions of samples) per second.
Oversampling. Oversampling is taking measurements more frequently than the
requested sample rate, and then combining them to produce the required number of
samples. If, as is usually the case, the signal contains a small amount of noise, this
technique can increase the effective vertical resolution of the oscilloscope.
PC Oscilloscope. A virtual instrument formed by connecting a PicoScope 4000 Series
scope unit to a computer running the PicoScope software.
PicoScope 4000 Series. Pico Technology's high-resolution PC Oscilloscopes.
PicoScope 4224. The digits in the part number have the following meanings: 4___
= 4000 Series; _2__ = 2 channels; __2_ = 12-bit resolution; ___4 = 80 MS/s
sampling rate.
PicoScope 4424. The digits in the part number have the following meanings: 4___
= 4000 Series; _4__ = 4 channels; __2_ = 12-bit resolution; ___4 = 80 MS/s
sampling rate.
PicoScope software. A software product that accompanies all Pico PC Oscilloscopes.
It turns your PC into an oscilloscope, spectrum analyser, and meter display.
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PicoScope 4000 Series User's Guide12
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.ps4000.en
Timebase. The timebase controls the time interval that each horizontal division of a
scope view represents. There are ten divisions across the scope view, so the total
time across the view is ten times the timebase per division.
USB 1.1. Universal Serial Bus (Full Speed). This is a standard port used to connect
external devices to PCs. A typical USB 1.1 port supports a data transfer rate of 12
megabits per second, so is much faster than an RS232 COM port.
USB 2.0. Universal Serial Bus (High Speed). This is a standard port used to connect
external devices to PCs. A typical USB 2.0 port supports a data transfer rate 40 times
faster than USB 1.1 when used with a USB 2.0 device, but can also be used with USB
1.1 devices.
Vertical resolution. A value, in bits, indicating the precision with which the
oscilloscope converts input voltages to digital values. Oversampling (see above)
can improve the effective vertical resolution.
Voltage range. The range of input voltages that the oscilloscope can measure. For
example, a voltage range of ±100 mV means that the oscilloscope can measure
voltages between -100 mV and +100 mV. Input voltages outside this range will not
damage the instrument as long as they remain within the protection limits stated in
the Specifications table.
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9

Index 13
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en
Index
A
Accuracy 9
Analog bandwidth 9
B
Bandwidth (analog) 9
BNC connector 8
Buffers
size 9
C
Calibration 2
CE notice 3
Company information 5
Compliance 9
Connections 8
Contact details 5
D
Dimensions 9
Disk space 6
E
EMC Directive 3
F
FCC notice 3
G
Grounding 2
I
Input range, maximum 2, 9
Inputs 9
Installation 7
L
LED 8
Low Voltage Directive 3
M
Mains voltages 2
O
Operating environment 9
Operating system 6
Oscilloscope probe 8
Outputs 9
Overload protection 9
P
PC connection 9
Pico Technical Support 5
PicoScope 4000 Series 1
PicoScope software 7
Power supply 9
Processor 6
R
Repairs 2
Resolution, vertical 9
S
Safety
symbols 2
warning 2, 3
Sampling rate 9
Scope probe 8
Signal generator 9
Software licence conditions 3
Specifications 9
Storage environment 9
System memory 6
System requirements 6
T
Technical support 5
Test equipment 2
Trademarks 4
Trigger
bandwidth 9
external 9
U
USB 6
changing ports 7

PicoScope 4000 Series User's Guide14
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.ps4000.en
V
Vertical resolution 9
Voltage ranges 9
W
Warranty 5
Weight 9
Windows, Microsoft 6

15
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved. ps4000.en

Pico Technology
James House
Colmworth Business Park
Eaton Socon
ST. NEOTS
Cambridgeshire
PE19 8YP
United Kingdom
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Web: www.picotech.com
Copyright © 2008 Pico Technology. All rights reserved.
ps4000.en-1
28.10.08