Rigol RP1001C User manual

RIGOL
User’s Guide
RP1001C Current Probe

Jun. 2013
RIGOL Technologies, Inc

RIGOL
RP1001C User’s Guide I
Guaranty and Declaration
Copyright
© 2012 RIGOL Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Trademark Information
RIGOL is a registered trademark of RIGOL Technologies, Inc.
Publication Number
UGE16104-1110
Notices
RIGOL products are protected by patent law in and outside
of P.R.C.
RIGOL reserves the right to modify or change parts of or all
the specifications and pricing policies at company’s sole
decision.
Information in this publication replaces all previously
corresponding material.
RIGOL shall not be liable for losses caused by either
incidental or consequential in connection with the furnishing,
use or performance of this manual as well as any information
contained.
Any part of this document is forbidden to be copied or
photocopied or rearranged without prior written approval of
RIGOL.
Product Certification
RIGOL guarantees this product conforms to the national and
industrial standards in China as well as the ISO9001:2008
standard and the ISO14001:2004 standard. Other international
standard conformance certification is in progress.

Contact Us
If you have any problem or requirement when using our products,
please contact RIGOL Technologies, Inc. or your local distributors,
or visit: www.rigol.com.
RIGOL
General Safety Summary
Please review the following safety precautions carefully before
putting the instrument into operation so as to avoid any personal
injuries or damages to the instrument and any product connected to
it. To prevent potential hazards, please use the instrument only
specified by this manual.
Ground The Instrument.
The instrument is grounded through the Protective Earth lead of the
power cord. To avoid electric shock, it is essential to connect the
earth terminal of power cord to the Protective Earth terminal before
any inputs or outputs.
Observe All Terminal Ratings.
To avoid fire or shock hazard, observe all ratings and markers on
the instrument and check your manual for more information about
ratings before connecting.
Replace Fuse Properly

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RP1001C User’s Guide III
Make sure that no overvoltage (such as voltage caused by
thunderbolt) this product. Otherwise, the operator might be exposed
to electric shock.
Do Not Operate Without Covers.
Do not operate the instrument with covers or panels removed.
Avoid Circuit or Wire Exposure.
Do not touch exposed junctions and components when the unit is
powered.
II RP1001C User’s Guide
Do Not Operate With Suspected Failures.
If you suspect damage occurs to the instrument, have it inspected
by qualified service personnel before further operations. Any
maintenance, adjustment or replacement especially to circuits or
accessories must be performed by RIGOL authorized personnel.
Keep Well Ventilation.
Inadequate ventilation may cause increasing of temperature or
damages to the device. So please keep well ventilated and inspect
the intake and fan regularly.
Do Not Operate in Wet Conditions.
In order to avoid short circuiting to the interior of the device or
electric shock, please do not operate in a humid environment.
Do Not Operate in an Explosive Atmosphere.

In order to avoid damages to the device or personal injuries, it is
important to operate the device away from an explosive
atmosphere.
Keep Product Surfaces Clean and Dry.
To avoid the influence of dust and/or moisture in air, please keep
the surface of device clean and dry.
Electrostatic Prevention.
Operate in an electrostatic discharge protective area environment
to avoid damages induced by static discharges. Always ground
both the internal and external conductors of the cable to release
static before connecting.
RIGOL
Safety Terms and Symbols
Terms in this Manual. These terms may appear in this manual:
WARNING
Warning statements indicate the conditions or practices
that could result in injury or loss of life.
CAUTION
Caution statements indicate the conditions or practices that
could result in damage to this product or other property.

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RP1001C User’s Guide V
Terms on the Product. These terms may appear on the Product:
DANGER
indicates an injury or hazard may immediately
happen.
WARNING
indicates an injury or hazard may be accessible
potentially.
CAUTION
indicates a potential damage to the instrument or
other property might occur.
Symbols on the Product. These symbols may appear on the
product:
Double Safety Protective Chassis Test Insulation Warning Earth
Ground Ground
Terminal
IV RP1001C User’s Guide
Contents
Guaranty and Declaration .................................................. I
General Safety Summary...................................................II
Safety Terms and Symbols ............................................... IV
RP1001C Overview ............................................................. 1
Basic Operation .................................................................. 1
Connection between the Current Probe and Oscilloscope ....... 1
Connection between the Current Probe and Digital Meter ......
4
Maintenance ....................................................................... 5

Battery ..............................................................................
5
To Install the Battery ..........................................................
5
AC Power Adapter ..............................................................
6
Cleaning ............................................................................
6
Preparation for shipment ....................................................
7
Specifications ..................................................................... 8
Electrical Characteristics .....................................................
8
Voltage and Current Ratings ................................................
9Physical Characteristics .....................................................
10
Environmental Characteristics ............................................
10
Certifications and Compliances .......................................... 10
Accessories ....................................................................... 12
Appendix ...........................................................................
13 Appendix 1 Gain versus Frequency at 1 A Peak (Typical) .....
13 Appendix 2 Maximum Current versus Frequency .................
14 Appendix 3 DC Signal Linearity in 10mV/A Range (Typical) ..
14
Appendix 4 Phase versus Frequency at 1 A Peak (Typical) ...
15

RIGOL
RP1001C Overview
The RP1001C current probe enables a general purpose
oscilloscope to display AC and DC current signals up to 100 A
Peak
(70 A RMS). The RP1001C current probe can also make AC and
DC measurements with a multimeter by using the BNC-to-banana
plug adapter.
AC Adapter Input
Figure 1 RP1001C Current Probe
BNC Interface
Test Clamp Button
Test Clamp
Range Switch
Zero Adjustment Knob
Overload Indicator
Battery Indicator
Maximum Conductor Size: 11mm

RIGOL
RP1001C User’s Guide
1
Control/Indicator
Description
Current flow symbol: The arrow shows
the positive direction of current flow
.
Zero adjustment: After connecting to
power and fixing the current probe to a
fixed position, rotate the knob to adjust
the probe output tothe proper DC offset. It
may also be used to offset a DC signal
component. Zeroing is not needed for AC
measurements unless your instrument
cannot isolate a DC component (if
present).
Range switch: Slide the switch from OFF
to either the 10 mV/A or 100mV/A range.
When 10 mV/A or 100mV/A is selected,
the probe is turned on, and the green
battery indicator (ON) lights..
Battery indicator: The green
battery/power indicator lights when the
probe is turned on. For more information,
please refer to To Install the Battery.

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Overload indicator: The red overload
indicator lights and flicks continuously if
the measured signal is greater than the
maximum range of the selected range
capacity.
2 RP1001C User’s Guide

RIGOL
RP1001C User’s Guide 1
Basic Operation
Before using the current probe, the battery or specified AC power
adapter must be installed. For the battery installation instructions,
refer to To Install the Battery.
CAUTION
Do not clamp the probe onto circuits with voltages
greater than 600 VAC. Otherwise, personal injury or
damage to the probe may result.
CAUTION
Always connect the RP1001C current probe output to the
instrument before clamping onto the circuit under test.
Connection between the Current Probe and
Oscilloscope
1Set the coupling mode of the oscilloscope to DC and connect
the BNC connector of the RP1001C current probe to the
oscilloscope input via dual-BNC coaxial cable.
2Move the Range switch to the 10 mV/A or 100 mV/A position
to turn on the RP1001C current probe. At this point, the green
battery indicator lights.

RIGOL
2 RP1001C User’s Guide
3Use the zero adjustment knob to adjust the probe to the
proper DC offset.
Note: when measuring DC signals, accurate DC value is
possible only when the current probe is fixed at a certain
position, otherwise, the change of the position of the probe
will cause the DC drift. When measuring AC signals, users can
move the current probe.
4Before connecting the current probe to circuit, open the test
clamp and clamp it onto the conductor as shown in the figure
below.
Figure 2 Connection between the Test Clamp and Conductor

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RP1001C User’s Guide 3
5Adjust the probe channel and oscilloscope as necessary to get
a clear and stable view of the signal. At this point, you can
see both the current components of AC and DC. Set the
coupling mode of the oscilloscope to AC to see the current
components of AC. The operation method of the current
components of AC is the ratio of the voltage amplitude
measured through the oscilloscope and the switch range
currently selected of the current probe (10 mV/A or 100
mV/A).
Note: The current drawn by different devices look much
different than that of others. While the RMS current can only
be used in low frequency current, the momentary peaks
may be quite high. The figure on the next page shows the
difference between the line current drawn by a resistive load
and a motor controller.
Figure 3 Typical Current Waveforms

RIGOL
4 RP1001C User’s Guide
Connection between the Current Probe and Digital
Meter
Connect the BNC connector of the RP1001C current probe and the
input terminal of the digital meter using the BNC-to-banana plug
adapter provided with the accessories.
To measure only AC current, select the AC volts of the meter. To
measure DC current, select the DC volts of the meter, and adjust
the probe output to the proper DC offset. When connecting the
current under test, please note the current convention arrow on
the test clamp to get the proper polarity reading.
Note: To increase the measurement sensitivity of the RP1001C
current probe, loop additional turns of the wire under test through
the test clamp. The sensitivity of the RP1001C current probe is
multiplied times the number of loops in the test clamp, for
example, 10 mV/A X 4 turns = 40 mV/A.

RIGOL
RP1001C User’s Guide 5
Maintenance
Battery
1The RP1001C current probe uses a single square 9 V
battery. This instrument is a high power product. Please use
the specified alkaline battery.
2As the battery in the RP1001C current probe is drained,
significant measurement errors may occur. The green
battery indicator will continue to light until a low battery
voltage of 6.5 V is reached.
To Install the Battery
1Remove the test clamp from the circuit.
2Remove the three screws on the rear cover and take off the
rear cover. You can see the location of the battery and
remove the battery.
3While observing polarity, install the new alkaline battery at
the corresponding location.
4Install the rear cover.

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6 RP1001C User’s Guide
AC Power Adapter
1The specified AC power adapter can be used to avoid
measurement error due to poor battery durability.
2When using an AC power adapter for an extended time, you
are recommended to remove the battery. This is because
heating will result in battery leakage, and battery electrolyte
will rust the circuit board, thus creating major damage.
Furthermore, as batteries are high pollution products, you
are recommended to avoid using them as far as possible.
Cleaning
To clean the probe exterior, use a soft cloth dampened in a
solution of mild detergent and water. To clean the core, open the
test clamp and clean the exposed core surfaces with a cotton swap
dampened with isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol). Lubricate the
clamp mating surfaces with light oil.
Note: Do not clean with solvents or abrasives. Do not immerse
the probe.
Battery