TiePie Handyscope TP450 User manual

Handyscope TP450
User manual
TiePie engineering

ATTENTION!
Measuring directly on the line voltage can be very dangerous.
Copyright ©2020 TiePie engineering.
All rights reserved.
Revision 2.27, February 2020
Despite the care taken for the compilation of this user man-
ual, TiePie engineering can not be held responsible for any
damage resulting from errors that may appear in this man-
ual.

Contents
1 Safety 1
2 Declaration of conformity 3
3 Introduction 5
3.1 Differential input ........................... 5
3.1.1 Differential test lead .................... 7
3.2 Sampling ................................ 7
3.3 Sampling rate ............................. 8
3.3.1 Aliasing ............................ 9
3.4 Digitizing ................................ 10
3.5 Signal coupling ............................ 11
4 Driver installation 13
4.1 Introduction .............................. 13
4.2 Computers running Windows 10 .................. 13
4.3 Computers running Windows 8 or older .............. 13
4.3.1 Where to find the driver setup ............... 13
4.3.2 Executing the installation utility .............. 13
5 Hardware installation 17
5.1 Power the instrument ........................ 17
5.2 Connect the instrument to the computer ............. 17
5.3 Plug into a different USB port .................... 17
6 Input connnectors 19
6.1 Using the Measure lead TP-C812C ................. 19
7 Specifications 21
7.1 Acquisition system .......................... 21
7.2 Trigger system ............................. 21
7.3 Interface ................................ 22
7.4 Power ................................. 22
Contents I

7.5 Physical ................................. 22
7.6 I/O connectors ............................. 22
7.7 System requirements ......................... 22
7.8 Environmental conditions ...................... 22
7.9 Certifications and Compliances ................... 22
7.10 Measure lead ............................. 23
7.11 Package contents ........................... 23
II

Safety 1
When working with electricity, no instrument can guarantee complete safety.
It is the responsibility of the person who works with the instrument to op-
erate it in a safe way. Maximum security is achieved by selecting the proper
instruments and following safe working procedures. Safe working tips are
given below:
•Always work according (local) regulations.
•Work on installations with voltages higher than 25 VAC or 60 VDC should only
be performed by qualified personnel.
•Avoid working alone.
•Observe all indications on the Handyscope TP450 before connecting any
wiring
•Check the probes/test leads for damages. Do not use them if they are dam-
aged
•Take care when measuring at voltages higher than 25 VAC or 60 VDC.
•Do not operate the equipment in an explosive atmosphere or in the pres-
ence of flammable gases or fumes.
•Do not use the equipment if it does not operate properly. Have the equip-
ment inspected by qualified service personal. If necessary, return the equip-
ment to TiePie engineering for service and repair to ensure that safety fea-
tures are maintained.
Safety 1

Declaration of conformity 2
TiePie engineering
Koperslagersstraat 37
8601 WL Sneek
The Netherlands
EC Declaration of conformity
We declare, on our own responsibility, that the product
Handyscope TP450-250(XM)
Handyscope TP450-50(XM)
for which this declaration is valid, is in compliance with
EC directive 2011/65/EU (the RoHS directive)
including up to amendement 2019/178,
and with
EN 55011:2016/A1:2017 IEC 61000-6-1:2019 EN
EN 55022:2011/C1:2011 IEC 61000-6-3:2007/A1:2011/C11:2012 EN
according the conditions of the EMC standard 2004/108/EC,
also with
Canada: ICES-001:2004 Australia/New Zealand: AS/NZS CISPR 11:2011
and
IEC 61010-1:2010/A1:2019 USA: UL 61010-1, Edition 3
and is categorized as CAT II 600 Vrms, 800 Vpk, 800 Vdc
Sneek, 1-11-2017
ir. A.P.W.M. Poelsma
Declaration of conformity 3

Environmental considerations
This section provides information about the environmental impact of the Handy-
scope TP450.
End-of-life handling
Production of the Handyscope TP450 required the extraction and use
of natural resources. The equipment may contain substances that could
be harmful to the environment or human health if improperly handled
at the Handyscope TP450’s end of life.
In order to avoid release of such substances into the environment and to reduce
the use of natural resources, recycle the Handyscope TP450 in an appropriate
system that will ensure that most of the materials are reused or recycled appro-
priately.
The shown symbol indicates that the Handyscope TP450 complies with the Euro-
pean Union’s requirements according to Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical
and electronic equipment (WEEE).
4Chapter 2

Introduction 3
Before using the Handyscope TP450 first read chapter 1about safety.
Many technicians investigate electrical signals. Though the measurement may not
be electrical, the physical variable is often converted to an electrical signal, with
a special transducer. Common transducers are accelerometers, pressure probes,
current clamps and temperature probes. The advantages of converting the phys-
ical parameters to electrical signals are large, since many instruments for examin-
ing electrical signals are available.
The Handyscope TP450 is a single channel, 16 bits measuring instrument with
galvanically isolated differential input with high input range. It is available in two
models with different maximum sampling and streaming rates:
Maximum sampling rate Model 250 Model 50
Block mode 250 kSa/s 50 kSa/s
Streaming mode 250 kSa/s 50 kSa/s
Table 3.1: Maximum sampling rates
The Handyscope TP450 is available with two memory configurations, these are:
Memory Model 250 Model 50
Standard model 16 KiSa 16 KiSa
Option XM 1 MiSa 1 MiSa
Table 3.2: Maximum record length per channel
With the accompanying software the Handyscope TP450 can be used as an os-
cilloscope, a spectrum analyzer, a true RMS voltmeter or a transient recorder. All
instruments measure by sampling the input signals, digitizing the values, process
them, save them and display them.
3.1 Differential input
Most oscilloscopes are equipped with standard, single ended inputs, which are
referenced to ground. This means that one side of the input is always connected
to ground and the other side to the point of interest in the circuit under test.
Introduction 5

Figure 3.1: Single ended input
Therefore the voltage that is measured with an oscilloscope with standard, single
ended inputs is always measured between that specific point and ground.
When the voltage is not referenced to ground, connecting a standard single ended
oscilloscope input to the two points would create a short circuit between one of
the points and ground, possibly damaging the circuit and the oscilloscope.
A safe way would be to measure the voltage at one of the two points, in reference
to ground and at the other point, in reference to ground and then calculate the
voltage difference between the two points. On most oscilloscopes this can be done
by connecting one of the channels to one point and another channel to the other
point and then use the math function CH1 - CH2 in the oscilloscope to display the
actual voltage difference.
There are some disadvantages to this method:
•a short circuit to ground can be created when an input is wrongly connected
•to measure one signal, two channels are occupied
•by using two channels, the measurement error is increased, the errors made
on each channel will be combined, resulting in a larger total measurement
error
•The Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR) of this method is relatively low. If
both points have a relative high voltage, but the voltage difference between
the two points is small, the voltage difference can only be measured in a
high input range, resulting in a low resolution
A much better way is to use an oscilloscope with a differential input.
6Chapter 3

Figure 3.2: Differential input
A differential input is not referenced to ground, but both sides of the input are
”floating”. It is therefore possible to connect one side of the input to one point
in the circuit and the other side of the input to the other point in the circuit and
measure the voltage difference directly.
Advantages of a differential input:
•No risk of creating a short circuit to ground
•Only one channel is required to measure the signal
•More accurate measurements, since only one channel introduces a mea-
surement error
•The CMRR of a differential input is high. If both points have a relative high
voltage, but the voltage difference between the two points is small, the volt-
age difference can be measured in a low input range, resulting in a high
resolution
The Handyscope TP450 is galvanically isolated. This means that there is no elec-
trical connection between the inputs and the USB connection. It is therefore not
possible to damage the connected computer when (accidentally) making a wrong
connection.
3.1.1 Differential test lead
The Handyscope TP450 comes with a special differential test lead. This test lead
is specially designed to ensure a good CMRR.
The special heat resistant differential test lead provided with the Handyscope
TP450 is designed to be immune for noise from the surrounding environment.
3.2 Sampling
When sampling the input signal, samples are taken at fixed intervals. At these in-
tervals, the size of the input signal is converted to a number. The accuracy of this
number depends on the resolution of the instrument. The higher the resolution,
the smaller the voltage steps in which the input range of the instrument is divided.
The acquired numbers can be used for various purposes, e.g. to create a graph.
Introduction 7

Figure 3.3: Sampling
The sine wave in figure 3.3 is sampled at the dot positions. By connecting the
adjacent samples, the original signal can be reconstructed from the samples. You
can see the result in figure 3.4.
Figure 3.4: ”connecting” the samples
3.3 Sampling rate
The rate at which the samples are taken is called the sampling rate, the number
of samples per second. A higher sampling rate corresponds to a shorter interval
between the samples. As is visible in figure 3.5, with a higher sampling rate, the
original signal can be reconstructed much better from the measured samples.
8Chapter 3

Figure 3.5: The effect of the sampling rate
The sampling rate must be higher than 2 times the highest frequency in the input
signal. This is called the Nyquist frequency. Theoretically it is possible to recon-
struct the input signal with more than 2 samples per period. In practice, 10 to
20 samples per period are recommended to be able to examine the signal thor-
oughly.
3.3.1 Aliasing
When sampling an analog signal with a certain sampling rate, signals appear in the
output with frequencies equal to the sum and difference of the signal frequency
and multiples of the sampling rate. For example, when the sampling rate is 1000
Sa/s and the signal frequency is 1250 Hz, the following signal frequencies will be
present in the output data:
Multiple of sampling rate 1250 Hz signal -1250 Hz signal
...
-1000 -1000 + 1250 = 250 -1000 - 1250 = -2250
0 0 + 1250 = 1250 0 - 1250 = -1250
1000 1000 + 1250 = 2250 1000 - 1250 = -250
2000 2000 + 1250 = 3250 2000 - 1250 = 750
...
Table 3.3: Aliasing
As stated before, when sampling a signal, only frequencies lower than half the
sampling rate can be reconstructed. In this case the sampling rate is 1000 Sa/s,
so we can we only observe signals with a frequency ranging from 0 to 500 Hz. This
means that from the resulting frequencies in the table, we can only see the 250
Hz signal in the sampled data. This signal is called an alias of the original signal.
If the sampling rate is lower than twice the frequency of the input signal, aliasing
will occur. The following illustration shows what happens.
Introduction 9

Figure 3.6: Aliasing
In figure 3.6, the green input signal (top) is a triangular signal with a frequency of
1.25 kHz. The signal is sampled with a rate of 1 kSa/s. The corresponding sam-
pling interval is 1/1000Hz = 1ms. The positions at which the signal is sampled are
depicted with the blue dots. The red dotted signal (bottom) is the result of the re-
construction. The period time of this triangular signal appears to be 4 ms, which
corresponds to an apparent frequency (alias) of 250 Hz (1.25 kHz - 1 kHz).
To avoid aliasing, always start measuring at the highest sampling rate and
lower the sampling rate if required.
3.4 Digitizing
When digitizing the samples, the voltage at each sample time is converted to a
number. This is done by comparing the voltage with a number of levels. The re-
sulting number is the number corresponding to the level that is closest to the
voltage. The number of levels is determined by the resolution, according to the
following relation: LevelCount = 2Resolution.
The higher the resolution, the more levels are available and the more accurate
the input signal can be reconstructed. In figure 3.7, the same signal is digitized,
using two different amounts of levels: 16 (4-bit) and 64 (6-bit).
10 Chapter 3

Figure 3.7: The effect of the resolution
The Handyscope TP450 measures at 16 bit resolution (216=65536 levels). The
smallest detectable voltage step depends on the input range. This voltage can
be calculated as:
V oltageStep =F ullInputRange/LevelCount
For example, the 2 V range ranges from -2 V to +2 V, therefore the full range is 4
V. This results in a smallest detectable voltage step of 4 V / 65536 = 61.0 µV.
3.5 Signal coupling
The Handyscope TP450 has two different settings for the signal coupling: AC and
DC. In the setting DC, the signal is directly coupled to the input circuit. All signal
components available in the input signal will arrive at the input circuit and will be
measured.
In the setting AC, a capacitor will be placed between the input connector and the
input circuit. This capacitor will block all DC components of the input signal and
let all AC components pass through. This can be used to remove a large DC com-
ponent of the input signal, to be able to measure a small AC component at high
resolution.
When measuring DC signals, make sure to set the signal coupling of the
input to DC.
Introduction 11

12 Chapter 3

Driver installation 4
Before connecting the Handyscope TP450 to the computer, the drivers
need to be installed.
4.1 Introduction
To operate a Handyscope TP450, a driver is required to interface between the
measurement software and the instrument. This driver takes care of the low level
communication between the computer and the instrument, through USB. When
the driver is not installed, or an old, no longer compatible version of the driver is
installed, the software will not be able to operate the Handyscope TP450 properly
or even detect it at all.
4.2 Computers running Windows 10
When the Handyscope TP450 is plugged in into a USB port of the computer, Win-
dows will detect the instrument and will download the required driver from Win-
dows Update. When the download is finished, the driver will be installed automat-
ically.
4.3 Computers running Windows 8 or older
The installation of the USB driver is done in a few steps. Firstly, the driver has to
be pre-installed by the driver setup program. This makes sure that all required
files are located where Windows can find them. When the instrument is plugged
in, Windows will detect new hardware and install the required drivers.
4.3.1 Where to find the driver setup
The driver setup program and measurement software can be found in the down-
load section on TiePie engineering’s website. It is recommended to install the latest
version of the software and USB driver from the website. This will guarantee the
latest features are included.
4.3.2 Executing the installation utility
To start the driver installation, execute the downloaded driver setup program. The
driver install utility can be used for a first time installation of a driver on a system
and also to update an existing driver.
The screen shots in this description may differ from the ones displayed on your
computer, depending on the Windows version.
Driver installation 13

Figure 4.1: Driver install: step 1
When drivers were already installed, the install utility will remove them before in-
stalling the new driver. To remove the old driver successfully, it is essential that
the Handyscope TP450 is disconnected from the computer prior to starting the
driver install utility.
Clicking ”Install”will remove existing drivers and install the new driver. A remove
entry for the new driver is added to the software applet in the Windows control
panel.
Figure 4.2: Driver install: Copying files
14 Chapter 4

Figure 4.3: Driver install: Finished
Driver installation 15

16 Chapter 4