ZAHNER Zennium Series User manual

Installation
&
Getting Started
© Zahner 11/2019

Installation & Getting Started - 2 -
Welcome
Dear Zahner User,
Thank you very much for choosing a Zahner electrochemical workstation of the Zennium family. You
made your decision for an instrument which is known for its reliability, accuracy and exceptional
performance. As Zahner R&D is always in touch with scientists and engineers at universities and
industry, our products are practice-oriented and user-friendly.
An electrochemical workstation is a complex instrument with a multitude of methods and functions.
Therefore, it is very important to read this manual carefully. Only this way you can be sure to get the
most out of your instrument. The manual guides you through the installation process and introduces
you to all methods provided by the Thales software. If there remain open questions after reading this
manual, you are welcome to contact your Zahner distributor or the Zahner service team with
specialists in battery & fuel cell, photo-electrochemistry, corrosion research, and many other fields of
electrochemistry. Our support team will certainly be able to help you with your instrument as well as
with your application.
We wish you a lot of success with your new Zahner workstation.
Your Zahner Team

Installation & Getting Started - 3 -
1. General Safety Information..................................... 4
2. Unpacking ................................................................ 7
3. Hardware Installation .............................................. 8
3.1 Switch Main Voltage and Main Fuses.........................................8
4. Software Installation................................................ 9
4.1 ThalesXT Installation ...................................................................9
4.2 Installation of the Calibration Data ...........................................15
5. Configuring & Starting the ThalesXT Software... 16
5.1 ThalesXT Main Menu..................................................................16
6. Classic Mode.......................................................... 19
6.1 Menu Structure in Classic Mode...............................................21
6.2 Pull-Down Menu .........................................................................21
6.3 Tooltips & Online Help System .................................................22
6.4 Scalable Thales Window............................................................23
6.5 Mouse..........................................................................................23
6.6 Special Keys...............................................................................24
6.7 Input Boxes ................................................................................24
6.8 Hardcopy ....................................................................................25

Installation & Getting Started - 4 -
1. General Safety Information
Before installing the instrument, please read this information carefully for your safety and for the safety
of your system. In the following, we refer to the workstations Zennium-X, Zennium-pro, Zennium-XC,
as Zennium-ECW (ElectroChemical Workstation). In case only one of these models is addressed, we
refer to its name explicitly.
Only authorized personnel are allowed to open Zahner devices! There are no user-serviceable
parts inside. Non-insulated parts under voltage inside may cause an electric shock when touched.
Front panels must not be removed while the instrument is connected to main power source.
Before removing a front panel, switch off the device and disconnect it from the main power
supply. Extension cards are installed to the extension slots to the right-hand side of the Signal
Processor module.
Signal Processor Module Expansion Card Slots
Please strictly follow all instructions written on the Zennium-ECW case, on tags attached to the case
and in the manuals for your own safety and for the safety of your system. Especially, strictly observe
the following:
!Connect the Zennium-ECW only to the main power supply shown on the main plug/fuse
holder on the backside of the instrument cabinet!
! If the system is not used for a long time, then the main power supply should be
disconnected!
! The system must be protected from water or any other liquid and humidity above 65%!
! Do not operate the instrument at environmental temperature higher than 40° C!
! Never place the system close to a heat source!
! Always place the system in a position which allows sufficient ventilation through all
ventilation openings. Never place the system on top of a soft base!
! Do not clean the system with aggressive agents or with hard objects!
! In case of communication problems deactivate all power-safe modes (usb, harddisk,
screen, etc.) and screen-savers on the instrument computer, use the high quality USB
cable shipped with the ECW and forego the use of USB extensions and hubs!
!Do not open the devices. There are no user-serviceable parts inside.

Installation & Getting Started - 5 -
This device consumes, produces and radiates electric energy. Improper installation may cause electric
disturbances on radio transmitters and receivers. Vice versa, strong emitters of electric fields may
cause noise and artifacts to the instrument measurements.
IMPORTANT !
1.1 Electrostatic Discharge
Zennium-ECWs are very sensitive instruments measuring currents down to the range of fA and aA.
For this purpose they are equipped with high-precision and high-sensitive inputs. These inputs are
well protected against over-voltage. Of course this can only be done to a degree which does not affect
the sensitivity of the inputs.
At dry conditions, the user can get charged electrostatically by rubbing two different materials, e.g.
shoe sole and floor, trouser material and chair cover material, etc. You can feel, see and hear the
discharge when touching a metallic part. An electrostatic charge on a human body can reach several
thousand Volts. From such high voltages the instrument inputs cannot be protected. Therefore, the
user needs to take care of not being charged when touching the input connectors or the ends of the
connected electrode lines. Discharging can be done by touching a grounded metal surface. The best
solution is a grounding pad beneath your Zennium-ECW system which you touch before you touch the
electrode inputs or electrode cables. The pad has to be grounded e.g. at the main ground.
! Electrostatic discharge on the Zennium-ECW inputs can destroy the input amplifiers!
! Before touching electrode connectors or electrode cables, make sure that you
discharged yourself by grounding.
! Defects caused by electrostatic discharge are not covered by warranty!
! Connect the electrode lines only in the following sequence:
1. Working electrode (WE)
2. Working electrode sense (WE sense)
3. Reference electrode (RE)
4. Counter electrode (CE)
Device under test (DUTs) can be left connected while turning off or restarting the ECW. Also
switching measurement device from main ECW to external potentiostats (via EPC42) can be
done without reconnecting the DUTs.

Installation & Getting Started - 6 -
1.2 Grounded/Floating Mode & Active Shielding
In Grounded Mode the Working Electrode WE is connected to ground. This provides the best
signal-to-noise ratio and therefore is recommended for most applications. In this mode you have to
take care that your sample is not grounded. Otherwise you can create a ground-loop which is adding
artefacts to your signal.
In Floating Mode no electrode is connected to ground. This allows to measure on grounded samples
without creating ground loops.
The electrode outlets and cables are shielded actively. That means, the phase-shifted signal is applied
to the shielding. This is done in order to minimize capacitive artefacts caused by core and shielding of
the cables. Therefore, always use the original cables shipped with the workstation and never connect
the shielding of an electrode jack to the ground. This deactivates the active shielding and may damage
the hardware.
Use the TestBox only in Grounded Mode. You will get erroneous data when measuring the TestBox
in Floating Mode.

Installation & Getting Started - 7 -
2. Unpacking
All Zahner products are carefully produced, calibrated, and tested so that they achieve their high
quality standard. Also assembling of accessories and packing are done with utmost care.
Nevertheless, the system may get damage during shipment. Therefore, we recommend checking all
parts of the shipment directly after receipt for completeness. If there are obvious damages, please
immediately contact Zahner or your Zahner distributor.
The shipment contains the following parts:
Zennium-ECW
Zennium-ECW
TestBox
Cell cable set:
4 BNC/clips cables (0.1 m)
4 BNC/banana cables (1 m)
4 banana clips
USB connection cable Zennium-ECW PC
3-button mouse
Power cord
USB stick with ThalesXT software suite, drivers and Calibration data (manual cover inside)
This manual
3 Zahner Analysis software licences (license code sheet in manual folder)

Installation & Getting Started - 8 -
3. Hardware Installation
For controlling a Zennium-ECW system a Windows computer is needed. We recommend using the 3-
button-mouse shipped with the system.
For connecting the hardware proceed as follows:
1. Connect Zennium-ECW and the computer to main power supply.
2. Connect Zennium-ECW port to a free USB port of the computer. (Only use HIGH QUALITY USB
EXTENSION –shipped with workstation-. Low quality USB cable, USB extensions and/or hubs can
lead to artefacts in measurements and possible damage to device or setup under investigation).
3. Connect optional devices to the Zennium-ECW as described in the manual of the optional device.
4. Switch on the computer and the Zennium-ECW.
main jack main switch fuse holder with
main power supply
voltage display
3.1 Switch Main Voltage and Main Fuses
Push snap-in nose to release fuse bracket.
Fuses for 115V: 2x 4A T (slow)
Fuses for 230V: 2x 2A T (slow)
Pull tray to switch input voltage corresponding to the main
voltage (115V / 230V)
The selected main voltage is visible at the fuse holder bottom

Installation & Getting Started - 9 -
4. Software Installation
ThalesXT Software Suite is especially designed for controlling Zennium-ECW and analyzing the data
created by the workstation. It is running under Windows7/8/10 in 32 and 64 bit versions.
! Make sure that you have full administrator access to the computer. Especially, you
need access to c:\flink, c:\thales and c:\windows.
!Make sure that all energy management tools are deactivated.
! In case an IMPC was shipped with the Zennium-ECW workstation, do NOT install the
software! The complete software suite is pre-installed and configured on the IMPC
computer hard drive. In this case Thales USB pendrive is used as backup only.
!Thales can handle only 12 drive letters of your PC file system. If you have got more, the
first 12 drive letters are accessible whereas the rest will be ignored. You can access
floppy disk, hard drive, DVD/CD-ROM and network drives.
4.1 ThalesXT Installation
Insert the ThalesXT USB to the USB connector. Start the run setup.exe from the root directory of the
USB.
The first window lets you select the optional functions you want to installed. For installation, select the
option Thales Software and Calibration Data”and click Perform.
Interface settings (do
not change)
Select software modules
Create Thales software to be installed
icon on your desktop
Start the installation
process
Additional information
After choosing the preferred software modules for installation, click on the Installation button. This will
start the installation process.

Installation & Getting Started - 10 -
Follow the instructions on the screen as follows:
During the installation the folder c:\flink
and c:\thales are created and files will
be copied from USB to the c:\ partition
of the PC.
USB device drivers will be installed.
This window will be shown in the
language chosen for the PC.
Zahner Zennium/IM6 installed. Click
Finish/Fertig stellen.

Installation & Getting Started - 11 -
After the installation of Zennium, installation of some other essential softwares start automatically. List
of these softwares are given below
FTDI USB
Zahner Analysis
BC-Mux: Add-Ons for high-power DC test systems
Adobe Acrobat DC Reader: Needed for displaying online-help
FTDI USB installation:
After the installation of Zennium, installation of FTDI USB interface starts automatically.
This window will be shown in
the language chosen for the
PC.
Zahner Analysis installation:
After the installation of FTDI USB, installation of Zahner Analysis starts automatically.
Select the desired file types

Installation & Getting Started - 12 -
Choose the destination folder
for installing the Zahner
Analysis.
Click Install.
Zahner Analysis installation
is complete.
Choose the desired language
for the Thales software.
BC-Mux installation:
Choose the destination
location for installation of
BC-Mux.
Click Install to start the
installation of BC-Mux.

Installation & Getting Started - 13 -
With this step the installation
process finishes, click Finish.
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC installation:
Finally, start the installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
Installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is finish.
The Installation is complete now!

Installation & Getting Started - 14 -
After the installation, you decide upon Thales Classic mode or Thales XT mode.
Thales Classic mode: This mode is a complete mode where each parameter can be fully controlled
and a dedicated experiment can be performed.
Thales XT mode: This mode allows easy access to perform different experiments. We suggest,
Thales XT for the users who are not experts in the field of electrochemical experiments.
Shifting from classic mode to Thales XT or vice versa is always possible even after installation.
The Thales XT installation creates the following folders on your hard drive:
c:\flink
c:\thales
The USB device drivers are installed to c:\Windows.
The installation software creates the folder Zahner in your Windows Start Menu containing the
following links and folders:
Thales USB
Zahner Analysis
ZEDIT
BC-Mux controller
If selected, the installation software creates the following icons on your desktop:
ThalesXT Software Suite –Main Software
Thales Text & Programming Tool
Zahner Analysis Tool
BC-Mux Tool for high power DC system

Installation & Getting Started - 15 -
4.2 Installation of the Calibration Data
The calibration data are individual for each device. Click on the setup.exe file from the Zahner USB to
install the Calibration data. For the installation of the Calibration data, administrative access to the PC
is required. The USB contains the calibration data for the complete system including Zennium-ECW
and all optional devices like external potentiostats, light sources (CIMPS), HiZ probe, etc. you ordered
with the workstation.
Click on the Calibration
Data Only.
Click Perform.
Choose preferred language.
!The installation of the Calibration data from USB is required to achieve the accuracy
specified for the workstation and its options. If you miss installing the calibration data
you will lose accuracy and get artefacts!
Start installation.
The installation is complete now!

Installation & Getting Started - 16 -
5. Configuring & Starting the ThalesXT Software
In order to start the ThalesXT application, make sure that the ECW is turn on and connected to PC via
USB connection. Now, click/double-click on the icon.
The ThalesXT window will show the start-up screen:
After loading all data the screen will change to the ThalesXT main menu:
5.1 ThalesXT Main Menu
In the ThalesXT main menu you can
1. Create, delete and edit Thales-Projects
2. Select your application field
3. Select your preferred techniques
4. Select the method you want to work with
5. Set the parameters for the selected method
6. Start a measurement with the selected method
7. Switch to Classic Mode
8. View last result
9. Switch to analysis software

Installation & Getting Started - 17 -
Projects
In Thales-Projects you can handle your favourite methods and settings. You are free to dedicate a
Thales-Project to a person, to an application, to system-setup, a date or to anything else. In a Thales-
Project, a method with all its settings is saved.
Applications & Techniques
For selecting a method, ThalesXT provides two filters.
“Applications” filters all methods which normally are used in a certain application. If you e.g. set the
“Applications” filter to “Batteries”, under “Methods” only methods are listed which are relevant for
battery research.
“Techniques” allow you to select a category of methods such as AC-techniques, static DC-techniques
and dynamic DC-techniques.
The filer makes the selection of a method easier and clearer.
Methods
From this menu you select the method of your choice. If you set the “Application” filter to “All
Applications” and the “Techniques” filter to “All Techniques”, all available methods will be shown in this
list.
Parameter List
Left to the selection area the parameters of the selected method are listed for editing. The inputs can
be done either by entering a numerical value of your choice or by selecting one item from a pull-down
list. When entering numerical values, all standard formats are allowed. If you e.g. want to enter a value
of 0.01 you can alternatively enter 10m or 1e-2. When ENTER is pressed or you set the cursor to
another parameter the entered parameter is checked for consistency with the hardware and with
related parameters. If the check is passed the value is displayed in blue colour. If an erroneous value
is entered, the closest valid value will set instead.
1.
3.
4.
6.
7.
8.
9.
2.
5.

Installation & Getting Started - 18 -
Start
Clicking on this button “Start”, a measurement of the selected method using the previously defined
parameters. The dedicated Acquisition Windows will open where you can control and watch the
measurement progress. The example shows the EIS online windows.
Classic Mode
Not all methods and parameters can be accessed by the ThalesXT user-interface. Furthermore, there
may be users who got acquainted to the classical Thales user-interface. Therefore, we still provide this
“blue” version of Thales on request. You access the Classic Mode by clicking on this button.
Last result
You will get into situations where you want to have a look at the previous results. This can be done
clicking on this button.
Analysis
This button switches to the Analysis Section of the Thales software.

Installation & Getting Started - 19 -
6. Classic Mode
You can change into Classic Mode by clicking on the Classic Mode button in the ThalesXT main
menu. This gives access to more methods and in some cases more details. If you selected a method
before entering Classic Mode, ThalesXT will directly jump to the corresponding Classic Mode page. If
you would like to work in Classic Mode every time you start ThalesXT, open the file c:\flink\usb.ini and
change the parameter “simple =0”. “simple = 1” selects the ThalesXT mode.
In Classic Mode you will get the following main menu:
This menu is leading you to the main pages of the methods implemented. By pointing (not clicking) on
the icons some of them are showing up a sub-menu with additional icons. Clicking on an icon will bring
you to the appropriate software section. The following program sections are available:
Main icon
Sub-menu icon
Program section
-
-Test sampling, Check Cell Connections
-Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) Measurements
-Series EIS Measurements
Current/Voltage Curves
Cyclic Voltammetry
Polarization
Multi-Cell Current/Voltage Curves
Capacity/Voltage Measurements
Capacity/Voltage Analysis

Installation & Getting Started - 20 -
Measurement of Electrochemical Noise (only with NPROBE)
Analysis of Electrochemical Noise
Time Domain Measurements
Not Available
High-Current-Interrupt-Measurements (only with HCI option)
Fast Time Domain Measurements (only with TR8M or HCI option)
Setup of Additional Measurement Channels (only with optional
TEMP/U, DIO, DA4, etc.)
Online-Display of Additional Measurement Channels
Frequency Response Analysis
Polarography Methods
Simulation & Fitting Software
Import of Data Measured by Third Party Hardware
Script Sequencer
Execution of Special Software
Zahner Text Editor
File Manager
Online-Calculator
Notepad
Setting Time and Date
General System Setup