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.