ZAHNER Zennium-X User manual

Installation
&
Getting Started
© Zahner 11/2018

Installation & Getting Started - 2 -
Welcome
Dear Zahner User,
Thank you very much for choosing a Zahner 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 gives you an introduction into electrochemistry and into all
methods provided by the Thales software. If there are questions open still, you are welcome to contact
your Zahner distributor or the Zahner service team with specialists in battery & fuel cell research,
photo-electrochemistry, corrosion research, and many other fields of electrochemistry. We are sure to
be able to help you with your instrument as well as with your application.
We wish you much 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 Mains Voltage and Mains Fuses......................................8
4. Software Installation.................................................9
4.1 ThalesXT Installation ....................................................................9
4.2 Installation of the Calibration Data ............................................13
4.3 Installing USB Driver manually..................................................14
5. Configuring & Starting the ThalesXT Software....15
5.1 ThalesXT Main Menu...................................................................16
6. Classic Mode ...........................................................18
6.1 Menu Structure in Classic Mode................................................20
6.2 Pull-Down Menu ..........................................................................20
6.3 Tooltips & Online Help System ..................................................21
6.4 Scalable Thales Window.............................................................22
6.5 Mouse...........................................................................................22
6.6 Special Keys ................................................................................23
6.7 Input Boxes..................................................................................23
6.8 Hardcopy......................................................................................24

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,
Zennium-E and Zennium-P600 as Zennium-ECW (ElectroChemical Workstation). In case only one of
these models is addressed, we refer to its name explicitly.
Only authorized personnel is 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 mains power. Before
removing a front panel, switch off the device and disconnect it from mains. Extension cards are
installed to the extension slots to the right-hand side to the Signal Processor module. Do not install
extension cards to the left 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 mains voltage shown on the mains plug/fuse
holder on the backside of the instrument cabinet!
! If the system is not used for a longer time, the mains should be disconnected!
! The system must be protected from water, any 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-safers on the instrument computer!
!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-ECW 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.
show 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 mains 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)
DUTs can be left connected while turning off or restarting the ECW. Also switching
measurement device from main to EPC42 potentiostats 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 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 broken 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
• U-buffer (only Zennium and Zennium-E)
• Cell cable set:
4 BNC/clips cables (0.1 m)
4 BNC/banana cables (1 m)
• USB connection cable Zennium-ECW ÙPC
• 3-button mouse
• Power cord
• DVD with ThalesXT software suite and drivers (manual cover inside)
• CD-ROM with calibration data (manual cover inside)
• This manual

Installation & Getting Started - 8 -
3. Hardware Installation
For controlling a Zennium-ECW system a Windows computer is needed. We recommend to use the 3-
button-mouse shipped with the system.
For connecting the hardware proceed as follows:
1. Connect Zennium-ECW and the computer to mains
2. Connect Zennium-ECW port to a free USB port of the computer
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.
mains jack mains switch fuse holder with
mains voltage display
3.1 Switch Mains Voltage and Mains Fuses
Push snap-in nose to release fuse bracket.
Fuses for 115V: 2x 4A T (slow)
Fuses for 230V: 2x 2A T (solw)
Pull tray to switch input voltage corresponding to the mains
voltage (115V / 230V)
The selected mains 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 CD 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 DVD to the DVD drive. If “autorun” is active on your computer the setup will start
automatically. Otherwise, run setup.exe from the root directory of the DVD.
The first window lets you select the optional functions you want to have installed. Select the options
with the check boxes.
Interface settings
(do not change)
Create Thales
software icons on
your desktop
Start the installation
procress…
Select software modules to
be installed
Additional information
• PP Inspector: Windows-based control software for stand-alone use of a PowerPotentiostat
• Thales View Extension: Shows graphs of Thales measurement files in the Windows Explorer
• Acrobat Reader: Needed for displaying online-help
• ZMan: Additional EIS analysis software (one free license per workstation)
After selecting all options you would like to be installed, click on the Installation button.

Installation & Getting Started - 10 -
Follow the instructions on the screen as follows:
During installation the folders c:\flink
and c:\thales are created and files
will be copied from DVD to the c:\
partition of the PC.
USB device drivers will be installed.
After Thales software installation
Hardcopy software is installed.
Hardcopy is a useful tool for printing
and copying screens, windows and
screen areas at a mouse-click.
After installation of Hardcopy software Thales View Extensions are installed, if selected.
Select file types
for comment
preview
Select graph
type for model
and impedance
data preview
Select graph
type for
polarization
data preview
Select file types for
thumbnail preview
Select size and
quality of
thumbnails
Cancel setting

Installation & Getting Started - 11 -
installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Save settings and proceed installation process
Online help function requires the
Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0 or higher.
If selected, Adobe Acrobat Reader
8.1.0 will be installed. Follow the
installation guide and finish
ait a
few seconds after it is finished.
If selected, the installation wizard of
ZMAN2.0 will start. Follow the
installation instructions and w
les software installation is
nished.
ed you
eed to restart your PC now.
The Tha
fi
In case ZMAN2.0 was install
n
In order to do so, click on Yes.
If you want to restart later press No.

Installation & Getting Started - 12 -
The ThalesXT installation creates the following folders on your hard drive:
c:\flink
c:\thales
c:\Programs\Zive Lab\ZMAN 2.x\ZMAN.exe (if selected)
c:\Programs\National Instruments (if selected)
c:\Programs\International Light (for CIMPS-options ABS or EMIT only)
The USB device drivers are installed to c:\Windows.
The installation software creates the folder ThalesXT in your Windows Start Menu containing the
following links and folders:
• Thales
• ZEdit (if selected)
• ZTrace USB
• Online Display (if selected)
• Folder: Zive Lab containing ZMan (if selected)
• Folder: SpectrILight III (for CIMPS-options ABS or EMIT only)
If selected, the installation software creates the following icons on your desktop:
ThalesXT Software Suite – Main Software
Thales Text & Programming Tool
Diagnostic tool for Thales – refer to manual “Diagnostics and Troubleshooting”
Windows-based software for stand-alone operation of PowerPotentiostats (if selected)

Installation & Getting Started - 13 -
4.2 Installation of the Calibration Data
The calibration data are individual for each device. Therefore, they cannot be stored on the Thales
DVD. They come on a CD labelled “Calibration Data” plus the serial number of your workstation. You
can find it on the inside manual cover. The CD 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. For installation insert the CalDat CD into your optical
drive. If autostart is activated on your computer the installation starts automatically. If not, start the
installation manually by running CaliData.exe from the CD root path.
!The installation of the CalDat CD 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!
The installation is complete now!

Installation & Getting Started - 14 -
4.3 Installing USB Driver manually
Under Windows 7/8/10 the USB device driver is installed automatically during the Thales installation
process. You do not need to install it manually.
If for any reason the drivers have to be installed separately, please proceed as follows.
The USB drivers are digitally signed and available for the following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows XP, 32-Bit
• Microsoft Windows XP, 64-Bit
• Microsoft Windows Vista / 7, 32-Bit
• Microsoft Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10, 64-Bit
• Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
After connecting the Zennium-ECW to the PC the AMOS USB IFC drivers will be installed
automatically.
!If necessary the latest WHQL-ceritified FTDI driver will be downloaded from Microsoft®.
If the computer is not connected to the internet the standard driver can be installed
from C:\Thales\USB\FTDI manually.

Installation & Getting Started - 15 -
5. Configuring & Starting the ThalesXT Software
In order to start the ThalesXT application click/double-click on the icon.
When starting ThalesXT software for the very first time the windows firewall will ask you for permission
for the term131.exe task. This is required for communication between ThalesXT applications.
The ThalesXT window will show the start-up screen:
After loading all data the screen will change to the ThalesXT main menu:

Installation & Getting Started - 16 -
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
1.
2.
3. 5.
4.
6.
7. 8. 9.
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” allows 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.

Installation & Getting Started - 17 -
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.
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 - 18 -
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” to “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 section are available:
Main icon Sub-menu icon Program section
-
- Testsampling, 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 - 19 -
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

Installation & Getting Started - 20 -
Graphics Software
6.1 Menu Structure in Classic Mode
Also the Classic Mode of the ThalesXT software (here called Thales) provides an easy-to-handle user-
interface. Step by step it guides the user through all necessary settings. If you are familiar with your
application, you are able to use the Thales software without a special training. Due to the variety and
complexity of the field of electrochemical measurements and analysis as well as due to the powerful
and very helpful functions of Thales, we strongly recommend to read this manual carefully, anyway.
6.2 Pull-Down Menu
The Thales pull down menu lets you access your applications faster and clearer.
Click on the Thales icon in
the title bar to open the
pull down menu.
The first entry is a variable
button for the last called
pull down function and is
also available when using
the middle mouse button
after escaping from a
software page.
You can easily navigate
through the most common
used applications and
access them directly by
one click.
During a measurement
you can only start external
software modules. The
pull down menu shows
only the available options.