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