ZAHNER EL1002 User manual

Electronic
Load
EL1002
(Operation Manual)
24/07/2023

Electronic Load – EL1002

Electronic Load – EL1002
1 Electronic load EL1002 ............................................................................. 4
1.1 Packing List.......................................................................................... 4
2 Caution.......................................................................................................5
3 Introduction................................................................................................7
3.1 Modular concept – extension to ZENNIUM series potentiostat........7
3.1.1 EL1002 electronic load ...................................................................7
3.1.2 EPC42 controller card....................................................................8
3.2 Stand-alone mode.............................................................................. 9
4 Operation basics......................................................................................10
4.1 Signals & connections........................................................................10
4.1.1 Conductor rails ...............................................................................11
4.1.2 Safety interlock............................................................................. 12
4.1.3 Signal LEDs & buzzer ................................................................... 12
4.2 Operation steps.................................................................................13
5 Thales software .......................................................................................15
6 Cell connection fundamentals ................................................................18
6.1 Contact resistance.............................................................................18
6.2 Four-electrode cell connection scheme..........................................19
6.3 Two-electrode cell connection scheme ......................................... 20
6.4 Parasitic inductances........................................................................21
7 Connection configurations..................................................................... 24
7.1 Applications for the EL1002 without external devices.................... 25
7.1.1 Full cell configuration (standard Kelvin scheme) ......................25
7.1.2 Half-cell configuration – Cathode...............................................27
7.1.3 Half-cell configuration – Anode ..................................................27
7.1.4 Partial cell configuration ..............................................................28

Electronic Load – EL1002
7.2 General notes for applications with external supply or load.......... 29
7.3 Applications with an additional DC load...........................................31
7.3.1 DUT connected to the EL1002 with an additional DC load
through EXT+.......................................................................................... 31
7.3.2 DUT connected to the EL1002 with a parallel DC load.......... 33
7.4 Applications with an additional power supply in series.................. 35
7.4.1 Electrolysis / charging batteries .................................................35
7.4.2 Compensation for voltage drop (zero-volt option)..................37
7.5 Applications with an additional power supply in parallel using the
EXT+ terminal.......................................................................................... 39
7.5.1 Charging........................................................................................ 40
7.5.2 Discharging ................................................................................... 41
7.5.3 State of charge (SoC)..................................................................42
7.5.4 Summary parallel power supply with PAD4............................. 43
8 Specifications ......................................................................................... 44
8.1 Ranges and tolerances..................................................................... 44
8.2 General specifications...................................................................... 45
8.3 Safe operation conditions................................................................ 46

Electronic Load – EL1002 -4-
1Electronic load EL1002
Zahner products are carefully manufactured, calibrated and tested to ensure our
high-quality standard. Packing of the electronic load EL1002 and accessories is done
with great care to avoid damage during transport. Upon receipt of the Zahner
shipment, please check the device and accessories to make sure they are intact. If
a product is damaged during shipment, please immediately contact your Zahner’s
service partner.
1.1 Packing List
•EL1002
•EPC42 cable
•Sense cable (Lemosa plug to blue & green twisted cables)
•USB cable
•Power cord
•USB Stick:
oCalibration report
oCalibration data
oThis manual (pdf)
•Zahner Analysis license key
•This manual

Electronic Load – EL1002 -5-
2Caution
Please read the risk assessment document before operating the potentiostat.
Prevent the inputs of the potentiostat from electrostatic discharge (ESD)! ESD may
damage the potentiostat. ESD-related damages are not covered by the warranty of
the potentiostat. The user must make sure to discharge themselves from any
electrical charge before touching the potentiostat (TIP: use grounded ESD-matts).
Zahner’s potentiostats require a warm-up time of 30 minutes for optimum
performance.
Do not leave the active objects such as batteries or fuel cells connected to the power
outputs of the potentiostat when the potentiostat is switched off! This may damage
the potentiostat.
To drive high currents with an EL1002, the customer must use a cable set
recommended for high current applications and fasten it to the terminals with
suitable cable lugs.
Pay attention to the cable connection schemes and strictly follow the guidelines of
this manual. A connection scheme with reversed polarity may damage your device.
During operation, the potential directly on the positive (+) terminal of the EL1002
should be at least 1 V higher than the negative (–) terminal.
Always turn ON the EL1002 after turning on the external load or the external power
supply (if any is connected).
No current should flow through the EL1002 immediately after turning on the EL1002.
No current should flow through the EL1002 immediately after selecting the EL1002
in Thales software until the startup calibration is finished.
Always turn OFF the EL1002 prior to turning OFF the external load or the external
power supply (if any is connected).
Properly fasten the EPC42 cable with the EL1002 using screws. Accidental
unplugging of the EPC42 cable during operation may damage your device.
When working with high currents, remove all metallic jewelry/watches which can
possibly create short circuits.

Electronic Load – EL1002 -6-
Don’t touch the electrical connections during operation.
Never expose potentials higher than 100 V to the EL1002.
The maximum current through the positive (+) terminal of EL1002 must never exceed
200 A.
The maximum current through the shunt/current measurement unit of the EL1002
must never exceed 680 A.
The current cables from EL1002 to the test object must be as short and thick as
possible.
During EL1002 start up and calibration, do not sink external DC current.

Electronic Load – EL1002 -7-
3Introduction
Zahner’s electronic load EL1002 can be used as an extension to the ZENNIUM series
potentiostat or in a stand-alone configuration. In the following sections, both
scenarios are discussed.
3.1 Modular concept – extension to ZENNIUM series potentiostat
3.1.1 EL1002 electronic load
Dynamic measurements (e.g. impedance spectroscopy) on electrochemical objects
is a topic of high interest in the field of electrochemistry. Modern EIS instruments
cover a broad frequency range from µHz to MHz and can handle impedances ranging
from µΩ to GΩ. However, the maximum applied current is mostly limited to a few
amperes. For many applications in the field of batteries and fuel cells, measurements
at high currents are desired. For the ZENNIUM series potentiostats, the current
range can be significantly extended using Zahner’s electronic load EL1002.
The EL1002 is a single quadrant potentiostat (it can sink but cannot source current)
and is designed to be used as an extension of the ZENNIUM potentiostat to
investigate high power electrochemical systems. The highly dynamic EL1002 load is
optimized for galvanostatic EIS measurements up to 100 kHz on energy storage and
conversion devices such as proton-exchange membrane (PEM) and solid oxide (SO)
fuel cells.
The EL1002 allows for power dissipation of up to 1 kW in terms of voltages up to
100 V and currents up to 200 A. In combination with a third-party instrument
(electronic loads or sources), measurements at higher currents (up to 680 A) can be
carried out. Moreover, the EL1002 setup can be combined in different ways with
power supplies to allow for measurements on electrolyzers and large format
batteries.
Equipping our ZENNIUM potentiostat with our parallel measurement channel cards
(PAD4), the EL1002 and an optional power supply upgrades the whole system as an
optimal system for all kinds of stack measurements on batteries, fuel cells and
electrolyzers. For the connection of the EL1002 with the ZENNIUM potentiostat, an
EPC42 interface card is also used.

Electronic Load – EL1002 -8-
3.1.2 EPC42 controller card
An EPC42 card has 4 connection ports by which up to 4 external devices (PP2X2,
XPOT2, EL1002) can be connected. Up to four EPC42 cards can be installed in a
ZENNIUM series potentiostat. Therefore, a total of up to 16 external devices (PP2X2,
XPOT2, EL1002) can be connected to a ZENNIUM series potentiostat with four
EPC42 cards.
Each port of the EPC42 card provides analogue and digital interfaces for the
communication between the electronic load and the ZENNIUM potentiostat. The
analogue part of the port feeds the electronic load with a signal which dictates DC
voltage as well as AC amplitude at a resolution of 16 bit. The current and voltage
signals measured by the electronic load are forwarded via the digital part of the port
to the ZENNIUM, where they are processed in the same way as the signals from the
internal cards. This means the signals are quantized with up to 24 bits. The EPC42
card provides a bandwidth of 250 kHz.
A bi-directional serial communication line allows to digitally control the external
potentiostat functions and measuring ranges.
Multiple external power potentiostats or loads can be simultaneously connected to
a ZENNIUM series potentiostat but can only be operated sequentially.
Simultaneously controlling multiple external device in the modular mode is not
possible.
Never plug or unplug the D-SUB connector at the backside of the EL1002 while the
ZENNIUM is switched on. Otherwise, the devices and the object may be damaged.
It is recommended to fasten the D-SUB connector with the screws to prevent
accidental unplugging.

Electronic Load – EL1002 -9-
3.2 Stand-alone mode
Zahner’s power potentiostats or electronic loads (PP2X2, XPOT2, EL1002) can also
be operated in stand-alone mode, for which a Windows 10/11 or Linux computer is
necessary. For software updates, Windows 10/11 is required and the use of a virtual
machine is not permitted. The application of a USB hub for connecting the device is
not recommended.
The PP2X2/XPOT2/EL1002 potentiostat can also be controlled with other third-party
software (e.g., Python). This allows for the integration in already established
experimental setups. The potentiostats provide serial interfaces via the USB serial
port which can be used to communicate with the potentiostat via the SCPI protocol.
In the future, it is planned that the ethernet interface will be activated via a free
software update.
Zahner has prepared a GitHub library for controlling the PP2X2/XPOT2/EL1002
potentiostats with Python via SCPI:
https://github.com/Zahner-elektrik/zahner_potentiostat
And a GitHub repository with examples using the library:
https://github.com/Zahner-elektrik/Zahner-Remote-Python
The API documentation can be found at:
https://doc.zahner.de/zahner_potentiostat
Only DC measurements can be carried out in the stand-alone mode.