1. Impedance
Impedance setting allows to match the impedance of the input to signal source. One can choose between 1 MΩ or 50 Ω impedance.
CAUTION: Switching the impedance to 50 Ω when the input voltage is above 12 Vrms may cause permanent damage to the input circuitry.
2. Attenuation
This setting allows attenuating the signal by factor of 10 if its dynamic range exceeds ±5 V. 1x, 10x and AUTO attenuation options are available. If AUTO is selected then first sample of any voltage measurement (including the ones performed during Autoset and Auto-trigger) will be analyzed to determine the dynamic range of the signal. If the range exceeds ±5 V then 10x attenuation will be switched on automatically. 1x will be used otherwise.
3. Coupling
Use the AC coupling feature to eliminate unwanted DC signal components or keep DC offset by using DC coupling.
Hint: Always use AC coupling when the AC signal is superimposed on a DC voltage that is higher than the trigger level setting range. However, we recommend AC coupling in many other measurement situations as well. When you measure symmetrical signals, such as sine and square/triangle waves, AC coupling filters out all DC components. This means that a 0 V trigger level is always centered around the middle of the signal where triggering is most stable.
Hint: Signals with changing duty cycle or with a very low or high duty cycle do require DC coupling. Figure 8 shows how pulses can be missed, while Figure 9 shows that triggering does not occur at all because the signal amplitude and the hysteresis band (please see for explanation of what is Hysteresis Band) are not centered.
Hint: always use DC coupling for signals below 10 Hz.
4. Filter
This setting allows you to apply analog low-pass filter for signals with high-frequency noise or interference. 10 kHz and 100 kHz low-pass filters are available. All filters have a signal rejection slope of approx. 20 dB / decade.
Hint: keep filters off unless you cannot obtain stable readings otherwise.
Hint: it is not recommended to use filters for pulse signals as filters affect pulse signal shape.
5. Preamp
Pre-amplifier allows to amplify the signal to improve sensitivity for signals with amplitudes below 100 mVpp.
Hint: avoid using pre-amplification if signal amplitude is above 100 mVpp. Prefer using Autoset instead – it will turn on pre-amplification only if necessary
6. Trigger Level
Set trigger level. Setting proper trigger level is essential for getting accurate and stable results. So it is advised to keep Trigger Mode Auto letting the instrument select adequate trigger levels. Please see measurement functions description for details.
In Auto and Relative Trigger Modes, the instrument performs voltage measurement (using current Voltage Mode setting) – so-called auto-trigger – before each Time or Frequency measurement which delays the measurement start. In cases when it is undesirable, please use Manual Trigger Mode.
When measuring non-continuous signals or single cycles, auto-trigger might fail to measure signal voltage range correctly which won’t allow setting trigger levels properly and might result in wrong measurement results. It is advised to use Manual Trigger Mode in this case.
In Manual Trigger Mode in most cases one can get the best results if Trigger Level is set to the center of signal voltage range. It will help avoid capturing signal edge artifacts and in most cases the middle of the signal voltage range will be the point with maximum slew rate, which minimizes timing trigger error.
Setting trigger level close to signal minimum or maximum level can result in intermittent readings and/or unreliable result. For example, measured Frequency value twice greater or twice lower than actual can be a typical consequence of poor trigger level choice when measuring pulse signals with significant artifacts on edges.
Please note: Actual triggering does not occur when the input signal crosses the trigger level at 50 percent of the amplitude, but when the input signal has crossed the entire hysteresis band (Figure 11). Which causes measurement timing errors.
The hysteresis band is about 20 mV with attenuation 1x, and 200 mV with attenuation 10x. The hysteresis compensation reduces hysteresis trigger error to <2 mV
To keep the hysteresis trigger error low, the attenuator setting should be 1x when possible. Use the 10x position only when input signals have excessively large amplitudes, or when you need to set trigger levels exceeding the -5 V to +5 V window.