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We have a benchtop multimeter that is much more accurate than the handheld multimeters. If you need high accuracy measurements, use this one. Operation is very similar.
User Guide:
INSERT PDF OF USER GUIDE (Agilent 34410A)
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Oscilloscope
The oscilloscope allows you to capture voltage waveforms over time. This is commonly used to evaluate transient events such as button pushes, PWM signals, etc.
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DC Load
The DC Load is used to draw current from a circuit. This can be super useful for testing circuits under full load, such as the horn driver circuit, the Solar MPPTs, and the Solar arrays, etc.
There are a few modes that the load can operate in. It works essentially as a variable resistor so that you can vary the load on a circuit. The circuit operation is the exact same for every mode, however the control loop and signals change.
Constant Current (CC) Mode
The most common mode of operation is Constant Current (CC) mode. In this mode, the load will draw as much current as it can up to the limit of the Current Set Point.
Constant Voltage (CV) Mode
In this mode, you would set the voltage that the DC Load will attempt to get to at its terminals. The load will draw as much current as necessary to make the input voltage equal to the set voltage.
Constant Wattage (CW) Mode
The load will draw as much current as necessary so that the input voltage * input current is equal to the power set point.
Constant Resistor (CR) Mode
This mode is fairly self-explanatory. The load will operate exactly as a resistor, and will have the
During any of the operation modes, be careful to not overload the max current, voltage, or power ratings of the DC Load.
User Guide:
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For a closer look at the operation of the hardware, check out this great video by Dave Jones at EEV Blog that goes over the hardware design of a DC Load: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xX2SVcItOA
He also does an overview of the BK Precision loads here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dNxzzuMTB8
Also interesting, here is a BK Precision application note about some of the things that you can do with DC Loads:
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Power supplies can also be very useful to perform what is called a ‘smoke test’ - because everything runs on ‘magic smoke’ - if you let it out, the part won’t work. This ‘smoke test’ is performed as the first power-on of the board. Typically a very low current limit is set so that if a component was soldered wrong, then you will still notice it burn, but it won’t blow up as violently as it does not have as much power available to it.
A great tutorial by Sparkfun here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uraPWaeAgYA
If you want to go a little more in depth of how power supplies work, have a look at the following videos that go through the design of a linear power supply:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIGjActDeoM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Otr1I0OR18
LCR Meter
This is less commonly used, but is super handy for measuring inductance.
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