EE 2274
Pre-Lab Intro lab
Experiment # 1
Introduction to Laboratory Equipment
Completed Prior to Coming to Lab
Lab Use
Whittemore 251, and 253, are similarly equipped. You may use the labs M-F from 8am to
4:00pm or anytime your instructor allows to use the lab, (as long as the lab instructor is with you and it
does not interfere with other labs). Come in early so you will have time to complete your experiment
before 4pm.These times can be used to make-up labs or to become more familiar with the lab
experiments/equipment. If you can’t find your regular TA, come by 240, 244, and 252 Whittemore and
someone will help you.
. Once in the lab, you are not to let anyone else in the lab. Your grade for the make-up lab is up
to your regular lab instructor.
Please observe the lab schedule posted on the door so as to not interfere with other scheduled
labs. You must vacate the lab by 4:00pm M-F, unless an instructor is present. Any violations of these
procedures will result in access being denied except during your regularly scheduled lab sessions.
Personal Safety
The following safety comments apply to all laboratory courses:
1. If more than 50V are to be used in the work, at least two other people must be present in the
lab, including an instructor.
2. Always wire a circuit completely before connecting it to the power source. This will avoid the
handling of energized wires. Review the wiring to avoid damage to components due to
accidentally misplacing the wire in the circuit. Furthermore, always disconnect the source
end of a wire before disconnecting a wire from a circuit.
3. Provide a switch within easy access with which the circuit can be de-energized. Turning off a
power supply while the circuit is still connected to it can damage components as current
and/or voltage spikes can occur as the supply turns off.
Equipment Protection
The electronics labs in Whittemore are some of the most sophisticated labs available at any
university. Therefore, a great deal of care should be used while handling the equipment.
1. At the end of a lab session, turn off all pieces of equipment. Turn off the bench power. Be sure
that any battery-powered equipment, such as the capacitance meters, are turned off.
2. Hang leads properly and leave your bench area in neat order. Return full connector boxes to the
storage cabinet.
3. Do not remove any equipment from a bench. Faulty equipment will be replaced by the Lab
Repair Service within minutes.
4. Do not write on or mark the instrument panels.
5. No food or drink is allowed in the labs. The appearance of the labs is very important. During time
of inclement weather make sure that your shoes and apparel are free of mud and snow before
entering one of the labs. Do not prop feet or place wet articles on benches or equipment. Coats
and book bags should be placed on tables used for this purpose and not on the bench tops.
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Intro Lab Spring 15: Revised: August 25, 2016
Exercises
1. Read “XYZ’s of Oscilloscope” Primer (omit pages 20,23,24,25,26,32,44,45,46, and 47) Do
problems 1 through 17 from “XYZ’s of Oscilloscope” Primer page 51 Written Exercise. Also, do
the Exercise 1 through 6 on page 52. Complete Pre-Lab answer sheet and turn in.
Familiarize yourself with the front panel and display of the oscilloscope using the
figures below.
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Intro Lab Spring 15: Revised: August 25, 2016
2. Circle the correct answer in the following statements: circle on data sheet.
A series circuit is constructed using a 5V power supply and three resistors.
a. The voltage across one of the resistors is measured by placing a voltmeter in
series/parallel/perpendicular with a resistor.
b. The current through one of the resistors is measured by placing an ammeter in
series/parallel/perpendicular with that resistor.
c. In order to measure the resistance of one of the resistors, you should
i. Leave the resistor connected in the circuit and measure its resistance with the
power on.
ii. Leave the resistor connected in the circuit and measure its resistance with the
power off.
iii. Disconnect power then remove the resistor from the circuit and measure its
resistance.
iv. Remove the resistor from the circuit and measure the resistance of the remaining
two resistors connected in the circuit.
3. What is the color code of a 47kΩ resistor? You may use the resistor color code guide shown
below.
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Intro Lab Spring 15: Revised: August 25, 2016
4. Familiarize yourself with the protoboard layout as shown below.
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Intro Lab Spring 15: Revised: August 25, 2016
Pre-Lab Answer Sheet
For exercises from “XYZ of Oscilloscope”
Experiment # 1
Introduction to Laboratory Equipment
Circle the correct answer in the following statements: copy from step 2
A series circuit is constructed using a 5V power supply and three resistors.
a. The voltage across one of the resistors is measured by placing a voltmeter in
series/parallel/perpendicular with a resistor.
b. The current through one of the resistors is measured by placing an ammeter in
series/parallel/perpendicular with that resistor.
c. In order to measure the resistance of one of the resistors, you should
i. Leave the resistor connected in the circuit and measure its resistance with the
power on.
ii. Leave the resistor connected in the circuit and measure its resistance with the
power off.
iii. Disconnect power then remove the resistor from the circuit and measure its
resistance.
iv. Remove the resistor from the circuit and measure the resistance of the remaining
two resistors connected in the circuit.
1. Acquisition
____________
Prelab Part 3
Color code for 47kΩ resistor 5%
2. Analog
____________
3. Bandwidth
____________
Band 1 ________________
4. Digital Phosphor
____________
Band 2 ________________
5. Frequency
____________
Band 3 ________________
6. Glitch
____________
Band 4 ________________
7. Period
____________
8. Phase
____________
9. Pulse
____________
10. Waveform Point
____________
11. Rise Time
____________
12. Sample Point
____________
1. ____________
13. Digital Storage
____________
2. ___________
14. Time Base
____________
3. ____________
15. Transient
____________
4. ____________
16. ADC Resolution
____________
5. ____________
17. Volt
____________
6. ____________
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Intro Lab Spring 15: Revised: August 25, 2016
Lab Exercise
Experiment # 1 Intro lab
Introduction to Laboratory Equipment
Objective:
To gain a basic understanding of how to use the laboratory equipment.
Reference:
“XYZ’s of Oscilloscope” (Primer and Workbook)
Comments:
Understanding the lab equipment and learning to use it capably is vital for
effectively completing laboratory research. This lab will discuss using an
oscilloscope, the most important and most basic test instrument available to
electrical/computer engineers. The scope acts as the eye with which to observe
a circuits operation. It is also capable of making very accurate voltage and
frequency measurements. Other laboratory equipment discussed is the function
generator, DC voltage supply, multimeter, and capture software.
Part I – Basic operation of the digital storage oscilloscope
1. Setup of the oscilloscope
a. Initializing the Scope:
i. Power on
ii. In the press “default setup”
b. The Multipurpose a, and b Knob: The Multipurpose knob measure keys and other
keys will be discussed throughout this lab.
c. The Vertical Section: The vertical section has the two BNC input connections for
channels 1, and 2. the vertical sensitivity ranges from 10V/div to 1mV/div. The
position controls move the traces up/down on the display. The math function is also
located in this section and will be discussed later.
d. The Horizontal Section: The horizontal section controls the sweep rate from 400s/div
to 1ns/div. A horizontal position control varies the horizontal position of the trace.
Also, the main/delayed switch is located in this section.
e. The Trigger Section: The trigger section has several push switches. The switches
that will be used in this lab course are the “Edge”, Mode/Coupling, and Trigger level
control.
2. Connect a 10X scope probe to channel 1.
a. Attach the probe to the “Probe Comp” output on the lower-right side of the front
panel. The Probe tip to the lower terminal. The probe ground to the upper terminal.
b. Press on the front panel the Default Setup key under the display. Adjust the
Horizontal scale and Trigger level to get a stable waveform of 2 cycles on the screen.
c. Using the “Measurement.” Key - add measurement - snap shot. Record the type
(sine, square, and triangle), amplitude, and frequency of the waveform.
3. Use the “Cursors” key to confirm your measurements. Do they agree?
4. Use the function generator to generate a 1 VPP, 1kHz, square wave signal to be measured
with the oscilloscope. Record the amplitude and frequency.
5. Now change the signal to 10kHz, 1Vpp, sine wave. Press Ch1, set the frequency, and
amplitude using the multipurpose knob and keypad. Press output to enable the output.
6. Measure and record the amplitude and frequency.
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Part II – Using the DC Power Voltage Supply and Digital Multimeters
7. Measure the resistance of a resistor:
a. Obtain a 47kΩ resistor.
b. Measure the resistance of the resistor using the Digital Multimeter.
8. Measure the voltage across a resistor:
a. Insert the resistor into the protoboard.
b. Turn on the DC Power supply and enable the output by pressing the Output On/Off
key. Set the +30V for 5.00V by pressing the +30V key and entering the voltage
needed. Note that the arrow keys allows to the setting on a particular decimal place.
c. Connect leads from the positive 30V terminals of the Rigol DP831A DC power supply
to the connectors on the protoboard.
d. Attach a wire from one end of the resistor to the high side connector on the
protoboard.
e. Attach a wire from the other end of the resistor to the common connector on the
protoboard.
f. Measure the voltage across the resistor, using the DM3068 multimeter set on DC
volts. How close is the measured voltage to the theoretical value?
9. Using the measured voltage and resistance values, calculate the current through this circuit
from Ohm’s Law.
__________________________
*The 2-wire ohms measurement will be used throughout this course unless otherwise noted. The
multimeter calculates resistance by applying a known current and measuring the resulting voltage. For a
2-wire ohms measurement, the current is applied and the voltage is measured through the input HI and
LO terminals. Since the voltage measurement is done at the same terminals that are used for supplying
the current, the resistance of the leads is also measured. This effect can be accounted for to some extent
by zeroing the meter. To zero the meter, connect the leads together and pressing the Null button. If
greater accuracy is required, then the 4-wire ohm setting can be used. For a 4-wire ohms measurement,
the current is applied through the Input HI and LO terminals and the voltage is measured at the Ω4W
Sense HI and LO terminals. As a result, the resistance of the leads does not affect the voltage
measurement significantly.
10. Connect the digital multimeter, set on DC milliamps, in series with the circuit of Step 2.
Measure the current through this circuit and compare it to the calculated value of Step 2.
Note: You must move the meter leads to the current sense input. Also, keep in mind that the
high and low current sense inputs are not the same.
Part III – DC versus AC coupling
11. Connect leads from the DC power supply positive 30V terminals to the channel 1 input of the
oscilloscope. The banana-jack to coax adapter has a tab to indicate which side is common.
Set the supply on the to read 5V.
a. Make sure the coupling on channel 1 of the oscilloscope is set on DC coupling. What
is the amplitude of the signal on the scope?
b. Change the coupling from DC to AC. What happens to the signal? Why?
12. Using the function generator, generate a 1kHz sine wave with a peak-to-peak amplitude of
4V and a DC offset of +1V. Connect the output of the function generator to the scope and
observe the waveform. The scope should still be on AC coupling.
a. Now change the amplitude of the DC offset to 2V. What happens to the signal?
Why?
b. Now change the scope to DC coupling. What happened to the signal? What
happens when you vary the DC offset? Why?
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Part IV – Capturing the Scopes Waveform
13. Performing the waveform capture procedure.
a. Display a 2VPP, 1 kHz sinusoid on Channel 1 of the scope using 500mV/div and
200µs/div.
b. In the National Instrument Signal Express software, open BasicScopeCapture.seproj
project in the C:\SEProjects dir.
c. Select the Step Setup tab under the Configuration tab make sure CH1 is on. Set the
Range (V) = 5V and Time per record (s) = 2m . Then click the Run pull down menu
select RUN Once. The waveform should appear on the screen, if a time out error
after 5 seconds occurs the scope did not receive a trigger. Check the trigger Level
(V) under the Trigger tab adjust to within the signal voltage rang or set the trigger
Type from Edge to AC Line which will force a trigger with 1/60 of second.. If the
waveform is acceptable, Place it in the Project Documentation. Remember to title
your graphs and label the X and Y axes.
d. After saving the waveform to the project documentation, click on the file tab Menu
and then select Export project documentation to html and save to your flash drive.
e. Print this file on the computer at the end of the row. Turn in the printout with your
report.
14. Repeat this procedure for a 4Vpp, 5 kHz triangle wave on Channel 2 and a 5Vpp, 10 kHz
square wave on Channel 1. Adjust the oscilloscope’s horizontal and vertical controls as
needed to obtain a waveform between 1 and 2 periods long.
15. Measure and validate the frequency and peak-to-peak amplitude of the three waveforms from
the screen graph. Find the error introduced in the frequency measurement and the error
measurement. To determine how much error is introduced by the measurement, use the
percent error formula:
%𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 =
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 − 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝑥 100%
𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑
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Data Sheet
Experiment # 1
Introduction to Laboratory Equipment
Name:_________________ Partner: __________________ Bench:____ Date:_______
Part I – Basic operation of the digital storage oscilloscope
1. Configure the scope
2. Type:
____________
Frequency
____________
Amplitude:
____________
3. Do they agree?
4. Amplitude:
____________
Frequency:
____________
5. Amplitude
____________
Frequency
____________
Part II – Using the DC Voltage Supply and the digital Multimeters
Rmeasured = ____________
Vmeasured = ____________
Icalculated =
____________ I = Vmeasured / Rmeasured
Imeasured=
____________
Part III – DC versus AC coupling
Output signal of scope:
What happens to the signal when changed from DC to AC coupling?
Why?
What happens to the signal when changing the DC offset?
Why?
What happens to the signal when you change from AC to DC coupling?
What happens to the signal when changing the DC offset?
Why?
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Part IV – Capturing the Scopes Waveform
Capture the first waveform
Capture the second and third waveforms
Waveform 1:
Amplitude: ____________
Error: ____________
Frequency: ____________
Error: ____________
Waveform 2:
Amplitude: ____________
Error: ____________
Frequency: ____________
Error: ____________
Waveform 3:
Amplitude: ____________
Error: ____________
Frequency: ____________
Error: ____________
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Intro Lab Spring 15: Revised: August 25, 2016