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293
Chapter 7 Tutorial
Measurement Fundamentals
4
7
Offset Compensation
Most connections in a system use materials that
produce small DC voltages due to dissimilar metal-to-metal contact
(thermocouple effect) or electrochemical batteries (
for a description of the
thermocouple effect, see page 262
). These DC voltages also add errors to
resistance measurements. The offset-compensated measurement is
designed to allow resistance measurements in the presence of small DC
voltages.
Offset compensation makes two measurements on the circuit connected
to the input channel. The first measurement is a conventional resistance
measurement. The second is the same except the internal DMM’s test
current source is turned off (essentially a normal DC voltage
measurement). The second measurement is subtracted from the first
prior to scaling the result, thus giving a more accurate resistance
measurement.
Refer to “Offset Compensation” on page 132 for more
information.
Offset compensation can be used for 2-wire or 4-wire ohms
measurements (but not for RTD or thermistor measurements). The
34970A/34972A disables offset compensation when the measurement
function is changed or after a Factory Reset (
*RST
command). An
Instrument Preset (
SYSTem:PRESet
command) or Card Reset
(
SYSTem:CPON
command)
does not
change the setting.
If the resistor being measured does not respond quickly to changes in
current, offset compensation
will not
produce an accurate measurement.
Resistors with very large inductances or resistors with large parallel
capacitance would fall into this category. In these cases, the channel
delay parameter can be increased to allow more settling time after the
current source is switched on or off, or offset compensation can be turned
off.
For more information on channel delay, see page 105.
34970A Refresh UG.book Page 293 Wednesday, February 17, 2010 12:34 PM
Summary of Contents for 34970A
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Page 20: ...34970A Refresh UG book Page 20 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 21: ...1 1 Quick Start 34970A Refresh UG book Page 21 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 39: ...2 2 Front Panel Overview 34970A Refresh UG book Page 39 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 59: ...3 3 System Overview 34970A Refresh UG book Page 59 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 87: ...4 4 Features and Functions 34970A Refresh UG book Page 87 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 217: ...5 5 Error Messages 34970A Refresh UG book Page 217 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 241: ...6 6 Application Programs 34970A Refresh UG book Page 241 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 254: ...254 34970A Refresh UG book Page 254 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 255: ...7 7 Tutorial 34970A Refresh UG book Page 255 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...
Page 324: ...324 34970A Refresh UG book Page 324 Wednesday February 17 2010 12 34 PM ...