Agilent Technologies Agilent 34980A, User Manual

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Features and Functions
2
34980A User’s Guide 63
Monitor Mode
In the Monitor mode, the instrument takes readings as often as it can on
a single channel or the internal DMM, even during a scan. This feature is
useful for troubleshooting your system before a test or for watching an
important signal.
• Any channel that can be “read” by the instrument can be monitored.
This includes any combination of temperature, voltage, resistance,
current, frequency, or period measurements on multiplexer channels.
You can also monitor a digital input channel or the totalizer count on
the digital modules. You can also monitor measurements on the internal
DMM, independent of any channel measurements.
• Readings acquired during a Monitor are not stored in memory but they
are displayed on the front panel; however, all readings from a scan in
progress at the same time are stored in memory.
• The Monitor mode is equivalent to making continuous measurements
on a single channel or the internal DMM with an infinite scan count.
Only one channel can be monitored at a time but you can change the
channel being monitored at any time.
•
A scan in progress always has priority over the Monitor function.
•
Channels do
not
have to be part of an active scan list to be monitored;
however, the channel must be configured for a measurement in order to
be monitored.
• The Monitor mode ignores all trigger settings and takes continuous
readings on the selected channel using the IMMediate (continuous)
source.
• The Monitor mode is automatically enabled on all channels that are
part of the active scan list. If you define the scan list after monitoring
has already been enabled, any channels that are not part of the active
scan list will be ignored during the monitor operation (no error is
generated).
• Mx+B scaling and alarm limits are applied to the selected channel
during a Monitor and all alarm data is stored in the alarm queue
(which will be cleared if power fails).
• You can monitor a digital input channel or totalizer channel even if the
channel is not part of the scan list (the internal DMM is not required
either). The count on a totalizer channel is not reset when it is being
monitored (the Monitor ignores the totalizer reset mode).
• If a channel that is currently being monitored is manually closed or
opened, the Monitor operation will be disabled on that channel.