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Getting Started

Probe Cover

The TCP400 Series Current Probes come with a probe cover that stores the probe
when not in use. Use the probe cover to hold your probe in a convenient place at
your bench or workstation when you are not using it. You can attach the probe
cover to the side of the bench to keep the probe off of your work surface. (See
Figure 2.)

Figure 2: Using the probe cover

TCPA300/400 Ampli

fi

ers and TCP300A/400 Series Current Probes User Manual

5

Summary of Contents for TCP300A

Page 1: ...xx TCPA300 400 Amplifiers TCP300A 400 Series AC DC Current Probes ZZZ User Manual P077118301 077 1183 01...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...TCPA300 400 Amplifiers TCP300A 400 Series AC DC Current Probes ZZZ User Manual xx This document applies for firmware version 1 0 and above www tektronix com 077 1183 01...

Page 4: ...in this publication supersedes that in all previously published material Specifications and price change privileges reserved TEKTRONIX and TEK are registered trademarks of Tektronix Inc Additional tra...

Page 5: ...taxes and any other charges for products returned to any other locations This warranty shall not apply to any defect failure or damage caused by improper use or improper or inadequate maintenance and...

Page 6: ......

Page 7: ...Probe Slide 10 Degaussing and Autobalancing the Current Probe 12 DC Measurements 13 AC Measurements 15 Control Summary 17 TCPA300 and TCPA400 Controls 18 Reference Notes 23 Degaussing a Probe with an...

Page 8: ...se of an Error Code 47 Shutdown Error 47 Specifications 49 Warranted Specifications 49 Nominal and Typical Characteristics 50 Mechanical Characteristics 51 Environmental Characteristics 53 Performance...

Page 9: ...18 Increasing probe sensitivity 34 Figure 19 Setup for measuring charging current 36 Figure 20 Charge current waveforms 36 Figure 21 Measuring inductance with a low impedance source 37 Figure 22 Line...

Page 10: ...Troubleshooting 42 Table 7 Amplifier error codes 46 Table 8 Warranted TCPA300 and TCPA400 specifications 49 Table 9 Nominal and typical amplifier characteristics 50 Table 10 TCPA300 and TCPA400 mecha...

Page 11: ...ct the probe input and the probe reference lead from the circuit under test before disconnecting the probe from the measurement instrument Ground the product This product is grounded through the groun...

Page 12: ...ices that could result in injury or loss of life CAUTION Caution statements identify conditions or practices that could result in damage to this product or other property Symbols and terms on the prod...

Page 13: ...transient burst immunity IEC 61000 4 5 2001 Power line surge immunity IEC 61000 4 6 2003 Conducted RF immunity IEC 61000 4 11 2004 Voltage dips and interruptions immunity 4 EN 61000 3 2 2006 AC power...

Page 14: ...10 1 Safety requirements for electrical equipment for measurement control and laboratory use UL61010B 2 032 Particular requirements for hand held current clamps for electrical measurement and test Can...

Page 15: ...condensation occurs only when the product is out of service Pollution Degree 3 Conductive pollution or dry nonconductive pollution that becomes conductive due to condensation These are sheltered locat...

Page 16: ...encourage you to recycle this product in an appropriate system that will ensure that most of the materials are reused or recycled appropriately This symbol indicates that this product complies with t...

Page 17: ...tion The Glossary and Index are provided as quick reference locators for important information Service Manual The Performance Verification and Adjustment procedures are located in the Service Manual a...

Page 18: ...Preface xii TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes User Manual...

Page 19: ...sociated probes provide these features Simultaneous DC and AC current measurements up to 750 A peak High sensitivity One button autobalancing and probe degaussing No adjustments needed to match a curr...

Page 20: ...TCPA400 Amplifier TCP404XL 750 A 1 2 MHz 1 500 A continuous 750 A DC derated with duty cycle Oscilloscope An oscilloscope displays the output from the current measuring system A 50 cable is included t...

Page 21: ...ctory on delivery C3 Provides factory calibration certification on delivery plus two more years of calibration coverage Throughout the coverage period the instrument will be calibrated according to it...

Page 22: ...er the following optional accessories for the amplifiers and probes One turn 50 HF current loop Two versions are available one for each style of probe The current loops are used in the performance ver...

Page 23: ...he probe cover to hold your probe in a convenient place at your bench or workstation when you are not using it You can attach the probe cover to the side of the bench to keep the probe off of your wor...

Page 24: ...s have a grounded shield between the conductor under test and the current sense transformer Any capacitively coupled current will then flow in the ground instead of the transformer windings When you t...

Page 25: ...ent Probes one of each size For example you can store a TCP305A and a TCP303 probe A compartment is included to store associated cables and terminations See Figure 4 Figure 4 Equipment locations in th...

Page 26: ...must be at least 500 MHz When using a TCP305A Current Probe the oscilloscope bandwidth must be at least 250 MHz After you have connected the amplifier to the oscilloscope allow the equipment to warm...

Page 27: ...be while the probe is clamped around a live conductor or the probe may suffer electrical damage If you connect a probe to the wrong amplifier for example a TCP312A to a TCPA400 the NONCOMPATIBLE PROBE...

Page 28: ...fier will light The current probes can be used to measure current on uninsulated wires However the circuit must be de energized when connecting or removing the current probe The slide operation of the...

Page 29: ...the lock button 2 Squeeze the handle until the core is open 3 Place the probe core around the conductor Figure 7 Unlock and open the TCP303 and TCP404XL 4 To lock the probe release the squeeze handle...

Page 30: ...nal magnetic field Periodically during normal use To degauss and autobalance a current probe perform these steps 1 Verify that the current probe is connected to the amplifier 2 Remove the current prob...

Page 31: ...he amplifier PROBE DEGAUSS AUTOBALANCE button The NOT TERMINATED INTO 50 LED is lighted if impedance is not 50 If this is the case make necessary changes For example use a 50 termination 5 After the d...

Page 32: ...place the probe around the conductor under test and then lock the slide 2 For correct measurement polarity make sure the probe arrow is pointing in the direction of conventional positive to negative...

Page 33: ...amplifier PROBE DEGAUSS AUTOBALANCE button WARNING The current probes can be used to measure current on uninsulated wires However the circuit must be de energized when connecting or removing the curre...

Page 34: ...Getting Started 16 TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes User Manual...

Page 35: ...l magnetism from the attached current probe A multi color LED indicates the status of the degauss circuit 2 The MANUAL BALANCE buttons allow you to fine adjust DC offset from the amplifier The adjacen...

Page 36: ...button blinks red whenever the amplifier detects that the current probe needs degaussing The amplifier cannot detect all circumstances that require probe degaussing so you may need to degauss the pro...

Page 37: ...ope input is set to 50 impedance Proper cabling is shown See Figure 1 on page 1 If your oscilloscope does not have 50 impedance settings for inputs you can place a 50 feed through termination on the o...

Page 38: ...his button to power on the amplifier When the amplifier is in STANDBY mode the amplifier is in a limited power mode Most of the secondary circuitry is disabled but the line voltage remains connected t...

Page 39: ...e input impedance of your oscilloscope must be 50 Make sure your amplifier OUTPUT is connected to an oscilloscope input using a 50 BNC cable and that the oscilloscope input is set to 50 impedance The...

Page 40: ...t Remember altering the DC Gain Adjustment may cause the probe to not meet the warranted DC Accuracy specification GPIB Operation The TCPA300 and TCPA400 Current Probe Amplifiers do not have direct GP...

Page 41: ...ill cause a residual offset in the current probe and the amplifier may report an inaccurate result If the impedance of your circuit is higher than that shown the degauss procedure succeeds because the...

Page 42: ...onductor Note that lacquer coatings like those typically found on transformer windings do not provide sufficient reliable insulation for use with current probes The lacquer coating can be easily nicke...

Page 43: ...h the conventional current flow I1 in the direction of the probe arrow is carrying the greater current Conventional current flows from positive to negative 4 To adjust for a current null adjust the cu...

Page 44: ...e Figure 13 1 A low frequency square wave using AC coupling The signal exhibits low frequency rolloff 2 By changing the amplifier coupling to DC the pulse is displayed as truly square as shown Figure...

Page 45: ...ely measure regardless of how short within bandwidth limitations the pulse duration is Ampere Second Product defines the maximum width of pulsed current that you can measure when the pulse amplitude i...

Page 46: ...lowable pulse width PWmax For example the TCP312A Current Probe has a maximum Ampere second product of 500 A s in the 10 A V range setting If a pulse measured with a TCP312A has a peak current of 40 A...

Page 47: ...by the pulse width The quotient is the maximum allowable pulse amplitude the peak amplitude of the measured pulse must be less than this value For example the TCP312A Current Probe has a maximum Amper...

Page 48: ...the noncontinuous current defined as measurement time and the measurement period A continuous and noncontinuous current is shown and how to calculate the duty cycle See Figure 15 Figure 15 Duty cycle...

Page 49: ...Figure 36 on page 58 Compare the maximum measurement time allowed for a duty cycle of 20 At 750 A you have 3 minutes of safe measurement time versus 17 minutes for a smaller noncontinuous current ampl...

Page 50: ...DC current range of your probe you can add offset bucking current with a second conductor WARNING To avoid injury or loss of life from shock or fire do not put more than one uninsulated conductor at...

Page 51: ...g current is equal to the current flowing in the conductor multiplied by the number of turns wound around the probe For example if the second conductor has a current of 100 mA DC and is wrapped around...

Page 52: ...ned as any conductor without insulation or without insulation rated for the voltage present on the conductor under test When viewing the signal on the oscilloscope screen divide the displayed amplitud...

Page 53: ...de is shorted or open See Figure 20 on page 36 A TCP303 Current Probe was used for this high current low voltage application The TCP303 is degaussed and clamped around the positive battery lead from t...

Page 54: ...oximately 23 A and a maximum peak of approximately 31 A The waveform shows a continuous cycle with no dropouts so the alternator circuit appears to be functioning properly A single phase diode failure...

Page 55: ...nected to an inductor that has low resistance See Figure 21 1 Connect the inductor across the output terminals of the pulse generator 2 Maintain a constant voltage across the inductor 3 Clamp the curr...

Page 56: ...shown here Figure 22 Linear current vs time ramp 5 Calculate the inductance using the following formula where L is the inductance in henries E is the voltage of the pulse generator dt is the change i...

Page 57: ...time required for the current to rise or fall 63 2 of the total current value and R is the source resistance of the pulse generator Figure 23 High impedance source current ramp Continuity Test of Mult...

Page 58: ...io of coil current to input current The accuracy of this method is limited by the current measurement accuracy The following method allows more precise turns measurement For a more precise turns count...

Page 59: ...measurement system into a sophisticated analysis tool that quickly measures and analyzes many different applications such as Power dissipation at switching devices and magnetic components in switchin...

Page 60: ...ases 15 minutes is sufficient All LEDs are flashing All LEDs flashing indicates a thermal shutdown Power cycle the system and let it cool before taking measurements In most cases 15 minutes is suffici...

Page 61: ...tton The Current Probe has been overloaded dropped or exposed to magnetic field You can use the MANUAL BALANCE buttons to null out any residual DC offset after performing a Probe Degauss Autobalance r...

Page 62: ...accuracy Check that the probe slider is fully closed and locked Check and clean the probe transformer and lid Degauss the probe The amplifier or the oscilloscope may be AC coupled Set the COUPLING to...

Page 63: ...being displayed instead of normal conditions 3 The four fault indicator LEDs above the ON STANDBY switch are used to form a four bit binary error code See Figure 27 on page 46 The error codes are def...

Page 64: ...error occurred while nulling out the internal DC offset of the amplifier Power cycle the amplifier and run the Degauss Autobalance adjustment routine again If the error reoccurs then the amplifier nee...

Page 65: ...r needs service 15 Unspecified error internal software error Power cycle the amplifier and run the Degauss Autobalance adjustment routine again If the error reoccurs then the amplifier needs service C...

Page 66: ...Troubleshooting and Error Codes 48 TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes User Manual...

Page 67: ...output is properly terminated into 50 Specifications are separated into two categories warranted specifications and nominal or typical characteristics Warranted Specifications Warranted specification...

Page 68: ...Limit measurement bandwidth to 20 MHz Signal Delay typical 1 approximately 17 ns approximately 19 ns approximately 53 ns approximately 103 ns Maximum Bare Wire Voltage 150 CAT II bare wire 300 V CAT...

Page 69: ...47 Hz to 440 Hz single phase Maximum Power 50 Watts maximum Fuse Rating 3 15 AH 250 V Not operator replaceable 1 Includes probe amplifier and TEKPROBE to TEKPROBE interface cable or 012 0117 xx BNC ca...

Page 70: ...Figure 28 Probe jaw dimensions nominal Table 12 Shipping weights and dimensions TCPA300 and TCPA400 Amplifiers TCP305A and TCP312A Probes TCP303 Probe TCP404XL Probe Dimensions Length 298 5 mm 11 75...

Page 71: ...onoperating 40 C to 75 C 40 F to 167 F Humidity Operating 5 to 95 R H to 30 C 86 F 5 to 85 R H 30 C to 50 C 86 F to 122 F Nonoperating 5 to 95 R H to 30 C 86 F 5 to 85 R H 30 C to 75 C 86 F to 167 F A...

Page 72: ...ions Performance Graphs Figure 29 Frequency derating TCP312A Figure 30 Frequency derating TCP305A Figure 31 Frequency derating TCP303 54 TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes Us...

Page 73: ...Specifications Figure 32 Frequency derating TCP404XL TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes User Manual 55...

Page 74: ...Specifications Figure 33 Insertion impedance versus frequency 56 TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes User Manual...

Page 75: ...Specifications Figure 34 Specified operating area of the probes TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes User Manual 57...

Page 76: ...ing three graphs Details about the relationship between measurement factors are available See page 30 Measuring Noncontinuous Current with the TCP404XL Probe Figure 35 Measuring 750A noncontinuous at...

Page 77: ...23 degrees ambient temperature 600 A can be measured continuously with the TCP404XL probe Emissions which exceed the levels required by this standard may occur when this equipment is connected to a te...

Page 78: ...Specifications 60 TCPA300 400 Amplifiers and TCP300A 400 Series Current Probes User Manual...

Page 79: ...ive to negative The arrows on current probes point in the direction of conventional current flow Conventional current flow is in the opposite direction of electron current flow degauss A process of el...

Page 80: ...ircuit when the current probe is clamped around a test conductor magnetic susceptibility A figure expressing the amount of current induced into the probe by an external magnetic field of known intensi...

Page 81: ...See also conventional current Error codes correcting 47 Error Codes displaying 45 shutdown error 47 Extending the current range of the probes 32 F flux 61 Frequency derating 27 Front panel controls 17...

Page 82: ...tizing 12 18 description 2 extending the current range 32 increasing the current limit 32 maximum current limits 27 operating the probe slide 10 saturation 27 R RANGE button and indicator 20 S Safety...

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