Leaving ADC-200 unpowered

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helloworld.c
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Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:08 pm

Leaving ADC-200 unpowered

Post by helloworld.c »

My situation: I use my scope infrequently and would like to power it off when not in use. The most convenient way for me to do it is a power bar with switch. However, due to the setup in the lab the scope itself is not easy to reach and neither is the PC it is connected to. The parallel port connector is not exactly easy to handle anyways. Therefore my question:

Is it safe to power off the scope while it is still connected to the PC via the parallel port cable? I can see that the LED sometimes doesn't go completely off but is still somewhat dimly illuminated. Is this normal and safe for both the scope and the parallel port? I was consulting the manual but there is no mentioning on the subject of connection order or power states.

Thanks,
Chris

PeterF
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Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:53 am
Location: Cambridgeshire

Post by PeterF »

Hi,
It should be safe for both the scope and PC to switch the power supply off. The parallel output of the PC will provide some power into the scope, (that is hoe we powered some of our earlier parallel scopes) and that will cause the LED to glow dimly. Sometimes, when you power-up the scope, you might find that it is not recognised by the PicoScope program and you might need to re-boot the PC or disconnect the parallel port.
PeterF.

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