Slow triggering/slow sample rate override

[pselvey]

I'm often wanting to log some slower waveforms e.g. 1s/div or even 10s/div usually with single shot.

With Picoscope, If the trigger is not triggering, or the sample is in progress there seems no way to gain control of the software during a complete screen sample (frame), for example to change the settings to get a better trigger/sample.

If the sample rate 100ms/div or faster, this is OK as it only takes 1s or less for each "frame", so you have frequent chance to get control of the software.

But at slow sample rates, it becomes impractical to use as you have to fight to get control of the software to make any changes before it goes into the next sample frame. And if the single shot is selected, and there is no good trigger, it is sometimes necessary to kill the software or disconnect the USB cable in order to get control of the software.

Is there any manual way to interrupt the sample and get back control of the software at slower sample rates?

[Gerry]

Hi pselvey,

Recently, I have seen instances of what you are describing, on occasions. I am looking into this regarding a bug fix request. In the meantime, a temporary workaround that resolves it for me is, temporarily switching to a fast Timebase value (i.e. switching to Fast Sample Mode from Slow Sample Mode) then setting up everything that I need (apart from the Timebase), and then switching back to the long Timebase to run the capture.

If my recommendation doesn't resolve the issue then it's also possible that you could have a communication problem that is making the software unresponsive. So, could you do the following:
1/ Open the Device manager
Note that if you are not running as admin in Windows 10, you will need to open the 'Computer Management' tool as admin, by typing 'compmgmt' into the search box of the Taskbar at the bottom of your screen, and then selecting 'Run as administrator', which will allow you to Select and open the Device Manager.
2/ You should see 'Pico Technology instruments about halfway down the list of device types, so click on the arrow head to display a list of connected Pico devices.
3/ If the connected device icon has an exclamation mark on it then you have a problem with the driver, which we will have to resolve. If not then you should unplug and reconnect the PicoScope to check that the USB connect and disconnect is seen by windows.
4/ Open your PicoScope 6 software with your 'long capture time' data file (or allow it to reconnect to the PicoScope).
5/ Run a capture and then look at the Device Manager, if and when you can't stop the capture by hitting the Red icon at the bottom, to see if the physical connection is broken.
6/ Let us know the outcome by contacting our help desk at support@picotech.com, adding details of your PicoScope model, PicoScope 6 software version, Computer Platform and Operating System version, and attaching the following:
(a) a saved psdata file of the problem, if you are able to save a data file and then, without exiting PicoScope 6, get the problem to occur.
(b) a Trace.xml file, which you can find in the folder here: C:\Users\[your Windows user name]\AppData\Local\Pico Technology\64358d19-ef91-48bb-9ae0-3b4689d44d99 (this number will be different). You only need to send the file with no number appended to the file name.

Regards,

Gerry

[Martyn]

I would suggest that you go to Tools->Preferences->Sampling and change the Slow Sampling Transition time to a value that is slower than the time you wish to collect.

You won't be able to see the data as it is collected, but as data isn't being streamed to the driver you should be able to stop collection more efficiently.

[Gerry]

Sorry, to clarify this, my answer was for a different problem, and posted here by mistake. My answer refers to the Software occasionally freezing indefinitely when using a long Timebase (notably with the PicoScope 5000 series).

Martyn's answer is the correct solution.