Keysight EDU36311A (rant)

[TurboTom]

That sounds nice. Many instruments do it this way, entering numbers with softkeys for units. I like it.

On the TTi, 10mA is 5 key presses:
<Iset> <.> <0> <1> <OK/Enter>
Not too bad IMO, and it is intuitive.

IMO, so far nothing beats Rigol's approach to enter basic parameters (Voltage Current) on their DP800 line of PSUs:

Provided the channel to be configured has already been selected, there are two entries to be made since the instrument has dedicated A/mA/V/mV buttons that duplicate with the R/L/U/D arrow buttons and activate themselves after the entry of a decimal number. Hence, selection of current or voltage isn't necessary. To configure a selected channel (one keypress to select) to output 5V 500mA, a total of five keystrokes are necessary: "5"; "V"; "."; "5"; "A". The sequence of voltage and current entry is irrelevant. I really love this approach for simplicity and speed! 

[nctnico]

That sounds nice. Many instruments do it this way, entering numbers with softkeys for units. I like it.

On the TTi, 10mA is 5 key presses:
<Iset> <.> <0> <1> <OK/Enter>
Not too bad IMO, and it is intuitive.

IMO, so far nothing beats Rigol's approach to enter basic parameters (Voltage Current) on their DP800 line of PSUs:

Provided the channel to be configured has already been selected, there are two entries to be made since the instrument has dedicated A/mA/V/mV buttons that duplicate with the R/L/U/D arrow buttons and activate themselves after the entry of a decimal number. Hence, selection of current or voltage isn't necessary. To configure a selected channel (one keypress to select) to output 5V 500mA, a total of five keystrokes are necessary: "5"; "V"; "."; "5"; "A". The sequence of voltage and current entry is irrelevant. I really love this approach for simplicity and speed! 

Keysight did that even better on the E3613x series. Assuming the voltage setting of a channel is already selected, setting it to 5V is a matter of pressing '5' and 'enter'. You can go through a couple of voltages quickly this way. The cursor keys can be used to 'walk' through the voltage / current settings of the channels.

[TurboTom]

...
Keysight did that even better on the E3613x series. Assuming the voltage setting of a channel is already selected, setting it to 5V is a matter of pressing '5' and 'enter'. You can go through a couple of voltages quickly this way. The cursor keys can be used to 'walk' through the voltage / current settings of the channels.

Just checked with my DP832: This method is available here as well: Once the parameter to be adjusted is selected (Voltage / Current), entering a number and pressing the "OK" button (which obviously resembles the "Enter" key on the mentioned Keysight PSU), will change the parameter accordingly. 

[Patrick20]

Hi Capt Bullshot,

In the future if you want to make this test easier to repeat without potentially damaging a device that is sensitive to 20V I would recommend writing a quick SCPI script like this one:

(Connect "SCPI_E3631", "", "E3631 DC Power Supply / 2.1")
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 12
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 11.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 10.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 9.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 8.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 9.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 10.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 11.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 12.9
(Wait 10000ms)
:SOURce:VOLTage:LEVel:IMMediate:AMPLitude 13.9

I am setting voltage then waiting 10 seconds then setting it again. You can make this more elegant with Python, but this is just the quick and dirty. The programmer guide is a good reference as well. https://www.keysight.com/us/en/assets/9921-01393/programming-guides/EDU36311A-DC-Power-Supply-Programming-Guide.pdf?success=true



**********
I'm a Keysight employee, but do not support this product or help with the development of this product. I will see what I can do to send this issue to the correct team for review.

[free_electron]

The cursor logic should set a step value. 10, 1, 0.1 , 0.01
then every click is CurrentVoltag +/- step

The ui render needs to postion the cursor based on step.
It looks like they derive step from cursor position as opposed to deriving cursor from step....

[LaurentR]

Keysight did that even better on the E3613x series. Assuming the voltage setting of a channel is already selected, setting it to 5V is a matter of pressing '5' and 'enter'. You can go through a couple of voltages quickly this way. The cursor keys can be used to 'walk' through the voltage / current settings of the channels.

Sadly, that's the only positive UI feature on that power supply.
* Setting a current when voltage is selected involves turning the current knob a bit (!) then typing in a current with the numerical keyboard.
* Unlike the EDU version, there is no per-digit knob-based adjustment. It's all absolute accelerated knob setting, which I find not useful at all. Coming from a DP832, I was quite unhappy.

I even put together a small ESP32-based widget with a rotary encoder that drives the E36313A using SCPI to add the per-digit functionality.

[Anthocyanina]

The behaviour you describe in the first post is also how the EDU33212A behaves! cursor changing digit and all! So far just playing with it, but it's so annoying to be changing anything about the output signal and it jumping by 10 of something(volts/hz/symmetry % /phase angle) when you're expecting steps of 1 

[capt bullshot]

The behaviour you describe in the first post is also how the EDU33212A behaves! cursor changing digit and all! So far just playing with it, but it's so annoying to be changing anything about the output signal and it jumping by 10 of something(volts/hz/symmetry % /phase angle) when you're expecting steps of 1 

So we know they've used the same bit of software in multiple devices. This doesn't make fixing that behaviour any easier, since more testing / QM / Managers will be involved.

[Sighound36]

The behaviour you describe in the first post is also how the EDU33212A behaves! cursor changing digit and all! So far just playing with it, but it's so annoying to be changing anything about the output signal and it jumping by 10 of something(volts/hz/symmetry % /phase angle) when you're expecting steps of 1 

So we know they've used the same bit of software in multiple devices. This doesn't make fixing that behaviour any easier, since more testing / QM / Managers will be involved.

 This to me is big company mentality bean counter intervention, the Keysight MXR felt exactly like this a great product fighting to remove the shackles of medioricty constrained on it by the must fill the coffers syndrome WAY before the product is really ready for general public release.
A great shame