Equipment Appendix

Starting from Electronics (1) lab each student will have his/her workstation. the work station will
consist of the following equipment:

a. Proto-board ( which contain the breadboard , DC power supply , Potentiometer-variable

resistance and physical connection to the AC power supply )
b. Digital Multi-meter (DMM) : used to measure DC voltages and currents , resistance value
, rms value of AC voltage and currents .
c. Function generator: AC power supply.
d. Oscilloscope used to display and analyze the waveform of electronic signals. In effect,
the device draws a graph of the instantaneous 3 a function of time.

In this appendix you will become acquainted with each of these equipment.

A. Proto-board : 1

3
4
Pin
Shell a b

Fig.1 Illustration showing many of the basic features of the PB-503

powered Proto-board, with internal connections shown for clarity.

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The Proto-Board you are going to use in electronics labs will consist of:

1 DC power supply:
From fig.1 . You Can see that the DC power supply consist of three supplies, +5 V
(fixed) (red jack), +15 V (yellow jack), and 15 V (blue jack), have a common ground
connection (black jack). The +15 V and 15 V supplies are adjustable, using the knobs
provided, from almost 1.2 volts to 18.5 Volts.
Note :
i. You have to Switch ON the Breadboard to be able to measure the DC power supply
you want.
ii. The DC voltage sources ground is built-in in the breadboard.

2 Bread Board:

A bread board is board used for making an experimental model of an electric circuit.

In the breadboard:

a. Each Horizontal row represents one node .

Connecting a simple circuit on The Breadboard :

a. Series circuit :

Circuit on the Breadboard

R2

R1 R3
VDC

Fig.2 series circuit connection VDC

example
b. Parallel Circuit :

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 VDC
R1

R2
VDC R1 R2 R3
R3

Fig.3 parallel circuit

connection example
c. Combinational circuit :

R1 R2

R3 R4

Fig.4 Combinational
circuit connection
example

3 AC power supply connection:

a. Pin: AC power supply connection.

b. Shell: Another ground connection.

4 Potentiometer (Variable resistance)

a. 10k pot : The resistance can vary from 1 to 10k
b. 1k pot : The resistance can vary from 1 to 1k

After connecting one of the variable resistance you have (a or b ) You can change the
value of the resistance by rotating the knob .

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 B. Function generator:

A electronics equipment used to generate different types of periodic electrical waveform

(sine, square and triangle wave) over a wide range of frequencies.

Fig.4 Function generator front panel diagram

Main buttons and knobs you are going to control in the function generator are :
1) Power button : to switch the function generator ON/OFF .
2) Function buttons : to choose The input AC signal type (sinewave , triangle wave
or a suqare wave.)
3) Frequency knob : to set your frequency value .
4) Frequncy range : to set the frequency range starting from 1Hz range up to 1MHz .

Example : For a signal with frequency =20kHz , you will have to move (3) till
you reach 2 and then choose your range from(4) to be 10kHz such that your
frequency is :
Freq=2*10k=20kHz .

5) Amplitude knob : to set your Vin(p-p) to the value specified in the circuit diagram .
Note : to measure the amplitude you will have to use the Oscilliscope to display
and measure the voltage of the Input signal.
6) Volts Out botton : to set your voltage range , either to be from 0 to 20 Vp-p or
from 0 to 2 Vp-p .
Note : In Most experiments the Volts Out button is not pressed so that you will
use the 0 to 20 Vp-p range unless a small signal amplitude is needed .

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Measuring Devices ( Instruments) :
1. Digital Multi-meter (DMM)
A measuring device used to measure:

a. Resistor Value in () .
b. DC voltage value (V) .
c. DC current Value (V) .
d. AC current/ Voltage value (rms Value only) (Vrms/Arms).

Fig5. Digital Mlti-meter diagram (DMM)

How to use the DMM to measure :

A. Resistor value :

Fig 6. Measuring Resistance value using DMM

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 B. Measure Voltage Value on a circuit :

Fig 6. Measuring the voltage on a

resistance using DMM

C. Measuring current in a circuit :

R1 I +

Fig 6. Measuring the current (I)

flowing in the circuit using DMM

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2. Oscilloscope:
An oscilloscope is a laboratory instrument commonly used to display and analyze the
waveform of electronic signals. In effect, the device draws

a) Voltage signals as a function of time .

b) Transfer characteristics graph (Vo vs. Vin)

Auto scale Button

Fig 6. Diagram of the Oscilloscope DSO3205 used in the laboratory

Steps to setup the Oscilloscope

After Connecting the your circuit , most of the time you will have to connect your input and
output nodes to the oscilloscope to display and measure their values .To do so it is better perform
the following steps :

1) Connect CH1 Probe to Vin node and CH2 probe to Vout or any desired -node.
2) Connect both Probes Ground to the Ground node on the Breadboard.

Probe ground

Probe Positive Terminal

3) Switch ON the Oscilloscope.

4) After seeing the Oscilloscope graph display Press the Auto scale Button .

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 5) From the Vertical Menu of the CRO shown below Press (1) CH1 button- and a Menu
for CH1 will appear on the Display . Change the coupling of CH1 to Ground then use the
position knob of CH1 to move CH! Signal to the center of the Screen .
6) Repeat the same step (5) again but press CH2 button

7) Determine the type of your circuit and accordingly change the coupling of CH1 And CH2
from ground to AC or DC . You can use the following Table As reference.
Inputs type DC signal AC signal AC signal (input 1) +
DC signal (input 2)
CH1 Coupling DC coupling AC coupling AC coupling (Input 1)
(Input node ) DC Coupling (Input 2)
DC coupling AC Coupling To Display the Output
CH2 (output node ) signal due to both AC
& DC inputs use DC
Coupling

Note : AC coupling remove- cancel - any DC signal effect , while DC coupling keeps the
effect of both AC and DC signals on the output .
8) Next Use the scale knob to set the scale of CH1 before adjusting the Input signal
amplitude.
Example :
If the required Vin=20 Vp-p or Vin(DC)= 20 V , then move the Scale knob such that
CH1=Vin/4 =5 V or the nearest available scale .

9) After choosing CH1 scale . Press the Measure Button

.On the screen you will see the Measurement Menu . Choose CH1 as your source and
Choose Voltage .
10) From the Voltage Measurement Menu, you can choose the voltage value needed.
Use the table below for more Information.

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 Voltage signal Type Measurement
Vpeak-peak or Vamp
AC signal
Vmax
DC signal
Vmin
Vpeak-peak or Vamp
Mix ( AC+DC)
Vmax
Vmin

Note: Vp-p in the measurement Menu is the same value as Vamp except that Vamp takes the
signal without any noise.
11) If your Input was an AC input adjust the amplitude from the function generator, while
looking at the change on the value of Vp-p or Vamp of CH1.
12) Next Press Measurement Button again. This time from the Menu choose Time. from the
time measurement MENU, you can Choose Period to measure the Period or
Frequency to measure the Frequency of CH1 or CH2.
13) Now adjust the Scale of CH2 Vout -.
1st: Make the scale of CH2 equal to the scale of CH1. ( If the Full signal of CH2
appeared)
2nd: Make the scale of CH2 greater than the scale of CH1 by one scale (If when using the
same scale CH2 signal or part of it didnt appear on the screen ).
Note: If the AC signal scale was too big the signal will appear as a line The
measurement of Vp-p will be wrong.
14) Repeat step 9) and 10) but this time make the Source CH2.
Note: If you changed the frequency of the circuit, maybe you will get a signal similar to
the one in the figure below You will have to change the time scale knob on the
Oscilloscope.

Time scale
knob

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Using the Math Menu:
Sometimes you will have to get the difference between CH1 and CH2 ( Vin Vout ) to get the
signal on a component in-between the two nodes . To do so you will have to press the MATH
button on the Vertical Menu.

MATH MENU
Button

Choose the
Operation to
be 1-2

To Change the
scale of MATH
using this knob on
the CRO

Note : You can measure the Voltage of MATH signal using the Measurement button but
change the source to MATH.

Using the Cursor:

Sometimes you will need to use the cursor to measure the phase shift in time (X) or the
slope of a signal ( measure y and x ).

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 There are three cursor measurement modes, We will always use the Manual mode.

Moves the blue cursor line to the

desired position
Moves the purple cursor line to the
desire position

On the screen you will see the following Menu for the cursors:

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Reoccurring problems:

When choosing a Measuremen (e.g. Vp-p for CH1 or CH2) t the measurement
result could appear as ******, That means the measurement cannot be
performed with current Oscilloscope settings .
Solution :
If the problem is in a Voltage measurement( Vp-p , Vmax , Vmin , Vamp , etc ..)
change the scale of the channel you are measuring .
If the problem is in the time measurements ( Period , Frequency ,etc..)
change the Horizental- time - scale.

Sometimes when reducing the Amplitude of Vin (CH1) to low value e.g.:
Vin=200Vp-p you will see the signal moving non-stop.
Solution:
On the Oscilloscope from the trigger controls press the mode coupling.

1. Change the source in the Mode coupling Menu to CH1 or CH2

2. Change the trigger type to video such that the signals stop moving.

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