Recorder window:

This figure displays the main program window when operating in the recorder mode. Most window elements when operating in this mode are similar to the corresponding elements when operating in the oscilloscope mode. There are several differences because when operating in the recorder mode the waveform is constantly read in real time from the microcontroller. As a consequence in this mode there are no “triggering”, “filtering” and “common signal parameters” panels. Also, the time base format (hours: minutes: seconds: milliseconds) is changed.

It is important to note that in the recorder mode you can perform neither single nor cyclic measurement. Therefore to start recording the waveform it is necessary to press the Start button. The button will then change its name to Stop and its color to red. To stop recording it is necessary to press the Stop button. While recording, the options to change the voltage scale range, to turn channels on/off and to change time base will be disabled. This is connected with the real time waveform record and any change would lead to significant CPU usage resulting in a skip of the new data portion.

In the upper right corner of the "Period" panel 1 instead of information about the reading mode there is information about immediate waveform plotting in the recording mode (if enabled): Dis - disable plotting, En - enable plotting. The reason to disable or enable plotting within the measurements is that within a sampling period such as 5 µs (200 KHz), each second it will be necessary to plot 200,000 dots on the screen, which is outside the capabilities of even advanced computers and at such a plotting rate would be an obscure image on the screen (the waveform would just be leaping). On the other hand however, within large sampling periods (lower frequency) displaying the measurement results immediately in the recording mode enables you to analyze the signal variation dynamics visually and stop recording under certain conditions. Furthermore, in the recorder mode you can both expand (increase) and compress (decrease) waveform with the corresponding buttons and change time base. This is useful if you need to view the general waveform pattern, e.g. at ?s=5 µs, 1 minute of signal (60/5e-6 = 12 million dots) is recorded.

To conduct analysis of sustained signals more conveniently the option of waveform pattern marking is added. To the right of the "Period" panel there is a table 2 to add/delete/move to markers 3 and change parameters. To add (create a new marker) it is necessary to double left click the mouse on a free cell of the table, to select the free cell of the table and press the Insert key or to right click on the free cell and select "Add marker" item in the dropdown menu 4.

After that, if enabled, two dialog windows appear in which to create comments and choose the color of the marker. Then, in the center of the work screen the newly added (created) marker will appear. This added marker can be moved along the screen in a similar manner to other markers. To delete the markers it is necessary to select the non-empty cell of the table and press the Delete key or to right click on the non-empty cell, or to right click on the marker to be deleted itself and in the dropdown menu that opens 4 or 5 select the "Delete marker" item. As the markers are referenced to the time base (waveform pattern) then when moving or zooming the waveform it may be that the set marker will be out of the viewable area of the work screen. To move to the set marker quickly you need to select the corresponding cell of the table (in the marker’s color) by left clicking it. Marker parameters (color and comments) can be changed in the corresponding pop-up menu. It is necessary to note that the position of markers and their parameters are saved in the file with the measurement results, i.e. when opening the file all the markers will point to the corresponding waveform patterns.

On the "General signal parameters" panel 6 the maximum, minimum and average voltage values for each channel are displayed.

On the control panel 7 the elements are added that allow the time after which the waveform recording will be automatically stopped to be set. Auto stop is convenient to use if it is necessary to perform a long but fixed waveform record. Furthermore, when recording within the sampling periods of 0.1 ms and lower (frequency higher than 10 kHz) it is strongly recommended to preset the necessary length of waveform record as it enables the program to allocate the required memory in advance prior to the recording process and avoid its dynamic allotment as required immediately within the waveform record process. There is a bar with information about the total time of waveform record below the auto stop time settings element. It is important to note that the recorder mode is extremely particular about the computer memory size as, for instance when recording for a sampling period of 5 µs (200 KHz) within 1 minute the measurement results will total: 200 000 (samples/sec) * 60 (sec) * 2 (vertical and horizontal coordinate) * 8 (double size) = 187 MB, and the file with measurement results will total approximately as much.