Actuel V1.9 for the 9103 USB Picoammeter – New Features

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The latest version of Actuel (Version 1.9) for the 9103 USB Picoammeter is now available. This version includes some exciting new features.

Avoid USB Conflicts with other Devices by Selecting a Specific COM Port

You can now select the COM port of the 9103 an instance of Actuel is communicating with. Previously, Actuel would automatically connect to the next available port, which could sometimes cause conflicts with other devices using the same USB chipset from FTDI.

To use this feature, connect and turn on your 9103, and find the COM port assigned in Windows Device Manager:

Next, click the Settings button from main Actuel window, click the “Select COM Port” checkbox, and choose the appropriate port.

Note that this works for multiple instances of Actuel, whereby you can select the 9103 COM port to connect to for each instance. However, you cannot mix automatic and manual selection, and you’ll need to select the appropriate ports any time you run Actuel (since it only recalls the last used port).

Customize Actuel’s Graph Colors

You can now customize the Actuel graph by choosing colors for the axes, data line, grid, and text. You can also turn the grid display on/off.

To change the graph options, click the “Show Options” button in the Data window, and the “More Options” button near the lower-right. Your settings are saved between instances of Actuel, and you can easily reset the colors to their default.

More Improvements…

The latest version has some enhancements to the layout of the Data Window. In addition, it is now possible to Copy or Save data while sampling.

More Information on the 9103 USB Picoammeter can be found here.

9103 USB Picoammeter Blog list

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Over the years we have added quite a few blog posts on our 9103 USB Picoammeter. This blog post lists all the other 9103 blog posts by groups to make it easier for you to find information on the 9103. For more information about the RBD Instruments 9103 USB picoammeter please contact us here – https://support.rbdinstruments.com/portal/en/newticket

General Information

A Guide to 9103 Picoammeter Compatibility

9103 USB Picoammeter Winter 2020 News

Bias options

9103 Floating Ground Reference

9103 Picoammeter bias modes

5 kV floating Picoammeter Video

Actuel Software

9103 USB Picoammeter Filter Settings – Part 1

New Feature: Use the 9103 Picoammeter to Automatically Read microCMA Target Current

9103 Actuel Beta: Data Cursor and Auto-save

9103 Picoammeter Actuel Update: Micro Window Display

Synchronizing and Identifying Multiple 9103 Picoammeters

High-speed Support Improved in Latest Actuel Release (1.7) for the 9103 Picoammeter

Actuel 1.8 Adds New Auto-Save and Graphing Features to the 9103 Picoammeter

Programming

Programming the 9103 Picoammeter

Programming the 9103 With Python – Part 1: Standard Speed

Programming the 9103 With Python – Part 2: Switching Between Standard and High-Speed Modes

Programming the 9103 With Python – Part 3: High Speed

Troubleshooting

How to test the bias batteries in a 9103 picoammeter

Calibrating the 9103 USB Picoammeter

Also, here are some useful links from the 9103 section of our website:

Sample Code (RBD)

Python

Sample Code (Third-party)

NOTE: These scripts/applications are provided third-party publishers and are not directly supported by RBD Instruments.

LabVIEW Instrument Scripts (Unzip and copy the folder to “instr.lib” in your LabVIEW folder. Instructions are included in the library. Written with LabView 7.1.)
Matlab Scripts (GitHub)
Python Scripts (GitHub – UC Dublin)

Replacement Parts

Replacement parts are available for the 9103:

  • Replacement fuse for 9103 Picoammeter ( Very fast acting, 0.05A .25x.35″, Plug-In)y
    Fuse Change Procedure

For more information on our 9103 USB Picoammeter contact us here –

https://support.rbdinstruments.com/portal/en/newticket

Actuel 1.8 Adds New Auto-Save and Graphing Features to the 9103 Picoammeter

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Actuel 1.8 adds new features to assist with saving and graphing data. As always, updates are free and can be found here.

Set the Auto-Save Interval

Prior to Actuel 1.8, the auto-save interval for recorded graph data was every 5 minutes. The latest version gives you the option to save the data every half-minute to every 30 minutes.

Option to Show / Hide Graph

You now have the option to show or hide the graph display. This is useful if you only want to record data and not view the real-time graph information. Large data sets and fast sampling rates can cause some performance issues on slower PCs, and this option mitigates that.

Set a Fixed Range for the Graph Y-axis

By default, the Y-axis scale automatically adjusts to the range of the incoming data, with the options to display dual or single polarity, and to zero the baseline.

9103 Actuel Y-axis Default Range
9103 Actuel Y-axis Default Range

The fixed-range option for the Y-axis is especially useful, as it serves as a Y-axis zoom (independent of the X-axis) and also allows you to more easily compare data between multiple units or sessions.
You can set the min and max for the range as well as the units.

9103 Actuel Y-axis Default Range
9103 Actuel Y-axis Default Range

There have been some minor changes to the user interface to accommodate the new options. The Data window is now (slightly) larger, and the formatting options have been moved to the Data Options group.

For more information on RBD Instruments’ 9103 USB picoammeter, visit our website here –

https://rbdinstruments.com/products/picoammeter.html