AMETEK Lx Series II Programming Manual - Manual (Page 168)

Programming Manual Lx \ Ls Series II
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8.2.2 L Series Backward Compatibility Issues
Although every effort has been made to mimic the L Series bus operation as closely as possible, the
end-user should be aware that the Ls uses a completely different controller and operating system
compared to the L Series. This inevitably leads to subtle differences of execution of the same
application programs on each unit.
Specifically, the following discrepancies should be noted and may require slight modifications of
programs that may be affected by them.
Discrepancies:
1. APE Programming commands received during the execution of a transient will stop the
transient as was the case on the L Series but any program values associated with the
command will not be accepted. Thus, while sending AMP100 to an L Series during
transient execution will result in the transient being aborted and the output voltage set to
100 V, the Ls will only abort the transient program. If it is required to set the voltage, the
AMP100 command should be replaced with an AMP command followed by an AMP100
command.
2. Ramp transients will be slewed in a linear fashion rather than in discrete steps as defined
by the STEP value. Thus, the Ls determines the required slew rate. For example, where
an L Series will step the voltage every second by 10 Volt to go to 100 V in 10 seconds, the
Ls will ramp gradually from 0 to 100 V over a 10 second period using a 10V/s slew rate.
3. The Ls will hold the last error message in its error buffer until the TLK STA query
message is received. Once the TLK STA has been received, the error buffer is cleared.
4. A change of the waveform THD level will cause the output to go to zero momentarily.
However a change from zero THD to the previously set THD level will not affect the
output. This may require the required THD level to be set when using an Ls before
applying power to a EUT. On the L Series, this temporary loss of output was not required.
5. Unlike the California Instruments L Series controllers, sending a TLK XXX command to the
Ls Controller will not cause the front panel to display the measurement screen. This is due
to the different measurement screen layout and organization of the Ls series controller
versus the L series controller.
6. Unlike the California Instruments L Series controllers, sending a CFGA XXX command to
the Ls Controller will not cause the GPIB listen address to be changed immediately. Instead,
a power cycle is required for the new GPIB listen address to take effect. Thus, it is not
recommended to change the GPIB listen address as part of any application program on the
Ls Series.
7. The following APE commands are not supported due to hardware incompatibilities of the
Ls Controller with the L series controllers:
CRL STP and PHZ STP
No support for current and phase angle ramps
CAL AMP STP No support for calibration ramp
CAL PWR There is no power calibration requirement on the Ls.
TLK MNU Menus are different on Ls Series
CLMB and CLMC Query format (TLK) only.
8. The following APE commands must be at the end of a compound command string or
used as the only command in a message string: SNC, WVF, CLK. If followed by any
other APE command in the same message string, a syntax error will be generated.
9. The MOD command cannot be used with other APE commands in the same message
string.