Agilent N3301A Technical Specifications

Agilent dc Electronic Loads
Models N3300A-N3307A

Technical Specifications

Increase your Manufacturing Test Throughput with

Fast Electronic Loads

• Increase test system throughput

• Lower cost of ownership

• Decrease system development time

• Increase system reliability

• Increase system flexibility

• Stable operation down to zero volts

• dc connection terminal for ATE applications

Agilent Technologies

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Today’s high volume manufac­turing requires optimization
of test system throughput, to
maximize production volume
without increasing floorspace.
The N3300A Series electronic
loads can help you in a number
of ways to achieve this goal.

Reduced command processing time:

Commands are processed more
than 10 times faster than previ­ous electronic loads.

Automatically execute stored
command sequences: “Lists”

of downloaded command
sequences can execute indepen­dent of the computer, greatly
reducing the electronic load
command processing time
and computer interaction
time during product testing.

Programmable delay allows for
either simultaneous or sequential
load changes: This is the most

efficient way to conduct testing
of multiple output dc power
supplies, simulating real-life
loading patterns, with a
minimum of programming
commands.

Buffer measurement data: Voltage,
current, and power measure­ments can be buffered for later
readback to the computer,
reducing computer interaction.

Control measurement speed vs.
accuracy: Decrease the number

of measurement samples to
achieve greater measurement
speed, or increase the number
of samples to achieve higher
measurement accuracy. You
can optimize your measure­ments for each test.

Control rising and falling slew
rates separately: Reduce rate of

loading change when necessary
for DUT stability or to simulate
real life conditions, but other­wise change load values at
maximum rate.

Increase System
Flexibility…for both
present and future
requirements

Most power supply and battery
charger test systems designed
today need to test a variety of
products and/or assemblies. In
the future, additional products
or assemblies may be needed.
A flexible family of electronic
loads makes present system
design and future growth
much easier.

Test low voltage power supplies:

The N3300A series electronic
loads operate with full stability
down to zero volts. Many other
electronic loads available today
have been found to become
unstable in the operating region
below one volt. When designing
power supply test platforms,
the trend towards lower voltage
requirements should be taken
into account. Refer to the
specification and supplemental
characteristic tables for details
of lower voltage operating
characteristics.

Choose dc load connection method:

Automatic test systems need
consistency and reliability.
Option UJ1 8 mm screw
connectors provide a simple
screw onto which your wires,
terminated with insulated ring
terminals, may be securely
mounted. This optional connec­tor is specifically designed for
test systems. Wires may exit the
plastic cover in any direction,
and multiple wires may be
placed on each screw terminal
for easy parallel load connec­tions. Up to AWG 4 wire may
be used.

Applications which require
repeated connections/disconec­tions are better suited to the
standard connector. The stan­dard connector accepts an
unterminated wire, and may be
hand-tightened. This connector
is specifically designed for
bench applications and short­term automated tests.

Design a system to test a variety of
products: This series consists of

2 mainframes and 6 modules.
The N3300A mainframe is
full rack width. It has 6 slots.
The N3301A mainframe is half
rack width. It has 2 slots. Any
assortment of the 6 different
modules can be configured
into these mainframes, up to
the slot capacity. The N3302A
(150 watts), N3303A (250 watts),
N3307A (250 Watts) and
N3304A (300 watts) each

Standard dc Option UJ1 8 mm
connectors screw connectors

Increase Test Throughput

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require one slot. The N3305A
(500 watts) and the N3306A
(600 watts) each require 2
slots. The electronic load can
be configured to supply exactly
what you need now, and this
modular design also allows for
easy future reconfiguration.

Test high current power supplies:

Electronic load modules can be
operated in parallel to provide
addition current sinking capa­bility.

Control the electronic load how you
want to: GPIB, RS232, and man-

ual use of the front panel all
provide complete control of
these electronic loads. There
are also analog programming
and monitoring ports for those
applications that utilize non­standard interfaces, require
custom waveforms, or utilize
process control signals. Custom
waveforms can also be created
by downloading a “List” of load
parameters. In addition, there
is a built-in transient generator,
which operates in all modes.

Quickly create powerful and
consistent software: All Agilent

Technologies electronic loads
use the SCPI (Standard
Commands for Programmable
Instruments) command set.
This makes learning the com­mands easy, because they are
the same format as all other
SCPI instruments. The resulting
code is virtually self-document­ing, and therefore easier to
troubleshoot and modify in the
future. Plug-n-Play drivers are

also available to help you to
integrate the loads into your
standard software packages.

Make Measurements
Easily and Accurately

The 16-bit voltage, current and
power measurement system
provides both accuracy and
convenience. The alternative
is using a dmm (digital multi­meter) and MUX (multiplexer)
along with a precision current
shunt and a lot of extra wiring.
Avoiding this complexity
increases system reliability
and makes the system easier to
design and support. Current
measurements in particular
are more consistently accurate
using the electronic load’s
internal system, because the
wiring associated with an
external precision current
shunt may pick up noise.

Measure with all load modules
simultaneously: Testing multiple-

output dc power supplies and
dc-dc converters can be very
time consuming if each output
must be tested sequentially. If
measurements are being made
through a MUX using one DMM,
this is what will happen. Using
the built-in measurement
capabilities of the N3300A
electronic loads, all outputs can
be measured simultaneously.
Alternatively, multiple single
output power sources can be
tested simultaneously.

Measure voltage and current simul­taneously: The N3300A measure-

ment system has individual
but linked current and voltage
measurement systems. This
means that voltage and current
measurements are taken exactly
simultaneously, which gives a
true picture of the power
supply under test’s output at
a particular moment in time.
Some other electronic loads
which feature internal measure­ment systems actually take cur­rent and voltage measurements
sequentially, and therefore do
not give as accurate a picture
of momentary power.

Observe transient behavior using
waveform digitization: Transient

response and other dynamic
tests often require an oscillo­scope. The N3300A has a f lexi­ble waveform digitizer with a
4096 data point buffer for
voltage and a 4096 data point
buffer for current. Under many
circumstances, this internal
digitizer will be adequate for
power supply test needs.
Current and voltage are
digitized simultaneously, and
the sampling rate and sample
window are programmable.
Some analysis functions are
provided, including RMS,
max and min.