ExpressCard-GPIB Installation

Notice Ground loops create an electric shock hazard and can cause damage to your ExpressCard-GPIB hardware, your computer, and other system components. A ground loop can occur when your computer and one or more connected instruments do not share the same ground potential.

To prevent damage to your ExpressCard-GPIB hardware and other system components, do any of the following:

  • Ensure that your system and all instruments connected to it share the same ground potential. This eliminates the possibility of voltage differential running through your system.
  • Use a GPIB-120B Bus Isolator/Expander to isolate GPIB systems and expand the GPIB interface up to 28 devices.
  • Use a pair of GPIB-140A High-Speed Fiber-Optic Bus Extenders. This transforms the GPIB signals at each end into fiber optic signals, allowing each unit to reside at a different ground potential.

Complete the following steps to install the ExpressCard-GPIB interface:

  1. Plug the card into an available ExpressCard slot on your computer.
  2. Before connecting the ExpressCard-GPIB interface to GPIB devices, ensure that the computer and the GPIB devices are at the same ground potential.
  3. If your computer is already running, the operating system automatically detects the GPIB interface. Otherwise, the GPIB interface is detected when you start your computer.

    The following figure shows how to insert the ExpressCard-GPIB and connect the cable.

    Figure 1. Inserting the ExpressCard-GPIB
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    1 Notebook Computer

    2 ExpressCard Slot

    3 ExpressCard-GPIB Cable

    The GPIB hardware installation is now complete.