Introduction
15
Chapter 2: Introduction
About this Manual
This manual covers the installation, safety, and use of the Gamry Instruments Interface 5000
Potentiostat/Galvanostat/ZRA.
This manual describes use of an Interface 5000 with Revision 6.3 (and later revisions) of the Gamry Framework
software. It is equally useful when setting up a newly-purchased potentiostat or modifying the setup of an older
potentiostat for use with new software.
Chapter 1 was an in-depth discussion of safety issues. This chapter describes this manual and gives a brief
overview of the Interface 5000 features. Chapter 3 contains Interface 5000 installation instructions. Chapter 4
describes cell cable-connections, and Chapter 5 describes the Interface 5000’s front and rear panels. Chapter 6
is a description of the electronic circuitry in the Interface 5000.
You will find technical material such as specifications and connector pin-outs in the Appendices. Appendix E
discusses heat-generation in multiple-potentiostat systems based on the Interface 5000 and makes
recommendations for heat-management.
This manual discusses software installation and software operation in some detail. The installation is written
assuming installation using Revision 6.3 of Gamry’s Framework software. Installation is also described in
Gamry’s Quick-Start Installation Guide for USB Potentiostats.
Software support for the Interface 5000 is described in the Gamry Help system.
All Gamry Instruments applications running under the Gamry Framework control the Interface 5000 via a
PSTAT object. See the Framework’s Help for information concerning PSTAT objects and their functions.
About the Interface 5000
The Interface 5000 is a value-oriented, research-grade electrochemical instrument packaged in a small, easy-to-
handle case. It works particularly well in systems with multiple instruments connected to one computer. It offers
measurement capabilities similar or superior to those of instruments that are more than ten times its size and
weight and more than three times its price.
The Interface 5000 excels at laboratory testing of small- to medium-sized single-cell energy-storage and power-
conversion devices. Such devices include batteries, electrical double-layer capacitors, fuel cells, and
photovoltaic cells. The Interface 5000 can apply and measure currents from 5 A to ~0.05 µA.
The Interface 5000 can operate as a potentiostat, a galvanostat, or a ZRA (zero-resistance ammeter).
Features of the Interface 5000 include:
• Six-decade current auto-ranging,
• Electrical isolation from earth ground,
• Current-interrupt iR compensation, and
• Both analog and digital filtering.
The Interface 5000 has a special feature to improve its ability to discharge batteries. See Appendix E for details.
The Interface 5000 compliance voltage is normally ±6.5 V. The Framework software, when discharging a
battery, lowers one side of the instrument’s compliance to 2.3 V. This greatly reduces power-dissipation and
heat generation in the instrument, allowing 5 A current flow in a compact package.
A sine-wave generator on the Interface 5000 allows the instrument to make accurate impedance measurements
at frequencies up to 1 MHz. EIS performance is good for low-impedance systems (such as low-ESR electrical
double-layer capacitors).
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