Discovery USB Programmable Power Supply (DPS3340) Getting Started Guide

Overview

This guide will get you started with your new Discovery USB Programmable Power Supply (DPS3340), from getting it out of the box to taking your first measurement.

Inventory

  • Your new Discovery USB Programmable Power Supply (DPS3340)
  • A pair of Banana plug to alligator clips or banana plug to mini grabber cables
  • USB A to B cable
  • Power supply cable and appropriate adapter
  • A computer and the WaveForms application (version 3.19.5 or later)
    • The installer for WaveForms can be found on the right hand side of it's Resource Center.

Guide

1. Unboxing

Unboxing

The Discovery USB Programmable Power Supply will arrive in a large box which contains the unit itself, a pair of alligator clip to banana plug cables, a 19 V 3.43 A power supply, European and US IEC cables, and a USB A to B cable.

An two sided insert showing an overview and how to connect to the device in WaveForms is also included.

2. Download and Install WaveForms

Digilent's WaveForms application provides a user interface to the Discovery Power Supply (DPS3340). Please download the appropriate WaveForms installer for the operating system (Windows, Linux, Mac). Then click on the appropriate option below for OS-specific installation instructions. If WaveForms is already installed, please make sure that it is up to date (version 3.19.5 or later).

Check the Inventory section, above, for the download link.

Installing WaveForms : Windows

Open the Executable File

Open the executable file that you downloaded.

Welcome

Launch the WaveForms installer, by clicking on it in the Downloads folder. Upon launching the WaveForms installer, the welcome page will be seen. Click Next.

License Agreement

Read the license agreement on this screen, then, if in agreement to it, click I Agree to continue.

Choose Components

In the “Choose Components” screen, a list is presented of each of the things that can be installed. In order to use the Discovery Power Supply with the WaveForms application, the Adept Runtime, WaveForms Runtime, and WaveForms Application are required.

  • The Adept Runtime allows WaveForms to communicate with the Analog Discovery 2, Analog Discovery, Analog Discovery Studio, Digital Discovery, Discovery Power Supply, and Electronics Explorer Board.
  • The WaveForms Runtime contains a library and device support files needed to run custom applications.
  • The WaveForms Application is the Digilent virtual instrumentation interface.
  • The WaveForms SDK is the software development kit for creating custom applications.
  • If you have an Analog Discovery Pro (ADP5250), make sure to check the box for the driver installation for the 5000 series driver. If you do not have one, you can leave the box unchecked.

Note: Even with all components selected, the WaveForms install does not take much hard drive space (<200MB). Digilent recommends that all components are installed.

Shortcut Options

Click Next.

Choose Install Location

  • You'll need to choose an installation destination or just leave it at the default.
  • Click “Install”.

Installing / Installation Complete

  • WaveForms will be installed as indicated by the progress bar.
  • Click “Next”.

Complete

  • Check or uncheck the boxes to open WaveForms and the readme.
  • Click “Finish”.

Installing WaveForms : Mac

Expand your downloads and open the .dmg file that you have downloaded.

Open the DMG File.

From the desktop, open the WaveForms drive.

Open the New Drive.

Drag the WaveForms icon into the Applications folder.
This will install the following components in Applications:

  • WaveForms Runtime contains a library and device support files needed to run custom applications.
  • WaveForms Application is the Digilent virtual instrumentation interface.
  • WaveForms SDK is the software development kit for creating custom applications

Install Drivers : Only for OS-X 10.13 or earlier

Double click the FTDI driver icon to start the installation process.
On MacOS (10.13) Sierra High and older versions the device driver should be installed to support Analog Discovery 1 & 2 and Digital Discovery devices.
On MacOS (10.14) Mojave, the device driver is not required. According to some reports, on new MacBook machines the device is not detected if the driver is installed, so uninstall the driver if the device does not connect.

Open the FTDI Diver Install.

Launch Installer

Double click DigilentFtdiDriver.pkg to open the FTDI Driver Installer.

The OS may block the launch of the driver installer. If this is the case, go into the System Preferences' Security and Privacy page and click Open Anyway.

Introduction

Click Continue.

Read Me

Click Continue.

License

Read the license, then if in agreement, click Continue, then click Agree in the popup.

Destination Select

Pick the users to install the drivers for, then click Continue.

Installation Type

Click Install.

Summary

Once the installation has completed, click Close.

The OS may block the launch of the Waveforms . If this is the case, go into the System Preferences' Security and Privacy page and click Open Anyway.

Installing WaveForms : Linux

First, download the package for Adept. This program is required for WaveForms to connect to the Discovery Power Supply (DPS3340) and must be installed prior to installing WaveForms.
For systems using .deb packages, (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc), use the built-in package manager to install the Adept Runtime and then WaveForms - typically, a package manager can be opened by double-clicking on the file in question.

Download Adept Runtime

  • Download the current version of Adept Runtime.
  • Make sure to select the version of the Adept install file that is the same as WaveForms. I used the 64 bit RPM for WaveForms so I will use the 64 bit RPM for Adept.

Download Adept.

Install Files using built-in Package Manager

Open the Adept File

Open the file you downloaded for Adept in the previous step.

Open the Adept File.

Click Install

Click “Install” on the window that pops up.

Click Install.


Open the WaveForms File

Open the file you downloaded to install WaveForms.

Open the WaveForms File.

Click Install

Click Install in the window that pops up.
This will install the following components:

  • WaveForms Runtime contains a library and device support files needed to run custom applications.
  • WaveForms Application is the Digilent virtual instrumentation interface.
  • WaveForms SDK is the software development kit for creating custom applications

Click Install.

Install Files using command line
Alternatively, use the following set of commands in the terminal to install the Adept Runtime and WaveForms from the downloaded packages:
sudo dpkg -i <path to Adept Runtime .deb file>
sudo dpkg -i <path to WaveForms .deb file>
sudo apt-get install -f

For systems using .rpm packages, (Red Hat Linux, etc), use the following set of commands in the terminal to install the Adept Runtime and WaveForms from the downloaded packages: 

sudo rpm -i <path to Adept Runtime .rpm file>
sudo rpm -i <path to WaveForms .rpm file>

If WaveForms has already been installed on the system, replace the “-i” flag passed to the rpm command with “-U” to upgrade the existing installation. For technical support with installing WaveForms on various Linux distributions, please visit the Test and Measurement section of the Digilent Forum.

3. Enable the Supplies

This section walks through using the Discovery Power Supply (DPS3340) for the first time. We will use the +5V power supply to power an external device.

Power Supply Setup

1.

If you haven't yet, plug the included wall power supply into an outlet, then plug it into the Discovery Power Supply.

2.

Plug the Discovery Power Supply into the computer via the USB cable.

3.

Flip the power switch on the left side of the Discovery Power Supply to the On Position and wait for the Discovery Power Supply (DPS3340) to turn on.

4.

Plug in a set of banana plug connectors into the Output 1 port on the front of the Discovery Power Supply. Please connect the red banana plug to the red connector on the Discovery Power Supply and the black banana plug to the black connector. While theoretically you could use any color, keeping things the same will avoid confusion when working with your circuit. Use the alligator clip or minigrabber clips to connect the power supply to your Device Under Test.

5.

Launch the WaveForms application. Upon launch, WaveForms will automatically detect and connect to the Discovery Power Supply in the Device Manager. If the Discovery Power Supply is not connected to the host computer when WaveForms launches, plug in the device and turn it on, at which point it will appear in the Device Manager’s device list and can be selected.

If your device doesn't show up, you can click the Auto Refresh button to have WaveForms begin automatically refreshing the list of devices.

6.

In WaveForms, open the Supplies instrument by clicking on the Supplies button in the instrument panel on the left side of the screen. Set the voltage and current from the dropdown menu. Turn *off* the +15V and -15V power supplies, since we only are hooking up the 5V supply. Click Master Enable to turn the Power Supply on.

Other Resources

To find reference materials and guides on how to use the Discovery Power Supply and WaveForms, please visit the Discovery Power Supply (DPS3340) Resource Center and the WaveForms Resource Center.

For technical support, please visit the Test and Measurement section of the Digilent Forum.