USBwave12 USB PC Function Generator
General Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Wave12 work well with USB1? Don't you need to use USB2?
USB1.1 is plenty fast enough for the USBwave12. We preferred USB1.1 over USB2 because USB1.1 is supported on more hardware platforms, and is lower power. If necessary, we may consider USB2 for future product designs.
Can 2 USBwave units together on fixed frequencies but phase shifted and with outputs synchronised?
Yes you can. When 2 or more USBwave12s are linked together, one unit is the master and supplies the clock and trigger signals to the others. This then synchronises the DDS chips inside the units.
The phase shift is one of the programmable parameters in each unit, along with frequency, waveshape, amplitude and offset.
Problems using the USBwave12 in non-English language versions of Windows
In some European language versions of Windows (including Spanish and German) there are issues setting the output voltage, offset and frequency parameters of the USBwave12. These are related to the different place indicators (the . and , signs) that are used in some countries to indicate thousands and decimal points and include :
- When setting the frequency anything above 1000Hz the unit will jump to the maximum avaliable for the signal (12Mhz sine, 5Mhz square,1Mhz Triangle)
- When setting the frequency, clicking on any of the sliders will make the unit jump to the maximum frequnecy.
Elan is working on a new version of the USBwave12 software that will resolve these issues. For the time being we recommend the following workaround to use the USBwave12 software.
Go to control panel -> regional options and select any of the English
options from the pull down menu Standards and formats :
The USBwave12 software will function normally
