Connecting other potentiostat
- CH Instruments
- Bio-Logic
- Gamry
- Ivium
Remote connection
The RRDE-3A rotator speed and purge can be controlled by CH Instruments, Inc. Electrochemical Analyzer.
Rotation speed control
Link the CHI and RRDE-3A devices with a banana jack to wire cable. Contact CH Instruments, Inc. to purchase the cable.
| ALS/CHI device | RRDE-3A device |  |
| RDE | IN | |
| GND | GND (next to IN) |
Purge control
Link the CHI and RRDE-3A devices with an optional cable. Contact CH Instruments, Inc. to purchase the cable.
| ALS/CHI device | RRDE-3A device |  |
|
| Cell Control | White | Purge | |
| Black | GND (next to Purge) | ||
Once all cables connected, you should get this similar configuration:
Cell Connections
The reference electrode and counter electrode lead wires extend from the potentiostat. The connectors are press-on type. Simply push the connector over the corresponding pin in the electrode to make the connection. Alligator clips are color coded to the electrode it attaches. The ring electrode and the disk electrode connector are located under the motor shaft assembly.
| Wire color | Electrode |
| Green | Disk |
| White | Reference |
| Red | Counter |
| Yellow | Ring |
| Black | Not used |
In case of coupling RRDE-3A with any Bio-Logic potentiostats:
| BioLogic Instrument | RRDE-3A input |
| Pin 2 (analog Out) | IN |
| Pin 7 (Ground) | GND (next to IN) |
| Pin 5 (trigger Out) | PURGE |
A dedicated cable with the appropriate wiring is available. It is the PN: 092-22/11. It has a DB9 connector on one end and three wires named Analog Out, Trigger Out and 1 Ground on the other end.
One volt corresponds to 1,000 rpm. It is possible to set from 90 to 8,000 rpm from 0 to 8 DC Volt.~
The purge and pinch valve in the RRDE-3A is controlled by TTL level active low.
The appropriate settings are already available in EC-Lab® software.
Controlling RRDE-3A through EC-Lab® software
In the "External device" tab, select "RDE" for "Device Type" and then "ALS RRDE-3A" for "Device Name".
Cell connections
RDE case
One potentiostat is used. The red leads have to be stacked together and then connected to the disk plug. The white leads and blue leads have to be connected to the reference and the counter electrodes, respectively.
RRDE case
the user has to first select the "CE to ground" mode for "Electrode Connections" (in the "Advanced Settings" experiment). This connection mode enables the multi-electrode measurements. According to the instrument type, the connection of the instrument to the cell is different
- For the VMP3 based instrument, the blue leads (CA1 and Ref3) of one channel has to be connected to the disk and the two blue leads (CA1 and Ref3) of the other channel have to be connected to the ring. Then the two white leads (Ref2) have to be connected to the reference electrode and the two Ref1 leads and the ground leads have to be connected to the counter-electrode.
RRDE electrode connection for VMP3
- For the SP-300 based instruments, the red leads (P1 and S1) of one channel has to be connected to the disk and the two red leads (P1 and S1) of the other channel has to be connected to the ring. Then the two white leads (S2) have to be connected to the reference electrode and the two S3 blue leads and the ground leads have to be connected to the counter-electrode.
RRDE electrode connection for SP-300
For more information, please contact Bio-Logic.
Gamry potentiostats can be used in BiPotentiostat configuration for the purpose of rotating Ring-Disk electrode experiments. Special cables and scripts are required to synchronize the data acquisition of the potentiostats. In this configuration one potentiostat is the Master and the other is the Serf. The Master will connect to the Disk electrode and the Serf will connect to the Ring electrode.
Editing scripts
For RRDE-3A , 1V corresponds to 1,000 rpm, but the Interface 1000TM is set up with the ratio 0.5V for 1,000 rpm. Therefore we have to edit the Interface 1000TM script from the Inteface 1000TM framework software. To do that, follow this procedure:
- 1- Open the file "classElectrode.exp"
Location:
Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 10:
C:\ProgramData\GamryInstruments\Framework\Scripts\
- 2- Rewrite the script as below
Before editing After editing 
Place a semicolon ";" at the beginning of the line:
global vvMaxRdiskVoltage= 5.0
And add this line:
global vvMaxRdiskVoltage= 10.0
Connecting the Potentiostats
In order to synchronize the Disk scan with the Ring data acquisition, an interconnection is required between the two potentiostats. For this, use Interface 1000TM Bipotentiostat Synchronization Cable, the Gamry standard Master-Serf cable (985-000132 One Master and One Serf) for the connection between Master Interface 1000TM and Serf Interface 1000TM. The Master end of the cable has the identification by a large M on the DIN connector.
Cell Connections
Two standard Gamry Cell Cables are be used to connect to the Cell to the Gamry Potentiostats. There are many wires! Be certain that unwanted interconnections are not made accidentally!
The single Reference Electrode should be connected to BOTH of the White, Reference Electrode pin jack sockets. The single Counter Electrode should be connected to BOTH of the Red, Counter Electrode banana plugs. Banana-to-Alligator or Pin Jack-to-Alligator adapters may be useful here.
The Blue (Working Sense) and Green (Working) leads of the Master potentiostat should be connected to the disk electrode of the RRDE-3A.
The Blue (Working Sense) and Green (Working) leads of the Serf potentiostat should be connected to the ring electrode of the RRDE-3A.
The Counter Sense (Orange) leads of both Gamry Potentiostats should be left disconnected. They are not used.
The Ground wire ("Floating" ground) or the Ground "jack of the Disk Potentiostat may be connected together to provide better noise rejection. The Ground wire and Grounding jack of the Ring Potentiostat must both remain unconnected to any other ground or cell lead.
Remote connection
The current version of Gamry Interface 1000TM series and Gamry Reference 600+ can remotely control the RRDE-3A rotation. Just link the I/O port pin 1 to the IN of the RRDE-3A remote terminal port and the the I/O port pin 2 to the GND of the RRDE-3A remote terminal port.
For more information, please contact Gamry.
Most Ivium potentiostats are equipped with a peripheral port for connection to, and communication with, external equipment. For example the CompactStat and IviumStat are equipped with a DB37 connector
Remote connection
| Ivium peripheral port* | RRDE-3A input | |
| DB37 pin# | Signal | |
| 7 | An-out1 | IN |
| 25 | AGND | GND (next to IN) |
| 21 | Dig out1 | PURGE |
| 24 | DGND | GND |
Controlling RRDE-3A through IviumSoft
The rotator RPM and purge controls are integrated in the Ivium potentiostat control software IviumSoft. In IviumSoft activate the advanced method options and check AUX-parameter:
- Purging can be controlled by entering a purging time (s); When time > 0s is selected, a TTL Level active low is given for that duration on Digital output1, prior to the start of the experiment.
- The RPM can be controlled from 0 to 100% which corresponds to 0% and 100% of the maximum voltage output capability of the Analog ouput1 port. Note that this voltage may be 0-4V max. or 0-10V max., depending on the type of your instrument. In case your peripheral port has a 4V max. output, a PLT module can be supplied by Ivium to increase this voltage to 10V max.
For example:
0-4V max. output --> 90 to 4,000 RPM (at 100% setting)
0-10V max. output --> 90 to 8,000 RPM (at 80% setting)
Cell Connections
Ivium potentiostats are delivered with a standard cell cable that has 6 leads.
To connect to the RRDE-3A cell stand use the delivered aligator clips on the cell cable and connect as follows:
| Ivium potentiostat cell cable | Connect to Electrode of RRDE-3A | ||
| Banana Color | Lead code | Connection | |
| BLACK | C | counter electrode | COUNTER |
| RED (big) | W | working electrode | DISK |
| RED (small) | W2 | second working* electrode | RING |
| BLUE | R | reference electrode | REFERENCE |
| WHITE | S | sense electrode | DISK** |
| GREEN | ₸ | ground | - |
For more information, please contact Ivium.