TDT PZ2, Manual

6-6

System 3

PZ2 PreAmp

In this mode, LEDs are automatically enabled for default activity 

and clip warning display as described above.

External

Ground

The external ground is optional and should only be used in cases where the subject 

must occasionally make contact with a metal surface that isn’t tied to the animal 

ground, such as a lever press. When contact is made, a ground loop is formed that 

temporarily adds extra noise to the system. Grounding this metal surface directly to 

the TDT hardware removes this ground loop at the cost of raising the overall noise 

floor a small amount.
A banana jack located on the back of the PZ2 (directly to the right of the charger 

input) provides connections to common ground for the first bank of channels (1-

16). A cable kit is also provided to ensure cables used with the external ground are 

suitable for this use. Each kit includes: one male banana plug to male banana plug 

pass through and one male banana plug to alligator clip pass through. These cables 

also include ferrite beads to remove any potential RF noise that might travel through 

the cable. For best results position the ferrite bead close to the source of the RF 

noise. 

Battery

Overview

The PZ2 preamplifier features two Lithium ion batteries to allow for longer record 

times. A three-position switch selects the active battery between Bank-A, Bank-B, or 

both banks off. 

Maximizing

Battery

Life

To increase battery life, individual banks of channels will only power up when a 

headstage is connected to the corresponding input. 
The PZ2_Control macro can also be added to the circuit running on the RZ2 to 

further specify how PZ2 channel banks are powered. When a headstage is 

connected, banks may be powered on or off statically through the 

Power Control

options within the macro or dynamically by using the 

PZ2_Control

 macro inputs. 

See the internal macro help for more information.

Battery

Status

LEDs

Battery Level: Eight LEDs indicate the voltage level of the selected battery. These 

LEDs can be found on the front of the PZ2 preamplifier by the heading Level. When 

the battery is fully charged, all eight LEDs will light green. When the battery voltage 

is low, only one green LED will be lit. If the voltage is allowed to drop further, the