Yokogawa Test & Measurement has launched the WT1500 precision power analyser, designed to meet the surging demand for high-voltage testing equipment in the electric vehicle and renewable energy sectors, as a new addition to its WT series.
The WT1500 is built to handle the kind of high-voltage systems increasingly common in electrified vehicles, battery storage, and power conversion equipment – markets where testing infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with rising voltage demands.
Closing a gap in high-voltage testing
As EV technology and renewable energy systems have scaled up, the voltages running through them have climbed into the thousands. That has created a headache for engineers: standard power analysers typically require bulky high-voltage divider equipment to safely measure such systems, hardware that can itself introduce measurement errors and complicate setup.
Yokogawa says the WT1500 sidesteps that problem entirely. It can measure directly up to 2,000 volts DC without external dividers, while still fitting into a compact 2U, 19-inch rack-mount chassis. That combination of high voltage tolerance and small footprint was, according to the company, largely unavailable in existing equipment.
What’s under the hood
The instrument packs four measurement channels and claims the best DC accuracy figures in the WT series: total power accuracy of ±0.038% and low-power-factor accuracy of ±0.07% of S at 50/60Hz.
It supports two swappable input types. A High Voltage element handles direct measurement up to 2,000V DC and 300kHz, aimed at power conversion and energy storage systems. A Wide Bandwidth element covers up to 1,000V with a 2 MHz bandwidth, intended for the fast, complex waveforms found in modern EV motors. The two can be mixed within a single unit.
For motor testing specifically, the WT1500 accepts resolver signal inputs directly – a feature Yokogawa says eliminates the need to separately measure and manually synchronise power and resolver data on a PC, a common bottleneck in conventional setups.
The unit also includes IEEE 1588 time synchronisation, CAN/CAN-FD data output, and low-latency UDP communication, and can be operated remotely via PC, external monitor, or tablet, or run standalone from its front panel.
Built to scale
Yokogawa says the WT1500 is designed to grow with more demanding test setups. Up to five units can be synchronised, with one acting as the main controller, to deliver a combined 20 power-measurement channels, though this multi-unit synchronisation feature is still forthcoming rather than available at launch.
The analyser also comes with a lineup of current-sensor accessories, including solid-core, split-core, and clamp-style probes, to accommodate a range of current measurement needs from 50 to 2,000 amps.
Target markets
Yokogawa is positioning the WT1500 primarily for EV and xEV testing, power electronics, automotive, and renewable-energy applications such as power conversion and energy storage systems, with additional use cases in battery testing and semiconductor evaluation.
Applications the company highlights include simultaneous single- and three-phase power measurement, testing of dual-inverter motors and e-Axle systems, and high-voltage measurement across multi-unit setups for large-scale energy storage and conversion systems.
