I was trying to debug an issue tonight using an Intronix Logicport USB logic analyzer. I had most of the channel probes connected and all of the ground lines. By chance I disconnected the IDC connector on the logicport (instead of disconnecting each channel probe) and noticed the current reading on the bench supply dropped from .5A to ~.28A.
Playing around a bit more, I started disconnecting groups of channels to see if one channel in particular was causing the additional load. Eventually, disconnecting a specific one of the ground probes dropped the current back to .28A. Other ground probes were connected and I didn't replace all of the disconnected channel probes to see if it was really just that ground connection but I'm curious if this additional load is normal? I guess I expected a small additional load as a result of the probes but 2X seems pretty high.
The circuit in question is an 8088, 8284, RAM, 27C020, associated address logic, etc... if that matters.
Update: after thinking about this more, I guess this isn't additional load but reducing the load given the current goes up. no?
thanks,