5 I/O cards connected together

[ayumisano]

Dear all,

I am connecting 5 I/O cards (1 PCI-6534, 3 PCI-6602 and 1 PCI-6601) and trying to read digital signals from them. I was told by an NI staff member that 5 NI I/O cards cannont be connected together to take signals, however, it works properly for the combination mentioned above. I would like to know whether it works properly is because the 5 cards are of the same generation, or the claim of that NI staff was wrong?

Another question: I would like to know whether it is possible to make PCI-660x family take 32 bits digital signals (I am using LabVIEW 6.1 and NI-DAQ [not DAQmx]).

Thank you very much for your attention!

Ayumi

[peteski]

Dear all,

I am connecting 5 I/O cards (1 PCI-6534, 3 PCI-6602 and 1 PCI-6601) and trying to read digital signals from them. I was told by an NI staff member that 5 NI I/O cards cannont be connected together to take signals, however, it works properly for the combination mentioned above. I would like to know whether it works properly is because the 5 cards are of the same generation, or the claim of that NI staff was wrong?

Another question: I would like to know whether it is possible to make PCI-660x family take 32 bits digital signals (I am using LabVIEW 6.1 and NI-DAQ [not DAQmx]).

Thank you very much for your attention!

Ayumi

I suspect that the NI staff member you talked to was probably wrong - perhaps they misinterpreted your application. I know that I have had a wide range of experience with support from staff from NI, sometimes excellent and sometimes bad, and just about everything in-between. It's a big company, so I would expect it to be impossible to expect brilliant tech support every time for every situation.

Without more description of the digital signals you are reading, it is hard to answer your specific questions. I assume you are reading multiple parallel digital lines, but at what rate? At first glance, it looks like the PCI-6601 and PCI-6602 both have 32 digital I/O lines. I have more experience using the counter-timers on the PCI-6602 then using the DIO lines.

-Pete Liiva

[ayumisano]

I suspect that the NI staff member you talked to was probably wrong - perhaps they misinterpreted your application. I know that I have had a wide range of experience with support from staff from NI, sometimes excellent and sometimes bad, and just about everything in-between. It's a big company, so I would expect it to be impossible to expect brilliant tech support every time for every situation.

Without more description of the digital signals you are reading, it is hard to answer your specific questions. I assume you are reading multiple parallel digital lines, but at what rate? At first glance, it looks like the PCI-6601 and PCI-6602 both have 32 digital I/O lines. I have more experience using the counter-timers on the PCI-6602 then using the DIO lines.

-Pete Liiva

Dear Pete Liiva,

Thank you for your reply!

The signal I am reading is just 9V from a battery (simple circuit with a light bulb, made intentionally for testing these I/O cards). There is no way to add lines (other than 0 - 7) to 6602 and 6601 for NI-DAQ, I can only see port 1, lines 0 to 7 in the test panel in NI-DAQ traditional devices. Can all PFI be changed into DIO?

Ayumi

[peteski]

Dear Pete Liiva,

Thank you for your reply!

The signal I am reading is just 9V from a battery (simple circuit with a light bulb, made intentionally for testing these I/O cards). There is no way to add lines (other than 0 - 7) to 6602 and 6601 for NI-DAQ, I can only see port 1, lines 0 to 7 in the test panel in NI-DAQ traditional devices. Can all PFI be changed into DIO?

Ayumi

Ayumi,

Here is a link to the PCI-660X pdf manual. On page 4-10 (or the 61st page of the pdf document), there is the information you are looking for. It looks as if you need to use PFI0 through PFI31 if you want to use all 32 lines of DIO, since the documentation seems to imply that PFI32 through PFI39 can NOT be used for DIO. You may have to specifically assign each DIO to each PFI line, which might not be a bad exercise to go through. I tend to like to set my own defaults in my programming, instead of relying on preset defaults.

This seems to imply that it may not be possible to simultaneously use the full functionallity of the 32 DIO lines and 8 counter/timers on a PCI-6602, but this is just a first impression I get with a quick glance at the problem. I have only been using the counter/timers on the PCI-6602 recently since I don't have a need right now for the DIO lines.

Good luck!

-Pete Liiva

[ayumisano]

Ayumi,

Here is a link to the PCI-660X pdf manual. On page 4-10 (or the 61st page of the pdf document), there is the information you are looking for. It looks as if you need to use PFI0 through PFI31 if you want to use all 32 lines of DIO, since the documentation seems to imply that PFI32 through PFI39 can NOT be used for DIO. You may have to specifically assign each DIO to each PFI line, which might not be a bad exercise to go through. I tend to like to set my own defaults in my programming, instead of relying on preset defaults.

This seems to imply that it may not be possible to simultaneously use the full functionallity of the 32 DIO lines and 8 counter/timers on a PCI-6602, but this is just a first impression I get with a quick glance at the problem. I have only been using the counter/timers on the PCI-6602 recently since I don't have a need right now for the DIO lines.

Good luck!

-Pete Liiva

Dear Pete Liiva,

Thank you very much for the user manual of PCI-6602!!

Should I set port 0 and line (for example) 12 if I am trying a read an input signal from line 12 of the I/O card? I am using LabVIEW 6.1 only and it cannot be used with NI-DAQmx devices, I wonder if it can read from all 32 lines of PCI-6602.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help!

Ayumi

[peteski]

Dear Pete Liiva,

Thank you very much for the user manual of PCI-6602!!

Should I set port 0 and line (for example) 12 if I am trying a read an input signal from line 12 of the I/O card? I am using LabVIEW 6.1 only and it cannot be used with NI-DAQmx devices, I wonder if it can read from all 32 lines of PCI-6602.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help!

Ayumi

Ayumi,

In the user manual, Page 3-26 (page 45 of the pdf document) has a short discussion on the DIO. It appears that if you are doing only input, you don't have to configure any PFI lines, just use PFI0 through PFI31. It also seems to imply that it treats the DIO lines as a single port of 32 bits, but I haven't tried to do anything to verify this.

The manual also states "It is necessary to specify whether a PFI line is being used for counter I/O or digital I/O only if that line is being used as an output."

Hope this helps,

-Pete Liiva

[ayumisano]

Ayumi,

In the user manual, Page 3-26 (page 45 of the pdf document) has a short discussion on the DIO. It appears that if you are doing only input, you don't have to configure any PFI lines, just use PFI0 through PFI31. It also seems to imply that it treats the DIO lines as a single port of 32 bits, but I haven't tried to do anything to verify this.

The manual also states "It is necessary to specify whether a PFI line is being used for counter I/O or digital I/O only if that line is being used as an output."

Hope this helps,

-Pete Liiva

Dear Pete Liiva,

Thank you so much for your help! Finally I did the job!

Ayumi