How to generate a voltage and transfer to an analog output channel?

[zorro]

Dear all,

I want to generate a voltage and transfer it to an analog output channel, which is used to trigger another program. Can LabVIEW achieve this goal? Which function should I use? Can I use DAQmx physical channels? It seems that DAQmx physical channels only has input channel. I hope someone can provide some help and any help is appreciated. Thanks at advanced.

[Anders Björk]

Search examples and you will find output examples you daqmx.

[mross]

Z,

If you go to ni.com you can look up the specifications for the type of DAQ hardware you are using, then you can see what the capabilities of your hardware may be.

It is worth noting that you have provided almost no information which would help someone to answer your question. What hardware are you using? What voltage do you wish to generate? 10 000V? 200 000V? 1V? What other program? On what sort of other hardware?

Good luck,

Mike

[zorro]

QUOTE (mross @ Aug 4 2008, 01:33 PM)

Zorro,

When you look up tha specifications for that DAQ card at www.ni.com what does it tell you the analog output channels can generate?

Mike

Dear Mike,

The Output Range of the Analog Output is from _10 to 10V.

Unfortunely, I have little knowledge about EE and can not totally understand what the specification says.

http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/370721c.pdf

http://www.ni.com/pdf/products/us/4daqsc20...229_238-243.pdf

[mross]

QUOTE (zorro @ Aug 5 2008, 03:21 PM)

Dear Mike,

The Output Range of the Analog Output is from _10 to 10V.

Unfortunely, I have little knowledge about EE and can not totally understand what the specification says.

http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/370721c.pdf

http://www.ni.com/pdf/products/us/4daqsc20...229_238-243.pdf

Ok, there you have it, the DAQ card will generate a signal from 1V to 10V.

I am sure you can contact an application engineer from ni.com and they will help you understand the specs. You should be getting this help if you don't have access to a qualified EE for counseling.

You can ask specifices here and get some help. I would suggest that you make these things as easy as possible, no reason for your benefactors at LAVA to be looking up specs, if you can compile them and show us. Providing links was a great idea.

It is good to know that you have an E Series DAQ board becasue this means the normal recommendations touse DAQmx VI's will be wrong. DAQmx is for M Series hardware. Please do not hesitate to tell us what hardware you have when every you have a question.

Is the receiving hardware the same E Series DAQ card?

It sounds like the generated signal is only a trigger signal. Is this correct? Or is the signal something more complcated.

If you are triggering a progrram that is on the same computer and using the same DAQ card there should be no need to use extrenal wiring to trigger. Generally you would not trigger using analog output generation. Instead you would use a digital ouput which will be 0V to 5VDC. A simple relay or solid state signal amplifier would be used to provide a higher trigger voltage. You can use analog output, but it is possibly more trouble.

Perhaps you could be more specific regarding what you are trying to do.

Mike

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

[it is good to know that you have an E Series DAQ board becasue this means the normal recommendations touse DAQmx VI's will be wrong. DAQmx is for M Series hardware].

Mike,

can you throw some more light on this part..Why cant DAQmx support E series cards?

[crelf]

QUOTE (mross @ Aug 5 2008, 05:17 PM)

It is good to know that you have an E Series DAQ board becasue this means the normal recommendations touse DAQmx VI's will be wrong. DAQmx is for M Series hardware.

That's not true - DAQmx works for M series and E series cards... From http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/1038' target="_blank">this page: "NI E Series devices come with NI-DAQmx driver software..."

[mross]

QUOTE (crelf @ Aug 6 2008, 08:33 AM)

That's not true - DAQmx works for M series and E series cards... From http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/1038' target="_blank">this page: "NI E Series devices come with NI-DAQmx driver software..."

OK. I had a bunch of E Series VI's builtwith Traditional DAQ, when I replaced that board with an M Series I had to redo all the Traditional E Series Vis with DAQmx. I conflated that to get the incorrect idea that DAQmx won't support E Series. But really Traditional DAQ won't support M Series, my mistake. I haven't actually written DAQmx to support E Series so I spoke out of ignorance. Thanks very much for the correction.

Mike

[crelf]

QUOTE (mross @ Aug 6 2008, 07:55 AM)

Thanks very much for the correction.

No worries In fact, using DAQmx with E-Series boards exposes some of the functionality in the boards that we couldn't get to with traditional DAQ. I'm grateful that NI spent the time and money to invest in developing DAQmx during the slowdown a few years ago :thumbup:

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

QUOTE (mross @ Aug 6 2008, 08:55 AM)

OK. I had a bunch of E Series VI's builtwith Traditional DAQ, when I replaced that board with an M Series I had to redo all the Traditional E Series Vis with DAQmx. I conflated that to get the incorrect idea that DAQmx won't support E Series. But really Traditional DAQ won't support M Series, my mistake. I haven't actually written DAQmx to support E Series so I spoke out of ignorance. Thanks very much for the correction.

Mike

Now i am feeling good..

[zorro]

QUOTE (mross @ Aug 5 2008, 05:17 PM)

Ok, there you have it, the DAQ card will generate a signal from 1V to 10V.

I am sure you can contact an application engineer from ni.com and they will help you understand the specs. You should be getting this help if you don't have access to a qualified EE for counseling.

You can ask specifices here and get some help. I would suggest that you make these things as easy as possible, no reason for your benefactors at LAVA to be looking up specs, if you can compile them and show us. Providing links was a great idea.

It is good to know that you have an E Series DAQ board becasue this means the normal recommendations touse DAQmx VI's will be wrong. DAQmx is for M Series hardware. Please do not hesitate to tell us what hardware you have when every you have a question.

Is the receiving hardware the same E Series DAQ card?

It sounds like the generated signal is only a trigger signal. Is this correct? Or is the signal something more complcated.

If you are triggering a progrram that is on the same computer and using the same DAQ card there should be no need to use extrenal wiring to trigger. Generally you would not trigger using analog output generation. Instead you would use a digital ouput which will be 0V to 5VDC. A simple relay or solid state signal amplifier would be used to provide a higher trigger voltage. You can use analog output, but it is possibly more trouble.

Perhaps you could be more specific regarding what you are trying to do.

Mike

Hi, Mike,

"Is the receiving hardware the same E Series DAQ card?"

I have no idea of the receiving hardware now. It is a non-NI equipment. The technical person in that company told me it was compatible with 6036E. But I haven't seen it.

"It sounds like the generated signal is only a trigger signal. Is this correct? Or is the signal something more complcated."

the generated signal is only a trigger signal.

And the 8 digital outputs have to be used for other functions.

Thank you very much for your help. Luckly I get the analog output valtage and I can see it from voltmeter. I can see the change. But I don;t know whether it works well with the new equipment, which I haven;t seen.

[mross]

QUOTE (zorro @ Aug 7 2008, 04:15 PM)

Hi, Mike,

"Is the receiving hardware the same E Series DAQ card?"

I have no idea of the receiving hardware now. It is a non-NI equipment. The technical person in that company told me it was compatible with 6036E.

SNIP

I guess "compatible" means you can generate a trigger signal that is digtal or analog without particular need for signal conditioning, amplification, or attenuation. You can probably do as you wish and assume that normal and simple to implement variations of the analog output will be sufficient.

When the word "trigger" is used typicallyit refers to a digital signal (on or off with a fast transition) that adheres to the TTL specification (nominally 0V to 5V), or an industrial application which may operate betwen 0V and 24V.

This is by no means definitive, analog signals can trigger as well, of course; but digital is used where something more deterministic is needed, such as starting an acquisition when a particular mechanical event has happened.

You should be knowledgable of typical practices for field wiring and grounding to be a guide when you attach your DAQ system to the other hardware. The folowing is a good reference:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3344