Is it possible to buy "cheap" DAQ equipment for personal use?

[EvenDeejay]

Hi guys!

I'm a huge fan of LabVIEW and I use it every day at work These days I've bought a house for me and my girlfriend. As we're currently renovation the house I got this crazy idea; why not make my own "smarthouse"??. I have LabVIEW at work so I could easily develop a small program for controling dimming of light, music on/off, and maybe some other cool stuff. (I'm already trying to build  a LEGO robot to get beer from my fridge )

But I can't do much without a DAQ device. I have looked into K12Labs and I found it quite facinating! After some research I found that myDAQ is only for students and educators in USA/Canada. Well, I live in Norway and I'm not longer a student either

So I wonder:

- Is it possible to buy Used/Demo versions of DAQ devices?

- Are there any DAQ devices which are similar to the myDAQ?

- What would you recommend for personal/hobby use?

The DAQ will only be used for controlling Relays and other small electrric cicuits, and maybe som small measurements. No need for high samplings rate and real-time measurement! My budget is quite low. Maybe around 2000 NOK, which is around 300 Dollar.

Thanks for any input in advance!

[Coq_Rouge]

I have some ideas. First I have 4 daq516 card (PCMCIA) I do not use any more. I could send you one. free if you want. They require nidaq 6.90. But I have run them on up to Labview 8.6 using XP. I think you have to use XP on this daq driver. I do not have the cabling or the connector block any more. So you must purchase these items if you still can in order to use the cards.

The second solution is to purchase a cheap micro-controller development system. Then use C to program the micro-controller and serial communication. This may work well for non high speeds apps. I use that approach my self. A modern micro-controller have a lot of 10 bits AD inputs. This will set you back about 500 Kr, plus a USB to serial converter if you do not have such device

[EvenDeejay]

Hi Coq Rouge! Thanks for the reply and for the offer of a daq516 card I'll think I'll pass on the card, but the microcontroller idea sounds quite doable! I'll check out Microchip for a solution there

[Coq_Rouge]

This kit should get you started

https://www.elfaelektronikk.no/elfa3~no_no/elfa/init.do?item=73-344-20&toc=0

[altenbach]

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@Even Deejay wrote:

The DAQ will only be used for controlling Relays and other small electrric cicuits, and maybe som small measurements. No need for high samplings rate and real-time measurement! My budget is quite low. Maybe around 2000 NOK, which is around 300 Dollar.

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A cheap NI DAQ device is the USB-6008. It is well under $300.

[EvenDeejay]

Thanks alot guys! I'll look into both solutions (maybe I'll buy them both, since I both like LabVIEW and C code)!

Thanks for the help

[Coq_Rouge]

I think the 6009 is a better option. The price is NOK 2299 (+ VAT I guess). But remember one thing on the 6009 and 6008 the analog outputs is 12 bit and software timed 150 S/s. Both the 6008 and 6009 is mainly meant academic use.  

[EvenDeejay]

Thanks for the tip, Coq Rouge! I think the software timing sould be OK, for my application

[johnsold]

Another inexpensive option is the EMANT 300. http://www.emant.com/ The price is $99 US.  I have used one of these devices.  The LV driver is not great, but can easily be improved.

Lynn

[EMotts]

Another possibility is a Velleman K8055:

K8055

Not fast or high performance, but it is inexpensive and relatively easy to program, and it does have two PWM outputs.

Ed