beginner level measurement task with PCI 6251, SCB 68, ENTRAN EGCS accelerometer

[yonderstar]

hello world

   the task is to measure the acceleration of a tube when hit by a falling weight

for hardware:

   PCI 6251, SCB 68, ENTRAN EGCS accelerometer
   more info about the accelerometer can be found here:
   http://www.entran.com/egc.htm

for software:

   Labview 7.1, MAX, NI-DAQmx 7.3

Questions:

   1: do i need signal conditionning? if so what hardware should i choose ?

    in the article below i dont see any singal conditionning and i think my case is pretty much the same
    http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=300&message.id=1125&query.id=15245#M1125

   2: the task i need to create in MAX should be 'analog input--->voltage' right ?
      but i also see 'analog input--->acceleration'
      what is the difference ? the latter seems more direct to the problem
      if i choose the first one i need to transfer the voltage into acceleration. but ididnt find the formula for it.
      am i wrong ?

   3: last but not least, can anyone show me a link to some tutorial on how to configuer a acceleration measurement task ?
   
       excitation, triggering parameter, and input mode(RSE, differential...)

Cordialement
dawei

[Super Fly]

Indeed you should use some form of signal conditioning.  I would recommend the SC-2345 for low channel count OR the PCI-4474.  Both will accept
accel's.  Once you choose this hardware you can setup a task that has an Analog Input -> Accelerometer Input.  If you have the proper signal conditioning

all of the settings for the channel will be input automatically (i.e. Excitation, etc...)  In addtion the Accelerometer will come with the specifications for
the Channel.

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/14744

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/eb6e737eae519d2586256a64004f1890

Regards,

Superfly