Multimeter

[zerodamage]

For the multimeter would it be possible to simultaneusly view the current and voltage, and perhaps calculated as a power consumption?
Depending on the multimeter ADC circuit, it could be interleaved measurements (some problems with high frequency measurement, but that would not be the main idea anyway)

[crossrulz]

There are very few DMMs out there that would do this.  Personally, I would use a few scope channels and then a math channel.  Just make sure your current shunt resistor is going to ground.

[zerodamage]

I'm aware that the oscillscope channels could be used, but simply stating that other DMM's don't do this does not really change my feature suggestion or question.

[JoeFriedchicken]

---

zerodamage wrote:

For the multimeter would it be possible to simultaneously view the current and voltage, and perhaps calculated as a power consumption?

---

The DMM on VirtualBench cannot provide this behavior -- it uses a single ADC and so simultaneous voltage and current measurements aren't possible. NI's SMU devices can do this, however [1].

If you want to use VirtualBench, I have two suggestions:

1. If your signals are slow changing and you can tolerate the delay when the DMM switches modes, you can approximate a power measurement with the API [2]. If you explicitly set a range as you change between voltage and current measurements, the DMM switches measurement modes slightly faster since it won't need to auto-range.
   
   
2. If you are interested in measuring the power consumed by your circuit, you can use the DC Power Supply, which measures its instantaneous voltage and current output [3] or combine it with the DMM [4].

[1] National Instruments Options for Measuring Device Power Consumption
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/C988F5A0C68AC357862577BA004BF5FD

[2] NI VirtualBench 1.1.1 Driver
http://www.ni.com/download/virtualbench-driver-1.1.1/5116/en/

[3] VirtualBench: Source DC Voltage With the PWS

http://www.ni.com/example/52070/en/

[4] VirtualBench: IV Curve With the DMM and PWS

http://www.ni.com/example/52077/en/

[Inverter]

Someone know when the NI engineer introduce a frequency measure on Dmm setup ( for AC voltages) ? It is possible for you ?