4130 Calibration Issues

[AMJ14]

We have developed the calibration software for NI PXI-4130 using this manual http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/374753b.pdf

We use standard resistors as external calibrator instead of using Fluke 5700A/5720A.

Every procedure went good except for the current programming accuracy.

Attached here is the results of the verification. I hope that you could take a look on this.

[JaredRo]

Hi AMJ14,

First of all, what are the power and accuracy ratings for the resistors that you are using? 

I would suggest that you do some manual troubleshooting with your setup.  It may be that the device isn't programmed properly, or the resistors you have connected aren't the correct value.  A lot of the results from the Reading column in the calibration report are orders of magnitude off from the programmed test value, as shown below: 

Current Prog Accuracy - Part 2 (200uA Range)
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Channel	Volt Level Range	Test Value(A)	Low Limit(A)	Reading(A)	High Limit(A)	Result
1	20	0.000004	0.0000039	0.00002074	0.0000041	FAIL
1	20	0.00005	0.00004989	0.0000207	0.00005012	FAIL
1	20	0.0001	0.00009987	0.00002066	0.00010013	FAIL
1	20	0.00015	0.00014985	0.00002062	0.00015014	FAIL
1	20	0.0002	0.00019984	0.00002058	0.00020016	FAIL

A good way to try and find the source of the problem would be to manually program the board to output these setpoints using the DCPower Soft Front Panel and check the DMM readings to see if you can figure out why the 4130 isn't outputting the value you have programmed. 

For this test, the NI 4130 is supposed to be operating in DC Voltage mode, outputting the value from the Voltage Level column in Table 7 from the procedure.  The values in the Output column in Table 7 correspond to the Current Limit setting for each iteration of the test.  For each range, the Calibrator Resistance is supposed to be set to the value in Table 4.

Have you adjusted this board yet?  If a board fails an initial verification, you are supposed to go through the adjustment procedure before verifying it again.  Some of the failures you saw may go away if you go through the adjustment procedure.

I've attached a cleaned-up version of your calibration results.