Analog Triggering giving a 200284 time out

[McEvoy]

I am using Labview 2009 with DAQmx driver 9.0.0f2 with a PCI-6110 board.

I have 3 analog signals coming into the board on channels 0, 2 and 3. I am using a very simple VI (attached) to observe the signals and with the triggering set to <none> I can readily see the signals apear on the waveform graphs. However, when I change the triggering to Rising Analog Edge with a 2 V threshold (or any other threshold for that matter) the program just runs until it times out at my specified 5 seconds.

Here is a picture of my DAQ configuration and my VI. I am using DC coupling.

Here is a picture of my trigger set to <none> and a snapshot of the signals that can be seen (racing all over the plots while running) on the waveform graphs. These signals are repeating and identical at all times.

Here is a picture of my trigger set to analog trigger on Channel 0 at 2 V.

Here is the error code after 5 seconds of running when nothing triggers. The plots are frozen at their previous displays and do not change at all.

I am not aware of any significant changes to the drivers or software since the last time I ran a program that was able to trigger on an analog signal, however that was about a year ago and other people have been using this machine.

The digital trigger works fine, as I split my Voltage_3 signal into the PFI0 trigger input and set the DAQ to Digital Trigger on this signal and it looks enough like a TTL signal to work. Only the analog trigger does not seem to work and yet I can clearly see analog signals on the waveform graphs.

Any insight into what might be going on here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[McEvoy]

My concern is that somehow the analog triggering capability of the NI card has comprimised, but at the same time I can't see how this would have occurred. 

[Thomas-B]

Hi McEvoy, 

Have you tried using a channel other than ai0 for the analog trigger? Try using ai2 and ai3. Also try splitting your ai0 signal into the PFI1 line to see if you can trigger directly off that line. Also, continue to ensure that the voltage level off of which you trigger is in the range of your measurements when switching which terminal you are using for your trigger. 

You may also try triggering off of a falling edge, to see if that makes a difference. 

[McEvoy]

I tried triggering off of all 3 channels and varying the trigger level and slope, all to no avail. I also tried putting the analog signals into PFI0 and triggering there, but it will only trigger if I select Digital Trigger. I did not try PFI1 and will do that, but I am not optimistic about that changing things.

Any other thoughts on what might be going on?

[Thomas-B]

Hi McEvoy, 

Have you tried setting up a reference trigger instead of a start trigger? Obviously, this provides slightly different functionality in your program, but it is at least worth checking to see if it works. 

You could just be dealing with a malfunctioning module. That being said, you may try running the DAQ Diagnostic Utility linked here. It will run some tests on your module and may provide some insight, depending on the nature of the issue.

[McEvoy]

The board I am using is a BNC-2110, which only has a PFI0 trigger input so no go on trying a different trigger input PFI1.

I can successfully split my square wave into the PFI0 channel and reference trigger off of it, so this may give me a work around for doing my experiments, although I would like to know why my previous functionality has been lost with the analog triggering.

Something strange however, is that I downloaded the DAQ Diagnostic Tool you linked me to but when I open it it does not register the 2110 board as a valid device to choose from. The board is normally listed as "Dev1 (PCI-6110)" when I assign channels to my programs. On a slightly different note, is there a reason why it is not listed as "PCI-2110"?

In any case, I have tried unplugging/replugging the board into the DAQ card and restarting the computer but I cannot get Dev1 to show up on the Diagnostic dropdown menu. Perhaps this is an indication of something gone awry?

Thank you for your help!

-Aaron

[McEvoy]

By the way, I can only select Digital Edge for my reference trigger, so I cannot test any analog functionality there.

[Thomas-B]

Hi McEvoy,

I apologize, I missed in the readme file for the DAQ Diagnostic Utility that it does not support the NI S series (61xx) DAQ devices. It does not see the BNC-2110 as a valid option because it is simply a terminal block, and not an actualy DAQ device that would be able to be tested using the DAQ Diagnostic Utility.

It appears that the analog trigger functionality of the your PCI-6110 is malfunctioning, or the PFI0 line of your BNC-2110 is not routing properly, and is malfunctioning.

Have you explicitly configured the PCI-6110 to interface with the BNC-2110 in MAX? (right-click on the PCI-6110 in Devices and Interfaces, select Configure..., and select the BNC-2110 in the accessories dropdown menu.)

Another check you could consider is feeding a signal directly to the correct pin (11, according to the device pinout) on the connector cable, and/or the PCI board rather than through the BNC-2110. Then run your test in MAX to determine if the issue is with the PCI card, the cable, or the BNC-2110. You could even just wire pin 8 (+5V) directly to pin 11, to see if it registers in max.

If none of this provides anything conclusive, you may just have to use the work around you talked about, but hopefully it doesn't come to that. 

[McEvoy]

Ahh, ok good to know.

I don't think it's any problem with the PFI0 input, since I can digital trigger off of that line just fine. If's only when I try to analog trigger off of of that or any channel at all that it doesn't work. I will go back into MAX and check what I have configured, but I hadn't changed anything with that since I ran last year and it worked fine back then. 

Thank you for you assistance Thomas!

[Thomas-B]

Hi McEvoy,

Go ahead and reccheck you configuration. If you don't find any mistakes or discrepancies, you may just have to use the work around you discussed earlier, if it will do what you need.