NI DAC 9265 -> 9266 compatibility ?

[MarkBowles]

Good morning, all,

The laboratory I support with LabVIEW (vintage 2014) software uses cRIO 9067's to control their apparatus.  The current configuration includes one 9265 module, which provides four 4-20ma DACs.  The software has a custom FPGA, and is working fine.  

The engineers now want to add more DACs, and have purchased 9266 modules, which in theory are the same product, but with eight ports instead of four. The lab has multiple sets of cRIO and apparatus, and ideally I'd like to upgrade the software to support the eight ports *before* the engineers get around to upgrading all the hardware.  Managing two separate versions, and coordinating it with the hardware upgrades, would be challenging, and I'd rather not do that if it's not necessary.

My question is: does anyone know, or how do I find out, the compatibility at the LabVIEW/FPGA level between these two gizmos?  That is, when I upgrade the FPGA to support the 9266, will it continue to operate with the first four ports of the 9265?

Thanks for your help,

-- Mark

[RavensFan]

Your problem will be this.  As you upgrade your FPGA code, you'll need to swap out the 9265 modules in your project for 9266 modules.  This will provide you the 4 additional I/O channels in your project tree.  That means you'll modify your FPGA code (since you mentioned the FPGA code, without seeing your actual code to know how much code you have running on the FPGA vs. how much is running on the RT controller),  to add the 4 additional I/O channels.

But if your devices still only contain 9265 modules, your code will throw errors if it tries to run code that asks for the 4 additional I/O modules.  You really need to get those 9266 modules in hand and installed before you really start working with them.

I don't think your upgrade will be as challenging as you think it will.  The changes to the code I'm assuming aren't that substantial.  You'll just need to maintain two separate code bases until you have finished all your upgrades.  If you aren't trying to implement other changes at the same time that causes you to touch two separate sets of code, it really shouldn't be that difficult to do the upgrades.

[MarkBowles]

Thanks, RavensFan -- that was exactamente the information I was looking for (even if not the answer I had hoped).

I have to smile every time I come to this forum, lately.  My local amateur theatre group is performing SPAMALOT this fall, and we're beginning to spin up auditions and rehearsals.  We will have several Knights Who Say Ni! in this production.  The script calls for them to be played by chorus girls, just so you know...

Onward,

-- Mark

[RavensFan]

No way I'd be shaving my legs to become a chorus girl. 

There are ways to handle different configurations.  I've been working a lot lately with InsightCM and the software development kit and it has methods for handling different BIT files and configurations,  But it is such a sophisticated system it wouldn't be worth the effort.

[MarkBowles]

Hi again,

Moving forward on this little project, I've discovered my 2014-SP1 version of LabVIEW does not have a driver for the 9266.  Further, the oldest download page I can find that mentions it (http://www.ni.com/download/compactrio-device-drivers-june-2018/7687/en/) says the driver package requires LabVIEW 2015 SP1 or later.  Do I truly have to upgrade my LabVIEW in order to use this module?

Thanks,

-- Mark

[GerdW · Accepted solution]

Hi Mark,

I guess you will have to upgrade your LabVIEW installation to get support for those newer modules.

That's the general policy of NI: new cRIO modules will be supported by the cRIO driver version of the same release year (and upwards)…