PCI 6110 Calibration

[j2park]

Hello,

I seem to be having a problem with one of the analog input channels on the PCI 6110 DAQ Card.  When I check the Test Panels in MAX, analog input channels 1, 2, and 3 all give a reading of essentially zero (which is good as I have nothing connected to the card) but analog input channel 0 gives an average reading of about 0.94.  

I connected a BNC 2110 Connector Block to the card and inputted a sine signal via analog output channel 0 and again, analog input channels 1, 2, and 3 showed the correct function while channel 0 displayed something completely different.  I've attached screenshots of what I get when I input sine waves of amplitudes 5 and 3.

Is there any way I can fix this without having to externally calibrate the DAQ card?

Thank you,

Joel

[EEsRULEtheWORLD]

Hi, Joel.

A few questions:

1.  Did you use any custom calibration on Channel 0 without resetting it afterwards?

2.  It seems as if your device is railing at around 2V.  What happens when you apply a 3VDC, 4VDC, 5VDC, etc. signal?  You can do this by using a wire to connect an analog output channel to Channel 0.  Use test panels to simultaneously generate a DC voltage from the designated analog output channel and reading the voltage on Channel 0.

3.  The test panel image in the attachment looks different from my MAX test panels.  What version of MAX are you using to run test panels?  Or is this a VI?

[j2park]

Hi Sara,

Thanks for the reply.

I'll address question 3 first:

3.  I'm using MAX version 4.3 but I was using the Traditional DAQ Test Panels as the programs I will be working with use Traditional DAQ VIs.  I tried the test panels under DAQmx and got different results than yesterday.  I've attached a screenshot of what I get when I input a sine wave of amplitude 5.  I tried the same test in the Traditional DAQ Test Panels and got the same result which is strange as this is completely different from what I was seeing yesterday.

1.  I've never done any custom calibration myself but I emailed the person who used the DAQ card before me and am awaiting his reply.  Either way, I've tried the Reset Device button in MAX and it says "Device has been reset successfully". 

2.  I've attached a screenshot of what I get when I input a DC voltage of 5.  However, when I increase the Max Input Limit to 11, I get completely different results.  I've also attached a screenshot of that.

Thanks,

Joel     

[EEsRULEtheWORLD]

Hi, Joel.

Wow!  Those are some messy signals.

When using DAQmx, try self-calibrating the card in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) by right-clicking on the device in the Configuration menu and selecting "Self-Calibrate," as depicted in the screenshot below.  Self-calibration adjusts the calibration constants with respect to an onboard reference stored on the device. You can perform a self-calibration at any time to adjust the device for use in environments other than those in which the device was externally calibrated.

 

Unfortunately, there is no DAQ Diagnostic Utility that we can use for S Series cards.  The only way to test your device is by doing exactly what you've been doing:  provide a known external voltage to the analog input channel and test its functionality with test panels.  If you wish to develop your own testing routine in LabVIEW, you can check out the DAQ Diagnostic Utility readme as reference to what functionality is actually being tested.  This will be too time-consuming and unnecessary, but if you're bored, it may be a fun project to work on. 

If self-calibrating doesn't fix the issue and if the reply to your email states that no external calibration was performed, it is very likely that your channel is damaged (especially since the same signal source works perfectly fine on all other channels).  If this is indeed the case, you have two options:

1. Send your card in for repair.  Depending on the warranty of your 6110,  this may be worth it.  Check out this KnowledgeBase for more information.
2. Stop using that particular damaged channel, and acquire signals from all other channels.

[j2park]

Hi Sara,

I tried the Self-Calibrate but it wouldn't work so I had someone take a look at the card.  Unfortunately, there is something physically wrong with the channel.  Even more unfortunately, I need to have access to all four input channels so we're in the process of having it repaired by a third party.

Thanks for all the help,

Joel

[Viktor_G]

Hi,

I have also the problem concerning the calibration of my PCI 6110 under XP and now again in Windows 7. Under XP was the case similar to yours (I manage that with referencing the diferential signal to AIGND), The other was that the output bufer begin to alias after the half of period. ??? (sudenly after WinXP upgrade) After all tedious attempts I finally pull out the PCI6110 and I put it into other computer with a same LabView and perhaps same driver (I try to load driver that comes along with PCI 6110  7 years ago). The DAQ card start to work normally. Even the calibration suceed.

I think the new driver don't work properly for the older PCI 6110.

The other problem I expirienced on PCI 6110 is the independant gain setting for each input channel ?!? The input gain for other channells cannot be higher than for Ch0 (LabView - Input limits for each input channel were set)

[ManLongAtNI]

Hello Viktor,

You may want to verify that that DAQmx driver is compatible with the OS and for the hardware in the ReadME. Otherwise I would suspect a bad install.

Also, keep in mind that the instrumentation amplifier applies a different gain setting to the AI signal depending on the input range. The 6110 has only one range so I'm not sure how you would be configuring a different gain across different channels.

[Viktor_G]

Hallo,

Thank you for your effort, but the PCI-6110 has 4 simoltaneus sampling AI channels. Each channel has its own D/A converter and an input amplfier with

8 input ranges from ±200 mV to ±42V (see datasheet - block diagram Pg 4-5)

http://www.ni.com/pdf/products/us/3daqsc198-199_190_185-186_221-228_231-232.pdf

The input limits setinngs problems I expirenced years ago, but I manage it several vi lower in vi hierarchy, and the autoranging as well, during the continuous buffered sampling.

I have no idea how to manage it now in new LabView, perhaps to write directly to channel gain register when the periodic signal is going to owerflow 

Under Win 7 is working fine but the self-calibration in MAX fails again like in XP-professional.

[EEsRULEtheWORLD]

Hi Viktor,

This is a very unusual error.  I have never seen an onboard device memory overflow error during a self-calibrate.  Can you give me some information regarding this issue, so I can escalate it to our R&D department:

1.  What version of DAQmx are you using? (look under Software in MAX)

2.  What version of MAX are you using? (Help»About)

3.  Does this device pass the self-test?

4.  Can you open and run test panels? 

5.  Can you successfully interface with the card using LabVIEW?

Let me know the answers to these questions, and hopefully, we can get you self-calibrating again. 🙂

[Viktor_G]

Hello Sara,

Thank you for your effort.

1. NI-DAQmx Device driver 9.0.2

2. MAX Version 4.6.1f0

3. The device has passed the self-test

4. Test pannel works normally

5. Yes, I can successfully interface with the card using LabVIEW,

The range dependancy still remain. (for instance input limits Ch0 ±1V Ch1-3 ±200mV or ±500mV  - not accepted. Only higher input limits on Ch1-3 than on Ch0 were accepted)

How to accomplish the autoranging during continuous sampling for each Ch separatly between two DAQmx Read. (Sinhronized AI (Ch0&1) and AO (CH0&1)used for the feedback. The AI signals on Ch2 and Ch3 are verry small (few mV) at beginning of measurement and becomes high (10V) at the end of measurement. The signals are periodic!

NI PCI-6110 "Dev1"

 Regards, Viktor