Regd NI-USB6211 and NI PCI 6071E going bad back to back

[jimme]

Dear People,

I have a NI USB 6211 card and two NI PCI 6071E cards go bad back to back in a span of a week.

I wish to know what could be the reasons and how to prevent cards from going bad. I have NI6008 USB card and NI6321 cards for further use, but do not want to start using them only to see them go bad too. Can someone help me see what could be potentially wrong here in way cards are used. I am a researcher in fluid mechanics, with background in Mechanical engineering and have limited knowledge of NI software and hardware.

How I use the cards?

I use the cards in Analog input mode, to measure voltages from a Honeywell Board mount pressure sensor, which is powered by a +5V DC power supply. The PC has Intel Core-i7 3820 CPU, along with a simple display card whose fan is right above the NI PCI card.

State of the cards now:

1. NI USB 6211 card is not even detected in NI max.
2. PCI6071E cards getting detected in NI Max, passes the self-test. But reading only +10V or -10V in the test panels, even when the input terminals are shorted or connected to a battery source. The Current card temperature in NI max shows abnormal values like around 200-900 deg C.
3. The cables and the connector box are intact and have no connectivity issues.

How it went bad:

• NI USB 6211 card was working well a few weeks ago and measurements two weeks back was good and perfect. Then, first signals started getting noisy, then it was showing random voltages. I took it to my Electronics lab assistant and he told the IC was burnt [Pic attached]. After that the card is not even detected by NI MAX.
• Then I got hold of a NI6071E card [See attachment pic], put it in the PCI slot and coupled it with a SCB100 connector box and things were working fine. It was reading +5V supplied by a DC source. It was reading +1.6V from a AA battery. It was sensing the voltages from my pressure gauges well and right. Then I could see that things were starting to get noisy and random. I was suspecting issues from the pressure sensor side and the wiring and the power supply to the sensors and things were back to perfect working conditions one day. The next the morning I see that things are noisy and now the card was again showing random voltages and now it reads only +/- 10V, no matter if I connect anything or not at the inputs.
• The Analog output in the card was still working after the Analog input part was working and now the Analog output part is also not working and its giving out only +14V.

What could have made the cards go bad?

I wish to know, what could have been the reason for the cards to go bad.

1. Was it bad voltages from the pressure sensor side?
2. Could it be that I used +5V from a DC source as a test input voltage in all the three cards before they went bad.
3. Is it that the PCI card is just below the Graphics card in my PC, which could have heated the NI card up? But, the USB card which was out of my PC also went bad.

[Claire.C]

Hi jimme,

This sounds like something that you could look at in more depth with a member of our Technical Support Engineering team. If you go to this link below and select "Return hardware for repair," you can create a Service Request and work to diagnose those failures, and then make a decision about potentially sending those in to get repaired or replaced.

Open a New Service Request

https://sine.ni.com/srm/app/getassistance

That channel is most likely better suited for helping troubleshoot this kind of problem, as they will be able to work with you in a more dedicated way.

Best,

[pipipi0405]

If you connected a 5V battery directly to AI port without any resistors in the circuit, too much current may flow into the DAQ device, which would burn the IC. You are only supposed to supply a few mA of current into a DAQ device.