Requesting feedback on ni.com system Advisors

[G_Lo]

Are you satisfied with the capabilities on ni.com to spec out a system?

We are preparing to overhaul our ni.com system configurators (PXI Advisor, cRIO Advisor, cDAQ Advisor) and your feedback is critical to shape the next generation of these tools.

Please take a few minutes to complete the following survey about your experiences with the ni.com Advisors. Feel free to post feedback to this forum thread as well.  Any and all feedback is appreciated.

https://survey.ni.com/jfe/form/SV_1GgsmWTeSeMqzKR

Gio L.

National Instruments

[Denis_P]

I have a chassis (NI PXIe-1071) and use "PXI Advisor" to select a multi-functional I/O
board compatible with the chassis. Based on requirements for my project I select
board model NI PXI-6229 and the PXI Adviser did not generate any warnings
or errors related to this combination. Here is my Configuration ID: PX6088272

When the PXI-6229 board arrived and I try to insert it into the PXIe-1071 chassis
it turns out that the board don't fit. So de-facto PXI-6229 board is not compatible
with PXIe-1071 chassis.

I was mislead by the PXI Adviser and ordered an incompatible board...

[G_Lo]

@Denis_P, I'm sorry to hear about the problem that you encountered.

I investigated this issue and it looks like the configuration ID (PX6088272) that you provided contains the correct parts. The datasheet for the PXI-6229 explains that there are two versions of the product with different bus interfaces; PXI and PXI Express Hybrid (pg. 13).  The part number for the PXI-6229 that is included in your Advisor configuration corresponds to that of the PXI Express Hybrid, which should be compatible with the PXIe-1071.  

I don't know for sure but it seems like you may have received the version of the PXI-6229 that can strictly work in PXI slots, not PXI Express Hybrid slots.  To know for sure, check the part number printed on your device and compare it to those on page 13 of the datasheet.

What part number appears on your order for the PXI-6229?  If part number 779115-01 appears on the order, then this means that the incorrect module was purchased (PXI only version).  The correct part number for the PXI-6229 (PXI Express Hybrid) that should appear on the order is 779630-01, which is the same part number that appears on the PXI Advisor configuration.

I hope this explanation helps. 

Please contact our customer service department to make sure that we get you the correct part and let me know if I can help you further.

[Denis_P]

OK, here is what happened point by point.

The reason why our PXI-6229 does not fit into our chassis is because the wrong PXI-6229 (779115-01) was ordered by me.

So there are two PXI-6229 cards (SAME MODEL!) one have part number 779115-01 and another have part number 779630-01 (only 3 digits difference(!).

The reason why I ordered wrong PXI-6229 is because:
This is the first project we use PXI chassis so I'm not familiar with this form-factor so I decide to follow the "PXI Adviser" in order to make sure that I'm ordering the compatible card. The "PXI Adviser" told me that PXI-6229 (as you said it meant PXI-6229 779630-01)
is compatible with our chassis. We already had the chassis and other cards so I just google PXI-6229 card and found this page:

https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/model.pxi-6229.html

Then clicked "VIEW PRODUCT DETAILS"
Next page appear, the screen-shoot of the page is attached to this post.
Look at it. The card model (PXI-6229) is written IN THE BOLD BIG SIZE FONT.
Anyone who noticed the SAME MODEL card below don't need your "PXI Adviser"...

We (end user) located in Japan and purchased the card from one of Japanese companies which (as I was told) is an "Official distributor of NI products in Japan". The company REJECT to exchange the card with the correct one because package is already open.

The reason why package was open is that it was impossible to notice that we got incompatible card - the card's connector was covered by extra foam mold for protection, so there is no way to see it from outside without opening the package.

The topic of this thread is to provide feedback on ni.com system Adviser.

Here is my feedback: so far we loosing money and time (which is even more money).

[G_Lo]

Denis_P, thank you for the explanation.  Once again, I apologize for the poor experience and definitely agree that it is confusing.  I will take the next step and escalate your feedback to the appropriate team for future improvement.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help and feel free to send more feedback about the Advisors as well.

[Denis_P]

@G_Lo

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@G_Lo wrote:

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help and feel free to send more feedback about the Advisors as well.

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Yes, please convince NI Japan to send us the right card and we return the wrong one. Or do the refund.

[toddy]

I know this is an old thread, but I stumbled upon it today as I was trying to see if anybody else finds the NI website in general, including the system advisers as rubbish as I do!

The website a few years ago was much better - easier to find details about particular hardware, and easier to navigate. I was looking to spec up a PXI system, but some of the cards aren't available on the adviser, and there is generally not much information available when you do click on an item in the adviser. There are warnings for some mature products that NI advise not to use these for new systems, but not others. Some of the warnings point the user towards items that do exist, but not on the advisers (PXIe-8861 RT for example as the replacement for the PXIe-8840 RT).

I went to get a screenshot to illustrate what I found yesterday, but today it's only showing me 8 PXI controllers in total, none with RT OS, no 'Value' or 'Mainstream' models.

 

My personal experience, as an NI customer of many years is that the website seems to get worse with each revision. It may look 'slicker' but the quality of information is poorer.