How do I configure SCXI-1169 Relay switch in a PXI1010 chassis.

[Rick.M]

I have just installed SCXI-1169 in the SCXI portion of my PXI1010 chassis. All software has been loaded. In this chassis there are two SCXI1120D boards that work fine. The board in the PXI that connects is a PXI-6070E DAQ board. In Max I try to isert the device in slot 3 using traditional DAQ.. The SCXI dropdown menu appears. There is no corrosponding 1169. What do I do?

Thanks

Rick

[chericks1]

Hi Rick,

The SCXI-1169 is a DAQmx-only device.  You can control the SCXI-1169 with the PXI-6070E DAQ board, but you must configure a chassis under NI-DAQmx Devices.  Right-click on DAQmx Devices, Create New NI-DAQmx Device>NI-DAQmx SCXI Chassis>PXI-1010 (SCXI).  Choose "Using PXI Backplane" as the SCXI Communication Mode.  When the SCXI Chassis Configuration window appears, select to Auto-Detect All Modules.  Your SCXI-1120D modules and SCXI-1169 module should now appear.  Select your accessory and configure any Details...

Let me know if you have further questions!

Chad Erickson
Switch Product Support Engineer
NI - USA

[Rick.M]

When I follow the directions and the Create new SCXI chassis appears chassis communication and communicating SCXI module slot is greyed out. It does show the 6070E card and in slot 8 which is correct. however it is grayed out. The other info, chassis address, SCXI commmunication mode, and the autodetect appear correctly. I then clicked the save button and another window appears. In red the message says chassis is empty. I then manually entered the correct boards in the correct slots. SCXI-1120D in the first two slots and the SCXI-1169 in the third. It looks like it has created the chassis. The chassis test fails. The message is large but says chassiserror -200587 occured. The selftest for the 1120D boards does come up. the switch board does not.There is a lot of verbage but at the bottom it talks about if you are using chassis with traditional DAQ then init with traditional DAQ. Is this what I should do?

Rick

[Rick.M]

If I have this new chassis installed in DAQmx I can no longer use my traditional DAQ based programs? It comes up with a config error. When I remove the DAQmx chassis I created my traditional programs will run once again. Is this the case?

Rick

[Neil_S.]

Rick,

Thank you for posting to the NI Forums.  Let me see if I can help out a bit.  Both the Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) driver and the NI-DAQmx driver can coexist successfully on the same system, given both drivers do not access the device at the same time.  In addition, if you use the device in Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy), the Traditional driver sometimes will not release resources and you will need to reset the Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) driver before NI-DAQmx will function properly.  

Since you have a single SCXI Chassis you will not be able to use both Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) and NI-DAQmx at exactly the same time to access and control the modules in the chassis.  Since the SCXI-1169 is only supported in NI-DAQmx you really have two options:

1. Buy an additiona SCXI Chassis and controller or buy the USB Switch Mainframe (http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/201829) to separate the NI-DAQmx and Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) Devices into two separate SCXI chassises.
   
2. Transition the entire application to NI-DAQmx, which can be time consuming is some cases but will be of greater benefit in the long-term.
   

The NI-DAQmx driver supports both the SCXI-1120D and the SCXI-1169 so completely transitioning to the NI-DAQmx driver might be the thing to do.  There are also a number of additional benefits of moving to the NI-DAQmx driver.  (See Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about NI-DAQmx and Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy))

If you have written your application in LabVIEW you can follow Transition from Traditional NI-DAQ to NI-DAQmx.  For other environments it will require a bit more research but it definitely can be done.  This transition can be time consuming but is well worth it in the long run for most if not all cases.  The NI-DAQmx driver is being actively developed and continues to be improved.  The Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) driver is not currently being actively developed.

That being said, I would like to make you successful anyway I can.

When you create a new SCXI chassis in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) and only have one DAQ device which is a valid communicator then the Chassis Communicator will be grayed out as you have seen.  When you click OK it should Auto-Detect the modules.  If it does not (as is with your case) it usually means something is wrong and it cannot be directly corrected by manually entering the modules.

I suspect that it is the Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) driver that is keeping the modules from auto-detecting.  Before adding the SCXI chassis right click on Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) Devices in MAX and select Reset the Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) Driver.  Then try to add the chassis.  If this still doesn't work I would next recommend that the chassis is removed from Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) completely before adding it to NI-DAQmx.  You should also confirm that the 6070E is connected to the back of one of the SCXI-1120Ds rather than the SCXI-1169.

If after you attempt these things you are still not able to auto-detect the modules let me know and we can do some additional troubleshooting.

Also let me know if you have any additional questions.

Regards,

Neil Stoddard
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Message Edited by Neil S. on 03-29-2007 10:01 AM

Message Edited by Neil S. on 03-29-2007 10:06 AM

[Rick.M]

I have two PXI-1010 chassis that are daisychained together via MXI. I only have one DAQ board however. In my second chassis I have a 4071 multimeter. Do I need something else then? Currently the SCXI-1169 resides in the first chassis along with my two other SCXI boards.

Thanks

Rick

[Neil_S.]

Rick,

You could place the SCXI-1169 in the other PXI-1010, but it will require a controller other than the E-Series Board.  You have a few options such as a low cost M-Series or the NI USB-1359 that would provide lower cost controllers for the SCXI-1169.  The SCXI-1169 would then need to be placed in a different chassis from the SCXI-1102Ds.   If you decide you would like the M-Series make sure you get the one for SCXI control in a PXI/SCXI combo chassis (PN 779113-01).

Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

Regards,

Neil S.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Neil_S.]

Rick,

A had a couple more thoughts.  The NI 4071 has the capability as well to control the SCXI portion of the PXI-1010.  However, only the older models have the connector to control the modules via the backplane.  Recently the PXI Systems Alliance defined a modification for PXI to provide future compatibilty for systems incorporating PCI Express signaling in PXI.  This modification caused the modification in the 4071 that makes it incompatible with controlling the SCXI portion of combo chassis.  However older NI 4071s still have this connector and can be used.  For more information take a look at AE KB 46PDM1PC: Can the PXI-40xx be Used to Control SCXI in a Combo Chassis?

If the 4071 that you have is a more recent acquisition, you also have the option of getting the SCXI-1359 to control the SCXI-1169 via the I/O connector on the front of the 4071.

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Regards,

Neil S.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Message Edited by Neil S. on 03-29-2007 12:13 PM