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View Full Version : PCI DIO 96 problem: HELP



jeffathompson
06-23-2008, 05:54 PM
Ok, who's running these things. I seem to have a problem with one of mine. I have two in the machine. Vixen identifies them as device 2 and 3. I connect them with the NI 100 pin connector molded to two 50 conductor ribbon cables. I also have a breakout board like this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/R1005050-Cable-Breakouts-w-Eject-National-Instruments_W0QQitemZ160249502732QQihZ006QQcategor yZ73154QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m15 3.l1262

One cable handles pins 1-50 and the other one 51-100. The number 2 device works properly and I run it through OLN's to drive SSR2 boards. I built the board that Synnie designed.
http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3115&page=3

All 96 channels off and on with Vixen. I run this card as channels 1-96.

Device 3 I have hooked up to the two breakout boards. I was testing it with the Crydom SSR's I have that run the high draw stuff. I use cat 5 cable with bare ends on the card and RJ45 connectors on the other. I have boxes built with 6 SSR's that I plug the cat 5 into. I run it on Vixen chanells 97 - 192. The cable and board for pins 51 - 100 works perfect. If I test voltage I get 4.95 and can turn channels on and off with the Vixen test or a sequence. On the cable for 01 -50 the even numbers all work perfect. I was able to map all the pins to channels. The odd numbers however 1 - 31 are dead and 33 - 47 are hot all the time, even with Vixen closed. So that means right now my 96 channel card is 24 channels short.

There is some NI test software that installed with the download and I run both cards on it and it says cards passed. There are a lot more tests but I don't understand what they do. I also took the card out and put in my backup computer that also has the NI drivers loaded to run the cards and Vixen. In there it also tests ok, but I get nothing for voltages on any of the terminals.

I guess this is my quesion. Is it possible that something got programed or set or something in this card that may require resetting or is it most likely that the card fried? I can see no physical damage to it.

Help

RavingLunatic
06-23-2008, 10:04 PM
Jeff,

I would try moving your suspect card into the #2 spot and see if it works with that cable and breakout board.

I threw together a quick doc to help you get into the NI Measurement and Automation Explorer. This is the best way to see if your card is actually dead or not.

If you were trying to drive the SSRs directly you might have damaged your card.

jeffathompson
07-01-2008, 05:10 PM
Yes it is my PCI card. I got another one today and put it in a known good setup and works fine. Put the problem one back in, 24 channels not working.

Oh well

TERBObob
07-01-2008, 08:46 PM
Jeff ,
I thought you were gonna use ALL ULN's for protection ? :(
Bummer .... sorry to hear about your DIO biting it .
BUT .. on the good side , at least you found out BEFORE the BIG day :p

Still good to go for the 4th ?
( better be sure to get some vids for us 8-) )

jeffathompson
07-01-2008, 10:59 PM
Jeff ,
I thought you were gonna use ALL ULN's for protection ? :(
Bummer .... sorry to hear about your DIO biting it .
BUT .. on the good side , at least you found out BEFORE the BIG day :p

Still good to go for the 4th ?
( better be sure to get some vids for us 8-) )

I am using all ULN's I was testing the PCI card and the ULN boards that I built when I discovered the problem. All I was doing was mapping the channel with the VOM to start making the cables for my Crydom relays.

The last of the parts should be here to finish the last 2 ULN boards tommorrow. Then unless I get Ren 24 happy I'm done soldering for a while. Time to start building and hooking up. And the PCI isn't a total waste. It's just now a 64 channel card.