Laser operation with a USB 6008 DAQ

I'm wondering how I go about using the USB 6008 DAQ in conjuction with labView to turn on and off ths laser:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/1mw-3v-red-laser-module-le07h
The laser must be turned on using 3V which isn't possible with this DAQ. I was thinking of usinga BC 109 transistor, then have the laser connected to an external power supply which is supplying 3V to the laser. then have the laser connected to the collector of the transistor.
I set this up and it didn't exactly work out as the laser was drawing to high a current and not working correctly.
Can anyone help me?

OK. The problem is that you need to supply about 30 mA to the laser to get it to work. The digital outputs of the USB-9008 are limited to 8.5 mA or less. Furthermore, a laser diode is a current operated device. If you apply a fixed voltage the current will vary depending on the exact doping used when the device was manufactured and on it instantaneous temperature. The curretn rises exponentially with voltage as in any diode. The link you posted does not have any real data about the electrical characteristics of that diode.
Typically a current regulating circuit is used to drive laser diodes. The simplest circuit is a resistor in series with the diode connected to a power supply with a voltage higher than 3 V. The value of the resistor depends on the power supply voltage, the voltage drop across thes witching transistor, and how much current you want to run through the diode. If you have applied 12 V to that laser from a source which can provide substantial current (>50 mA), you have probably destroyed it.
Lynn

Similar Messages

Will USB-6008 DAQ be able to power and record voltage for UMS T5 tensiometer at the same time?

I would like to use my NI USB-6008 to provide power to my UMS T5 tensiometer (http://www.ums-muc.de/en/products/tensiometer/t5.html) as well as take readings from it, but I don't know if this is possible to do properly. The supply voltage for the instrument can be as low as 5V, which I can easily get from the dedicated +5V channel. I am able to power the instrument and connect it to an analog input on the 6008 and measure a voltage in differential mode. However, while reading the support literature for the instrument, I find the following:
"Potential data acquisition pitfalls: Because the pressure transducer is configured in a Wheatstone full bridge, the input voltage and signal mV output cannot be connected to the same reference (ground). Hence, the signal mV output can only be measured using a differential voltage measurement. Therefore, do not attempt to make a single-ended measurement of the pressure transducer mV output." (http://www.decagon.com/assets/Uploads/MeasuringUMSTensiometerswithnon-UMSControlandDataAcquisitionSystems.pdf)
My understanding is that the 6008 can take a differential measurement if I attach the signal "+" and signal "-" to the positive and negative analog input terminals. However, it seems that all of the Ground ports on the 6008 are grounded to the same reference, which would make my voltage measurement invalid according to the paragraph above. So my real questions is: if I attempt to record the voltage using one of the analog inputs on the 6008 in this way, is the measurement valid? Or do I need to find a separate power supply with a different reference ground to ensure that the measurement is accurate?

The specification sheet for that device is very poor. The manual is not much better. Companies which want to sell scientific equipment should publish decent data sheets or get out of business.
In section 3.4.3 General requirements the device is described as a "non-amplified bridge circuit." This information along with the bridge impedance should be in the specifications because it is essential to applying the device under any circumstances other than the nominal behavior at 10.6 V.
The answer to your question is this:
You can use it with the USB-6008. The 5 V power supply will result in output voltages slightly less than half (5/10.6) the voltages specified under nominal conditions. You can use the differential input mode on the USB-6008. The absolute input voltages will be about 2.5 V with the 5 V supply. That voltage is within the working range of the device. The differences will probably be less than 100 mV. The resolution of the USB-6008 on the +/-1 V range is about 0.5 mV so your pressure resolution will be around 1 % of full scale. The input impedance and termination voltage of the USB-6008 will introduce some errors. These may be on the order of 5-10%. I cannot predict much better without the missing bridge impedance specification. Those errors should be systematic and relatively constant. A calibration of the whole system - sensor and DAQ device together should allow you to compensate for much of that error.
Lynn

Usb 6008 daq spi lcd server client

Hi.
I'm new to the labview.ich have a project and comes to data acquisition and remote monitoring
detaille:
2 computer are labview installed on both and connected to wifi / internet.
the server computer connected with ni usb 6008 and it pt100 temperature sensor
it should also include the measurement data display on an LCD
it should be the client computer also read out the measured values
has anyone an idea how could you start?., I will be very grateful

This sounds like a pretty big task for someone new to LabVIEW.
First get the DAQ working on the server PC. There are tons of examples that ship with LabVIEW for taking DAQ, go to Help >> Find Examples.
Getting the information to your other PC can be done many different ways, but maybe the easiest is to just use a Web Server to control the front panel.
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361H-01/lvconcepts/viewing_fp_remote/
Also you could remote into this PC using remote contol software and remote desktop.
As for displaying data on an LCD. A relativly simple solution is to use an Arduino UNO, the LIFA toolkit and an LCD connected to it. It is a little bit if a round about solution but the LIFA toolkit comes with code to output to LCDs connected and it is relatively easy to use.
EDIT: LIFA https://decibel.ni.com/content/groups/labview-interface-for-arduino
Unofficial Forum Rules and Guidelines - Hooovahh - LabVIEW Overlord
If 10 out of 10 experts in any field say something is bad, you should probably take their opinion seriously.

Controling heating/cooling element with labview and usb 6008 DAQ card

Greetings All
I'm looking for a heating/cooling type of element that I can control with labview and my usb-6008 card. Heating/Cooling will just be for clean water and the temperture range will be from 0 C to 100 degree C.
Thanks
The heating and cooling elements can be seperate products. Any recommendations

A simple kettle element will of course be sufficient for upto 100°C
To get the temperature down you need a cooling system, what springs readily to mind of course is a refrigerator.
Just a note of warning, water and electricity are dangerous bed fellows.
On that note perhaps one of those vortex air units would be safer - they blow hot in one direction and cold in the other, nominally to 100°C
see: -
http://www.airtxinternational.com/how_vortex_tubes_work.php

Reading an encoder with a USB 6008

Hello DAQmx users,
I have a USB 6008 and it doesn't work the way I want it to. I have done no troubleshooting or research and I refuse to give you any more information. You have 30 seconds to answer my question. i kid, i kid...
So here is my real question:
I have a USB 6008 that we use to do simple analog output. I'm looking for a way to use the USB 6008 to also get encoder information. I know that the USB 6008 cannot read an encoder directly, but I was wondering if anyone knew of or had any ideas of external hardware that could be used inbetween the 6008 and the encoder. I think it would be something like 1) the encoder generates pulses 2) external hardware takes encoder pulses, translates them into a digital value representing the angle and outputs this digital value 3) use the digital lines on the 6008 to read in the digital angle value from the external hardware 4) I don't lose my job.
I realize that this isn't an easy, optimal, or preferred solution, but I want to look into it before being forced to replace the USB 6008 with another piece of hardware.
Eric
DE For Life!

Oops.. Just realized that this got posted in the Motion Control Forums... Meant for it to go in the MIO forums. Sorry!
New thread is here, feel free to respond!
Message Edited by e-Cash-Money on 03-17-2006 04:30 PM
Eric
DE For Life!

Drive higer load with the usb 6008

Hi all,
I need to drive a small motor with the analog output of the usb6008 device ... connecting it directly doesn't seem to work.
Any suggestions how get it working??? what does the 6008 output?
My motor works on a AAA battery dricetly.
Thanks a lot

On Apr 23, 12:40 am, lav21 <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>  
> I need to drive a small motor with the analog output of the usb6008 device ... connecting it directly doesn't seem to work.
>  
> Any suggestions how get it working??? what does the 6008 output?
>  
> My motor works on a AAA battery dricetly.
>  
> Thanks a lot
The analog outputs of the USB-6008 are only rated at 5 Milliamps per
channel. One suggestion for getting it to work is to use an emitter
follower to get more current to drive your motor.
Howard

Low sample rate with NI USB-6008

Hello,
We are working on a project collecting data from a hybrid rocket motor for
University research. We are using a NI USB-6008, which has a sample rate of
10kHz. We are using 3 channels and getting a sample rate of ~60 samples per
second. I have attached the VI. Is this slowed by software, or physical
computer computation speed? This sample rate needs to be much higher. Any help
is greatly appreciated.
- Theo
Attachments:
Hybrid DAQ_10.vi ‏73 KB

Hi Rocket 154,
You’ve already had some
great responses, but I just wanted to add a little bit. A great starting point
to writing good code would be the Getting Started with NI-DAQmx: Main Page,
as well as the shipping examples (In LabVIEW, Help » Find Examples) already
mentioned.
If you navigate a bit
through the links (Basic Programming with NI-DAQmx » Getting Started with NI-DAQmx
Programming in LabVIEW) you’ll end up with some great resources. I recommend Learn
10 Functions in NI-DAQmx and Handle 80% of your Data Acquisition Applications.
It will detail many of the functions you can use and give you a feel for proper
code style in LabVIEW.
I hope that helps.
Mark E.
Precision DC Product Support Engineer
National Instruments
Digital Multimeters (DMMs) and LCR Meters
Programmable Power Supplies and Source Measure Units

Has anyone any experience with a USB-6008 and reading a thermistor value

Labview 8.0 connected to a USB-6008
I am using 'BC Components' NTC Thermistor. I used the express VI to create a Vex input and entered the A,B,& C values from the datasheet. The thermistor is the 10K version and I placed a 10K resistor in series with it. I wired it as is shown in the connection diagram, and applied 2.5 volts to it.
I get completly the wrong temperature readings out of it! I called the NI help line in the UK and the engineer confirmed that I had done everything correctly but couldn't understand why it didn't work.
Any thoughts?
Steve Lawson

I had a similar problem, had it working at one point then screwed it up.
try this:
Attachments:
Temp Pressure EXpress.vi ‏92 KB

LabView (8.2) hangs when using I/O operations with traditional NI-DAQ 7.4.4 after aborting LabView program

Hello!
We have the following problem:
LabView (8.2) hangs when using I/O operations with traditional NI-DAQ 7.4.4 after aborting LabView program
We freshly installed LabView 8.2 (2006) and NI-DAQ 7.4.4 on a PC running Windows XP (Service Pack 3). We built a larger vi that remotely controls a traditional NI-DAQ card (AT-AO-10) on a second PC via NI-VISA 5.0.3. We were successfully running this program until a power failure caused the first computer to crash. After this crash we were unable to start the program again: LabView freezes while loading the vi. LabView itself can be started but freezes when adding I/O operations from the NI-DAQ palette to a block diagram.
We have tried to re-install NI-DAQ 7.4.4, but it did not help. We then re-installed all NI software, but still no improvement. In the end we decided to reinstall ALL software, first Windows XP, then LabView and finally NI-DAQ 7.4.4. This worked. However, after a few days of running the program we had to abort LabView via Windows Task manager and afterward we again experienced the same problem as before: LabView freezes when loading the program.
Obviously, we cannot afford to reinstall Windows every time. Are there any known Windows XP / NI-DAQ issues that might cause the freezing of LabView? We would be very grateful for any idea.
Best regards,
Matthias

Hello Sprice,
Browse the shipping examples according to “Directory Structure” and then select
DAQ to find the Traditional DAQ examples.
There a lot of examples that are written for counters (Counter >>
daq-stc.llb >> Count Edges (DAQ-STC).vi).
What kind of signals are your photons creating? Are they TTL compatible at a certain
frequency? You don’t care about overwriting
your buffer?
Respectfully,
Rob F
Test Engineer
Condition Measurements
National Instruments

USB 6008 DAQ Read switch wiring

Hi i am looking to wire a magnetic read switch into the 6008 DAQ. The switch has just two wires and im just using it to count events.
If anyone could help that would be great.
Attached is the lab view progrem i have written for this task.
regards Gerry
Attachments:
read switch.vi ‏56 KB

Gerry,
Because you are using the 6008 and want to determine the duration that the switch is closed then I would use a digital line and just poll it in software. Look at the Example Finder in LabVIEW (Help » Find Examples) and find either Digital - SW - Timed Input or Read Digital Channel. This will show you how to read a digital line in LabVIEW. You can use the Express VI, but I just looked for examples that would be similar to what you need.
From there you will use a loop to continuously measure the digital line. You will need to keep track of times that the digital line goes high (closed switch - I'm assuming you are probably just hooking one side of the switch to +5V) and then you can also count how long the digital line stay high. You probably don't need it overly accurate for your application. You can query the time when the line goes high, and then again when the line goes low and then subtract the two to get your time duration.
Aaron W.
National Instruments
CLA, CTA and CPI

Measurementproblems with NI USB-6008 in Visual C++ 6.0

Hi,
I'm trying to read some data from this device, but I'm sill in trouble
with it. With this code I get a few values, but then I get the
following error:
DAQmx Error: Attempted to read samples that are no longer available.
The requested sample was previously available, but has since been
overwritten.
Increasing the buffer size, reading the data more frequently, or
specifying a fixed number of samples to read instead of reading all
available samples might correct the problem.
Property: DAQmx_Read_RelativeTo
Corresponding Value: DAQmx_Val_CurrReadPos
Property: DAQmx_Read_Offset
Corresponding Value:
Task Name: _unnamedTask<0>
Status Code: -200279
Maybe someone could have a look in my sourcecode:
#define DAQmxErrChk(functionCall) if( DAQmxFailed(error=(functionCall)) ) goto Error; else
THardwareInterface::THardwareInterface(int dev)
    // Task parameters
    taskHandle = 0;
    char        chan[10];
    sprintf(chan,"Dev%d/ai0:7",dev);
    float64     min = -10.0;
    float64     max = 10.0;
    // Timing parameters
    char        clockSource[] = "OnboardClock";
    uInt64      samplesPerChan = 1;
    float64     sampleRate = 1000;
    DAQmxCreateTask("",&taskHandle);
    DAQmxCreateAIVoltageChan(taskHandle, chan, "", DAQmx_Val_RSE, min, max, DAQmx_Val_Volts, NULL);
    DAQmxCfgSampClkTiming(taskHandle, clockSource,
sampleRate, DAQmx_Val_Rising, DAQmx_Val_ContSamps, samplesPerChan);
    DAQmxCfgInputBuffer(taskHandle,7);
    DAQmxStartTask(taskHandle);
unsigned short THardwareInterface::readValue(int kNr)
    // Data read parameters
    short        data[KANALANZAHL + 1];
    int32       pointsToRead = 1;
    int32       pointsRead;
    float64     timeout = 10.0;
    int32       totalRead = 0;
    unsigned short value;
    int32       error = 0;
    char    errBuff[2048]={'\0'};
    DAQmxErrChk
(DAQmxReadBinaryU16(taskHandle,pointsToRead,timeout,DAQmx_Val_GroupByScanNumber,data,KANALANZAHL,&pointsRead,NULL));
    value=(data[kNr-1]);
    return value >> 5;
Error:
    if( DAQmxFailed(error) ) {
        DAQmxGetExtendedErrorInfo(errBuff,2048);
        DAQmxClearTask(taskHandle);
    return -1;
Thanks, SWT

And here the sourcecode:
// cpp Datein zur Headerdatei THardwareInterface.h
#include "THardwareInterface.h"
#include <time.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string>
#include <NIDAQmx.h>
using namespace std;
THardwareInterface& THardwareInterface::exemplar(int dev)
    static THardwareInterface instanz(dev);
    return instanz;
THardwareInterface::THardwareInterface(int dev)
    // Task parameters
    taskHandle = 0;
    char        chan[10];
    sprintf(chan,"Dev%d/ai0:7",dev);
    float64     min = -10.0;
    float64     max = 10.0;
    // Timing parameters
    char        clockSource[] = "";
    uInt64      samplesPerChan = 2;
    float64     sampleRate = 1000;
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    DAQmxCreateAIVoltageChan(taskHandle,chan,"",DAQmx_Val_RSE,min,max,DAQmx_Val_Volts,NULL);
    DAQmxCfgSampClkTiming(taskHandle,NULL,sampleRate,DAQmx_Val_Rising,DAQmx_Val_FiniteSamps,samplesPerChan);
    fehlerZaehler = 0;
    ausdatei.open("error_log.txt");
THardwareInterface::~THardwareInterface()
    ausdatei.close();
bool THardwareInterface::liesWerte()
    // Data read parameters
    int32            pointsToRead = 1;
    int32            pointsRead;
    float64            timeout = 0.5;
    int32            error = 0;
    char            errBuff[2048]={'\0'};
    SYSTEMTIME*        sysTime = 0;
    fehlerZaehler++;
    DAQmxStartTask(taskHandle);
    DAQmxErrChk
(DAQmxReadBinaryU16(taskHandle,pointsToRead,timeout,DAQmx_Val_GroupByScanNumber,data,KANALANZAHL,&pointsRead,NULL));
    DAQmxStopTask(taskHandle);
    fehlerZaehler = 0;
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Error:
    if( DAQmxFailed(error) ) {
        DAQmxGetExtendedErrorInfo(errBuff,2048);
        sysTime = new SYSTEMTIME;
        GetLocalTime(sysTime);
        ausdatei <<
sysTime->wDay << "." << sysTime->wMonth << "."
<< sysTime->wYear << " "
     << sysTime->wHour << ":"
<< sysTime->wMinute << ":" << sysTime->wSecond
<< endl;
        delete sysTime;
        ausdatei << "DAQmx Error: "
<< errBuff << endl << endl << endl;
    if (fehlerZaehler <= 5)
        return liesWerte();
    else {
        fehlerZaehler = 0;
        return false;
unsigned short THardwareInterface::gibWert(int kNr)
    unsigned short    wert;
    wert=(data[kNr-1]);
    return wert >> 5;

Does USB-6008 student kit come with a LabVIEW 2009 textbook?

Hello.
I'm taking a LabVIEW class that requires the "LabVIEW 2009 Student Edition" textbook and software on DVD. I want to also get the USB-6008 Module, too.
Browsing the NI Academic Starter Kits, I came across the USB-6008 Student Kit, which says comes with the USB-6008 Module, LabVIEW Student Edition software, and SignalExpress LE. This Kit seems like the best package for me to purchase, but the website is not clear as to whether the textbook is included. Does anyone know if the book is included with the USB-6008 Student Kit?
Thanks,

Hi YTrunner,
Thank you for contacting National Instruments. I can confirmthat the 6008 starter kit does not come with the textbook. You would need to purchase these products separately.
Many thanks,
Andrew McLennan
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Error -10401 occurred at AI Group Config - in relation to USB-6008

I'm attempting to run a simple vi that uses AI Aquire Waveforms.vi to input voltage data that I have coming in from the USB-6008 DAQ. However, when I try running the program, I receive the error:
Error -10401 occurred at AI Group Config
Possible reason(s):
NI-DAQ LV: The specified device is not a National Instruments product, the driver does not support the device (for example, the driver was released before the device was supported), or the device has not been configured using the Measurement & Automation Explorer.
And I'm not sure how to fix it. In MAX, the device seems to be working properly and everyhting seems to work fine in the test panel, so I'm slightly at a loss. I'm running Labview 7.1, and installed NI-DAQmx 7.5 which came with the USB-6008.

Never mind. I'm new to Labview, and didn't realize that I could not use the traditonal Data Aquisition components with the USB-5008 (I didn't even realize that NI-Daqmx was different).

Cannot use USB 6008 in Lab VIEW... is in Devices on Comp however

I was in class the other night, and was running a VI. We went to lab, and without shutting down labView, my partner plugged in my USB-6008 DAQ. SInce that time, the 6008 will not show up. I have a message about having no supported devices. I am using DAQmx 8.0 that came with my student version, and have reinstalled the LabVIEW 8.0 and the DAQmx 8.0 I still cannot get LabVIEW to recognize the DAQ. When I plug it in my hardware profiles recognize that it is hooked up, but LabVIEW will not. Also I have uninstalled it, and plugged it in, reinstalled it using the auto hardware install wizard, and still nothing on LabVIEW. The DAQ has the flickering green LED, and works on other laptops. Also my flash drive works correctly in all of the USBs, so I do not think that could be the problem. I just really would like to get this to work again, but as I said the DAQ is not recognized by MAX or DAQmx inside of LabVIEW. Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks

Hi,
You might want to try MSI-Blast.
Have a look at this thread.
http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=108288&query.id=113978#M108288
Patrick Allen

DAQmxCfgSampClkTiming on USB 6008

I've been doing some experimentation with my USB 6008 device.
Apparently DAQmxCfgSampClkTiming only works with analog channels, not digital ones. Is that a correct observation?
Claus Tondering

Hi Claus-
Also, to be clear- the analog input lines do feature hardware-timed operation, but the analog output lines do not.
Hopefully this helps-
Tom W
National Instruments

Laser operation with a USB 6008 DAQ

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