IOtech Tech Tips

IOtech Tech Tips - PDF Format

IOtech Tech Tips are a collection of technical articles intended to help scientists, engineers,
and technicians use their data acquisition systems more effectively, obtain more accurate data,
and assemble robust systems. Tech Tips discuss and explain in detail certain topics that are not
ordinarily covered in typical hardware manuals such as solutions to installation and
environmental problems, explicit equipment features and functions, connections to specific
sensors and actuators, ground loops, and noise.

Tech Tip 60801 - How to Determine Measurement Accuracy, Resolution, and Sensitivity using IOtech Instruments: Accuracy, resolution, and sensitivity are not always supplied with a data acquisition system’s specification, but frequently, they can be calculated using the techniques described in this
Tech Tip for IOtech hardware.
Most Popular Tip - Tech Tip 60602 - Basic Strain Gage Measurements using IOtech DAQ Hardware: This Tech Tip discusses the basic principle of operation of strain gages, the various ways in which they may be connected, and the requirements of their signal conditioners to reduce susceptibility to noise that can contaminate their low-level output signals.
Most Popular Tip - Tech Tip 60601 - Basic Temperature Measurements using IOtech DAQ Hardware: This Tech Tip describes the techniques used to measure temperature with thermocouples, RTDs, and thermistors, how to achieve accurate results, and the unique characteristics of the various signal conditioners required for each type.
Tech Tip 60402 - Driving Relays with IOtech Digital I/O Ports: Many IOtech data acquisition system users connect their equipment to relays for controlling peripherals under specific programmed events. For this purpose, IOtech provides TTL-compatible and other types of digital I/O ports on many of its products to conveniently interface with numerous digital devices.
Tech Tip 60401 - How to Use the Counter/Timer/Trigger Functions of IOtech Data Acquisition Systems: The counter and timer functions provided with numerous IOtech products let users measure either the frequency or the period of an input signal, and the total number of pulses or cycles captured in a specified time period. These functions are enabled when the digital I/O ports are set up as inputs using the supplied software package.
Tech Tip 60201 - Grounding and Shielding Considerations for Thermocouples, Strain Gages, and Low-Level Circuits: This Tech Tip describes a procedure for maintaining a high signal-to-noise ratio environment when connecting sensors and other devices that deliver very low output voltages to data acquisition systems and signal conditioners. The technique addresses noise interference from ground loop circuits as well as induced signals.
Tech Tip 60102 - ODBC Data Management under DASYLab 9.0: This Tech Tip describes the procedure for using an Excel Spread Sheet for maintaining ODBC
(Open DataBase Connectivity) data with a DASYLab 9.0 Data Acquisition software package.
Moreover, information stored on an existing Excel® file, such as databases for maintaining
calibration schedules, can be imported and manipulated with DASYLab 9.0.
Tech Tip 60101 - Connecting quadrature digital position sensors to IOtech's WaveBook and Daq Series devices: This tech tip describes the procedure for connecting one or more linear or rotary, incremental digital encoders to certain IOtech data acquisition systems. The quadrature encoders produce a serial stream of pulses which indicate relative position, speed, and direction of the component on which they are mounted.
Tech Tip 41001 - DASYLab® FFT Analysis Module Basics: The documentation that is provided in the DASYLab User’s Manual provides information on the mechanics involved in setting up this module, but it does not provide details on how to set up an experiment that utilizes the FFT module effectively. This tech tip should be considered a supplement to the User’s Manual.
Tech Tip 40801 - Using the Alternate IP Address in Windows® XP for Easy Connection to IOtech Ethernet-Based Data Acquisition Systems: This tech tip shows how to utilize the alternate IP configuration in Windows XP to make switching between your network and Ethernet data acquisition device easier.
Tech Tip 40501 - DASYLab ®: Using the MERGE Module to Store all of your data channels into one sequential ASCII file on the PC hard drive: The “MERGE” module provides a convenient way to store many channels of data into one sequential data storage file on the PC hard drive. This Tech Tip discusses how this is done.
Tech Tip 40201 - Manual Configuration of PC Memory Allocation in WaveView for High-Speed Data Acquisition Applications: High-speed data acquisition systems such as the IOtech WaveBook/516E are capable of streaming extremely large amounts of acquired data into the attached computer system. A typical WaveBook system running at the full 1-MHz sample rate can generate nearly 2 Mbytes of data per second.
Tech Tip 40101 - Creating Layout Windows to Enhance your DASYLab® Data Acquisition Application: DASYLab software is a popular choice with users of IOtech’s data acquisition hardware products. This Tech Tip discusses how to create Layout Windows in DASYLab using the VITool.
Tech Tip 31201 - Using USB to RS-232 "Serial Port" Converters to Communicate with Legacy RS-232 Devices: Widely available converters make it easy to add a standard RS-232C compatible communications port to a PC that only has USB communications built in.