Can we use the counter on a 6713 as a timer?

[genet]

We need to implement a counter/timer. The 6713 card has counter/timers but they appear to be linked to input signals. We want to use the counter/timers as an independent timer. Can this be done? The NI help and 6713 User's Manual seem to imply not.

[gus]

What kind of timer would you like to implement? The counters on the 6713 are very flexible so it is likely they can do the job for you.

[genet]

Just something that keeps an accurate 100 msec time step. We currently use an old PC-TIO-10 timer/event counter so we would like a similar functionality with the 6713. Thanks.

[gus]

So if I understand you correctly, you'd like to generate a continuous pulse train of 10 Hz? If so, you can use the shipping example "Generate Pulse Train (DAQ-STC).vi" and specify a frequency of 10 Hz.

gus....

[genet]

Well, no, all we need is to count ticks on an event timer. So if we use a 1 KHz clock, we count 100 ticks for 10 Hz events. We also need to synch the clock to an external signal so the timer must be able to accept an external reference (we use GPS 1PPS so every second we synch to the 1PPS signal from a GPS receiver).

[Jeremy_C]

The two counters on the 6713 are general purpose counters similar to the counters on the PC-TIO-10. Therefore, you can do pulse generation as well as even counting on either one. The counters on the 6713 are STC counters instead of the TIO counters on the PC-TIO-10. There a few differences between the two types including the STC counters are 24 bit while the TIO are 32. As far as functionality, you have almost the same capabilities with the STC counters as you do with the TIO counters. What documentation specifically indicated that you cannot use the timers independently? You referenced the User Manual. Where in the user manual? I hope this information helps.

[genet]

Thanks for the info Jeremy. I was wrong about the counters. If you have the time and you know the answers, I have 2 more questions. (1) Can the counters be reset during operation? The count can be initialized by calling GPCTR_Change_Parameter before the counter is started, but I didn't see any way (looking at the GPCTR_... functions) to reset the counter value after its started. The problem is that with only a 24-bit counter, even using the 100 KHz clock, the counter rolls over after a little more than 167 seconds. I can reverse the direction every so often to prevent rollovers but its a bit clunky. (2) Can one of the counters be synced to an external 1 Hz 5V pulse? I'd like to be able to reset a counter when it receives this pulse. The user's manual
defines a number of pins to input a signal on, but how do I detect the signal in software? Thanks.