CTR 500 problem.

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We used fielpoint CTR 500 in a project and we noticed the following strange abnormality in their operation : everything is normal for several days. Suddenly, CTR 500 stops counting. The leds are blinking but in fieldpoint explorer (version 3.02), though everything looks normal the channels shows zero and I do not receive any alarm message. Restarting the PC nothing changes. Restarting fieldpoints by stopping and starting again power supply channels start counting again. Is there any explanation for this specific problem?

[andreoliveira 47]

Hi,

The first thing you should check whenever this behavior comes up is the signal you are inputing in the FP-CTR module. This module has a threshold in the range of 6 to 10 V, that means the threshold of a particular module might be 10 V, so in order to garantee proper behavior your input signal should be at least at the level of 10 V.
Monitor the signal in the input, because the LEDs have a slightly lower threshold then the input itself, so your signal might be activating the LED and not activating the input. The fact that you have to power cycle the module might somehow make your signal level to come back to the expected level.

So the key point in this case is to monitor the input signal is in the necessary range.


Best Regards

Andre Oliveira

Applications Engineer
National Instruments

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Yes but this cannot explain why I see though fieldpoint explorer counters equal to zero.
Also take in consideration that this abnormality happens after a long period (>one month) of normal operation.
Thanks.