I am trying to control the power of a simple 50mW laser via my mydaq but am having some troubles. When i connect the laser straight to the 5v supply terminal and the digital ground the laser lights up perfectly. But when I run my VI with the laser hooked up to the proper channels it will not light up. I am connecting the laser through the digital IO and the digital ground as per an LED tutorial I found. Is it possible to control the power to the 5v terminal? I need to be able to cycle on and off the power to keep the laser from overheating.
It's very doubtful that the simple digital output can provide enough current for your instrument. Your ladder is nothing like an LED. Have you looked at the power requirements? Have you looked at current specs of the digital I/O?
I, too, think the current required is probably too high for the digital i/o. You could create an amplifier circuit with an op-amp or transistor. There are thousands of tutorials on the web for a basic amplifier circuit.
