DAQ Control of a Single Solenoid

[Gav_]

Hi Guys,

I am undertaking a small task where I want to control a solenoid with an NI 9375 DAQ connected to a 9162 USB chassis using LabVIEW 2015. As of yet I do not have the spec of the solenoid but hope to do so in coming days. I am very new to the LabVIEW world of programming so anyone with experience using these DAQ cards and/or have a simple VI on their files to execute a task like this I would appreciate there input here. Apologies about the 'vagueness' of the information supplied!

[Bob_Schor]

Have you read the manual for the NI 9375?  It is a pretty simple Digital Input/Digital Output device that you should be able to program using 3-5 DAQmx Function Calls.  If you have never worked with DAQmx, but have some experience with LabVIEW, I would recommend that you avoid the Dreaded DAQ Assistant (an Express VI) and instead read the excellent NI White Paper Learn 10 Functions in NI-DAQmx and Handle 80 Percent of your Data Acquisition Applications.

Bob Schor

[Gav_]

Thanks Bob for your feedback.

Just curious as to why you have a slightly negative view towards the DAQ Assistant? Just so I know for future reference. Less flexibility?

Thanks again for your reply.

[Bob_Schor]

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@Gav_ wrote:

Just curious as to why you have a slightly negative view towards the DAQ Assistant? Just so I know for future reference. Less flexibility?

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I don't have a slightly negative view towards the Dreaded DAQ Assistant -- in my opinion, it (and its Evil Twin, the Dynamic Data Wire) are obfuscators that make the very simple "very simple", but make doing anything useful (i.e. other than the Very Simple) confusing.  There are times when an Express VI can be a good "learning/teaching" tool, particularly in the hands of a good LabVIEW Guru providing guidance (you basically "blow up" the Express VI to see how it works, then you extract the "code that works").

In my opinion, particularly for the DDA (Dreaded DAQ Assistance), the "Learn 10 Functions in NI-DAQmx" White Paper makes "real" DAQmx so simple and straight-forward to take most of the difficulty out of using "real" DAQmx.  And when the Going Gets Tough (as I learned when trying to understand Custom Scales), "real DAQmx" becomes even more necessary.

Bob Schor

[Gav_]

OK - I understand what you are saying. Makes sense...

Again, thanks for your support here Bob - much appreciated.

Regards