Tests to be performed to make sure that a new NI-DAQ is working properly.

[GoviRe]

Hello,

Can anyone explain me the tests to be performed to make sure that a newly bought NI-USB  6008 DAQ is working properly.

Thanks.

[P@Anand]

What type of testing you are looking for? Does Device self test suffice?

[Dennis_Knutson]

Open MAX and verify that it is listed. You then could run the self test. This only verifies communication to the device, though. The next step would be to run the test panels. There are panels for analog input, analog output, and digital I/O.

[Hooovahh]

Performing a self test in MAX is probably the best you can do programatically.  This won't verify that the hardware has no issues and is within calibration, this just verifies that it is communicating and is present.  I have had hardware that has had a channel go bad by inadvertently providing a large voltage input, and that hardware still passed the self test, but that channel did not read the correct value.

I've seen in the past a real self test developed where you need to attach some custom harness that routes every analog output to an analog input (or mux them) and then command an output and see if you get the input that you expect.