Are the analog outputs on PXI 6030E limited to ground referenced operation?

[sdba]

Can the analog outputs on the PXI 6030E DAQ board be configured to provide ground isolated, analog outputs?  The ground isolation would need to accomodate differences in ground potential between the DAQ system and the external system of less than 1.0 volt.   

If the 6030E cannot provide ground isolation are there signal conditioning solutions that provide low level ground isolation while preserving the 16 bit resolution of the analog output signal?

Thanks,

KB

[Sandra_T]

Hello KB,

What is your application? What sort of measurement are you making?

The PXI-6030E has an output voltage protection by short-circuit to ground. You can take a look at the data sheet for the PXI-603xE family for the spec.

Also reference the E series user manual for more information on how the output should be connected. The analog output of this device can be connected to the internal reference of 10V or the external reference signal connected to the external reference (AO EXT REF) pin on the I/O connector. This signal applied to the EXT REF should be within ±11 V. You do not need to configure both channels for the same mode.


Regards,
  Sandra T.

Applications Engineer | National Instruments

[Tom_W_[DE]]

Hi sdba-

A 1V ground loop between your AO channels and the circuitry you're driving would be protected against by the AO of a 6030E against damage to the board, but accuracy of your signals could suffer (as you alluded to).  For your application, I would suggest one of the isolated M Series boards (for example the PCI-6230).  They feature up to 4 analog output channels that are isolated (up to +-60V) from the DAQ system (i.e. PC) ground.  They provide 16-bit resolution and up to 500kS/s update rates for waveform applications.  That isolation is built-in to the PCI board itself and would not require external signal conditioning hardware.  If you need a channel-to-channel isolated solution with similar isolation and resolution specs, you might consider the S Series PCI-6154.

Hopefully this helps-

[sdba]

Thanks for the replies.  The reference to the E series user's manual and the hardware recommendations were both very helpful.

KB