overheating

[qcl123]

We are using this system below:

WIN7, INTEL Motherboard DH77KC with Intel i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, 2 PCI slots (1 with PCI-6110E and 1 with PCI-6014, or PCI-MIO-XE-10)

We found that PCI-6110E's AO module could get very hot, and the spec sheets for the AO converter and OPAM indicate that they will have temperature J(AC) over 50 degrees (with 0.5W power for the OPAM) chip. I wonder if we need to put heatsinks, and at least strong fan cooling on these cards, particularly the AO modules?

I also found that the controller chip on these cards could get quite hot, i.e. hotter than our hand could tolerate, over 55C, which is over the spec of the cards.

Thank you for the advices!

[Andy-C]

Hello qcl123,

So the temperature number we specify for that card is a max of 45 degrees celsius, and this refers to the board's environment and not the board itself. If you are seeing incorrect behavior, we would be happy to help troubleshoot. However, unless the card's environment is above the specifications, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I hope this helps!

Andy C.

Applications Engineering

National Instruments 

[qcl123]

thanks for the advices on the spec temperature, Andy!

But the AO chips' spec are under 55C, and if we don't apply extra cooling for the PCI-6110, the board temperature reports always higher than 65C, and the AO module is actually hotter.

Two real trouble shooting questions here:

1. We found that the AO function do change as the board temperature changes, and we are wondering if you ever apply temperature stablization to the AO module (PCI-6110)?

Or, in your expert opinion, which/where should we apply the temperature control/stablization?

2. From time to time, we have error 200329 reoccurring issue with our PCI-6014 card, and also sometimes a zero value is generated ---  the DAQ in put are software triggered (~1Hz and read over 100 points for each 16 NRSE channels). We don't know if this is related to overheating?

Thank you very much again!

Sheng

[Andy-C]

Hi,

Thanks for the update! Those are definitely significant issues, and hopefully we can figure something out.

I would like to add though that we have heard from very few customers who see issues relating to our cards overheating. It's certainly possible that the card could be the culprit, but you may try and take steps to rule out your other hardware as well, in particular your motherboard.  Have you tried adding additional ventilation to see if this alleviates either issue?

Also, where are the chip specifications you are looking at?  We only specifiy a maximum environment temperature for our cards, and as long as your environment is within this range then the card should be fine. Temperature specifications for individual components on the card are typically not published by us and will be difficult to verify.

We would be happy to help you determine more about these issues, though you may consider opening a service request with our support team. You can accomplish this online at our website or by calling our support line at 1-866-275-6964.

I hope this helps!

Andy C.

Applications Engineering

National Instruments