NI 9214 FPGA I/O items missing (cRIO-9030 / NI 9144 combo)

[CFER_STS]

I have a new cRIO-9030 and NI 9144 EtherCAT expansion chassis which I have configured and added to an existing LabVIEW project containing a cRIO-9012. When I searched for existing targets and devices, the modules were correctly detected (NI 9237, NI 9263 and NI 9265 on the cRIO-9030, and NI 9214 and NI 9477 on the NI 9144 chassis); however, the I/O items listed for the NI 9214 module show only the 16 thermocouple channels (TC0 through TC15). The four additional channels are not shown (Autozero and CJC0 through CJC2), although they did when the module was previously configured for the cRIO-9012.  Is this a known / compatibility issue with the NI 9144? or is there a configuration option I am missing? Does the terminal block need to be in place on the module for these I/O items to appear?

[CFER_STS · Accepted solution]

I think I may have resolved the problem. If I first add an FPGA target beneath the NI 9144 device, and then add the NI 9214 module under that, then the additional channels are shown. I presume that this means these I/O items are only available when using the NI 9144 FPGA mode?

Sean

[KHartley]

Hey CFER,

You are correct only the thermocouple channels are availble through the scan engine. The availabe channels for each module are documented in the compactRIO help. This should be the same for all chassis. Can you double check the 9012 was setup in FPGA mode? Its easy to overlook sometimes.

[CFER_STS]

Yes, that was the problem. The original program was in FPGA mode, and it appears that the NI 9214 module is only fully supported in this mode.

FPGA programming for the NI 9144 is a pain in the ass.