No SCXI support for new DAQmx features!?!

[OKors]

I was excited to see the Force (Bridge) feature in the DAQmx Acquire list (currently using Signal Express 2010) but was baffled when I tried to connect a load cell through my SCXI 1520 and got an error saying "No Supported Signals Found".

I later found out that this was a new feature in DAQmx 9.1, and so only supports products with newer hardware revisions. While speaking to an Applications Engineer he said (and this was a comment he passed down from R&D) "Unfortunately, you'll need to continue to use the Custom Voltage with Excitation with any SCXI hardware".

Does this make the SCXI hardware that my company bought 2 years ago "Legacy"!?!

Someone please tell me this not common NI practice to phase out 'old' hardware by simply not supporting it anymore.

The Custom Voltage with Excitation method is a very clunky way to condition a load cell and I was very excited to see they finally offered a simple embedded feature that allowed you to enter the mV/V sensitivty of the device!

[Brooks_C]

Hello OKors,

First of all I wanted to let you know that your product feedback is appreciated and will be taken into consideration by our R&D group. In addition to the feature request page that you've linked in your post which goes directly to our R&D team, I would recommend adding this suggestion to the DAQ Idea Exchange to see if other users are also interested in this feature. (I can post it there if you'd prefer, but I don't want to steal your idea.)

The SCXI-1520 is definitely not a "Legacy" product, but I think there is an important distinction between adding new features to a product and continuing to support a product. The new DAQmx Bridge channel types were added specifically for the new SC Express Bridge measurement modules (PXIe-4330/31). The issue in expanding this feature to SCXI is that the DAQmx Bridge channel types only support ratiometric hardware at this point (i.e. PXIe-4330/31 and C Series Modules: NI 9219, NI 9235, NI 9236, and NI 9237). Since the SCXI-1520 and Custom Voltage with Excitation Task solution has been around a while and we haven't received strong feedback that an update to the Custom Voltage with Excitation Task was necessary, we didn't pursue expanding support to non-ratiometric devices like the SCXI-1520 with its initial release.

Again, we appreciate your feedback and will definitely take then into consideration as we choose new features to implement. I also apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Best Regards,