Category Archives: Data Logger

Data Acquisition > Software > WinDaq A customer contacted our support group the other day to complain about noise on his load cell signal and asking for the best way to remove it. We’ve seen this movie before and asked for a sample in the form of a recorded WinDaq data file so we could Read More

Data Acquisition > USB In my previous post about hooking COM ports I described how it’s achieved and why a manufacturer might want to do it. I hinted that a particular advantage of an instrument that hooks a COM port is to allow simple communication using a terminal emulator. Briefly, a terminal emulator is software Read More

This post isn’t about angling for fish called Com Ports, nor is it about any kind of lurid Com Port activity. It’s about how some contemporary USB-based instruments use a traditional device at the software level to provide a lot of programming flexibility. Plain and simple, the phrase COM port refers to a serial port Read More

Data Acquisition > Software > WinDaq We’re often asked how to best measure a discrete input with an analog data acquisition system. Many of our products provide discrete (digital) input ports that can be read with WinDaq data acquisition software, but sometimes it’s better to acquire the discrete input along with the analog data through Read More

Data Acquisition > Starter Kits This final installment describes a ratiometric approach to frequency measurement used by the DI-149 and DI-155 data acquisition starter kits that resolves the problems encountered by pure analog and other digital techniques. As a recap, pure analog approaches will not allow very low frequency measurements, and although typical digital approaches Read More

Data Acquisition > Starter Kits In Frequency Measurements Part 1, I described why you might need to include frequency as part of a complete data acquisition or data logger measurement. In this part I’ll explain how a data acquisition or logger system typically makes a frequency measurement and point out the pitfalls of each approach. Read More

Data Acquisition > Starter Kits Since our newest data acquisition starter kit (DI-149) supports a frequency measurement function I thought I’d burn a few posts to talk about that feature in general terms. In this first part I’ll talk about where frequency measurements are typically encountered with examples of the specific information that can be Read More

Data Acquisition > Products There is a persistent quandary out there concerning the difference between single-ended and differential analog input configurations. Specifically, many have the impression that analog inputs configured to be  single-ended cannot measure negative-going voltages inputs. I’m not sure where or how this rumor got started, but it’s pervasive and has led many Read More

Data Acquisition > Current Anyone who has connected to the digital outputs of data acquisition or data logger systems (for example the digital outputs of our DI-2108 and Starter Kits)  has wrestled with  sink and source current specs, and they continue to be a topic of confusion for many. When does sink current matter, and Read More