pico Technology PicoLog, Self Help Manual

Page 1: ...AR346 1 Copyright 2014 Pico Technology Ltd PicoLog Self Help Guide ...

Page 2: ...ncy measurement 15 15 Device specific information 16 15 1 Device specific TC 08 16 15 2 Device specific PicoLog 1012 and 1216 20 15 3 Device specific ADC 20 and ADC 24 26 15 4 Device specific PT 104 29 15 5 Device specific PicoLog CM3 Current Data Logger 29 15 6 Device specific USB DrDAQ 30 15 7 Device specific PicoScope 2203 2204 2204A 2205 2205A 31 16 Related documents 33 1 Introduction This Sel...

Page 3: ...stallation it is more likely that you plugged the logger into the USB port before loading the PicoLog software in which case Windows will try to load a generic driver which will not work It will not be overwritten by the correct driver until the wrong driver has been uninstalled Please try this Plug in the logger and then go to Windows Device Manager Windows XP Control Panel System and then look i...

Page 4: ...all a fresh copy and when asked For which device do you wish to install select the primary device which you use with PicoLog Also for maximum compatibility tick the small box for Install for other devices This will load all the other drivers for all other Pico loggers and allow you to select them if you need to use them with PicoLog at a later date That should sort things out If there is still a p...

Page 5: ... in your plw ini file When you first run PicoLog it creates a file called plw ini and tries to save it in its working directory C Program Files Pico Technology Pico Full 32 bit operating system C Program Files x86 Pico Technology Pico Full 64 bit operating system PicoLog uses this file to hold information about the preferences you set when running the program Please see if locate the plw ini file ...

Page 6: ...idden items option is ticked If you navigate to the following folder on your PC Windows XP C Documents and Settings User name Local Settings Application Data Pico Technology Windows Vista 7 8 C Users User name AppData Local Pico Technology you will find one or more folders there with long numeric names Look through each of them for plw ini and delete it Having done all the above return to Explorer...

Page 7: ...perties right click Power management untick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power 8 When you start PicoLog you get Player and not Recorder If when running PicoLog you minimise the Recorder window it will shrink to a small PL logo in the bottom right of the toolbar Figure 2 PicoLog icon in System Tray After a short while the icon may disappear Expand the System Tray to locate the...

Page 8: ... used at the same time on one PC running under one instance of PicoLog Here are example instructions how to use for instance five TC 08 loggers at a time 1 Plug five TC 08s in via a powered USB hub Start up PicoLog Select File then New Settings In the Recording dialog box tick the box for Use multiple converters 2 Continue to the Converters dialog and select Add ...

Page 9: ...ata loggers 3 Click on the first one shown in the USB Devices box and click OK You will be returned to the Converters dialog where you click Add again This will take you to the Converter Details box where you select TC 08 USB for the second time 4 When the second TC 08 is found click OK This will return you to the Converters dialog where two USB TC 08 devices should be shown ...

Page 10: ...each TC 08 one at a time All five TC 08s will now behave as if they are one 40 channel data logger The data from all channels is saved to the data file and Recorder view can display all the channels at once Only 20 channels can be displayed at any one time in Graph view and 16 channels in Spreadsheet view Viewing more than 20 16 channels at a time would be difficult to interpret ...

Page 11: ...in Spreadsheet select just blocks of 16 You can make up additional groups by selecting the channels you require using the Select Channels button and saving with a new group name Use the different groups to switch between the different channels to be viewed Be aware that in Graph view sometimes the new group can be not fully drawn until you zoom in or out or stretch the window to force a redraw For...

Page 12: ...ere plw32 exe will be the new default program for plw files 11 How to run multiple instances of PicoLog Recorder Normally if the PicoLog application is loaded with an instance of PicoLog Recorder already running PicoLog Player will be loaded Section 3 13 Run multiple recorders in the PicoLog Data logging software User s Guide demonstrates how to create separate settings files for each device in th...

Page 13: ...t to bat a If the file extension is not shown open the Folder Options dialog as Section 3 in this document and uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types option 6 If a Rename dialog appears click Yes to confirm that the file extension should be changed 7 Ensure that the required data logger devices are connected to the PC then double click the batch file to start two instances of PicoLog rec...

Page 14: ...ted is marked with an X 18 Repeat for each of the channels 19 Click OK 20 The monitor window should now display the readings from the server 13 PicoLog file size and recovery The largest file that is can be generated by PicoLog contains about one million samples per channel whatever the number of channels If you wish to log for longer periods you need to set PicoLog to Repeat Immediately at the en...

Page 15: ...n time to 100 000 µs which will give you a frequency range of 20 Hz to 11 626 kHz Using Options and then Scaling you can get PicoLog to display in RPM not frequency click Help for instructions Back in Edit PicoLog1216 Measurement click OK Back in PicoLog1216 measurements click OK Channel 1 should now be reading in Hz or RPM if set To get frequency measurements for PicoLog at less than 1 second int...

Page 16: ...ager and look under Ports COM and LPT where there will be an entry for a Serial on USB port with a COM port number in brackets next to it If the COM port is greater than 4 force it into the range 1 to 4 by manually selecting the COM port number Go to Windows Device Manager and select the hardware serial port you wish to use Right click it and select Properties Select Port Settings and then Advance...

Page 17: ...which has been taken by the hardware no more than 200 ms ago If Filtering is enabled with say a filter factor of 3 then the display is not updated until 3 samples are available and then the average of those three samples is the value displayed It is generally best to set the sample rate to about the same as the cycle time to get readings from all enabled channels Adding a filter factor will smooth...

Page 18: ...l be corrected Click OK to go back through the open boxes and temperature should now be scaled correctly Note Lookup tables have a limit of 14 lines Above that use a Scaling File If you use a scaling file you must ensure that either 1 All parameter formatting is done on the parameter formatting page only and none in the scaling file just the equation or lookup table or 2 Parameter formatting is NO...

Page 19: ...int select 0 min and 30 max for the graph scaling and then click Scaling 4 In the Parameter Scaling box set Scaling method to Table look up 5 In the blank box you can now enter two pairs of Raw and Scaled readings In this case the table looks like 9 5 0 47 5 30 Note the space between the two numbers on each line The 9 5 is derived from 4 mA times 240 Ω divided by 101 attenuation in the single chan...

Page 20: ...ms If possible electrically isolate the thermocouple If this is not possible run a wire from the metal outer shell of the TC 08 USB connector to a point near the thermocouple tip This will earth the area near the thermocouple tip and is often enough to pull the two grounds close enough for normal operation Laptops running on mains adaptors can also cause problems Some laptop power supplies do not ...

Page 21: ... is also provided for use at low sampling rates when immediate data transfer without gaps is required but timing accuracy is not critical Block mode A sampling mode in which the computer prompts the oscilloscope to collect a block of data into its internal memory before stopping the oscilloscope and transferring the whole block into computer memory This mode of operation is suitable when the input...

Page 22: ...you just need to set the scaling for the channel in question We will illustrate how to set up channel 1 for 4 20 mA operation with graph scaling from 0 bar to 10 bar as an example 1 Start PicoLog and set up your sample rates as required 2 When you get to the PicoLog 1012 measurements dialog click Add 3 Type Pressure as the Name select DC Volts and leave the Scan time as the default 10 000 µs 4 Now...

Page 23: ... as described above you just need to set the scaling for the channels in question Below is an illustration of how to set up channel 1 for temperature measurement from 10 C to 100 C using a DD100 sensor 1 Start PicoLog and set up your sample rates as required 2 When you get to setting up Channel 1 PicoLog 1000 Channels highlight Channel 1 and click Edit 3 Type Temperature as the Name 4 Now click Op...

Page 24: ... for example a thermistor type NJ28 RA 0104 FCC 100k ohm 25 C and you are using a 47 kilohm resistor as a load resistor to the 2 5V reference to give a working range of 5 C to 145 C The PicoLog 1012 has an input resistance of 1 MΩ and this is in parallel with the thermistor Thus the thermistor resistance value is reduced to 100 x 1 000 100 1 000 kΩ 90 91 kΩ 25 C The 2 5 V sensor supply of the Pico...

Page 25: ...g file below as 100k thermistor scl 8 Open the file Click OK several times to get back to the main PicoLog window You should be reading temperature on channel 1 Notes 100kthermistor 47kload 2 5V Type Table Units C Width 4 Places 1 MinValue 0 MaxValue 150 2 023 5 1 853 15 1 648 25 1 419 35 1 185 45 0 964 55 0 767 65 0 602 75 0 468 85 0 363 95 0 282 105 0 219 115 0 171 125 0 135 135 0 107 145 Note t...

Page 26: ...tions available R33 34 35 and 36 4 Start PicoLog and set up your sample rates as required In PicoLog1216 measurements click to Add the first channel In the Name box type Volts 5 Leave the Measurement as DC Volts and the Scan Time as it is 6 Now click Options You will be asked to save channel settings to continue 7 Now click Scaling to go to the next dialog 8 In the Parameter scaling dialog select ...

Page 27: ...gram to equate 480 mV to 0 bar on the graph and 2400 mV to 10 bar on the graph For your information the 480 mV is derived from 4 mA times 120 Ω 480 mV The 2400 is 20 mA times 120 Ω 2400 mV 8 Click OK to go back through the open boxes and channel A should now be scaled from 0 to 10 bar If the sensor is not powered up the reading will be about 1 2 bar as that is the equivalent reading for zero mA 0 ...

Page 28: ... 8 376 1000 kΩ 8306 4 kΩ 85 C Assuming you are using the 2 5 V sensor supply of the ADC 24 this is fed to the 8 2 kΩ resistor and thermistor in series and the voltage at their junction will be 2 5 x 8306 4 8306 4 8200 volts 1 2581 V Doing the same calculations from 60 C to 110 C gives values 60C 1 7997V 65C 1 6987V 70C 1 5931V 75C 1 4828V 80C 1 3707V 85C 1 2581V 90C 1 1473V 95C 1 0419V 100C 0 9415...

Page 29: ...8 seconds The temperatures are measured in sequence to a regular time pattern but the readings are only updated once per cycle all at the same time The PicoLog program running on the local PC can only access the data by polling the PT 104 on a regular basis Normally it requests samples from the logger at a slower rate than the logger cycles through so that there is always a new reading available I...

Page 30: ...so it can detect a change in reading with a worst case delay of one sample period Two or more CM3 loggers can be controlled by PicoLog and data recorded and displayed together but the units are not synchronized with respect to sample time The CM3 loggers are independent so they each log at 2 16 second cycles when three current clamps are used on each Note The PicoLog CM3 Current Data Logger is sui...

Page 31: ...PicoScope 2203 4 5 including A models The PicoScope 2203 3A 4 4A 5 5A have relays that switch between the high and low voltage ranges on each channel When running in PicoLog the input signal is fed through from one input connector to both channel s A to D converters in parallel to get twice the bandwidth Then the other input connector is routed through the same pair of A to D converters and so on ...

Page 32: ... give more resolution if required With the PicoScope 2203 4 5 it would be simple to use a 50 Ω through terminator for the load resistor necessary at the BNC input This is a standard product from RS Components 546 4695 9 80 It is in fact just a BNC male to female connector with a 50 Ω resistor in parallel internally Calculating for 50 Ω 4 mA now equals 200 mV input and 20 mA now equals 1 V input As...

Page 33: ...ated documents ADC 20 ADC 24 High_Resolution Data Loggers User s Guide http www picotech com document pdf adc20 en 5 pdf ADC 20 ADC 24 Terminal Board User Guide http www picotech com document pdf adc2024_terminal_board_user_guide 5 pdf PicoLog 1000 Small Terminal Board User s Guide http www picotech com document pdf DO161 SmallTerminalBoardUsersGuide 3 pdf PicoLog 1000 Series User s Guide http www...

Page 34: ...ser s Guide http www picotech com document pdf usbdrdaq_en 2 pdf USB TC 08 Single Channel Terminal Board User s Guide http www picotech com document pdf DO167 USB TC08 Terminal Board Users Guide en 1 pdf USB TC 08 Temperature Logger User s Guide http www picotech com document pdf usbtc08 en 7 pdf ...