RE: Data Acquisition

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-twfpowerelectronics-dot-com>

Hi Dave,

You might consider something like this that shows up on ebay now and then:

http://cgi.ebay-dot-com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2587737742&category=25402

I think they go for about $1000 on ebay with card, but the trick is to sell 
it again once you are done with it (of course, you will want to keep it 
;-))  It would easily do all the stuff with a 20 Channel 34901a card.

http://we.home.agilent-dot-com/cgi-bin/bvpub/agilent/Product/cp_Product.jsp?NAV_ID=-11250.536881544.00&LANGUAGE_CODE=eng&COUNTRY_CODE=ZZ

Lot of money, but it would make it all so simple....  Far better than 
getting $600 of those meters (be careful of the auto power off and 
batteries running down too).

You would need transducers for such things as magnetic field, capacitance, 
inductance...  but with that big 6.5 multimeter and all, those transducers 
would probably be very simple (like a 555C timer).  This is what everybody 
in the industry uses now days.

Cheers,

         Terry


At 01:11 PM 1/19/2004, you wrote:
>Hi Terry,
>
>I'm trying to do true data capture over minutes and hours (maybe days for
>some experiments).  The parameters I'm looking for are potential, current,
>resistance, magnetic field, capacitance, inductance and electrostatic
>potential.  None of my experiments in the near term will be while the coil
>is operating.  I'm measuring components over time in order to better
>understand how they react to ambient conditions.
>
>I plan to purchase the electrostatic potential meter at
>http://www.trifield-dot-com/SurfaceDCVoltmeter.htm
>
>I'm thinking about purchasing the digital multimeter at:
>http://www.hobbytron-dot-net/product998.html
>But the problem with this unit is that it works on the serial port. Also,
>I'm not sure if I can run more than one instance of the software at a time
>if I operated 4 units simultaneously.
>
>Other than this, I'm not sure which software to use or what other sensors to
>buy.
>
>Dave