when you talk about statoins what do you mean ...... and let me try to understand a dio card with 8 ch ...... will or wont run 8 taps ????
The term "stations" is referring to the number of taps. Each tap for example would use a minimum of two channels of (DIO). You would have the flow meter providing an input and you would at least have an output to turn off and on a solenoid valve for the tap. That is a minimum of using two channels per station or tap. So for example if only two channels were used per tap, then an 8 channel DIO device would handle 4 taps.
Last night after work I began working on a basic GUI (Graphical User Interface) program. It will be a simple demo. The DIO data will be simulated but it will give you a literal idea of what you are looking at. This will afford you an opportunity to graphically see things and think about features. It will cover for example 3 taps. Since the taps are redundant there is really no need for more than three in a demo version. Doing the first is the difficult part, after that it is just a matter of duplicating the software code.
A note on the software itself. When software like this is written it is written for a specific IO device. That is why it was unwise to buy a card. Most cards include a disk with specific files consisting for example of .dll and .ocx files. Those files are used in the written software to communicate with the device. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I am not a software developer or programmer. I do a little work with the stuff.
Without any problems, by Sunday I should have something basic for you to download. The idea here is you look at it, run it and play around with it and get ideas for additions and changes. That is how a project like this is built.
Remember also that two channels per tap is a minimum that would be used.
Soon I have to get my butt to work so more later if you have questions. While I don't get email notifications of post at work I do check the forums as time allows. After work I have a Friday afternoon appointment with some fine lager.
I will look over the data sheet you posted later today.
Ron