Need advice on setup for data acquisition project

[Mesabooger]

Hi all, I'm new to this board so please excuse me if I post in redundancy. I want to be able interface my pc to some type of I/O board or port that would allow me to step supply voltages in the range of 0-300VDC and take voltage and current measurements simultaneously and plot them in graphic form on the screen of my computer. What type of equipment/software am I looking at here? Is there a product already available? The current measurement will be in the range of 0-100mA and the measured voltages 0-300 VDC. TIA

 

[Sebi]

I think a safe solution is an embedded control and measuring with PIC or other small controller and interface via serial port to PC.

 

[Mesabooger]

Which embedded controller

Do you have a suggestion as to any embedded controller in particular?

 

[kinjalgp]

It would be better to use PIC16F876/PIC16F877 for your project since these has on-chip ADC which will reduce chip count in your project and also save I/O pins on uC which would be otherwise used up in interfacing external ADC.

 

[stevez]

I recently purchased a data aquisition device from Dataq via their website, for $24. It includes some software to help with data collection. It's an introductory kit - not meant to compete with high end stuff. The device allows no control but it does have a digital input as well as analog inputs. You could put together a timer or just manually trigger the stepping of voltages - and log the triggering with the digital input. The PIC is a good idea but you may not have the resources to program the device.

Voltage dividers would have to be created to meet the 0 to 10 volt input requirements of the device I described.

I ran into some simple circuits while looking up info on the TLC548 Analog to Digital convertor chip but you'd have to write the software - unless you can find it on the web (likely in my opinion). If my memory is correct the 2003 and other editions of the Radio Amateur's Handbook also describe some ways to measure/log voltages with a PC.

I hope this helps.