Monitor - ISSN 1472-0221
The Newsletter for Data Acquisition and Control
Issue 304 August 2024
Welcome to Monitor. This month, which data acquisition unit to choose, plus sending collected data to Microsoft Word. Comments, questions and suggestios to monitor@windmillsoft.com
You can download Monitor as a pdf file from https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitor/monitor304.pdf.
Contents
* Comparing data acquisition hardware
* DAQ Questions Answered: Logging to Word from Trancell Digital Indicator
Comparing data acquisition hardware
Web link: https://www.windmill.co.uk/data-acquisition-hardware-comparison.html
Which of our data acquisition units to choose?
Our most popular units connect either via USB - the 700 Series, or Ethernet - the 800 Series. All units use Windmill software. You can also add most devices communicating over RS232, S422, RS485 and Modbus.
Data acquisition units compared
| Microlink 751 | Microlink 851 | Microlink 752 | Microlink 770 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communication | USB | Ethernet | USB | USB |
| Analogue Input Channels | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Analogue Outputs | - | - | 2 | - |
| Digital I/O | 32 | 32 | 24 | - |
| Counters | 8 | 8 | 8 | - |
| Max Analogue Speed | 80 Hz | 80 Hz | 80 Hz | 100 kHz |
| Max Speed per Analogue Channel | 20 Hz | 20 Hz | 20 Hz | |
| Digital Speed | 160 Hz | 160 Hz | 160 Hz | - |
| Voltage | y | y | y | y |
| Current with 590-8A unit | y | y | y | y |
| Thermocouples with 593 unit | y (751-TC) |
y (851-TC) |
y | y |
| RTD, Pt100 and Thermistors | - | - | y | - |
| Resistance | - | - | y | - |
| Strain with 594 unit | y (751-SG) |
y (851-SG) |
y | y |
| pH with pH-Box | y (751-pH) |
y (851-pH) |
y | - |
| Pre-trigger data capture | - | - | - | y |
| Software included | Windmill | Windmill | Windmill | Windmill with Streamer |
Notes on Speed of Sampling
Where the maximum analogue speed is quoted, this is for all channels. If the maximum speed was 80 Hz for example, and you were recording 3 strain channels and 2 temperature channels, the maximum speed per channel would be 16 samples per second.
When using Windmill with non-Microlink serial instruments - RS232 or Modbus for example - then the maximum speed per channel is 5 readings per second.
For tips on specifying a data acquisition system and what factors to consider, see Monitor issue 194.
Your DAQ questions answered - logging to Word from Trancell Digital Indicator
Question
"Hi, Instead of saving the data in an excel, is there a way for the data to be written in real time? For example if I put the cursor in Word, activate the transcell TI-500E Indicator, I press the PRINT button on the transcell TI-500E Indicator, the result would be that the weight shown on the indicator is written in Word. I said this because I want to save directly in my system, not in excel. "
Answer
In old versions of Word you could use DDE links to automatically get data, but with the latest versions this is no longer possible. However, you can:
- Press the Copy to Clipboard button on Windmill DDE Panel and paste the data into Word
- Save the readings in a text file and open in Word later
We offer a free version of the Windmill data acquisition software to newsletter subscribers, just email monitor@windmillsoft.com for your copy. More details on using Windmill with a Transcell Indicator are at https://www.windmill.co.uk/transcell.html
