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Analog Input Soft-Devices
Analog Input Soft-Devices (3)Analog inputs come in a number of different levels, from the high-level +/- 10V range to the 0--75mV range in voltage. Analog current inputs can also be high level, such as 4--20mA or low level for bridge-type devices. Soft-I/O provides direct thermocouple or load cell connection. There is nothing like it in the world!
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 04:13
Versatile Analog Input Soft-DeviceOverviewYou might find that there is not a Soft-I/O Soft-Device appropriate for your analog sensor. That's the purpose of the Versatile Analog Input Soft-Device. You can hook a wide variety of sensors that produce a voltage or current. Just pick two pins, configure the versatile analog input Soft-Device, and you are reading your sensor. Unlike the thermocouple Soft-Device that will automatically produce a reading in engineering units of temperature, the versatile analog input Soft-Device does not know the units, so you simple enter the scaling factor and offset along with the name of the engineering units, such as liters/second. It's that simple!
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Analog Input Soft-Devices
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 04:12
Potentiometer Soft-DeviceOverviewThe Potentiometer Soft-Device provides one continuously variable "analog" input value through a three wire interface. You can use the potentiometer Soft-Device to connect a wide variety of devices, not simply a traditional rotary "pot". For example, joy sticks, linear potentiometers and various Hall effect devices behave like potentiometers, and you can hook them up to Soft-I/O just like a potentiometer. Compared to wiring a potentiometer to a PLC or conventional I/O system where you need to wire the power conductor to the positive side of the power supply and the ground conductor to the negative side of the power supply, with Soft-I/O, you simply hook up three wires to any three pins of the module. Soft-I/O supplies the power, ground and accepts the signal, whether it is 24VDC or 5VDC. What could be simpler?
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Analog Input Soft-Devices
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 04:11
Thermocouple Soft-DeviceThermocouples are quite remarkable temperature sensors. Simply welding two different metal wires together produces a thermocouple junction that will produce a voltage proportional to temperature. Thermocouples are an inexpensive temperature sensor that can measure a wide range of temperatures and do so relatively accurately. Thermocouples are extensively used today in many industrial systems. We could argue that the wider use of thermocouples has been limited by the relatively expensive electronic input systems required to process the millivolt-level signal and to deal with the cold junction problem. Soft-I/O provides an ideal solution to integrating thermocouples into your design. Simply connect your thermocouple to Soft-I/O, and you have avoided the complexity and cost that has bedeviled many before you. It's simple with Soft-I/O!
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Analog Input Soft-Devices
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