Digital I/O Hardware Product-Feature Matrix
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This document is part of a comprehensive tutorial on industrial Digital I/O and Counter/Timer hardware. Learn about National Instruments product offerings for digital and timing I/O, the Industrial Feature Set including watchdog timers and isolation, complementary devices like relays, solenoids and encoders, concepts like sinking and sourcing, and see how these devices can be used in your industrial application.
For more information return to the Complete Industrial Digital I/O and Counter/Timer Tutorial.
Table of Contents
Digital I/O Industrial Features
The NI 6509, NI 651x, NI 6528 and NI 6529 low-cost digital I/O boards deliver a high-reliability industrial feature set that includes programmable power-up states, programmable input filters, watchdog timers, change detection and industrial certifications. These boards are available for the PCI and PXI/CompactPCI platforms.
The NI 651x family offers guaranteed 24V logic levels and optical isolation in banks of 8 channels with a ±30 VDC range. The NI 6528 and NI 6529 offers channel-channel optical isolation to eliminate ground loops and a ±60 VDC range. You can use programmable power-up states on each digital I/O device to configure the initial digital state in software, which ensures safe operation when controlling industrial actuators such as pumps, valves, motors and relays. Programmable input filters eliminate noise on inputs, remove glitches and spikes, and provide debouncing for digital switches and relays. Digital I/O watchdogs protect against a variety of fault conditions such as computer and application crashes. These features are especially valuable for mission-critical industrial automation and control applications.
5V / TTL Digital I/O Hardware
| Features | NI 6501 | NI 6503 | NI 6509 |
| Bus |
USB
|
PCI
|
USB, PCI, PXI
|
| Digital I/O Voltage Range (VDC) |
0..5
|
0..5
|
0..5
|
| Logic Levels |
TTL
|
TTL
|
TTL
|
| Sinking/Sourcing Output |
Both
|
Both
|
Both
|
| Max Current Drive |
8.5 mA
|
2.5 mA
|
24 mA
|
| Watchdog Timer |
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Programmable Power Up States |
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Isolation |
No
|
No
|
No
|
| Programmable Input Filters |
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Change Detection |
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
| Industrial Certification |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Number of Channels |
24 DIO
|
24 DIO | 96 DIO |
30V Isolated Digital I/O Hardware
| 64 Channels, 100-pin SCSI Connector | |||||
| Features | NI 6511 | NI 6512 | NI 6513 | NI 6514 | NI 6515 |
| Bus |
PCI, PXI
|
PCI, PXI
|
PCI, PXI
|
PCI, PXI
|
PCI, PXI
|
| Voltage Range (VDC) |
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
| Logic Levels |
24V
|
-
|
-
|
24V
|
24V
|
| Sinking/Sourcing Output |
-
|
Sourcing
|
Sinking
|
Sourcing
|
Sinking
|
| Max Current Drive |
-
|
350 mA
|
475 mA
|
350 mA
|
475 mA
|
| Watchdog Timer |
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Programmable Power Up States |
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Isolation |
Bank
|
Bank
|
Bank
|
Bank
|
Bank
|
| Programmable Input Filters |
Yes
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Change Detection |
Yes
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Industrial Certification |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| NI-DAQmx Support |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Number of Channels |
64 DI
|
64 DO
|
64 DO
|
32 DI
32 DO |
32 DI
32 DO |
| 32 Channels, 37-pin DSUB Connector | |||||
| Features | NI 6510 | NI 6516 | NI 6517 | NI 6518 | NI 6519 |
| Bus |
PCI
|
PCI
|
PCI
|
PCI
|
PCI
|
| Voltage Range (VDC) |
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
-30..30
|
| Logic Levels |
24V
|
-
|
-
|
24V
|
24V
|
| Sinking/Sourcing Output |
-
|
Sourcing
|
Sinking
|
Sourcing
|
Sinking
|
| Max Current Drive |
-
|
350 mA
|
475 mA
|
350 mA
|
475 mA
|
| Watchdog Timer |
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Programmable Power Up States |
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Isolation |
Bank
|
Bank
|
Bank
|
Bank
|
Bank
|
| Programmable Input Filters |
Yes
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Change Detection |
Yes
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Industrial Certification |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Number of Channels |
32 DI
|
32 DO
|
32 DO
|
16 DI
16 DO |
16 DI
16 DO |
60V Isolated Digital I/O Hardware
| NI 6525 | NI 6528 | NI 6529 | |
| Bus |
USB
|
PCI, PXI
|
PXI
|
| Voltage Range (VDC) |
-60..60
|
-60..60
|
-60..60
|
| Logic Levels |
TTL, 24V
|
24V
|
24V
|
| Sinking/Sourcing Output |
Both
|
Both
|
-
|
| Max Current Drive/Channel |
500 mA
|
150 mA
|
-
|
| Watchdog Timer |
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Programmable Power Up States |
No
|
Yes
|
-
|
| Isolation |
Ch-Ch
|
Ch-Ch
|
Ch-Ch
|
| Programmable Input Filters |
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Change Detection |
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Industrial Certification |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Number of Channels |
8 DI
8 DO |
24 DI
24 DO |
48 DI
|
Reader Comments | Submit a comment »
Tutorial
I'm a software developer and not an
electrical engineer. When I went to the
paragraph entitled "What is Digital I/O?"
instead of learning what digital I/O is, I
read an advertisement for your product.
Once I learn what I need to know, I'm
sure that paragraph will be very
informative, but it's all Greek to me now.
Where can I learn what digital I/O is?
- Norman Hines, ITT. norman.hines@edocorp.com - Mar 18, 2008
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