The Industrial Feature Set: Programmable Power Up States

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

What are Programmable Power Up States?

When a computer is powered on, various components begin their own power-up routines to ensure that they reach a functional and expected state. If a digital output module is used inside the computer to control machinery or an industrial process, it is important that the digital outputs are also initialized to a known state. Changing the outputs typically requires that an application is running, but the module may be on for several minutes before the application can start. Programmable power-up states is the way for the digital module itself to set its outputs as soon as it receives power.

Recommended Products that Feature Programmable Power Up States

NI 6509
NI 6514
NI 6515
NI 6528

How Programmable Power Up States Work

With the new NI digital products, programmable power-up states are implemented in an EEPROM on the board. The power-up states in the EEPROM can be changed programmatically by using one of two different methods.

1. The DAQmx Set Power-Up States VI can be run in LabVIEW (figure 1). When the VI is run, the settings are downloaded to the EEPROM.



Figure 1: Power-up States in LabVIEW


2. These settings can also be written from MAX by opening the properties page for the device. The desired settings are written when the user hits the OK button (figure 2).



Figure 2: Power-up States in MAX

CAUTION: Devices have limited numbers of writes to the EEPROM, so change power-up states infrequently.

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