Does this tool exist?  Monitoring/logging voltages of industrial equipment - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 11:33:35 am
content: I am spending more and more time fixing/maintaining various industrial equipment. CNC machines, air compressors, HVAC systems, etc. I would really like to be able to set up a piece of test equipment on whatever I am fixing and keep track of various points on the device under test and log for an hour, a day, a week or whatever. Ideally I'd like to be able to log into either the device or a website and see what the various test points did during that time.The stuff I am monitoring could be 5VDC or even 480VAC or some combination thereof.Here's a prime example I am dealing with right now:I have an industrial HVAC unit that has a periodic error. I have traced the error to one of a few sensors/switches, but the problem is sporadic and I don't really want to sit on the roof of an industrial building all day waiting for something to happen. I'd love to be able to connect to 5 or 10 test points, let it do its thing and walk away. Some of the things I want to monitor are 24-32VAC, some are 5VDC.I also have another system I am diagnosing, a probing setup in a CNC machine. The manufacturer wants to unleash the parts cannon which will cost thousands since it's not a warranty issue. There are optical signals going between a probe and a receiver and signals on cables... the problem happens a few times a week but it's a really big problem when it does happen. I would love to tap into various points (some 24VDC, some 5VDC, some I might create myself with an opto sensor here and there) and let it just run and then when it happens I at least have something to go by.I have o'scopes, logic analyzers, multimeters that do logging but none of them really do what I want. I guess the closest are the Fluke setups with multiple slave devices (I forget the product range but I've seen videos of them) but it's not really what I am looking for. I would rather have a website I can log into or the device having a built-in web server and just see what happened over time.Surely something like this must exist and ideally wouldn't cost thousands.

author: mawyatt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 11:45:27 am
content: Look at the Keithley DAQ6510, it's a DMM6500 with built-in scanner capability.Best

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 12:31:12 pm
content: Something like this would workhttps://www.picotech.com/data-logger/adc-20-adc-24/precision-data-acquisition

author: dzwer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 12:56:43 pm
content: Just search for industrial data acquisition systems.For example:https://dataloggerinc.com/products/industrial-data-acquisition-systems/But you will not like the prices, I guess

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 01:03:53 pm
content: Quote from: dzwer on May 15, 2025, 12:56:43 pmAnything for industiral uses the price would be high. Datalogging is used quite often in an industrial setting. The OP should ask the company to pay for the tool. The tool does save a lot of money than simply replacing supspected parts (which are done more often than not).

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 01:19:33 pm
content: national instrument have many stuff too

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 02:18:21 pm
content: Do you need that many channels at once? Hioki's HiCorder range is another longstanding option. You say "ideally wouldn't cost thousands" but I think many of the options, including mine, will cost that much unless you're buying used.If you're only looking for a few channels, a handheld scope with decent triggering options (or just a small desktop one) could probably do the job. Virtually any DMM that can be read out with a PC can run some software on a laptop and log near indefinitely, but you do need the scanner card.There are some USB DAQs by Measurement Computing which are a pretty reasonable price alternative to NI, but I don't know if their base models are quite up to that input voltage range. Wide input range support is definitely an area which will cost you in this regard, and given the wide range of applications, I'd say it's critical to your application for the DAQ to be isolated from earth ground, and this becomes more of a concern for a device connected over USB or similar (and a laptop is not automatically isolated when on AC power.)

author: HKJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 03:03:42 pm
content: A fairly cheap options for a few channels is a couple of multimeters with serial connection and a computer to collect the data.See a recent EEVBlog video for that.With many channels you would definitely want multichannel logging device.

author: Per Hansson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 03:06:57 pm
content: I'll just throw this in here in case you are looking for more of a home-brew inexpensive solution:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/program-that-can-log-from-many-multimeters/(Edit: oops HKJ was quicker than me)

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2025, 03:53:59 pm
content: +1 for using HKJ's TestController app.I have the DAQ6510, and it's a wonderful device. I also use it with TestController. It's a great setup.Attached is a screenshot from TestController showing a short test comparing 3 DMMs connected to a 10V ref.Thanks,Josh

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 21, 2025, 07:30:35 pm
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on May 15, 2025, 12:31:12 pmExcept the highest voltage range is +/-2.5V ... just a little short of 480VAC!

author: rogerggbr
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2025, 07:16:36 am
content: I use an old HP/Agilent 34970A, these are available second hand these days along with various input cards if you want to do it a bit cheaper than top dollar NI etc. This unit is a 3 slot chassis, usually 20 or 40 input channels per slot.

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 22, 2025, 12:46:01 pm
content: I have a few 34970As and a 34972A, and they are nice units. But like the Siglent and Keithley DMM scanners you need to check the maximum rated voltage as the relay multiplexers are not rated for the full input voltage of the DMM. e.g. the HPAK modules are rated to either 42V or 300V, while the Keithley scanner card is 110V, and the Siglent SC1016 is 125V RMS.Thus it can be a bit tricky to find an economical solution that suits the OPs full input range, but if he can compromise on the upper limit then there are quite a few options. Maybe add a separate DMM for the high voltage monitoring, and use something like TestController to query the DAQ and the DMM into a single dataset.