Windmill 750 User Manual
Contents
1. data 3 4 6 Saving the Settings Save your settings and they will be used every time you run Windmill You don t need to run ConflML again unless you make changes to your data acquisition hardware adding extra 750 units for example After closing ConflML start the SetupIML program and choose how you wish to use the hardware Refer to the next chapter or to SetupIML s Help file for details 3 4 8 The Software Signal Generator In addition to data acquisition and control hardware ConfIML lists the Software Signal Generator This is a special driver which simulates a device with seven channels each channel producing a different sig nal No special hardware is required the data values are produced by calculation The Software Signal Generator lets you experiment and practise with Windmill without being concerned about the hardware To install the signal generator you first need to add it to the list of devices In the ConflML Summary window press the Add button Section 3 4 1 Select Software Signal Generator and again press the Add button You re taken to the Hardware Settings dialogue Section 3 4 2 where you can choose options for five of the channels 3 5 Windmill 750 Manual Press the Help button in this dialogue for more information on the signal generator 3 4 9 The IML Device Icon Whenever you run a Windmill program one or more IML Device icons will appear Different icons identify different hard2. software 2 2 Plugging the Windmill 750 into the Computer Plugging the 750 into vour PC could not be easier just use the USB cable provided You don t as have to switch off vour computer or even restart Va y Windows Sli The Windmill 750 is powered from the PC you don t need an extra power supply box 2 3 The Windmill 750 s Lights The 750 has a green light labelled ENUM and a red light labelled BUSY Neither of these comes on until you have installed the Windmill software ENUM ENUM stands for Enumerated This is lit when the 750 has been powered on by the USB plug and play controller It is a good indication that the Windmill USB driver software has been correctly loaded 2 1 Windmill 750 Manual BUSV This is lit for the duration of each USB communication It is not active until the 750 has been enumerated 2 4 Using Several Windmill 750s As you can connect up to eight 750s to the PC each one must have some way of identifying itself This is provided by 3 pins on the 37 way D connector If you have just the one Windmill 750 its ID Code will be 0 and you can ignore this section The pins in question are numbers 10 28 and 29 You set an ID code by connecting these pins to 0 V as follows ID Code Pin 10 Pin 28 Pin 29 0 no no no 1 yes no no 2 no yes no 3 yes yes no 4 no no yes 5 yes no yes 6 no yes yes 7 yes yes yes See the Pin Connections Table on page 2 7 Make a note of the ID Codes
3. you ll need them when using Windmill ConfIML to install the driver software You may find it helpful to label your Windmill 750 plugs with their codes for quick identification Note Set the ID code before connecting the 750s to the PC 2 2 Using the Windmill 750 Hardware 2 5 Analogue Input Connection Notes The Windmill 750 provides 16 single ended analogue inputs It uses a 12 bit fast converter The software automatically causes 8 con versions to be taken and averaged to reduce noise 2 5 1 Single Ended Inputs With single ended inputs vou measure the difference between the input signal and the 750 ground which is connected to mains earth via the computer Differences in Earth Levels The earth is not a constant 0 V it is at different levels at different locations The further apart the locations the greater the likelihood of earth variation Make a connection between two earths and the differ ence in levels can drive large currents know as earth loops It s best practice therefore to keep vour signal sources as close to the Windmill 750 as possible Noise Errors Single ended inputs are sensitive to noise errors Noise unwanted signal contamination is added when signal wires act as aerials picking up environmental activitv Again it helps to keep vour signal wires short 2 5 2 Input Voltage Range The 750 operates correctly with input voltages in the range 10 240 V 2 5 3 Maximum Input Voltage The in
4. S type They are TTL and 5 V CMOS compatible Input Voltages should be within the range 0 to 5 V 2 7 2 Count Inputs A valid count is declared if the input is low for 2 milliseconds then high for two milliseconds This gives a theoretical maximum count speed of 250 Hz 2 7 3 Pin Numbers Make the counter connections to Port 1 of the Digital Connector The counter pin numbers are on page 2 7 2 6 Using the Windmill 750 Hardware Windmill 750 Pin Connections 19 0 V Analogue Analogue Channel 0 37 18 Analogue Channel 1 Analogue Channel 2 36 17 Analogue Channel 3 Analogue Channel 4 35 16 Analogue Channel 5 Analogue Channel 6 34 15 Analogue Channel 7 Analogue Channel 8 33 14 Analogue Channel 9 Analogue Channel 10 32 13 Analogue Channel 11 Analogue Channel 12 31 12 Analogue Channel 13 Analogue Channel 14 30 11 Analogue Channel 15 ID Code 2 29 10 ID Code 0 ID Code 1 28 9 Port 1 Bit 0 Port 1 Bit 1 27 8 Port 1 Bit 2 Port 1 Bit 3 26 7 Port 1 Bit 4 Port 1 Bit 5 25 6 Port 1 Bit 6 Port 1 Bit 7 24 5 Port 0 Bit 0 Port 0 Bit 1 23 4 Port 0 Bit 2 Port 0 Bit 3 22 3 Port 0 Bit 4 Port 0 Bit 5 21 2 Port 0 Bit 6 Port 0 Bit 7 20 1 0 V Digital Please read the Connection Notes on the previous pages before making your connections 2 7 Windmill 750 Manual 2 8 Specifications Maximum number of 750s Maximum length of cable 8 5 m per cable Maximum distance from PC can be increased bv use of USB hubs 2 8 1 A
5. Windmill 750 Manual Windmill Software Limited Manual Code WM 750 1 3 Issue Date November 2015 Information in this document is subject to change without notice Windmill Software Limited 2015 PO Box 58 North District Office Manchester M8 8QR UK Telephone 44 0 161 833 2782 E mail sales windmill co uk http www windmill co uk http www windmillsoft com Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction 1 1 Printing Using the Windmill 750 Hardware 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 1 2 8 Introduction Plugging the Windmill 750 into the Computer The Windmill 750 s Lights Using Several Windmill 750s Analogue Input Connection Notes 2 5 1 Single Ended Inputs 2 5 2 Input Voltage Range 2 5 3 Maximum Input Voltage 2 5 4 Unconnected Inputs 2 5 5 Pin Numbers Digital Input and Output Connection Notes 2 6 1 Input Voltages 2 6 2 Contact Closures 2 6 3 Output Drive 2 6 4 Pin Numbers Counter Connection Notes 2 7 1 Input Voltages 2 7 2 Count Inputs 2 7 3 Pin Numbers Specifications 2 8 1 Analogue Inputs 2 8 2 Digital Inputs and Outputs 2 8 3 Counters Windmill 750 Manual Installing and Configuring Windmill Software 3 1 Introduction 3 2 What is Windmill Software 3 3 Installing Windmill Software 3 3 1 Upgrading From Earlier Versions of Windmill 3 3 2 Running Several Copies of Windmill 3 4 Configuring Your System 3 4 1 Adding New Hardware 3 4 2 Changing Hardware S
6. e Output lines can also be con trolled by the alarm detection features of the input channels This will cause the whole port to switch to output mode You can also use port 1 for event counting in which case you must set it as an input The channels are numbered as follows 0100 Line 0 of port 0 0101 Line 1 of port 0 0102 Line 2 of port 0 0107 Line 7 of port 0 0108 Direction control signal for port 0 0109 not used 0110 Line 0 of port 1 0111 Line 1 of port 1 0117 Line 7 of port 1 0118 Direction control signal for port 1 Renaming Channels and Digital States In SetupIML you can replace the channel numbers with meaningful names By default each channel is linked to a single line and the two digital states are called ON and OFF You can also change these names to more suitable ones for example FAST and SLOW or OPEN and SHUT 4 2 Using Windmill Software with the 750 4 2 3 Grouping I O Lines into Multi Bit Channels SetupIML lets you group the lines within each port into multi bit channels which are displayed or controlled as single values transferred via the first channel in the group Multi bit values can be chosen as binary decimal or hexadecimal e g Binary Decimal Hexadecimal 11 3 3 1010 10 A 10001 17 11 11111111 255 FF Channels 0108 0118 are the direction control signals for ports 0 and 1 When set to 0 the whole port is used for input when 1 the port is used for output These channels can be
7. est Seq interprets a file of commands and controls a test rig accordingly Replay replays a data file graphically To be informed when new Windmill products are launched be given data acquisition hints and tips and read articles on measurement and control subscribe to our free newsletter Monitor ISSN 1472 0221 at http www windmill co uk newsletter html 4 5
8. ettings 3 4 3 Windmill 750 Devices 3 4 4 Setting the Working Directory 3 4 5 The ConflML Main Window 3 4 6 Saving the Settings 3 4 7 ConflML Summary Window 3 4 8 The Software Signal Generator 3 4 9 The IML Device Icon Using Windmill Software with the 750 4 1 Introduction 4 2 Options in SetupIML 4 2 1 Analogue Inputs 4 2 2 Digital Ports 4 2 3 Grouping I O Lines into Multi Bit Channels 4 2 4 Event Counters 4 3 The Rest of the Windmill Software Suite H Introduction Introduction Thank vou for purchasing the Windmill 750 package This Manual tells you e About the 750 unit and how to connect your signals Chapter 2 e How to install the Windmill software Chapter 3 e How to use Windmill software with the 750 unit Chapter 4 To use the 750 package you need a PC with a USB port It should be running Windows 98SE Windows 2000 or later 1 1 Printing This manual has been designed to be printed on A5 size paper When printing to A4 paper if your printer permits you can print 2 pages of the Manual onto one A4 sheet in landscape orientation 1 1 Windmill 750 Manual 1 2 Using the Windmill 750 Hardware Using the Windmill 750 Hardware 2 1 Introduction The Windmill 750 lets vou monitor 16 analogue voltage inputs 16 digital inputs amp outputs and 8 counters This chapter tells vou how to connect vour signals to the 750 After making vour connections see Chapter 3 for details of installing the
9. ld give a reading in litres 4 4 Using Windmill Software with the 750 4 3 The Rest of the Windmill Software Suite The Windmill suite of software that comes with the 750 comprises ConfIML SetupIML the displav and control pan els AnalogOut DigitalOut amp DDE Panel Logger and Chart The display and control panels let you send data to or display data from any number of analogue and digital channels Logger logs data to disk from up to 100 channels whilst Chart displays moving charts of data from up to 8 channels For more channels or different logging and charting speeds simply run more instances of Logger and Chart Full details of all these programs are given in their on line Help files Alternatively you can buy the Windmill Manual from our Internet catalogue at http www windmillsoft com Should you need more sophisticated analysis or presentation you can share data with other Windows applications using dynamic data exchange DDE For example you can process data as it s collected using Microsoft Excel See the DDE Panel Help file for more details We regularly update our Help files according to questions our customer ask To download the latest updates visit http www windmill co uk help html There are manv other optional programs in the Windmill range Graphics lets vou design and create vour own Windmill displavs process mimics wiring diagrams bar charts annunicator pan els whatever you wish T
10. ll co uk install hardware windows7 html 3 2 Installing and Configuring Windmill Software 3 4 Configuring Your System The Windmill Configuration program ConflML records the details of your data acquisition hardware It will run at the end of the installation process and you should run it again from Windows whenever your acquisition hardware changes for example when you install additional units Configure IML Hardware IX Hardware Device Save Device D Software Signal Generator Seven Channels Cancel Settings di Eomm Software Signal Generator Remove IML device number 0 module number 0 Software 5 Directory Confiml 6 00 Copyright Windmill Software Ltd 2003 Help ConfIML Window Description Eee jie Breon jE The first thing you need to do is press the Add button to include your Windmill 750 unit 3 3 Windmill 750 Manual 3 4 1 Adding New Hardware The Add IML Hardware dialogue lists the acquisition and control devices for which vou have installed drivers Select the Windmill 750 Unit and press the Add button This will take vou to the Hardware Settings dialogue Section 3 4 2 3 4 2 Changing Hardware Settings ConfIML needs to know some information about your 750 unit The Default button will reset all the answers to Windmill s default settings Settings for IML device number 0 module number 0 x Settings for Device 750 USB Analogue Inp
11. nalogue Inputs Number of inputs Maximum safe input voltage Computer on Computer off Transient Range Maximum linearity error Input impedance Resolution 16 48 V 33 V 300 V 410 240 V 1 LSB 100 MQ 12 bits 2 8 2 Digital Inputs and Outputs Maximum number of inputs Maximum number of outputs Power up state Maximum speed Voltage Inputs Compatibility Range Voltage Outputs Compatibility Drive 2 8 3 Counters Maximum number of counters Resolution Type of counters Maximum count speed Compatibility Input voltage range 16 16 all inputs 160 channels per second TTL and 5 V CMOS O0to5V TTL and 5 V CMOS 15 LSTTL loads 8 16 bits Event totalise 160 counts per second TTL and 5 V CMOS O0to5V 2 8 Installing and Configuring Windmill Software Installing and Configuring Windmill Software 3 1 Introduction This chapter explains how to install and configure the Windmill measurement and control software There are two steps 1 Install the software onto the hard disk 2 Tell the software about the hardware vou have For installation vou will need a personal computer with a USB port that is running Windows 98SE Windows 2000 or later 3 2 What is Windmill Software Windmill is a ready to run suite of applications for data acquisition and control You can be up and running in very little time as no programming is required The standard suite includes data logging charting and o
12. put multiplexers are protected against dc voltages of 33 V above the power supply This means 48 V if the computer is switched on 33 V if it is switched off If the over voltage is transient then protec tion extends as far as 300 V When a voltage above the power supply is applied to the unit its protection mechanism comes into action and this draws some current from the signal source This effect can be a problem when the computer is switched off as it now draws current 2 3 Windmill 750 Manual from anv signal This current is limited bv 4K7 resistors Extra series resistors can be added to reduce this fault current 2 5 4 Unconnected Inputs You can leave unused inputs unconnected but if you attempt to read from these unconnected inputs do not expect to get 0 V They could be any value If another connected channel has recently been read the unconnected input will return a similar value This is not crosstalk It occurs because the input capacitance of the amplifier is charged to the voltage of the previous channel and has little incentive to change when connected to an open circuit 2 5 5 Pin Numbers Make your connections to the 37 way D connector as detailed in the table on page 2 7 2 4 Using the Windmill 750 Hardware 2 6 Digital Input and Output Connection Notes The Windmill 750 provides digital input to the computer and output control bv the computer Its 16 general purpose input and output lines are ar
13. ranged in 2 groups or ports Each port can be either input or out put set using the Windmill SetupIML program All ports power up as inputs The ports are referred to as Port 0 and Port 1 Port 1 also func tions as 8 event counters detailed in the next section 2 6 1 Input Voltages All inputs are high impedance CMOS type They are TTL and 5 V CMOS compatible Input Voltages should be within the range 0 to 5 V 2 6 2 Contact Closures You can interface to contact closures using a resistor to tie the input to either 5 or 0 V The contact then switches the line to either 0 or 5 V 2 6 3 Output Drive The outputs are TTL and 5 V CMOS compatible They can drive 15 LSTTL loads 2 6 4 Pin Numbers Make the I O connections to the digital 37 way connector See the Pin Connections Table on page 2 7 2 5 Windmill 750 Manual 2 7 Counter Connection Notes The Windmill 750 provides eight 16 bit totalise event counters which can each count up to 65535 These are located on Port 1 of the digital I O connector If you are using counters set Port 1 as an input only using the Windmill SetupIML software The 750 monitors the state of the 8 input lines once every milli second and maintains a count for each of them It does this whether or not you intend to use the lines as counters You can still read Port 1 asa normal digital input even if you are also using it to count 2 7 1 Input Voltages All inputs are high impedance CMO
14. utput control applications You can also transfer data directly into third party applications like Microsoft Excel or Access Other Windmill modules are available see our Internet catalogue for details at www windmillsoft com 3 3 Installing Windmill Software 1 Connect the 750 data acquisition unit to your computer as detailed in Chapter 2 2 Install the Windmill software Insert the CD The Installation software should run automati cally If not select Run from the Start menu and type d setup where d is your CD drive 3 1 Windmill 750 Manual 3 At the end of installation the Configuration pro gram ConflML starts This asks you for details of your data acquisition hardware and the default working directory See Section 3 4 for details 3 3 1 Upgrading From Earlier Versions of Windmill You can run Windmill alongside earlier versions of the software Once you are happy that you no longer need a previous copy of Windmill simply run its Uninstall program to delete it 3 3 2 Running Several Copies of Windmill Unless you have bought a multiple licence you are only permitted to run one copy of the software at any one time Please contact your supplier if you require a multiple licence 3 3 3 Installing Under Windows 7 8 and Later If you are using Windows 8 or 10 and you encounter problems with your USB devices see http www windmill co uk usb device windows8 html For Windows 7 see http www windmi
15. uts Which type of card do you have I 750 he ID Code of the 750 Unit fo x Cancel Default Help The ConfIML Settings Screen Which Type of Card do you have Choose the 750 ID Code of the 750 Unit As you can connect several 750s to your PC you need to tell ConfIML which one you are currently configuring Do this by selecting the correct ID Code If you have only one 750 its ID Code is 0 There should be as many ID codes as there are 750 units connected and each code should be different If not change the codes on individual units as detailed in Chapter 2 Using the 750 Hardware 3 4 3 Windmill 750 Devices After making your choices and pressing OK your 750 is shown as 3 hardware devices 750 analogue inputs 750 digital ports and 750 event counters 3 4 Installing and Configuring Windmill Software 3 4 4 Setting the Working Directory When you use Windmill you will create two types of files those which hold data and those which hold the Windmill programs settings You can specify a default folder in which to store these files known as the Working Directory Initially the working directory is set to wherever you installed Windmill To change this press the Directory button Choose a new directory folder and press Save Windmill will cre ate two sub directories under this choice called setup and data All the Windmill settings will be stored in setup and all the data you collect stored in
16. viewed and also altered but they are normally disabled and must be explicitly enabled from SetupIML before use As noted above direction control can usually be sensed automatically by the software 4 3 Windmill 750 Manual 4 2 4 Event Counters The Windmill 750 unit provides eight 16 bit event counters The default names are 0200 0201 0202 etc Each counter starts at zero and counts pulses on the corresponding input lines to a maximum of 65535 They can be reset to zero at any time by sending O to the channel using the AnalogOut Graphics or Test Seq programs No other values can be sent to the counters You can use SetupIML to e change the names enable or disable each channel choose one of two operating modes accumulating count or resetting count apply a scale factor or offset to the count Accumulating Count Simply keeps counting until explicitly reset Resetting Count Starts again from zero after each reading This shows the number of pulses since the last reading but it can only be used where a single program is reading the counter If several different programs were accessing the counter simultaneously they would all be resetting it at different times so the results would be unpredictable Scale Factor and Offset SetupIML lets you apply a scale factor and offset to the count For example if the pulses came from a flow meter which produced one pulse for each 50 millilitres then a scale factor of 0 05 wou
17. ware drivers software signal generators and so on The Windmill applications can t run without these so don t close them whilst using Windmill 3 6 Using Windmill Software with the 750 Using Windmill Software with the 750 4 1 Introduction This chapter explains which settings in the Windmill SetupIML program applv to the 750 Make sure your 750 is plugged into the computers USB port before starting the Windmill software 4 2 Options in SetupIML SetupIML is the Windmill program that lets you save libraries of setup files each holding details about how you want to use individual channels A Windmill 750 is shown as 3 devices in SetupIML Analogue Inputs Digital Inputs and Event Counters Choose one from SetupIML s Device menu Now double click a channel to configure it Full details of using SetupIML are in its Help file 4 2 1 Analogue Inputs The input channels are numbered 0 to 15 Using SetupIML you can configure each channel as follows e enable or disable e re name e give a new units name scale factor and offset e set alarm levels 4 1 Windmill 750 Manual 4 2 2 Digital Ports The Windmill 750 unit provides two digital ports each with 8 lines You can use each port for input or output You can explicitly control the choice or it can be deduced automatically by the software All ports start as inputs but if any data is sent to a port by a Windmill program it immediately switches to output mod
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