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Technical Support Q&A
How do I get my company to send me to the training classes in San Jose? A. Mention the great investment in your efficiency, and that you will receive personal tutoring on the best way to use your Data Physics equipment. Throw in the phrase ‘maximize your return on investment’. Mention how experienced the teachers are, and how hard you work while you’re here. Talk about the mix of theory and hands-on measurement practice. Offer to stay over a Saturday to save the company money. Do NOT use the words ‘beach’, ‘microbrewery’, or ‘sunbathing in October’ or you’ll probably find your boss coming here instead. How do I get the best possible tech support? A. When you call, get a phone next to the computer your analyzer or controller is on so we can talk you through things in real-time. When you e-mail, write down everything you can think of that might possibly be relevant: equipment type and serial number (so we know what we’ve sent you), software version number (so we know what you’re running, in case you haven’t installed the latest version), every parameter setting, and what happens that gives you trouble. For example: ACE 6776 running under Windows 2000 Professional with SignalCalc ver 3.0.428. Auto power test, stable averaging, generator on 200 Hz sine, all other parameters default settings. Display G1,1. Problem: The data is displayed in furlongs/fortnight and I want it in parsecs/millennium. If the setup is complex, we may ask you to zip up your setup file and e-mail it to tech support so that they can duplicate the problem more easily. Can I make a remote connection? I need to put the shaker and controller in a blockhouse 500 feet away from me. How can I remote the monitor and keyboard? A. Easily, since the Vector is a network peripheral, it can even be placed 500 miles away and connected to your computer via the internet. Since the DSP power in the Vector is local to the shaker, real-time performance remains excellent. The display update rate will depend on the available bandwidth of the network connection. Do I need to calibrate my system? A. SignalCalc systems contain analog electronic components, so it is important to calibrate them on a regular basis. We recommend calibrating the system every six months. SignalCalc 190 (ACE) and 390 (all other DP hardware) Calibration Software meets MIL-STD 45662A and ANSI/NCSL-Z540-1-1994 when the digital voltmeter used for calibration is traceable through its own calibration. System requirements for calibration: HP34401A or Fluke 45 (390 only) or Keithley 2000 Digital Voltmeter Cabling as needed Source (internal or external) New systems are in factory calibration for 6 months. After that there are several options: Buy SignalCalc calibration software, and do your own calibrating. Send units in for calibration. We take care of everything and ship them back. Ignore the whole calibration thing unless measurements begin to drift noticeably. Generally, calibration software costs less than two factory calibrations. If keeping your systems in calibration is important to you, the software is a good investment. All things being equal, we’d rather you didn’t go for option 3. It’s like not balancing your checkbook: you’ll do fine for a time, but the maintenance is a fairly small investment to make sure you haven’t got your numbers wrong in some critical place. Do I need to have Administrator Privileges to install software under Windows NT? Yes. You don’t need them to run the software. What are the different formats that I can export to? ASCII, SignalStar, UFF (SDRC Universal File Format), ME’Scope, SMS Star, VEC Modal, SDF (HP Standard Data Format), and Matlab. Can I import ASCII data for playback analysis? Yes. If you have time data in an ASCII file, you can read in the ASCII data file and the analyzer will save it as an SDF file, the format native to the analyzers. How do I export data from a Data Physics analyzer to Excel? Click on the Signal Map. Find the Export Target. Right-click on it to bring up a menu of export formats. Excel can read ASCII files, so select ASCII and click on OK. Now there is an ASCII folder under Export Targets. Drag the signals you want to save in ASCII format to this folder. If you want more control over the form and location of the ASCII files, just right-click on the ASCII target for setup options. I exported x(t) and Gxx(f) for channels 1-3 into Universal File Format, but I can’t find the files. Where are they? If you right-clicked on the UFF target, you chose where to put them, but let’s assume you allowed the software to place the signals in its default location. When you started your test, you were prompted to save it. Perhaps you picked a name like Firsttry and placed it in a SignalCalc\Tests folder. After you save signals or End your measurement (which saves signals by default), you would then see a folder named Firsttry within your Tests folder. Looking in Firsttry, you’ll see one or more Run folders and a UFF folder. Inside the UFF folder are files with names like X1sv00000.uff, X2sv00001.uff, and G1,1sv00000.uff, which contain your measurements. X2sv00001.uff would be your first saved time domain signal from channel 2. The *00000.uff signals are the set that is automatically saved when you select End to finish a run – the last known state of the analyzer. How do I compare this measurement to a previous one? In the Signal Map, click on the Browse button at the bottom. Find the Test, Run, and signal you want to compare to. Double click on the signal to add it to the Signal Map as a User Signal. Now you can use and display it just like a current measurement. Why should I give you my contact information? I don’t want you sending me junk mail. No, but if you’ve bought from us, you probably would like to know about software updates, and we want you to have them. And yes, we might mail you an announcement that we’re offering training classes, but we won’t sell your name and we won’t deluge you with mailings. What are $ variables, how can I use them in my reports? You can create text templates for any annotation box, title field, or Header/Footer, such that relevant information is included in each report. $Var (Dollar Variables) are a series of names identifying parameters of the test or signal. When you include the $Var name in a template, its actual value is inserted in the text, replacing the $Var name. For example, you can annotate your report with text such as "My report $sysdate testing the XYZ Box on the $sysfreq frequency range". What about security? Can I prevent operators from changing the tests I set up? Yes. It’s very common to need two levels of access, one to set up the system and another to operate it. You can even establish operator prompts, so that the system will guide an inexperienced operator through a pre-defined measurement. I am getting ‘Co-Installation Engine Failure messages’ installing ACE software, what do I need to do? The above message can show up in different forms when installing software under Win 95: 'Setup failed to launch installation engine' 'Co-initialize has not been called' 'OLE Initialization Failed' Solution: The problem goes away by installing dcom95.exe from Microsoft web pages; these files can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/com/dcom/dcom95/download.asp Can I calibrate my transducers using your Analyzers? How? Transducer Calibration software, standard on all analyzers since release 3.0, automates calibration of sound and vibration sensors and updates the Input Channels Table with the actual sensitivity of the transducer being used. Transducer Calibration can also be used with multi-output calibrators to calibrate multiple channels at the same time. A microphone icon in the Parameter Dialog tool bar opens the Transducer Calibration dialog box. Enter the parameters as needed and click START. The system will compute the transducer sensitivities and place the correct values in the open test Channels table. Can I define my own default tests? Yes. The default tests are located under SignalCalc\550\Defaults.550. There is a default for each type of test. Default.rvc for Random tests, Default.svc for Sine, Default.sor for Sine On Random, etc. Before you change the defaults, it would be safest to save backup copies in case you ever want to restore the original defaults (Consider making a Defaults\bak folder to keep them handy but out of the way). In order to create your own default tests, open a new test and set the layouts the way you like them: name, number of graphs, colors, X/Y axis labels...). For details on how to set up new layouts please see the online help "How to set up and use graphs and reports". Next, you need to save the test as Default.xxx in your test directory (Do not try to overwrite the current default in Defaults.550. It will not work, as the factory provided defaults are read-only). After you have created your default tests in your test directory, you can copy them over to Defaults.550, which is where the 550 looks for them. Once you’ve done this, each time you click on the New Test icon, your own defaults should come up. How can I check my accelerometer and connections? First, check that the ICP power supply voltage is ok by using a multimeter to measure the DC voltage available at its BNC connector. The voltage between the ICP BNC center-pin and the ICP BNC barrel is usually between 20 volts and 25 volts when no transducer is connected. If it does not exceed 20 volts, the power supply might be turned off or broken, or the batteries might be bad. 2, Second, check that the ICP current is ok by connecting a multimeter (set up to measure DC current) between the ICP BNC center-pin and the ICP BNC barrel. The measured current is usually between 2 and 10 mA. If it is not, the power supply may need adjustment or repair, or the batteries might be bad. 3. Finally, connect a wire between the ICP BNC barrel and the accelerometer cable BNC barrel. Then use a multimeter to measure the DC current between the ICP BNC center-pin and the accelerometer BNC center-pin -- the current should be approximately the same value measured in step 2 above. If it is very low or zero, then the wire to the accelerometer is open (unconnected) or the accelerometer is broken. 4, A quicker way (than steps 1,2,3 above) to check that the accelerometer is properly powered is to connect the accelerometer to the ICP box using a BNC Tee connector. Then measure the voltage at the Tee using a multimeter. The measured voltage is usually between 8 and 13 volts. If it is very high (e.g. 18 volts), then the accelerometer wire is open (unconnected) or the accelerometer is broken. If is is very low (e.g. zero or 2 volts), then the power supply might be off or faulty, or the batteries might be bad, or the accelerometer wire might be shorted to ground somewhere, or the accelerometer might be broken. 5, Remember -- bad connections are the most common problem and bad batteries are the second most common problem (in battery-powered ICP boxes, of course). ICP® is a registered trademark of PCB Group, Inc., Depew, New York |