Technical Guide to Connect 4-20 mA Signals to Accsense Datalogging Pods

CAS DataLoggers has released a brief technical guide for connecting and scaling 4-20 mA signals to Accsense A1-10 Wireless Current Data Loggers. The A1-10 Pod can be used in various applications, including health sciences, healthcare, manufacturing and research for recording and monitoring current.

The wireless current data logger allows the number of sensors per pod to be increased. This will help lower the overall cost for each measurement. Six sensors of 4-20 mA output can be connected to the data logger pod.

The first phase involves making the connections. The A1-10 pod accommodates two digital switch inputs and six analog inputs. For wiring an input current, the 4-9 pins can be used for the signal return. For the ground, pin 10 or pin 1 can be used. This will lead to the ‘channel 1’ input to be on terminal 4, and the ‘channel 2’ input to be on terminal 5.

The second part involves scaling of the sensors. This requires Accsense’s Online Calibration Coefficients utility, which will help scale up the sensors for reading in the appropriate engineering units. The utility is easy to navigate. Its default setting is set for 4-20 mA. Next, based on the transducer’s capability in the range of 0-5000 psi, the ‘Physical Input Range’ boxes that match the top and bottom measurements must be set. Once the numbers are entered, ‘Calculate’ must be pressed which will lead to population of the ‘Coefficient’ boxes. The ‘Advanced’ tab for probe preferences will also get populated. In the ‘General’ tab, the units should be set properly.

The Accsense Datalogging Pod will now provide correct, scaled output in the downloaded data and the graph.

Source: http://www.dataloggerinc.com/