calibrating my system with MPA32 tester?

Hello everyone,

I am using the flexMEA72 with two MPA32i, a PGA and the PCI-6071E data acquisition card from national instruments (with some connectorboxes in between).

I need to find a way to figure out how big my recorded signals actually are. I think the easiest way to do this is by connecting a pulse generator to the tester/sink that comes with the MPA32i and simply measure the pulse at the other end of the system using a labview script.

Could I connect my pulse generator to the ground/optional signal IN pair of pins? Or should I use the test signal IN and REF IN pins?
What is the input range I could use for this? (I would really hate to fry my poor preamps in all my enthusiasm...)

Any help is much appreciated,
Susan

P.S. I am not sure if I posted this in the correct board. If not, please feel free to move it.

Hi SusanL,

yes, you may connect your pulse generator to the test model probe.
The probe is delivered with 2 jumpers on it of which one connects REF to GND and the other one SIGIN to GND.
To introduce a test pulse to your system you have to disconnect the SIGIN to GND jumper and connect your generator instead.
REF is kept to GND.
If you look at the MPA32I_manual on page 5, the left jumper is the one to connect SIGIN to GND.

Therefor Please see:
http://www.multichannelsystems.com/sites/multichannelsystems.com/files/documents/manuals/MPA32I_Manual.pdf

More information about connecting the test model probe you will find on page 17 in the same manual.
Here you can see that the pin closer to the edge of the board is connected to GND.

The input range of the MPA32I is limited to +/-0,5Volts by the supply voltage (+/- 5Volts) divided by the gain (*10).

Any amplifier you use after the MPA32I will decrease the input range depending on the supply voltage divided by the amplifiers gain.

If the signal you provide to the MPA32I exceeds +/-0,5Volts, the amplifier will not be damaged immediately, but the signal will be clipped.

If there are still questions abuot using the test model probe please feel free to ask.

regards

Endi