Configuring Counters in Your Channel Specification

Add counters to a project by configuring signals in the Channel Specification.Use these steps to configure counters for counter modules, such as the NI-9361, and onboard counters.

Note To learn more about onboard counters and how they behave differently from counter modules, refer to Onboard Counters.
  1. Select one or more channels to configure.
  2. Hover over a channel row and click Configure .

    The configure gear appears only when selecting multiple channels of the same data type (analog, digital, counter, calculated, and so on). If channels of different data types are selected, the configure gear will not appear.

  3. Optional: Specify the channel name in the Name field.
  4. Select the Physical Measurement you want to acquire for this channel.
    Note For information on which physical counter measurement types are available for the sensor class you are using, refer to Supported Sensor Class Types.
  5. Select the Sensor Class you want to use to take the counter measurement.
    Additional options appear based on the selected sensor.
  6. Optional: Record any sensor information or test procedures in the Sensor Properties field. To edit the Sensor Properties field, complete the following steps:
    1. Click the Sensor properties edit icon .
    2. Fill in the information in the Sensor Properties dialog.
    The information populates the Sensor properties field of the channel configuration.
  7. Optional: Set the configuration options to the desired settings for the corresponding counter connected to the channel. You can configure scaling, electrical, alarm, advanced, and filtering settings.
    Note When selecting multiple channels, available configuration options may not be available for channels with different requirements and specifications. Available channel configuration options vary by counter measurement type.
    After you select a sensor class, Raw value on the live graph shows the electrical value the sensor is measuring without scaling. Live value shows the sensor value with the scaling configurations applied. Raw values help validate the sensor configuration and are not logged to a data file.

  8. Click Done to close the configuration dialog.
  9. In the Channel Specification, choose the data rate level from the Data Rate Level pull-down selector. Refer to Configuring Data Rates for more information.