Analog Discovery 3 problem

[Eddi]

Hi all,
I just started to use an AD3 and here started with the getting started guide.

Unfortunately I only see the attached scope printout.

Do I do something wrong? (1+ is connected to W1, 1- is connected to ground, all other connectors unconnected/open)

Thanks in advance for your help and best regards,
Eckhard

Edited October 14, 2023 by Eddi
It turned out, that this malfunction is related to connecting the AD3 via an USB 3.0 Hub. After connecting directly to the PC, it works good.

[attila]

Hi @Eddi

Probably it was powering issue. The Wavegen was showing Config instead Running.

[wos]

On 10/16/2023 at 9:29 AM, attila said:

Hi @Eddi

Probably it was powering issue. The Wavegen was showing Config instead Running.

This was an important note!  :-D

I was using AD2 before and never had an issue, with AD3 I saw a similar issue on the oscilloscope, after switching on some more functions. Also on the voltmeter, I saw strange voltages like -28V or so (w/o anything connected to 1+/- or 2+/-). I have several AD3 (in our student lab), so I tried another one and I always saw the same issue after some time (not right from the beginning).

The problem was a dodgy USB hub, which was supposed to ensure that there is enough power delivered to the device (instead of using the PC USB port directly - also to "protect" the PC port a bit better)... :-(

Thus a question / request related to that, please (as something like that may happen at any time - due to grounding issues, defect cables because of frequent lab usage,...):

When I use the SDK, is there the possibility to check (via the API), if the device is (not) powered properly? I couldn't find anything in the reference manual.

If not, would it be possible to provide an API for that? This would also allow to add a feature for a warning in Waveforms as well...

Thanks,
Wolfgang

[attila]

Hi @wos

The latest software version will detect such power failure during initial configuration or later.

This is not documented but the AIO 15:0 returns 1 if device is ON and 0 if it is OFF for every device.
See the following example: AnalogIO_AnalogDiscovery3_SystemMonitor.py

if dwf.FDwfDeviceOpen(c_int(-1), byref(hdwf)) == 0 or hdwf.value == hdwfNone.value:
    dwf.FDwfGetLastErrorMsg(szerr)
    print("Failed to open device:")
    print(szerr.value.decode())
    quit()

dwf.FDwfGetLastErrorMsg(szerr)
if len(szerr.value) != 0:
    print("Warning:")
    print(szerr.value.decode())

...
    if dwf.FDwfAnalogIOStatus(hdwf) == 0 :
        dwf.FDwfGetLastErrorMsg(szerr)
        print("Communication error:")
        print(szerr.value.decode())
        break;

    dwf.FDwfAnalogIOChannelNodeStatus(hdwf, c_int(15), c_int(0), byref(dsts))
    if dsts.value == 1: print("Device is ON")
    else: print("Device is OFF")