USB-TC vs Pico Tech TC-08

[evan.shultz]

My use is simple temp measurements with type K thermocouples. 8 channels will be fine for me. I am looking to capture the data over time at a variety of conditions on a PCBA and have a single chart of the temp vs time over a duration of a couple hours at most. Very basic usage.

I would like to know how the USB-TC compares with a Pico Tech TC-08. I have used the TC-08 in the past. but the USB-TC is at a lower price and has digital I/O. Is there a comparison between these two products or user experience of the hardware and capabilities?

Relatedly, the Pico Tech software is now really good (to me, anyway) and this is important as well. How does DAQami compare? It seems similar on YouTube, but that doesn't compare to someone having actually used both for real work. Is configuration really just as easy in both software packages? What about data export flexibility? https://files.digilent.com/datasheets/DAQami-data.pdf says I can export to CSV, but what about getting an image of the chart? Is there a tool to do that, or just with a screenshot tool?

Finally, can the a digital output on a USB-TC be made to switch on and off at specified durations and loop that behavior continually? I am wondering if I would be able to use output that to drive a power cycle system.

[Fausto]

Hello @evan.shultz.

I am not aware of bench test comparisons between the two devices.

DAQami is easy to use as seen in this YouTube video.

With regards to an image of the data chart, DAQami does have a feature to copy the Strip display to Windows clipboard.  Alternatively, a user can export the data to a .CSV file and use a third party application to view the data.

 

With DAQami, a user can manually control the digital output, not automated.  If your application requires control and automation, then consider DASYLab instead.

 

Lastly, the digital output channels on the USB-TC are TTL levels, but not enough to drive your power cycle system without an external circuit to provide your required current.

Regards,

Fausto

[evan.shultz]

Hi Fausto,

Thanks for the reply! This is helpful information and I had already watched several videos of DAQami in action.

Can you help me understand why Instacal is a separate program? Is that because it's used for various 'downstream' tools such as DAQami and DASYLab?

See the simplicity of PicoLog 6 in the video below. I've no doubt the USB-TC is a powerful piece of hardware and it compares well against the TC-08, but the applications appear far more clunky and cumbersome to use; I guess it's an analog to many other things in life where there is a choice between simplicity and speed for 80% of use cases or wading through additional overhead even if simple is all that's needed the vast majority of the time. Even though the software for USB-TC feels far less polished to me right now, I suspect with a couple of uses it will feel comfortable and easy to use, though.

[Fausto]

Hello @evan.shultz.

MCC's InstaCal application is an utility application to detect whether or not a MCC device is connected to the Windows host system, in addition to configuring the analog input channels and installing the necessary MCC device driver files on the target system.  The suggested MCC graphical applications for test and measurement purposes would be DAQami and DASYLab.

Regards,

Fausto

[evan.shultz]

Hello again. What speed can the USB-TC toggle the outputs? Would I be able to generate a digital bitstream with 100ns resolution? I do not see timing information on digital I/O at https://files.digilent.com/manuals/USB-TC.pdf, but perhaps I'm just missing it.

[Fausto]

Hello @evan.shultz.

In table 5 on page 15 of the USB-TC user's guide, for Digital I/O transfer rate, it states "Digital output: 100 port writes or single bit writes per second, typ".

[evan.shultz]

Ahh. I missed that. Thank you!