Internal and Auxiliary Power

When drawing internal power from the PXI backplane, channel 1 of the NI PXI-4130 can source or sink up to 2 W of output power with a maximum current of 300 mA. The following figure illustrates the maximum capabilities of channel 1 when operating under internal power:

Note  Output current is limited to 100 mA when using the NI PXI-4130 Soft Front Panel.

If your application requires additional current, you can connect an auxiliary DC power supply capable of providing 11 V to 15.5 V and ≥60 W to increase the output current capability of this channel to 2 A. NI offers the APS-4100, an auxiliary power source for NI DC power supplies. Visit ni.com for more information.

Note  Channel 0 has the same output capabilities under internal power and auxiliary power.

Using Auxiliary Power

Complete the following steps to connect and use auxiliary power:

1. Connect a 11 V to 15.5 V, ≥60 W power source to the auxiliary power input connector on the NI PXI-4130 front panel.
2. Open a new session to the device. NI-DCPower automatically uses the auxiliary power source when available. To override this feature, use the niDCPower Power Source property or the NIDCPOWER_ATTR_POWER_SOURCE attribute.

   Tip  Use the niDCPower Power Source In Use property or the NIDCPOWER_ATTR_POWER_SOURCE_IN_USE attribute to programmatically determine which power source is in use.

Resuming Operation After a Shutdown

In case of auxiliary power loss during operation, the isolated output (channel 1) is disabled, and the power supply is shut down to prevent damage to the NI PXI-4130 and the load. If a shutdown occurs, complete the following steps to resume operation:

1. Troubleshoot the failure.
2. Restore auxiliary power.
3. Reset the power supply using the niDCPower Reset VI or the niDCPower_reset function.
4. Reconfigure the SMU.

Changing/Removing Auxiliary Power

Complete the following steps to change or remove auxiliary power from the NI PXI-4130:

Tip  It is often more convenient to close the existing session and open a new session to the device when managing auxiliary power state changes.

1. Disable the output channels.
2. Disconnect/connect the auxiliary power source.
3. Reset the SMU using the niDCPower Reset VI or the niDCPower_reset function.
4. Reconfigure the SMU.