TC-08 - Voltage measuring

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battywoo
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TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by battywoo »

We currently use TC-08 for temperature and voltage measuring. Channel 1-6 are for thermocouples inputs while channel 7-8 are for voltage measuring (0-5V). We got two TC-08 Single-Channel Terminal Boards to convert the voltage. (switch set to OFF).

The problem is that when we try to measure the voltages from a circuit, the readings of all channels get crazy. Seems that the introduction of voltages interfere the whole system. The circuit is powered by a power supply and the TC-08 is connected to a laptop with power plugged. They are connected to the same power outlet.

BTW, if we try to measure the voltage of a AA battery, the readings seem good.
Could you please provide us some ideas to solve this problem? Thanks

Martyn
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Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by Martyn »

Try with the laptop running on it's battery, and if this doesn't fix things then try to make sure that there is a common ground between your circuit and the laptop, plugging into the same power outlet may not be sufficient.

What are the thermocouples connected to and measuring ?
Martyn
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battywoo
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Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by battywoo »

Thank you for the reply. Laptop running on battery didn't fix that.

The thermocouples are grounded K-type thermocouples to measure the temperatures in a burner. Some of them touch the metal surface. Some are not.

I will try to connect the common ground of the circuit to the burner's metal surface to see if that works.

fredrik
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Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by fredrik »

Battywoo: did it fix your problem? I have the same issue. If i put in the single channel terminal board and measure voltage (0-5V) the thermocouple readings go crazy. If I then connect the terminal board to ground the thermocouples are good but the voltage measurement is wrong (more than if not grounded). Can also this be a problem of having different earthing locations for the computer and the terminal boards?

Previously I solved this by having only one terminal board per TC08 logger, but it is an expensive solution.

Hitesh

Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by Hitesh »

Hi fredrik,

Try ensuring that the computer and terminal boards are using a common ground reference.

Are the thermocouples touching any ceramic surfaces at high temperatures or metal surfaces?

Regards,

fredrik
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Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by fredrik »

Hi Hatesh. Thanks for answering

I have tried that but it doesn't help. Below is the result of some of the measurements I did when trying to fix this. I will look into this more tomorrow, and it would be great with some advice.

With no earthing I get the following readings when both terminal boards are insterted in the logger:
condensing: 11,9 mV
evaporating: 4,76 mV

with only the condensing inserted:
condensing: 10,5 mV

with only evaporating inserted:
evaporating: 4,22 mV

only condensing with earting of the terminal
condensing: 24mV

Regards
Fredrik

Hitesh

Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by Hitesh »

Hi Fredrik,

Please ensure that the voltages being input to the TC-08 after the scale-down by the resistors does not exceed the Common Mode voltage range (+/- 7.5V).

If you could provide a diagram or photograph showing the connections to the terminal board and where they connect to, that might be helpful.

Regards,

fredrik
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Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by fredrik »

Hi again

Problem solved. It was correct to connect the terminal boards to earth. We had done it wrong previously and I got confused.

Hitesh

Re: TC-08 - Voltage measuring

Post by Hitesh »

Hi Fredrik,

Thanks for the update - good to hear it is working :D

Regards,

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