I am getting the 3224 scope for monitoring vibration levels in the car. I am not familiar with setting up a vibration level monitoring system. I would like to know if the 3224 can be connected directly to this accelerometer from monitran MTN/1800.
Is there a need for any additional device e.g. "constant current source circuit" to power up the accelerometer or can the 3224 provide the current for the proper operation of the accelerometer?
Hi,
I have taken a look at the spec for the accelerometer you propose and you will have to buy or make a small interface box. This will contain a capacitor, a resistor & a constant current diode. It will also need a +18V to +30V supply (possibly two PP3 batteries in series will do).
You probably have this manual already:- http://www.monitran.co.uk/attachments/p ... 006203.pdf
A PicoScope will be fine to display the signal but does not output any power to drive external circuitry.
PeterF.
I had suspected that some power supply may be needed. I checked monitran site again and they have this MTN/APUS01 device, which I would think should do the job.
As I am not familiar with setting up accelerometers, can you guys suggest if this is the norm or are there any accelerometers that you can point me to that is simply plug-and-play???
Hi Andy,
If you are monitoring car body vibrations, you need a good low frequency response. That means either a powered peizo accelerometer with a built-in amplifier or bare peizo accelerometer and separate charge amplifier. If you don't use a charge amplifier, you will lose most of your low frequencies. (Don't forget to set the scope input to DC, not AC). When looking for an accelerometer, try to get one with a low frequency response down to 1Hz or below. You can buy "DC" accelerometers with infinite low frequency response, but they tend to not have very good high frequency performance. You have to decide the range of frequencies you are interested in.
Regards,
PeterF.