National Instruments PXI-8420/2 RS-232 Interface

The National Instruments PXI-8420/2 is an RS-232 Serial Interface for PXI systems. It is a synchronous interface that can be used for communicating with instruments through serial ports. This model is offered with 2 ports (Part Number: 777733-02). The 2-Port board comes equipped with DB-9 connectors, whereas 10-position modular jacks are utilized as I/O connectors in 4-port models.  The 8-port version of the PXI-8420 incorporates an SCSI 68-pin interface, while SCSI 100-pin female connectors are provided in its 16-port version.

The National Instruments PXI-8420/2 allows the user to communicate with devices operating at nonstandard baud rates ranging from 57 b/s up to 2 Mb/s within 1 percent. In addition, the multiprocessor and hyperthreading capabilities on this model enables the user to take advantage of state-of-the-art, modern PC technology for improved efficiency. This product is offered with new driver software that offers better DMA access and better resource allocation for higher throughput with minimum CPU usage. This Interface Module is a universal PCI board, since it is fully compatible with both 3.3 and 5 V signaling environments and it can work in a broad variety of PCs.

The PXI 8420/2 has a power requirement of 100 mA typical and 150 mA maximum at +5 VDC, 20 mA typical and 200 mA maximum at +12 VDC.
The NI PXI 8420/2 RS-232 Interface Module comes with a 64 B FIFO and it offers 115.2 kb per second transfer rates. This board can easily be installed as a standard serial port from an already existing application or with the help of applications written in NI-VISA or development environments like Visual Basic, Visual C++, and Excel.

The NI device measures 6.37 x 3.94 in. in physical dimensions. It has a recommended operating temperature range of 0 to 55 °C, a storage temperature range of –20 to 70 °C, non-condensing operating and storage humidity ranges of 10 to 90% RH and 5 to 95% RH respectively. The module has a maximum cable length of 30 m (RS-485) and 2,500 pF equivalent (RS-232). It is designed to comply with the following electrical safety standards: IEC 61010-1, EN 61010-1, UL 61010-1, CSA 61010-1.