Electrical tester to record pulses?

[Russg123]

Hi, I'm Russell and new to the forum. By the looks of things there are lots of interesting topics and plenty of helpful people here, so I hope you can help me.

I'm having a problem with the communication between a bagging machine and weigher. The pulse signal from the PLC that tells the weigher to drop is sometimes drifting. I'm looking to buy some kind of electrical tester that can record pulses over a long time and be analysed easily. I'm thinking some kind of portable oscilloscope could do the job, but unsure which one to pick, and realize some can be very expensive.

Edit: Just to be clearer, I want to record a 24VDC signal/pulse over an hour or more and would like to view the data through some kind of graph or table.

Thanks,

Russell

 

[Windadct]

Hello Russ - sorry but "that tells the weigher to drop is sometimes drifting" I really can not understand.

You will need to provide more specific info to get good support here.

 

[Russg123]

Hello Russ - sorry but "that tells the weigher to drop is sometimes drifting" I really can not understand.

You will need to provide more specific info to get good support here.

Thanks for the response, but actually that part of my post is not really needed to understand what I'm after, but now I think about it I could have added better information, so, sorry for not being clearer.

Basically, I want to find a tester that can record 2 or more pulses in a control circuit to and from a PLC (24VDC), and be able to analyse the data in some kind of graph / table form.

I hope that's easier to understand

 

[Bobbywhy]

Strip chart recorder?

This one converts the signals to digital data on your laptop via software:
http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/Software-transforms-PC-into-virtual-strip-chart-recorder-451222

 

[skeptic2]

Logic analyzer?

 

[Integral]

Do a search on data loggers. You may be able to find what you need at reasonable cost.

 

[Russg123]

Strip chart recorder?

This one converts the signals to digital data on your laptop via software:
http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/Software-transforms-PC-into-virtual-strip-chart-recorder-451222

Thanks. What kind of hardware do you need to work with this software?

 

[Bobbywhy]

Here are some of the manufacturer’s interface products:
http://www.astro-med.com/data_acquisition_systems/accessories

Normally a company like this has sales engineers ready and willing to communicate with you about your technical requirements, and, of course, sell you whatever you need.

May I suggest you not limit yourself to just one supplier/source? I would search out several options, then choose one that suits your needs best.

Cheers,
Bobbywhy