35 Chapter 3
3.4 Field Wiring Considerations When you use PCI-1718 cards to acquire data from outside, noises in the
environment might significantly affect the accuracy of your measure-
ments if due cautions are not taken. The following measures will be help-
ful to reduce possible interference running signal wires between signal
sources and the PCI-1718 card.
• The signal cables must be kept away from strong electromagnetic
sources such as power lines, large electric motors, circuit breakers or
welding machines, since they may cause strong electromagnetic inter-
ference. Keep the analog signal cables away from any video monitor,
since it can significantly affect a data acquisition system.
• If the cable travels through an area with significant electromagnetic
interference, you should adopt individually shielded, twisted-pair wires
as the analog input cable. This type of cable has its signal wires twisted
together and shielded with a metal mesh. The metal mesh should only
be connected to one point at the signal source ground.
• Avoid running the signal cables through any conduit that might have
power lines in it.
• If you have to place your signal cable parallel to a power line that has a
high voltage or high current running through it, try to keep a safe dis-
tance between them. Alternatively, you can place the signal cable at a
right angle to the power line to minimize the undesirable effect.
• The signals transmitted on the cable will be directly affected by the
quality of the cable. In order to ensure better signal quality, we recom-
mend that you use the PCL-10137 shielded cable.