Measuring voltage of AA battery using NI USB 6008

[Joseph RD]

First I would like to know if my idea is possible: I want to measure the voltage of a AA battery while it is being used in a flashlight with my NI DAQ-6008, I want to record the voltage and make a plot of voltage as a function of time.

If this is possible, does anyone have any suggestions as to the best way to go about collecting this data.

Thanks

[Pete.Dunc]

Thanks for joining the forums! 

This is possible, and sounds like a cool way to check if your flashlight is going to run out of battery!

If you are new to LabVIEW, you would probably look to use the Express VIs, DAQ Assistant in particular, to set up an analogue input voltage.  When you pick the channel to read, AI0 for example, you can look at the connection diagram to see what you need to wire up.

The following snippet shows a very basic DAQ program which reads from an AI channel and displays on a graph.

[Pete.Dunc]

Also, there is a DAQ Assistant Tutorial at this link.

[johnsold]

Joseph RD,

I used a 6009 to measure the voltages and currents from an array of homemade copper/zinc/lemon juice batteries over several months.  So, yes, it can be done.

I want to see the flashlight being used with the USB-6008 and a laptop trailing along behind!

Lynn