Problem with Inconsistent Pin Configuration of PCI-6723 and PCI-6259

[JunjieLu]

Hello,

I am designing a PCB to be connected to the analog output card PCI-6723 and DAQ card PCI-6259 using the PCB mounted 68pin connectors: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/4798, 777600-01

The thing confused me is that the pinout of these two cards seems to be inconsistent. The pin out drawings of them can be found below:

PCI-6723 on the last page of spec. http://digital.ni.com/manuals.nsf/websearch/A5F9C0C2368DDB7E86257306007A2B2A

PCI-6259 on page 23: http://digital.ni.com/manuals.nsf/websearch/210C73CBF91128B9862572FF0076BE85

Assuming that the 68-pin D-connectors of both products are drawn with same viewing angle, the numbering of pin for one product is exactly the mirror of the other, which seems very weird to me.

I have PCI-6259 on hand and I checked the pinout by generating waveforms on several AO channels and checking the outputs at the end of the connector. The drawing of 6259 seems to be correct. Which means either the pin numbering of 6723 is inconsistent with 6259 or the drawing is mirrored for some reasons.

I further checked the reference labels of these two card for a same terminal box

Ref. Label for 6259: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/258B1EFAD99BDBC686257869006C88CE

Ref. Label for 6723: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/0698C4B461949E9B86257869006E1E1F

Here for both cards, the pin number to pin name mapping is the same for the terminal box as that for the pinout drawing above. This implies that the numbering of both card should be same because the labels are for the same box, which rules out the first assumption I made above. And the only possibility is that the drawing is wrong.

Now I am really confused, maybe I missed some important points here. But I need to make sure about this before I can start the design of my PCB. So any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

JL

[AleAlejandro]

For the 6259 use the follwoing:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/$CXIV/ATTACH-AEEE-8FMTL7/$FILE/SCB-68%20M%20Series%20conn%200.pdf

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/$CXIV/ATTACH-AEEE-8FMTLD/$FILE/SCB-68%20M%20Series%20conn%201.pdf

for the 6723 use the following:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/$CXIV/ATTACH-AEEE-8FQMEK/$FILE/SCB-68%20671X%20672X%20673X.pdf

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/$CXIV/ATTACH-AEEE-8J5TQS/$FILE/SCB-68%206723%20conn%201.pdf

[JunjieLu]

Actually I am not going to use terminal boxes for these card, I will use on-board connectors to directly connect to the cables and cards.

My question was about the pin-out drawing on page 6 of PCI6723 manual http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/370822c.pdf, and that on page 23 of PCI6259 manual http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/371291h.pdf

These two drawings are mirror of each other, however the pinout numberings of both cards in the above drawings are consistent with the those on the reference labels you attached, which does not make a lot of sense to me. 

[AleAlejandro]

I do see your point. Pin out numbering can change from series to series. While the form factor is standardized, the pin out numbering needs to be referenced on a case by case basis. Use the manual as the ultimate source for this. Hope this helps!

[JunjieLu]

Ifitistruethatthepinoutnumberingforthesetwocardsaredifferentasthatshownonthemanuals, howcoulditbethat for both cards, thenumber-to-signalmappingsonthemanualsandthatontheterminalboxreferencelabelsare consistent? (although I am not using terminal box in my design, I used the labels for sanity check when I design my PCB)

It seems to me that if the numbering on the card side of the cable is mirrored, it must also be mirrored at the terminal box side in order to make the number-to-signal mappings consistent at both sides. But mirroring at the terminal box side is non-existing because both cards use same box. That's the thing that confused me. 

Forgive me if my problem is not very easy to understand, I tried my best to make it clear.