Voltage Data Logging and Recording

Voltage is one of the signals that is most often recorded. It takes two basic forms, alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC). In addition, you sometimes need to measure very small voltages, i.e., in the microvolt range and also all the way into the thousands of volts. 

Dewesoft voltage data loggers can adapt to any voltage measurement application that you might encounter. From pressure to torque and load to force, sensors convert mechanical properties to a voltage and our data loggers can record the information you need - from a single to multiple channels, fast or slow sample rates matching your specific requirements.

To convert such widely different signal levels to a normalized output that can be digitized a voltage preamplifier with multiple input ranges is needed. Sometimes a tiny voltage is riding on top of a large DC offset - a  challenge that troubles many measuring systems.

Types of Voltage

There are several different voltage measures such as peak, peak-to-peak, average, RMS, and AC or DC voltage. The difference between them can be seen in the image.

The average voltage is the average value for a certain time period. For pure sinusoidal signals, the average will be zero.

The RMS (root-mean-square) voltage is the square root of the arithmetic mean of the squared function values that define the continuous waveform. It is the most commonly used value to define the AC voltage at a certain point and represents the same energy as the DC voltage at an ohmic load.

The peak voltage describes the highest voltage in a period. In datasheet specifications, the peak voltage or the DC voltage of input are used in the same meaning. To calculate the RMS value for sine waves, the peak value has to be divided by the square root of 2.

The peak-to-peak ratio shows the amplitude of positive and negative peaks in a period.

The Crest Factor is the peak amplitude divided by the RMS value of the waveform.

Signal Overload / Overmodulation

When signal levels are higher than expected, they are clipped by the ADC (analog-to-digital converter). This results in wrong measurements, meaning the test has to be done all over again.

However, the unique DualCoreADC® technology of Dewesoft eliminates such issues. Each channel amplifier has two ADCs that always measure the high and low gain of the input signal. This ensures the full potential of the sensor measuring range and prevents the signal from being clipped.

Dewesoft’s DualCoreADC® technology enables a more than 130 dB signal-to-noise ratio and a dynamic range of more than 160 dB - 20 times more than 24-bit systems with 20 times less noise.

Signal Aliasing

Aliasing is an effect that makes different signals indistinguishable when sampled in time. It also refers to the difference between a signal reconstructed from samples and the original continuous signal, when the resolution is too low.

If for instance, your voltage is a 10 kHz sine wave, but you just take one sample every second, then obviously, the resulting recording is going to be wrong. 

Between each sample taken, 10,000 sine waves will have gone by. The resulting “signal” will look like a waveshape, but it will be completely wrong - an “alias” of the actual signal. You get what that looks like a signal, but of course, it’s not right.

The fast sigma-delta ADC technology of Dewesoft is the best possible approach to prevent aliasing.

Learn more about alising.

High-Voltage Data Loggers

Dewesoft high-voltage data loggers are used for direct measurement and monitoring of high voltage signals.

Our high voltage amplifiers and high voltage signal conditioners can measure direct inline voltage up to ±2000V with protection class CAT III 600 V and CAT II 1000 V isolation voltage.

Voltage Recording in Harsh Environments

Dewesoft offers a range of rugged voltage data loggers for data recording in extreme and harsh environments.

KRYPTON and SIRIUS Waterproof are two product lines that offer a range of AC and DC data loggers that are waterproof, shockproof, and dustproof. These loggers from both product lines offer an IP67 degree of environmental protection and can operate within the temperature range of -40 to +85°C.

See KRYPTON amplifier technical specifications.

See SIRIUS Waterproof amplifier technical specifications.

Recording and Signal Processing Software Included

The award-winning DewesoftX data acquisition software offering an intuitive easy-to-use interface is included with the voltage data logger hardware. 

Several options for storing, triggering, and alarms are available out of the box and unlimited mathematical channels like formulas, statistics, filters, and many others can be defined. More pre-built visual displays are available for data visualization - recorders, digital displays, analog displays, and tables. 

DewesoftX also offers built-in report generation and data export tools that allow PDF and Word report generation and export data to several standard data formats for further analysis.

Long-term and Permanent Voltage Monitoring

For long-term or permanent voltage monitoring, Dewesoft offers voltage data loggers with the ability to store data into the local or cloud time-series database with the OPC UA protocol support.

The Historian database software package provides a time-series database for long-term data storage. The database can be located either locally, on the remote server, or in the cloud. The solution is based on the InfluxDB time-series database open source project.  

Historian provides several useful features for historic data:

• Raw and reduced data: Raw data is always stored on the measurement unit for in-depth analysis. The historian stores the long-term reduced data in the cloud database.

• Data safety and retransmit: If the connection between the logger and the database is lost, the data is safely stored locally on the measurement unit, and when the connection is again available, retransmitted to the database.

• Trending and Analysis: At any time Historical data can be recalled and loaded from the Historian database and used for trend analysis as well as for in-depth analysis and root cause identification.

• Web client: The web client interface is accessible from any web browser and is cross-platform and mobile compatible. It provides a great overview of the most important data and its trend over time.

• Alarm and alert levels: Alarms and alerts can be set on each display and tied to email/SMS notifications.