PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY

(Private University Estd. in Karnataka State by Act No.41 of 2013)

EXPERIMENT NO. 4
TITLE: MEASUREMENT OF COMPONENT VALUES AND VOLTAGE
DROP ACROSS THE SERIES COMBINATION OF RESISTORS USING NI
ELVIS II+ WORKSTATION
AIM: To measure the component values and voltage drop across resistances in a voltage divider
circuit using NI ELVIS II+ workstation.

EQUIPMENTS REQUIRED: 1.0 k resistor, 2.2 k resistor, 1.0 µf capacitor, 1.0 mH

inductor, NI ELVIS II+, PC with NI ELVISmx instrument launcher, connecting wires

THEORY:
The NI Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS) II is a modular
engineering educational laboratory device developed specifically for academia. With its hands-on
approach, educators can help students learn practical, experimental skills. NI ELVIS II features one
compact form factor integrated with 12 of the most commonly used instruments in the laboratory
The NI ELVIS II environment consists of the following components:
1. Hardware workspace for building circuits and interfacing experiments
2. NI ELVIS II software (created in NI LabVIEW software), which includes the
following:

i. Soft Front Panel (SFP) instruments

ii. Lab-VIEW APIs

With the APIs, we can achieve custom control of and access to NI ELVIS II workstation
features using Lab-VIEW programs and simulation programs written within Multisim.

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 PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY
(Private University Estd. in Karnataka State by Act No.41 of 2013)
Fig 6.1 NI ELVIS II Kit

PROCEDURE:
a) MEASURING COMPONENT VALUES
1. Connect the NI ELVIS II workstation to your computer using the supplied
USB cable. The box USB end goes to the NI ELVIS II workstation and the
rectangular USB end goes to the computer. Turn on your computer and power
up NI ELVIS II (switch on the back of workstation). The USB ACTIVE
(orange) LED turns ON. In a moment, the ACTIVATE LED turns OFF and
the USB READY (orange) LED turns ON.

2. On your computer screen, click on the NI-ELVISmx Instrument Launcher

Icon or shortcut. A strip of NI ELVIS II instruments appears on the screen.
You are now ready to make measurements.

Fig 6.2. Instrument Launcher Icon Strip

3. Connect two banana-type leads to the digital multi-meter (DMM) inputs (VA►├.)
and (COM) on the left side of the workstation. Connect the other ends to one of the
resistors.
4. Click on the DMM icon within the Launcher strip to select the digital multimeter.

Fig 6.3. Digital Multimeter, Ohmmeter configuration

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 PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY
(Private University Estd. in Karnataka State by Act No.41 of 2013)

DMM SFP can be used for a variety of operations such as voltage, current, resistance, and
capacitance measurements. Use the notation DMM[X] to signify the X operation.

The proper lead connections for this measurement are shown on the DMM front panel.

5. Click on the Ohm button to use the digital ohmmeter function, DMM. Click on the
green arrow [Run] box to start the measurement acquisition. Measure the three
resistors R1, R2, and R3.

Fill in the following data:

R1 = 0.992 k (1.0 k nominal)

R2 = 2.189 k (2.2 k nominal)

To stop the acquisition, click on the red square [Stop] box.

Capacitance and Inductance Measurement

This mode is selected when user requires the capacitance and inductance of a device
respectively. The measurements are made in terms of Farads (F) and Henry (H) respectively.
The positive end of the device under test should be connected to the pin “DUT+” on the
prototyping board, shown in fig 6.3. The negative end of the device under test should be
connected to the pin “DUT-” on the prototyping board, also shown in fig 6.3.

Fig 6.3. Digital Multi-meter, Ohmmeter configuration

Fill in the following data:

C = 0.98 µf (1.0 µf nominal)

L = 0.98 mH (1.0 mH nominal)

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 PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY
(Private University Estd. in Karnataka State by Act No.41 of 2013)
b) BUILDING A VOLTAGE DIVIDER CIRCUIT ON THE NI ELVIS II+
PROTOBOARD

1. Using the two resistors, R1 and R2, assemble the following circuit on the NI ELVIS
II protoboard as shown in Fig 8.4

Fig 8.4 Voltage Divider Circuit

2. Connect the input voltage, Vo, to the [+5 V] pin socket.

3. Connect the common to the [GROUND] pin socket.

4. Connect the external leads to the DMM voltage inputs (V►├.) and (COM) on
the side of the NI ELVIS workstation and the other ends across the input voltage,
Vo, to make the first measurement.
5. Check the circuit and then apply power to the protoboard by pushing the prototyping
board power switch to the upper position [-]. The three power indicator LEDs, +15 V,
-15 V, and +5 V, should now be lit and green in color.

Fig 6.4 Power LED Indicators on NI ELVIS II protoboard

If any of these LEDS are yellow while the others are green, the resettable fuse for that
power line has flipped off. To reset the fuse, turn off the power to the protoboard.
Check your circuit for a short. Turn the power back on to the protoboard. The LED
flipped should now be green.

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 PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY
(Private University Estd. in Karnataka State by Act No.41 of 2013)

6. Measure the input voltage, Vo, using the DMM function. Press [Run] to acquire
the voltage data.

V0 (measured) = 4.996 V
According to circuit theory, the output voltage, V2 across R2, is as follows:
V2 = R2/ (R1+R2) * Vo. (6.1)

7. Using the previous measured values for R1, R2 and Vo, calculate
V2. Next, use the DMM to measure the actual voltage V2.

V2 (calculated) = 3.43 V V2 (measured) = 3.427 V

Static Error = V2 (measured) - V2 (calculated) (6.2)

RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS:-

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