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I'm currently recording data points from an analog accelerometer(PCB 353b33) using a TDS3014B oscilloscope which has a Record Length of 10,000 points at a Sample Rate of 1.25 GSa/s. Since the oscilloscope is a triggered data logging device, it's not capturing the whole cycle of the experiment. I trying to look into analog data loggers that would help in seamless data logging for a minute or more with a good sampling rate that would help me capture data for at least one cycle. Is analog data logger the only option remaining? I'm not sure if an analog data logger would be a good solution for my problem, so if anything else would work for my case please suggest that as well.

MajorMajorMajorMajor
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    it seems to me that you may not be using the oscilloscope correctly ... what is the slowest time base on the scope? – jsotola Apr 04 '21 at 18:40
  • @jsotola I've played with different time bases and all of them give 10,000 data points. – MajorMajorMajorMajor Apr 05 '21 at 12:00
  • ok, is 10,000 sample points some kind of a problem? – jsotola Apr 05 '21 at 14:45
  • @jsotola 10,000 sample points are not capturing a single cycle Our team wants to capture at least 3 cycles – MajorMajorMajorMajor Apr 05 '21 at 15:08
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    I think what @jsotola is indicating is that you can take samples over longer periods with the scope even though you are still getting the same number of samples by changing the horizontal time scale. My Tektronix scope for instance can be set at 1ks which means that I can look at a sample set that is 10,000 seconds long. If you need very high signal fidelity, you may need more samples than one per second, but since you aren't very specific about the application, it's hard to make that determination. – ScienceGeyser Apr 07 '21 at 21:23
  • I looked at the specifications of your scope and it seems that you are limited to 10 s/div so the longest recording that you can make with that scope is 100 seconds. What is the cycle time of your project and how many sample per second do you require? – ScienceGeyser Apr 07 '21 at 21:46
  • @ScienceGeyser I'm trying record the z-axis acceleration on the front wheel suspension by simulating curb impacts on a roller drum with attached slats. The time period of the roller(calculated from the angular speed of the roller) is 0.76 s. I was trying to find an answer for what sampling rate I require using the Nyquist theorem but since input signal is not known here exactly and performing a PSD analysis to find the major contributing changes after each set o data collection, it's hard to come up a solid answer. I'm a MechE so I know I'm not utilizing the scope to its full potential. – MajorMajorMajorMajor Apr 08 '21 at 14:04
  • @ScienceGeyser Co-workers are trying use Arduino/Phone accelerometers to log data for a longer periods but the signals are losing accuracy. – MajorMajorMajorMajor Apr 08 '21 at 14:07

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There are many devices that would provide the recordings that you need. National Instruments makes a large number of DAQ devices that can record analog signals with very high fidelity. You could also use products from DATAQ. I would recommend something very cheap like the Adafruit Feather M0 Adalogger for projects that don't require the high precision of NI-DAQ or DATAQ instruments.

ScienceGeyser
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