Can I Use a Battery and Sine Inverter to Power a PXI System?

Updated May 24, 2024

Reported In

Hardware

  • PXI Chassis

Issue Details

I need to use a PXI chassis remotely, powered up with a battery or bank of batteries. Since the battery provides a DC output, I want to use a Sine Inverter device to transform the battery signal into an AC signal to power up my PXI chassis. Is this setup possible? 

Solution

For remote applications where chassis need to be used with batteries, our best recommendation is a PXIe DC chassis, like the PXIe-1086DC. These will work directly with the battery (the sine inverter won't be needed).

If acquiring a DC PXIe chassis is not an option, using a pure sine inverter is acceptable as far as all the chassis' power supply AC Input Specifications are met. Consult the specifications of your PXIe chassis to confirm.

However, it is important to consider that there are "modified" sine inverters and "pure" sine inverters:
  • We don't recommend using Modified Sine Wave Inverters (where the AC signal is not a pure sine wave) due to the stress that it may inject into the power supply. This may reduce the lifespan of the power supply and affect other functionalities in the chassis. 
  • The Pure Sine Wave Inverter is safer to use and is a better option that should work in theory. Since this is a third-party device, NI does not support or test specific devices for this purpose, but in theory they should work according to the AC Input specifications of the PXIe chassis.

Additional Information

Also consider that some PXI chassis could be in "Mature" life cycle, so if the lifespan of your chassis is reduced by using a Modified Inverter, the repair of the chassis could be difficult and the future of the project can be compromised.