What Is the Behavior or the PXIe-4051 When Slotted Into a 58W Cooling Slot?

Updated Jul 13, 2025

Reported In

Hardware

  • PXIe-4051
  • PXI Chassis

Software

  • LabVIEW

Driver

  • NI-DCPower

Issue Details

My current PXI chassis is only able to support 58W cooling per slot. The specifications of the PXIe-4051 specify that it only supports 150W of power dissipation in such a chassis.

How will the module react to situations in which I try to increase the load over the 150W limit?

Solution

The PXIe-4051 is equipped with an FPGA that handles the power calculations and limits. When presented with a situation in which the DUT tries to go above the 150W threshold, the PXIe-4051 will automatically lower the sinking current in order to stay within the power limit. If the voltage is raised during operation of the device in order to sink more current, the over-voltage protection will activate and will cause your program to receive an error.

As an additional safety measure, there is a built-in temperature controller, independent of the on-board FPGA, that will shut down the module when exceeding the maximum temperature limit. This would also result in your application receiving an error.