Expanding Multiple NI SwitchBlock Carriers
- Updated2025-01-20
- 1 minute(s) read
You can connect the analog buses of multiple adjacent NI SwitchBlock carriers with the
NI 2806 expansion bridge for the NI SwitchBlock.
Note If you connect
multiple carriers with the expansion bridge, you cannot connect to the analog bus on
any of the connected carriers until the drivers for all connected carriers have been
loaded by the system. This prevents unintentional shorts between channels across the
analog bus. You may still manipulate relays directly using the niSwitch Relay
Control
VI or the
niSwitch_RelayControl
function, but with the risk of shorts across the analog bus.
The following figure shows where to insert the NI 2806 expansion bridge.

1 | NI PXI/PXI Express Chassis |
2 | NI PXI-2800 Carriers |
3 | NI 2806 Expansion Bridge |
If the analog buses of multiple adjacent carriers have been connected, you can enable
devices in both carriers to connect to the same analog bus line simultaneously using the
Analog Bus Sharing
Enable
property or the
NISWITCH_ATTR_ANALOG_BUS_SHARING_ENABLE
attribute.
Note NI recommends using NI Switch Executive to operate
systems that contain multiple carriers. The NI Switch Executive
Help includes information about using NI Switch Executive to create
virtual devices that span multiple carriers.