Hot swap your PCI Express boards
-- Test & Measurement World, 3/26/2008 12:08:00 PM
The PCIeExt16HOT "Smart" PCI Express live-insertion bus extender board from Furaxa lets you test and debug PCI Express (PCIe) boards without powering down your computer. It installs into any PCIe x16 slot and is compatible with X1, X4, X8, and X16 boards. The extender board has current-sensing shunt resistors and instrumentation amplifiers on the +3.3 V, +12 V, and +3.3 V auxiliary power supplies that provide voltages proportional to the current drawn by the board-under-test. You can use the 1 V/A outputs to connect to oscilloscopes and meters so you can monitor current. It also has overload LED that illuminate when a board draws excessive current. If any power supply exceeds 4.9 A for more than 0.5 s, the extender will cut power to the board.
The extender board contains a 3-way switch that directs it to deliver either 3.3 V and 12 V supply voltages to the board-under test. You can also adjust voltages to 95% or 90% of nominal values, which lets you identify questionable boards.
Price: $495—single quantity; $445.50—quantities of two or more.
Furaxa, www.furaxa.com.
