BK Precision 1786B not showing up in VISA resource name or NI MAX

[hlai]

I have an existing setup that controls an Agilent 34970A and wanted to add a power supply(BK Precision 1786B).

The power supply has a NI certified driver, so I thought the example VIs would work when I installed the driver, but they don't and I could use some help figuring out what's wrong.

Some details/things i've investigated:

• Labview 2014, NI-VISA 16.0, MAX 16.0.1 (other installed software also listed in the attached image)
• "BK Precision 178XB Series" appears under "Installed Instrument Drivers" in the NI Instrument Driver Finder window, but does not show up under "Connected Instruments" and does not respond when I run the example VIs in the driver folder
• The power supply is connected to the computer through a usb-serial and shows up under windows device manager as "Prolific Serial-to-USB Comm Port(COM3)" 
• I am able to add it to NI MAX as a new port(parallel or serial), but even with the correct port settings the program cannot communicate with it. Status displays "Not Present."
• I am able to communicate/control the power supply with the manufacturer's program, so I know that both the cable and power supply are functional
• In the example VI, the device does not show under "VISA resource name" 

I'd appreciate any input on what could be wrong/steps I could take to get the power supply working with Labview.

[Hatef.fouladi]

did you ever see this link
http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=6802054D4E3432C7E04400144F1EF8...
maybe it could help

[Hatef.fouladi]

also check these link will help you to do it
http://www.ni.com/tutorial/3271/en/

http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361J-01/lvhowto/creating_instproj/


http://www.ni.com/tutorial/4478/en/

[yea_likethecity]

Hello hlai,

Since the device is visible in device manager and the 3rd party software can communicate with it, it seems likely that the connection and device driver software are ok. Please make sure the drivers are installed correctly. I'll link you to a few guides which detail several ways to install the drivers:

Install from Instrument Driver Finder:

Installing Instrument Drivers

https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/finding-and-installing-instrument-drivers.html

Manual Installation:

How Do I Install My Third Party Instrument Drivers?

https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000P8THSA0&l=en-US

Also please try this example program which will programmatically find all the VISA resource names:

Find All COM VISA Resource Names

https://forums.ni.com/t5/Example-Code/Obtaining-a-List-of-Only-the-COM-Ports-as-VISA-Resource-Names/...

If it shows up in that program, it may be being filtered out of the name list for some reason. Try accessing the I/O name filtering and see if you can enable all I/O ports to show up.

If none of those steps are illuminating, it's possible the device drivers didn't install correctly and it's affecting how they interact with NI products. Please navigate to the device manager and uninstall/reinstall the device drivers for that device. You can usually do this by uninstalling the device drivers in device manager, unplugging it and plugging it back in.

[hlai]

---

@Hatef.fouladi wrote:
also check these link will help you to do it
http://www.ni.com/tutorial/3271/en/

http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361J-01/lvhowto/creating_instproj/


http://www.ni.com/tutorial/4478/en/

---

Hatef.fouladi,

Thank you for the input.

First link: yes, I am aware of the page. I have tried using driver downloads from the manufacturer's site as well as through labview's instrument finder (the files are exactly the same either way and neither function)

Second link: yes I have read the page. This is useful information for later, but my problem is that the example VIs are not working. The instrument does appear under Instrument I/O>Instrument Drivers.

Third link: I would rather not build a driver for this device. The reason I purchased this power supply is that it had a NI certified driver for use with labview. 

Fourth link: I have tried following the tutorial, although in the video they are able to see the usb device connected in NI max. For my case, my list is empty and I cannot proceed past that (see screenshot2). The device is powered and connected. I have all passports enabled. ^I'm guessing this is what's stopping the device from working properly. Would you know how to fix this?

---

@yea_likethecity wrote:

Hello hlai,

Since the device is visible in device manager and the 3rd party software can communicate with it, it seems likely that the connection and device driver software are ok. Please make sure the drivers are installed correctly. I'll link you to a few guides which detail several ways to install the drivers:

Install from Instrument Driver Finder:

Installing Instrument Drivers

https://www.ni.com/getting-started/set-up-hardware/instrument-control/drivers

Manual Installation:

How Do I Install My Third Party Instrument Drivers?

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/86256F0E001DA9FD86256F0B0057E6E7

Also please try this example program which will programmatically find all the VISA resource names:

Find All COM VISA Resource Names

http://www.ni.com/example/27757/en/

If it shows up in that program, it may be being filtered out of the name list for some reason. Try accessing the I/O name filtering and see if you can enable all I/O ports to show up:

How Can I Limit Which Resources Show Up in My VISA Resource Name Control?
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/3A7F82062D1C200C862574F900592D96

If none of those steps are illuminating, it's possible the device drivers didn't install correctly and it's affecting how they interact with NI products. Please navigate to the device manager and uninstall/reinstall the device drivers for that device. You can usually do this by uninstalling the device drivers in device manager, unplugging it and plugging it back in.

---

Hello Austin,

Thank you for the suggestions. The power supply driver appears to be installed into labview correctly, since I can see the VIs under Instrument I/O>Instrument Drivers. The example program that finds VISA resource names does find the agilent DAQ that is already set up, but not the new power supply. 

The USB driver is updated and I tried reinstalling as you suggested. It doesn't seem to change anything. 

Right now my best guess this isn't working is that NI MAX is unable to find any resources (see attached screenshot). In all the tutorials to set up 3rd party USB-to-Serial drivers, they are able to view the device under a USB dropdown which I am unable to. Would you know know to fix this?

[yea_likethecity]

Hello hlai,

It sounds like something may be wrong with NI-VISA. I think the best next step is to try force reinstalling the NI-VISA driver. Please follow the steps in the following knowledgebase article:

Force Reinstall NI Software from the Command Prompt in Windows

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/ADD22E807D5A12AD862579EC00760F79

[bahannah · Accepted solution]

All,

I helped hlai figure out the issue earlier on the phone. It turns out that NI-VISA 16.0 only supports 64-bit OS. If you have a 32-bit OS, you should uninstall NI-VISA 16.0 and install NI-VISA 15.5 instead, which does support a 32-bit OS.

You can see the supported operating systems in the readme: NI-VISA 16.0 Readme, NI-VISA 15.5 Readme

Regards,

Hannah 

Applications Engineering 

National Instruments 

www.ni.com/support