Calibration Executive with Fluke 5502A Calibrator

[awooster]

I have the following software/instruments:

Windows XP

Calibration Executive 3.5

NI-DMM 3.1

Fluke 5502A Calibrator

A variety of NI DMMs

What I want to do:

Calibrate my NI DMMs using Calibration Executive and the Fluke 5502A Calibrator in automated mode (i.e. not manual mode where the user is prompted to configure each calibrator setpoint)

The problem I'm encountering:

Calibration Executive 3.5 is written such that the Fluke 5500A, 5700A, 5520A, and 5720A are the selectable calibrators (in addition to "Enter Unsupported Instrument" which sends you to manual mode).  Within the normal LabVIEW environment, the Fluke 5502A is capable of operating via the same instrument drivers that are available for the Fluke 5500A, if one tells the init VIs to ignore the fact that the 5502A does not return "5500" for it's *IDN? query.  However, the same is not true of the Calexec environment (yet).  If I select the 5500A as my calibrator within Calexec (when I've actually got the 5502A), I get initialization errors.  I need Calibration Executive to accept the 5502A as a "member of the family".  Unfortunately the 5502A is not capable of doing a 5500A emulation mode, per feedback from Fluke.

[awooster]

Just a followup to provide Fluke's documentation about the 5502A:  http://support.fluke.com/calibration-sales/Download/Asset/9010582_ENG_A_W.PDF

Within the FAQ section of this document:

Does the 5502A use same the commands of other Fluke 55XX calibrators? Yes the 5502A uses
the same remote control commands as the earlier 5500A, 5520A and 5522A series calibrators. The
only difference is that it answers the remote ID command with a response of being a 5502A.

[afrowizard]

Hello awooster,

Unfortunately, I don't believe you can use the 5502A in automated mode.  I understand that it is in the same family, but it doesn't seem that Cal Exec has been coded to handle the difference in the command set.  Is using it in manual mode not an option?

[awooster]

Using it in manual mode is not an option.  In the very near future we will be providing calibration service to our customers and could have many, many modules in queue for calibration at a given time.

If this were a situation of only a couple of DMMs needing calibration once a year or once every couple of years, then manual mode would probably be ok.

[Leah-L]

Hi awooster,

Do you mind listing which NI DMMs you will be calibrating, so that I can take a closer look at the calibration procedures for those devices? I know that in the help file for Cal Exec, it states specifically for all the DMMs listed that you should not use a Fluke 5500A/5520A calibrator. I'm wondering if this is also true for the DMMs that you will be calibrating.