Problem with ENET-232 on a subnet

[YannKOP]

We recently purchased three ethernet to RS-232 hubs ENET-232/4 to control 12 different instruments from a computer. Those hubs are connected to a network switch, itself connected to the computer and a local subnet has been created with IP adresses for each hub. All the latest drivers have been installed on the computer and the hubs, and the computer shows 13 COM ports (12 for the hubs + 1 on the computer).

Each instrument we are controlling has been tested separately with a direct connection to the computer and the VIs work fine. However when plugged into the hubs, the communication is kind of random, that is some commands are received by the tools and not the others.

We have also tried different switches and network hubs (1 Gigabit and 10/100) but it didn't change anything.

Has anyone used Enet hubs on a subnet and face this problem too?

Thanks
Yann

[JoshuaP]

I have used the enet-232 for a while now and I have never seen it loose data. One thing that I would suggest is connect port 1 to port 2 and send some data bidirectional to each port to ensure nothing is dropped. I'm not sure how you are interfacing with the boxes, but if you are using NI-VISA to communicate with the boxes then make sure you set the buffer sizes correctly to ensure that you are never transmitting or sending data with a single read/write that is larger than the set buffer sizes. Finally, make sure you are using an up-to-date driver. The current driver for the enet-232/485 if NI-Serial 1.7.1.

-Josh