Running two Eurotherm 3216 temperature controllers using the driver available from Labview

[d_n]

>It occurs when some bits read do not equal to a "CRC" value from another VI<

The above statement does not make any sense. Why are you reading only some bits and why you getting the CRC from another vi?  It appears you are not reading the full response from the instrument(s). Check your code. Ensure you allow enough time for the instrument(s) to respond and you are not trying to read/write again while in the middle of a read/write operation. Check for a race condition in your code.

[jtl12]

Regarding the 3216, how does one determine the Baud Rate, Parity, and Break Length of the device?

Thank you

[Albert.Geven]

from the manual

[jtl12]

Great. Have communication now. Thank you!

Now experiencing an alarm when running the temperature controller.vi from the example folder in the driver. 'Alarm 1 High'

I am unable to acknowledge this alarm via labview or manually on the 3216 device. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thank you

[jtl12]

Hello,

Have you succeeded in operating two 3216 temperature controllers? If so, may I see your code, as I am attempting to do the same and receiving errors as well.

Best

[DanColoS]

I haven't looked at this issue in a while.  However, I have been meaning to look at it again since I will be graduating and need to get it done before leaving since i doubt anyone else will pick it up.

[Drewskie]

Mauricio,

Any chance you would be willing to post your LabView code for controlling a single 3216 controller? I'm trying to make sense of the drivers that I downloaded from the Eurotherm site and, since I'm still relatively new to LabView, it seems to be a little over my head.

Thanks for your time.

[DanColoS]

This is the VI i made for operating a single 3216.  You may need to edit the Comms in the flow chart. 

The Sub VIs should be the same as those that cam with the  eurotherm drivers..... but i may have made some changes to them as well.  If it doesnt work I can post the SubVIs I use too.

[d_n]

Hi All,

Some facts regarding running two 3216 Controllers using the Labview driver provided.

1)      Using the front panel buttons on the 3216 controllers go to the Comms page. If it shows R232 then you cannot use two controllers with the Labview driver. You will get communication errors. EIA/RS-232 is a point-to-point communication link i.e. one device only.

2)     To use two (or more) 3216 Controllers with the Labview driver you must use controllers with RS485 boards i.e. the Comms page should dislay R485. In addition the Labview driver communications settings must match those of the devices i.e. ( comms Address, Baud Rate, Parity etc.) Information can be found in the 3216 Manual.

3)      Each communication connection must open a unique VISA reference and pass it to the driver vis.

Please remember the driver will report communication errors if and when they occur. It is down to the application developers to use them and make decisions how to handle them. I hope this helps solve some of the problems.

Finally to clarify, I have tested the Labview driver without any modifications successfully with two 3216 fitted with RS485 communication boards (Not RS232). Just used the example provided twice to communicate with two 3216 controllers