Interface HP/Agilent 4145 with PC

[Suchit]

How do I connect my HP 4145 with PC. I use NI GPIB board with LabVIEW 8.0 and NI VISA. My NI MAX does not recognize HP 4145 as a connected device?

Is there a way I can modify my NI MAX to connect to HP 4145. I tried to enable NI Tulip.dll in MAX 4.0 but it still fails.

Kindly let me know what should I do to capture data from my HP 4145 onto my pc.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Does MAX fail to find it completely or does it just fail to respond to the *IDN? query? If it doesn't list it at all, then make sure that the instrument's address is unique (not the same as the controller). You could also try a different cable. If it doesn't repsond to the *IDN? query, then that's normal as I don't think the instrument supports that.

[Suchit Shah]

It fails to find completely.....infact the interesting thing is...when i connect a HPIB device(my 4145) and GPIB device in star connection or even parallel connection none of the devices are found. But when i disconnect my 4145 cable and scan for instruments my GPIB device pops up back. So I am not sure what is going on there?

[Dennis_Knutson]

I would suspect a defective GPIB interface on that instrument or a defective cable. Try detecting with just this instrument connected. Also, if the instrument uses a DIP switch to set the GPIB address, make sure all of the switches are in the correct location. There are aoften additional switch settings besides the ones for the address.

Debugging  a problem like this is where a GPIB bus analyzer comes in handy. The '+' type of NI GPIB cards include a hardware bus analyzer and it would be used to see if certain lines on the bus are stuck.

[Dravi99]

Hi Suchit,

I was wondering whether you can see 4145 in your devices and interface on Max when you scan all the instruments. If you can see and still cannot communicate with the instrument, try ID? as the command to query the instrument. Also try finding a manual for remote operations on the 4145, it should have some valuable info on interfacing.

I had to change from *IDN? to ID? query command for HP6624A DC supply system. Hope this helps.

[Dravi99]

Based on your previous post which I just read, I am sure that you will be able to work out something with ID?

[Dennis_Knutson]

Dravi99,

I'm not sure what you mean. He cannot find the instrument (or any other instruments) at all. It is not a failure of the *IDN? query.

[Dravi99]

http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/techSupport.jspx?pid=542807&pageMode=MN&cc=US&lc=eng  for manual. Buddy this instrument is really ancient.

Use the manual . unfortunately you have to. found something on pg.135-155 of it. pg150 had ID as the query command.

hope this helps you interface it with your LV.

[Dravi99]

Also look at the pin configurations of the switch which sets the GPIB on 4145. also *IDN? query would fail as it does not support that. Always keep in mind that its old so has something different than normal.

Dennis:  my guess would on pin configuration and old commands.

Thanks

[Suchit Shah]

Thanks guys,

I tried using all your suggestions listed above...but the MAX still fails to scan device. It gives me an error...NO INSTRUMENT FOUND.

I have seen people connecting HP 4145A to PC using HP-VISA but I am not sure if I can connect this device to GPIB. In short I can't afford to buy a new hardware HP/Agillent card for reading this old device and use hp-visa.

Well can I connect a HP-IB terminal to GPIB?? Should it work properly?? Are there any converters available for HP-IB to GPIB conversion?

thanks a lot guys for your replies