Thorlabs TDC001 Controller on Mac-Communication Directly Through USB

[zackd97]

I recently purchased a TDC001 controller from Thorlabs and I am trying to use Labview with it. But I am currently operating on a Mac which Thorlabs does not cater to because they only offer the Windows drivers for the controller. I am trying to work around ActiveX and instead communicate directly between the USB port and the controller. Thorlabs TechSupport emailed me with a workaround involving communications protocol, but the Labview program they included keeps producing errors. Also, I found a post on here that was pretty similar and allowed me to input an unsigned byte array that seems compatible with the hexidecimal ommands in the communications protocol manual. But errors keep occurring and the controller refuses to move the motor. Help?

Error 1 occurred at Property Node (arg 1) in VISA Configure Serial Port (Instr).vi->TDC001-5.vi

Error 1 occurred at Property Node (arg 1) in VISA Configure Serial Port (Instr).vi->LabVIEW Com protocol-5.vi

Error -1073807346 occurred at VISA Flush I/O Buffer in LabVIEW Com protocol-5.vi

Thanks,
Zack Daniels

[kevins33]

Hi Zack,

Below is a forum, that describes the same error and a possible solution to solving Error 1:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Error-Property-Node-arg-1-in-VISA-Configure-Serial-Port-Instr-vi/td-...

Also, double check that the inputs to the VISA Configure Serial Port.vi are correct, the baud rate and the VISA resource name need to be correct.

For Error -1073807346, please try increasing the mask size from the default of 16, reference the function help linked below:

http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361J-01/lvinstio/visa_flush_i_o_buffer/

[zzhang2]

Hi, 

I am trying to communicate with TDC001 using python in Mac Platform.

I am wondering if there is any example codes avalbile?

Thanks,

z

[cody_a]

Hi Z,

Are you trying to use the NI-VISA driver in Python?  If not, what NI products are you using?