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5680 VISA communication

Hi guys,

 

I just got my hands on a USB-5680-01 which I want to expolre using python and VISA, but this seems like a not feasable thing to do. In my python prompt when I do

import visa

inst = visa.instrument ('com15')

inst.ask ('*idn?')

 

I get a time out, so it seems the device does not speak SCPI commands, is thie really the case?! The open and close VISA commands works, but I am not able to communicate with the device?

 

Thanks,

Robert

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The 5680 does use commands similar to SCPI, but NI doesn't document these.  You are encouraged to use the NI-568x driver.

 

NI doesn't provide a python interface for the NI-568x driver, but the driver is a C API, and you should be able to exend python to call the related C functions:

http://docs.python.org/2/extending/extending.html

 

For just poking around a bit using the low-level strings directly, the following commands might be helpful:

   "START\n" (this should be the first command sent)

   "IDN?\n"

   "PWR?\n" (returns the last computed power in dBm)

 

Again, NI doesn't support using these commands directly, but perhaps the above is enough to get you going until you can switch to the driver.

 

Hope this helps!

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Thanks,

 

I tried the commands you suggested, but without success. But I would be happy to use the C-driver, only I am unable to find any information about this on the webpage. Can you please point me in the direction of any information?

 

Thanks,

Robert

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Find the NI 568x 1.2.0 driver here:

   http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/4419/lang/en

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