Control Regatron power supply with cRIO Pharlap?

[Damian_S]

We're looking to control a power supply in our test stand that is slated to use a cRIO-9039. Regatron is one of the options, but i'm having some difficulty understanding if we'll be able to control the power supply in the RT. 

Does anyone have any experience using Regatron and controlling the power supply using cRIO RT? Or does anyone have suggestions on using 40kW 65V/770A Range power supply controlled by the cRIO RT? 

Just to note, I'm working internally to get into contact with Regatron directly. 

[MarkCG · Accepted solution]

like most power supplies they probably have a remote control port that uses RS-232, RS-485, GPIB, or Ethernet. You can do serial communications with the built in cRIO RS-232 port or add a 4 RS-232 or RS-485 module. Never tried GPIB with cRIO but there are converters you could use. Ethernet can also be done with cRIO as you usually have it connected to the network.

[Damian_S]

MarkCG thanks for looking into that. We received some additional documentation today from Regatron and I reviewed it with another LabView developer. It appears that we could control it via RS232 on the cRIO. They do not have the ability to control the power supply via RT Modbus. 

If we go RS232 route and have success controlling the power supply, i'll update this thread with the results.