Communicating With Keithley 2614B Using LabVIEW Driver

[Freddie6532!]

Hello all,

I'm fairly new to LabVIEW and I have been trying to communicate with our Keithley 2614B to acquire I-V curve data and monitor change in conductivity over time; however, I'm struggling to even interact with the device using the examples provided by the Keithley LabVIEW driver files for the 2600 models. 

I have contacted Keithely and National Instruments and I've done the basic checks: ran diagnostic to ensure keithley and computer are communicating, all drivers are installed and updated, etc. Additionally, with the help of a NI representative I created a simple diagnostic test using LabVIEW for simple communication with the Keithley and that also resulted in a VISA communication error.

As shown in the picture provided, when I try to run the example code, I receive a read error. The problem is most likely due to the fact that the VISA resource tab only provides me with options of "COM 1" and "COM 3" but no option regarding the Keithley.

I thank you in advance for your help.

Best regards,

FM

[Albert.Geven]

Do you have the correct communication cable?

[cstorey · Accepted solution]

Hi FM,

The error you see in the VI execution is a timeout error.  (VISA error list - https://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371361J-01/lverror/visa_error_codes/)

More detail is needed... 

- What operating system on the PC?

- What version of LabVIEW? (Eg. LabVIEW 2018 32bit)

- Did you install VISA and other drivers (which versions)?

- How is your Keithley physically connected to the PC?  (GPIB, LAN, RS232, USB-GPIB-HS cable)

- Do you have Keithley or Keysight VISA installed also? 

- Have you tried NI-MAX to search for instruments?  (Make sure its closed before you try running LabVIEW examples.)

So you're hardware likely isn't properly configured.  Have you gone through the K26xx menu on the front panel and made sure that the communication setup you want to use is enabled?  Only seeing COM1/3 likely means GPIB and LAN on the K26xx are not enabled.  Read the section in the manual about setting these.

Craig

[Freddie6532!]

Hello Craig,

Thank you for the feedback. To answer your questions:

• Microsoft Windows 10
• LabVIEW 2018 64bit
• NI Serial 17.5 and NI VISA 18.0 are installed
• Keithley is connected via GPIB
• Keithley VISA also installed
• NI-MAX was not recognizing the device 
• The proper communication setup was enabled 

After a whole day of going back and forth with the Keithley representative, I decided to unplug/plug everything again and through that the NI-MAX was able to recognize the device thus solving my problem. I really appreciate the help!

[cstorey]

Glad to hear it!

Some suggestions..use LabVIEW 32bit.  Its rare anyone needs 64bit LabVIEW unless you are crunching huge numbers.

Make sure your driver numbers match your LabVIEW install.  (i.e. LabVIEW 2018 with NI Serial 18)

Watchout for multiple installs of VISA!  Keithley and Keysight make their own VISA versions and have been known to cause problems with LabVIEW.  Search the forums for VISA tulip passport if you experience further problems after running other software.

Best of luck.

Craig