ERROR - 1073807178

[denslen]

Ok, I think I hit the send button to soon. I'm trying to create a VISA driver for a USB TMC device that has it's own driver. I want to be able to capture data being sent back from this device thru the USB port. When I try to create the VISA control using the driver wizard I get this error with the description: Incompatible bcdUSB value (expected 0x110 or greater). Help! By the way, this is for a Kikisui PFX2000 series battery tester. 

[Dennis_Knutson]

USBTMC instruments are recognized by MAX as VISA resources and you should never use the VISA wizard for them. You will have to undo whatever you created with the wizard.

[denslen]

Ok, I'm still confused. The device doesn't show up in MAX anywhere. I could be wrong regarding the USB TMC status of this device so I attached some documents for clarification. As an aside this error actually prevents you from completeing the wizard so no VISA driver was installed. I have seen this before with another piece of hardware that I was trying to communicate with through USB. The wizard appears to recognize the unit, yet it gave me the same error. Since it was my initial foray into USB and I wasn't under the gun to get something up and running I just let it go till now.

[Dennis_Knutson]

If windows device manager shows it as USBTMC, MAX should do the same. Not at all sure why it doesn't, sorry.

[Adam G]

Hello,

I would try to uninstall what ever driver was installed when you were using the VISA Wizard. If the device is USBTMC it should show up in Measurement & Automation Explorer under USB devices. You can try updating the driver again on the device to make sure it is using the drvier that came with it. Also make sure that you have VISA 3.0 or higher installer. 

Best Regards,

Adam G 

[denslen]

Hi Adam. I never actually created a VISA driver with the wizard. I started to do this but the wizard wouldn't
allow me to complete it (see the attachment). That said there is an existing driver for this unit that works
and was already installed prior to me installing VISA on my system. Are you suggesting I uninstall the existing
driver and software and then reinstalling it? As to the version of VISA it is 5.0.2. Thanks.

[R Sandoval]

Hello There,

I agree.  If you are unable to locate the following resource in MAX, I would uninstall and reinstall VISA and the driver.  I also included a useful link below:

What is USBTMC and How Can I Communicate with My USB Instrument?

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/044FA220F32774ED86256DB3005850CA

I hope this helps.

[denslen]

Hi again. Well I've finally been able to go back to the system and try uninstalling the VISA 5.0.2 package as well as the software from Kikusui. I then reinstalled the VISA package first, restarted the computer and then reinstalled the Kikusui software all to no avail. Does anybody have any other ideas? One other thing to mention here is that Kikusui has a built in USB port SPY software that spits out everything going to and from the instrument so I think I can decipher things and be able to get the command I need to trigger my other hardware. Any suggestions on how to just poll the USB port independently and look for my command?

My first pass at asking Kikusui for help with communicating with the instrument landed in the lap of a low level engineer who could only tell me they don't have LabVIEW drivers because: 

"PFX is controlled only with the BPChecker software. Unfortunately, you cannot control PFX using LabVIEW, because BPChecker software has a lot of functions for safety and PFX is designed to do a safe test with BPChecker."

Oh boy, where have I heard that before?  I know "It's much to complicated, scientific & technical. You wouldn't understand."

[denslen]

Ok I've tried something else. I went back to reread the link regarding setting up USBTMC devices and found this paragraph:

NI-VISA 3.0 or later allows you to communicate as a controller to USBTMC compliant devices. NI-VISA is configured to detect USBTMC compliant devices. To use such a device, plug it in and Windows should detect the new hardware and launch the New Hardware Wizard. Instruct the wizard to search for the driver, which in this case is NI-VISA. If NI-VISA is properly installed, the device will be installed as a USB Test & Measurement Class Device. Open Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). The new device will appear in MAX under Device and Interfaces » USB Devices. You can then use this resource name as you would use any GPIB resource.

Even forcing the wizard to seach for the driver comes up short because the new hardware wizard is looking for a specific file. In other words, the hardware seems to have a built in setup file similiar to any common thumb drive that tells the wizard exactly the driver it wants to see so even if I could find the NI-VISA driver (which I can't for some reason???? Where the heck should it be?) I don't think it will let me overide it.

In the mean time I'll keep beating on it.

[Adam G]

Hello,

One thing we can try is to enable NiVisaTulip.dll. This can be enabled by opening Measurement & Automation Explorer and going to Tools»NI VISA»VISA Options. Here you will want to go to Passports and place a check next to NiVisaTulip.dll, also make sure NiViUsb.dll is checked. Try closing and restarting Measurement & Automation Explorer to see if your device shows up now.

Best Regards,

Adam G