DAQ on COM port

[Aquaphire]

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone knew how to configure a Data Aquisiton hardware on MAX using the COM port.
I'm trying to measure the slip using an Electro digital Economical Indicator. (54-520-666)

any help is welcome.

Thanks

[Dennis_Knutson]

If you have an instrument connected to a serial port, you will need to know the commands to send and retrieve data. There should be some sort of parogramming manual available from the manufacturer. Once you have that, then you can open a VISA session to the serial port that the instrument is connected to. You might want to first check things out with a terminal emulator such as Hyperterminal before you try a LabVIEW program. There are shipping examples of serial communication available that you should then look at.

[Aquaphire]

Hey dennis,

The software that DOES come with it is pre-NT technology, so I don;t know how to make it work here... How am I supposed to know what the digital indicator sends?

[Dennis_Knutson]

The only way to know is by reading the documentation from the vendor. It doesn't really matter what kind of software comes with the unit since you want to directly communicate with it in LabVIEW. There is no standard for RS-232 communication. If you have an electronic version of the instruction/user manual, post that and someone can help you understand it.

[Aquaphire]

Hey Dennis,

I'm not sure what exactly you want... but this is all the documentation that came with it, nothing else...

thanks,

[Dennis_Knutson]

All that explains is the software that comes with the instrument. As far as I can see, it's pretty worthless in explaining what the instrument itself is sending. The software seems to act like a keyboard wedge. You can try to see if the data appears in notepad and if it does, try a string control in LabVIEW. If you have no documentation about the gage itself, I think you should contact them (Fowler?).

[Aquaphire]

Thanks Den,

i'll work on that and get back to you. Thanks