Device Communication Problems

[DARB]

Good morning,

I'm having problems getting labview and the instrument I/O assistant to recognize some devices I'm trying to retrieve data from. (using labview 7 express)

I have a Shimpo FGV500-HX digital force gauge, connected through serial port 1, and a Check-Line DT-209X digital tachometer, connected through a USB port.

In MAX, it displays COM1 and 2 serial ports, along with the LPT1 printer port. Under serial port 1 (where the force gauge is connected) It says the device is working properly, but when i open the visa test panel and hit execute in the read tab, it retuns a BFFF0015 error. I have a feeling this is due to the device not being read properly? my USB tachometer isnt even showing up in MAX, and I havent been able to figure out how to do that. Help!

Also, under the I/O assistant, I select COM1, and add a read and parse step, but when i hit run this step, nothing happens. The USB device does not show here either.

I know the USB device is being read by the computer - the software it came with works fine. The force gauge did not come with software.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've been trying to figure this out for three days with no avail. I'm new with data acquisition stuff too, and labview in general, so idiot level assistance would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance,

-Brad

[DARB]

Good morning,

I'm having problems getting labview and the instrument I/O assistant to recognize some devices I'm trying to retrieve data from. (using labview 7 express)

I have a Shimpo FGV500-HX digital force gauge, connected through serial port 1, and a Check-Line DT-209X digital tachometer, connected through a USB port.

In MAX, it displays COM1 and 2 serial ports, along with the LPT1 printer port. Under serial port 1 (where the force gauge is connected) It says the device is working properly, but when i open the visa test panel and hit execute in the read tab, it retuns a BFFF0015 error. I have a feeling this is due to the device not being read properly? my USB tachometer isnt even showing up in MAX, and I havent been able to figure out how to do that. Help!

Also, under the I/O assistant, I select COM1, and add a read and parse step, but when i hit run this step, nothing happens. The USB device does not show here either.

I know the USB device is being read by the computer - the software it came with works fine. The force gauge did not come with software.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've been trying to figure this out for three days with no avail. I'm new with data acquisition stuff too, and labview in general, so idiot level assistance would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance,

-Brad

[smercurio_fc]

A BFFF0015 error is a timeout error. The first thing you should do is to verify you can communicate with the gauge outside of LabVIEW. Since the gauge is a serial device you can use a terminal program such as HyperTerminal if you're on Windows. The purpose of this is to make sure you've got your communication parameters set up properly and your cable is OK. Do you have the documentation on the gauge as to the serial communication interface? It should tell you what termination characters, if any, need to be used when you send a command to the device, and what termination characters, if any, are sent by the device to indicate the end of a response.

[DARB]

I have a booklet that came with it, and I will look into that. Thank you for your response.

Any ideas for the usb connection?

[EricS.]

Hi Darb,

The USB device will not show up in MAX unless it is an NI USB device.  Since this is not an NI device you first need to associate it with VISA, such that it has a VISA Resource Name before LabVIEW will be able to communicate with it.  Then from LabVIEW open a VISA session with the new VISA Resource Name.

There is an in-depth tutorial on how to do this here:

USB Instrument Control Tutorial

And I agree with smercurio that the timeout error is most likely due to not having the correct termination characters or the correct commands that your serial device is expecting.

[Dennis_Knutson]

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@Eric S wrote:

Hi Darb,

The USB device will not show up in MAX unless it is an NI USB device.  Since this is not an NI device you first need to associate it with VISA, such that it has a VISA Resource Name before LabVIEW will be able to communicate with it.  Then from LabVIEW open a VISA session with the new VISA Resource Name.

There is an in-depth tutorial on how to do this here:

USB Instrument Control Tutorial

And I agree with smercurio that the timeout error is most likely due to not having the correct termination characters or the correct commands that your serial device is expecting.

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Just a couple of clarifications. The USB device will show up in MAX if it emulates a serial port and it does not need to be an NI device. It will also show up in MAX if it is a USBTMC device and it does not need to be an NI device for this either. Looking at how the device is enumerated in windows device manager should speak volumes.

Frankly, I think creating a VISA driver for a USB device that does not show up in MAX should be considered a last, desparate attempt to communicate. It is usually far easier to use whatever driver the vendor provides than trying to write your own from scratch.

[EricS.]

Thanks for the clarification, Dennis!

[hookuakahi]

Hey, while this post is quite old, I leave this for the next person that is searching, as I was.  Its the command protocol from Shimpo.

[billko]

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@hookuakahi wrote:

Hey, while this post is quite old, I leave this for the next person that is searching, as I was.  Its the command protocol from Shimpo.

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While the post was quite old, your post was quite cryptic.  What is the command protocol from Shimpco?

[hookuakahi]

Sorry, I am trying to attach the command structure.