Measuring Current with Agilent E3631A

[crimson51]

I'm trying to program the power supply to sweep its current range and output each value. It's part of a program to create a voltage vs current graph. What's happening is that the power supply blinks each value of current for a fraction of a second and immediately goes back to 0. I don't know whether this is a problem in my program or with the power supply. Attached is the block diagram. The stuff relevant to the device are in the areas labeled "Solenoid Power Supply Initialized" and "Loop for Solenoid Current Change."

[aputman]

Do you have the current limit set to 0? 

[LabviewKK]

I think you need to output the dc voltage manually.

If the output voltage is not dropped, i think it is OK.

This time you need to make sure the output side which did not connect anything.

another way, you can use 3rd party driver to check you code.

E3631A

E3631GUI

[crimson51]

I'm not sure whether the current limit is set to 0. How could I check? (By the way, 5 is the address of the E3631A, and all the strings were put in for troubleshooting purposes)

Edit: Without me doing anything, instead of going to 0, the output is shutting off.

[aputman]

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@crimson51 wrote:

I'm not sure whether the current limit is set to 0. How could I check? (By the way, 5 is the address of the E3631A, and all the strings were put in for troubleshooting purposes)

Edit: Without me doing anything, instead of going to 0, the output is shutting off.

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Check the manual.  There should be a display limits button or something similar on the front panel that changes the display to show the voltage and current limits.  As a precaution, you want to set your limits according to your test needs so as not to apply too much voltage to a circuit or allow too much current to flow in the event of a short circuit.  

[crimson51]

Also I just realized that the picture isn't the block diagram. Here it is.

[crimson51]

If you couldn't before, could you check the block diagram I posted? Maybe the issue's there.

[aputman]

The text commands mean nothing to me and I can't take the time to check each command.  Sorry.  

Here's a tip:  Go to this page and get the Labview drivers for this instrument...that way you aren't typing out the commands by hand.