Need a lot of help with Kinetic Systems 3988 LabView VIs.

[kazem]

I have a Kinetic Systems 3988 CAMAC Crate Controller. I am using the KS3988 LabView 5.1 set of VIs to communicate with the device. I downloaded this set of VIs from the NI web site. I'm new to LabView, so I'm having great difficulty. Virtually all of my commands result in time outs. Has anyone made simple LabView applications using the KS3988 set of VIs? I could really use them.

[Darren]

Hello,

I was unable to find any helpful application development information on the NI website regarding the 3988 VIs, but I did a search on the Internet for "3988 LabVIEW" (without the quotes) and several webpages came up (some in German) for some companies that seemed to be using the 3988 VIs in their applications. I recommend you perform a web search for more information on resources that could help you with using these VIs.

I hope this suggestion proves helpful. Have a pleasant day.

Sincerely,

Darren Nattinger
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[kazem]

No offense, but that's a really awful answer. I've already combed the internet for information.

I just figured out the problem on my own.

Not all CAMAC crates have the +/- 12 V pin assignment. The status byte, among other things, uses an auxilary -6 V which is supplied by the -12 V pin. The -6 V can be found at pin Y1, or the fourth pin up on the left side of the GPIB slots.

The crate that I have does NOT have 12 V pins. Therefore, the status byte, and things like the Lecroy 2373 Memory Lookup unit DO NOT work.

Being the hack that I am, I wired -6 V of power into my crate, and now everything works. It looks a little dangerous, but it works.