Need help to communicate with newport optical power meter 1936-c in Labview

[IC_designer]

Hallo all who read this thread,

I am trying to program newport optical power meter 1936-c in Labview but could not communicate with the instrument over USB connection.

I have installed the drivers necessary for the operation of the optical power meter from newport website:

ftp://download.newport.com/Photonics/Power%20Meters/x936-C_x1928-C_1918-C_R_%20Software_Suite/

I am running windows XP service pack3, 32 bit version.I believe I have installed the correct version of the driver for communication with the device over USB connection.The application software provided by the newport runs correctly, and I am sending and receiving the commands,but when I try to connect to the power meter using Labview sample programs provided by newport, I am not able to send or receive anything,instead the program seems to run an infinite loop and i get no reply until I have to restart the program.I am using Labview service pack 9 and I have tried all the sample programs 7.x ,8.x and 2009 version,but unfortunately no progress(:

I am trying to send a power command PM:Power? to the power meter to get the power.But it doesnot give anything.

For this puspose I have found somewhere on the forum this file: NP_GeneralDrivers_LV8.llb (file attached).I have used sample query program with this file but still the device is not responding .I dont know how to proceed now, as I have only basic knowledge of Labview programming.

I have attached some screenshots of the program I am currently using:

I would highly appreciate if someone could help me.

kind regards,

shami

[kuttus]

Hello,

 I am also trying to interface power meter 1936 C. I am using the labview sample programs (directly without any modification) given in the newport CD. I am attaching it below. But the USB driver file I could not find. It shows an exclamatory mark in device manager. Also when I run the code it shows that not able to open the device. Please help me to fix this problem

[smercurio_fc]

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@kuttus wrote:

Hello,

 I am also trying to interface power meter 1936 C. I am using the labview sample programs (directly without any modification) given in the newport CD. I am attaching it below. But the USB driver file I could not find. It shows an exclamatory mark in device manager. Also when I run the code it shows that not able to open the device. Please help me to fix this problem

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Please read the documentation that comes with the software. From the ReadMe:

In order for a computer to communicate with the 1830-R, 1918-R, 1928-C or 1936-C/R,2936-C/R a full install of the computer interface software is needed.

The "computer interface software" is available on the Newport site, not from National Instruments since Newport makes the meter.

[flanguy]

Dear all,

I have the same problem as described here above.

I have installed the required drivers. The instrument is indeed recognise. But I am unable to get any data (even the IDN !)

Was someone able to get some data from its 1936-c ?

Thanks in advance,

Fabian

[Rswint]

I have the same problem (Newport 2936C actually) - can't see the USB device in e.g. NI Max under "Devices and interfaces"

I've installed the newport device drivers: Computer Interface Software v3.0.2 from Newport ( http://search.newport.com/?q=*&x2=sku&q2=2936-R ).

I even upgraded the intrument's firmware.

The drirver Seems to install OK - I can see the device (Newport Power Meter)  listed under the Wndows Universal Serial Bus Controller list, yet no listing in NI-MAX 

I've tried this with 3 different computers (XP & Windows 7, LabVIEW 2012 & 2013) now to no avail.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Reuel

[Dennis_Knutson]

It's not supposed to be listed in MAX. It's not an NI device, nor usbtmc, nor a serial port.

[Rswint]

Thanks for the thought that USB devices shouldn't appear in NI MAX.

However, at

    http://www.ni.com/getting-started/set-up-hardware/instrument-control/usb-connect 

there is an illustration of finding Tektronix USB devices in NI-MAX. Should this work for a Tektronix device and not a general USB instrument??

The Newport sample LabVIEW codes are also failing to find the instrument.

Thanks,

Reuel

[Dennis_Knutson]

The link is broken but I know what you are referring to and it has nothing to do with your device. There is no such thing as a general usb instrument and to repeat MAX is not supposed to detect it.

Since the vendor's software doesn't detect it, you don't have a problem with LabVIEW either.

[550nm]

Hi Shami,

Not sure if it's too late to mention that it's possible to communicate with the Newport 1918, 2935, & 2936 C/R series power meters using VISA.

Use the NI-VISA driver Wizard (Programs\NationalInstruments\VISA) to create a VISA device-driver, then, in MAX, the device will appear as a RAW USB port.

The two attached infs - for XP and Win7 - were created this way.

I think usbdll.dll (the "Jungo" driver) limits communication to one PM per application. Also, with usbdll.dll, I encountered a 2sec USB-related delay/timeout (for which there may have been a workaround).  Using VISA avoids both these issues, at the expense of having to write your own LabVIEW drivers.

Hope it helps!

[hhaaii]

I recently found that the USB driver provided in newport's v3.0.2 package doesn't work for WIN8.1. Newport supporting team confirmed it and told me that I can use the USB driver included in the software package for model 8742 (http://assets.newport.com/webDocuments-EN/images/PicomotorApp_2.0.4.zip) instead which is a new updated version. I tried and it works for me.