Need help with GPIB and a NEAT-3xx motion controller in LabView...

[sbus]

I am trying to control a NEAT-3xx series motion controller in Labview. I can send commands to the NEAT and it appears to work; but anything I try to read back does not (error 6). I've made the timeouts HUGE and tried all 3 modes on GPIB READ but it makes no diff.

If anyone has a sample of talking to a NEAT (now Danaher) 3xx series, even just executing the RR or RD commands, I'd love the assist...

Gary Sloane

SB/US Engineering Inc.

gksloane@hotmail.com

[O_Proulx]

Hello sbus,

How do you know that your write is working?  Are you sure your instrument is actually reading the command you send it?  If the instrument does not properly read the command, it will never send anything back, which is why your read would timeout. 

There are a few things that could go wrong with the write.  First, make sure you are sending the proper command.  I could not find the manual, but you mention the RR and RD commands.  The next step is to make sure your GPIB is configured to use the proper termination.  Does your instrument require an EOS (an actual character which means that the transmission is done) or just EOI (a physical line which signals that the transmission is done).  You can adjust these settings in Measurement and Automation Explorer.

I think this would be a good place to start.  Have a great day.

[sbus]

NEAT PROBLEM SOLVED.

It turns out the NEAT-3xx controllers (1) do NOT use standard HP commands, like "*IDN?"; and (2) require a newline character after each command.  Until the newline they simply don't respond.

It's working now.

Thanks for the ideas.

[sbus]

SOME ADDITIONAL INFO

The NEAT controllers don't seem to handle the EOI line in hardware as they should. When I put a NEAT controller and an HP spectrum analyzer on the same GPIB bus, unless I specified that the EOS character was LF (0x0A) and that the controller should *not* assert EOI with the EOS character, the HP got screwed up. I'm guessing that the NEAT improperly terminates the EOI line and that therefore the HP never sees the EOI line behave properly when the NEAT is powered up.

Though maybe some other NEAT freak might wanna know...

[sbus]

SOOOO.... this may not be the right place, but....

Does anyone have a manual for the NEAT_3XX series of controllers that is for firmware revisions 2.2.1? I can only find 2.5.2...

Thanks in advance...