Powerflex 755 Communication

[Adam L]

Hello all,

I am a mechanincal engineering student at Milwaukee School of Engineering.  I am building up a dyno system to test small engines.  We are going to do our data aquisition and control with LabView.  Our dyno is a 20 HP electric motor coupled to an Allen Bradely Powerflex 755 motor drive. 

How can we establish communication between the drive and LabView?  The drive communicates using either Allen Bradely's Eithernet/IP Protocal, rs-232, ect, or analog inputs and outputs.  Ideally we would use the eithernet connection.  Has anybody written any LabView code to comunicate with Eithernet/IP?  If not where should we start? 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Adam    

[Omar_II]

---

@Adam L wrote:

How can we establish communication between the drive and LabView?  The drive communicates using either Allen Bradely's Eithernet/IP Protocal, rs-232, ect, or analog inputs and outputs.  Ideally we would use the eithernet connection.  Has anybody written any LabView code to comunicate with Eithernet/IP?  If not where should we start?  

---

You can use VISA to read and write to your device over Ethernet.

Can you see your device in MAX?

Have you read this?

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3325

Omar

[Adam L]

Thanks for the link!  I am reading up right now.

Adam

[Adam L]

OK. So far I have been able to successfully "ping" the motor drive. 

I am having trouble creating a new device.  When I go to create a new device the only option in the wizzard I have to choose from is "Devices and Interfaces"

[Adam L]

Could there be a module that i am missing or some kind of software error that is preventing me from being able to successfully create this VISA device?

Adam

[Omar_II]

In MAX, do you not see the "Create New..." options from a right clik on "Device and Interfaces" or the "Create New..." button at the top?

[Adam L]

Yes.  I see create new, I click it, and the next dialog box doesn't seem to be working.

[Omar_II]

Can you post a PNG of the dialog box that doesn't seem to be working?

Something like this?

[Adam L]

Good idea.  We are updating some of the software. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'll post a picture tomorrow.

Thanks again.  I appreciate the help.

I like this forum.  I get a kick out of the fact that the newbie's icon is a car with a really big spoiler. 

[Adam L]

I was able to create a VISA TCP/IP resource for the Powerflex.  It doen't seem like its working though.  When I click "open VISA test pannel"  I get this error message:

Any idea what might cause this?

Adam