Problem setting VISA handshaking (cross posted on lavausergroup)

[Brian Bean]

I'm having trouble setting up VISA serial communication with an instrument (Digi-sense 68900-11 made by Eutech).  The communication spec (attached) calls for  9600,8,n,1, XON/XOFF (w/ XON=11 hex and XOFF = 13 hex).  I tried this setup and could only get timeouts when I try to read a setting from the controller.

So then I setup Portmon to watch the OEM's software application (which works fine). The OEM applicaiton seems to have a different setting for the "Shake:80" serial setting in Portmon. I've tried a bunch of different handshake settings using the VISA Serial Setup vi to try and match the OEM software to no avail.  Am I missing something simple?

Also the OEM software seems to enable a bunch of Serial Events. Some of these I can enable and some I can't, but when I enable the events the computer justs grinds to a halt.  Do I have to enable and handle the Serial Events or can I ignore them and just send read and writes?  The communication spec makes no mention of using serial events for communication.

Thanks,
Brian

[Brian Bean]

Thanks for anyone who looked at this.  I found out the problem.  I was missing a portion of the "Header message" when I sent the commands to the controller.  The documentation doesn't really explain this header until you get into the examples.  I missed it in my rush to get things done.  Sorry for the false alarm about handshaking/events/flow control.

Brian

[Matt_S.]

Hi Brian,

I'm glad you found what was wrong. Best of luck in your application. If you hit any more bumps in the road, let us know.

Regards,
Matt S.

[ahayak]

Hi Brian,

I am trying to work with this controller too. I wonder if you could share the documentation on communication with the instrument, and maybe your final working code as well.

Much appreciated.

[pincpanter]

This thread dates to 2006, the last message from Brian was in 2008.

So, good luck.