Timeout error in the VISA testing panel

[SailorMoon]

Dear NI Community,

i am very new to this forum and I have a few questions, which I hope you might answer me. First of all, I will explain what I want to do in Labview. I have a Lock-in Amplifier of the model SR810, which I want to connect with Labview and read out the output. I saw, that there is a Plug&Play provided by Stanford Research for the SR830 which should also work out for the SR810. Before I can use this Plug&Play, I have to recognize and configure the instrument via NI MAX. For the connection I use a serial RS-232-to-USB cable. The cable is recognized by NI MAX. When I want to communicate with the instrument, using Codes from the manual, it doesnt function. I get a timeout error (HEX 0xBFFF0015) in the VISA testing panel. I already searched a lot during the last weeks to solve the problem and try to eliminate all posible failures. But I couldnt solve it so far, so you are my last hope. I think the parameteres I used for the testing panel should be okay, because I took them from the manual of the instrument. I dont know, if the cable we use is working with Labview. But it should work out, because Labview is recognizing the cable. I wanted to check, if the Labview versions I use, are compatible with the cable, but NI just gives informations about their own products. So could this be a problem?

Thank you in advance! I hope you can help me to fix this problem! If you need any further informations, I can give you them.

Kind regards,

Sailor Moon

[billko]

What, specifically, have you tried so far?  I don't think you want us wasting your time suggesting things you already tried.

[SailorMoon]

Hello Bill,

thank you for your fast answer. I checked the settings I used, like different I/O settings. I checked if the versions I use are compatible with eachother, if I installed all packages, which are needed for NI MAX. The baud rate, data bits, transmit and receive buffer are taken from the manual. But for the settings of the handshaking, I am not sure. I tried all of the options, but none of them worked out. In the manual it says, that  SR810 suppors CTS/DTR hardware handshaking. The instrument never flashes, when a command is send. But as I read, the timeout problem could be anything, so I am really unsure, where the problem really is. Maybe its a problem with the settings or the cable..

Kind regards,

Sailor Moon

[StevenD]

Are you setting the baud, data bits, stop bit and parity on BOTH the device and in NI MAX? It looks like CTS/DTR are optional. I would leave them out for simplicity for now and just see if you can get a response. 

I also prefer to use termite for communicating with RS-232 devices. It just seems to be an easier to use and understand interface.

[SailorMoon]

Hello Steven,

thanks for your reply. I did it on both, the device and NI MAX. But still the device isnt recognizing any command. Most people use this device with the GPIB interface, but we dont have GPIB and we want to try it with the serial interface. Thanks for your advice with Terminal, I should try this out. At least, I would see, if the Lock-in is working anyway or if it is a Labview problem. Also I wrote the company about this issue, but they didn't understand my question and answered something completly different. I am really thankfull for all your answers, at least you understood my problem and try to help me out.
I hope, I will try this out with Terminal and then tell you, if it worked out.

Lovely regards

Sailor Moon

[billko]

Sometimes you have to explicitly set the interface type on the instrument.  i.e., go to the instrument's physical control panel and set it up for serial interface.

[SailorMoon]

Hey Bill,

yes I set it in the lock-in manually. I explicitly choose the RS-232 interface. What is also said in the manual is that you have to send the OUTX?0 command before sending any command, so that the lock-in knows, which interface is used. So I said on both ways the serial interface. I dont think that this is the problem.

Lovely regards

Sailor Moon

[RavensFan]

You are sending the outx?0 command in the same command as the other message.

Try just one, then the other.

[StevenD]

Have you checked the wiring? You should just need the TX and RX pins connected (usually pins 2 and 3) (and optionally ground). Also make sure you don't have a null modem cable that will swap lines 2 and 3. You can do a simple sanity check by disconnecting the device side end of the cable, shorting pins 2 and 3 together and using Termite or some other program you should be reading all data you write.

[SailorMoon]

Hello RavensFan,

in the manual its said that you can send commands in one line, if you seperate them by semicolon. So I thought this would be okay. I also tried them one by one, but never got any reaction from the device.

Lovely regards