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Using a USB to RS232 cable to a NHR 4600 AC Load

I am trying to control the NHR Model 4600 AC Load with Labview.  I have configured the AC Load to work with a USB RS232 port configuration within the software of the AC Load itself.  The cable I am using is a USB to serial port adapter, which is then plugged into a RS232 cable and plugged into the load.  When I try to select the device in labview however, just using an example provided by the load drivers, it is saying that there is no device with the configuration that I chose when I try to run it.  This is because Labview is detecting the load as a COM port due to the x chipi-x adapter I am using and the drivers that go along with that.  Is there any way for me to have labview recognize the load as a USB RS232 configuration rather than a COM port?  Hopefully this makes sense and I provided images as well.

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Message 1 of 9
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Ah... The dreaded NH Research

 

You need to go through all of the NHR software and set everything up first before ANYTHING in LabVIEW will work.

 

It looks like you need to run the NHR "Configurator" again, and maybe again and again as the NHR software is such garbage that it just does not work sometimes. All you can do is just keep trying until it works.

 

BTW: When you initialize the NHR in LabVIEW do you see the NHR logo popup?

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=== Engineer Ambiguously ===
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Message 2 of 9
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Hi RTSLVU,

 

Thanks for the reply.  So are you saying that I need to run the configuration over and over and eventually it will work for good, or will I have to run the configuration over and over until it works every time I want to use it?  Also I didn't see the NHR logo popup anywhere in LabVIEW.  LabVIEW is not even recognizing the Load when I plug it in. 

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@lucasphee wrote:

Hi RTSLVU,

 

Thanks for the reply.  So are you saying that I need to run the configuration over and over and eventually it will work for good, or will I have to run the configuration over and over until it works every time I want to use it?  Also I didn't see the NHR logo popup anywhere in LabVIEW.  LabVIEW is not even recognizing the Load when I plug it in. 


You might have to run it a few times and eventually it will work "for good", or until something changes in the configuration.

 

If the "Configurator" has properly configured and saved your configuration, you should see the NHR logo popup when the NHR Initialization VI is ran as it loads and confirms the instrument is what it was configured to be.

 

If you don't get that popup it's not going to work.

 

BTW: If you are planning on deploying this to other machines you will also have to install all of the NHR software ( and go through all of this again) on the target machine in addition to your LabVIEW executable and any required run-time libraries  

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=== Engineer Ambiguously ===
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Message 4 of 9
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So eventually I should get an option to select USB RS232 if it configures correctly?  I haven't even had the chance to run the Initialization VI because it is recognizing the load as a COM port rather than RS232.

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@lucasphee wrote:

So eventually I should get an option to select USB RS232 if it configures correctly?  I haven't even had the chance to run the Initialization VI because it is recognizing the load as a COM port rather than RS232.


RS-232 IS a Com port

 

Your USB to Serial adapter should install a virtual Com port and it should work exactly the same

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=== Engineer Ambiguously ===
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Message 6 of 9
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BTW: if you have any say in future equipment purchases I recommend you  chose the California Instruments version of this load 

 

https://www.powerandtest.com/power/electronic-loads/ac-electronic-load-3091ld

 

No propitiatory software, front panel controls, uses NI-VISA and standard SCPI commands, and it's the same NHR load inside.

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=== Engineer Ambiguously ===
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Message 7 of 9
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That's what I thought because I knew that the adapter should install a virtual Com port.  However, for some reason the software for the load doesn't like calling it a Com port within its own program and will not let me assign the configuration to "Com 6" which is the virtual Com port that is created.  Instead it forces me to make the configuration a "USB RS232" instead.  It's difficult to explain but basically I cannot configure the load to Com 6 through the load software.  I will keep trying to configure however, as you suggested.  Thanks Again.

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Message 8 of 9
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Thank You!

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