ConfigureMultiPoint issue in agilent ag34465a DMM driver

[dadapolaris]

Hi,

I am trying to use Agilent 34465a Digital Multimeter (ag34465a) to record voltage data over a period of time with certain sample interval.  I downloaded the driver from this link:

http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=E1C5CF089F15079AE0440021287E65...

At first I tried using ag3446x_Read function in a "for loop" with Timer() and Syncwait(), but the instrument would randomly pause for a few seconds during data collection and then continue. I tried push the "local" button in the instrument during the pausing period, and the instrument was collecting data locally and then the control was taken over by the computer automatically after a few seconds. Therefore I think it is the communication between the computer and the instrument paused randomly.

I don't know how to solve that problem, so I tried configuring ag3446x to multipoint measurement directly to avoid potential communication issue. However, here comes a new problem. 

ag3446x_ConfigureMultiPoint (ag3446x, triggerCount, sampleCount, AG3446X_VAL_TIMER, 1.0)  

The fifth parameter here is the sample interval. It is supposed to have value between 0 to 3600 seconds with 1 microsecond step. It works fine when the value is between 1 to 3600, but when the value is between 0 to 1, e.g. 0.1, it runs to an error: "Primary Error: (Hex OxBFFA0010) Invalid value for parameter or property. Secondary Error: (Hex 0xBFFC0005) Parameter 5 out of range, or error occurred while setting Parameter 5. Elaboration: The value should be greater than or equal to the lower range."  I guess the reason is that on the instrument panel, when the sample interval is smaller then 1 s, it displays as "XXX ms"; when the sample interval is smaller than 1 ms, it displays as "XXX us". In remote control, the sample interval unit is set to "s" by default, and it can't accept the format "0.xxx s". Thus, my question is, can I solve this problem by sending the instrument with value and units? If this can work, how should I change the code in ag3446x.c to do so ? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[adena.l]

Hi dadpolaris,

Does the Agilent 34465a driver come with any example programs? If so, have you taken a look at any of those examples to see how they are acquiring data over a specified time period? 

[dadapolaris]

Hi Adena,

Thank you for your reply! Actually I didn't try "ReadMultiPoint" in my own program directly. I ran the example program come with the driver ("ag3446x_example_MultiPointMeasurement" ) first and encountered the issue "sample interval must be more than 1 second", which is reported in my post.

Thank you!

Dayi