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What is the minimum hardware required to turn on an LED?

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Hi,

 

I want to have some very basic physical outputs from my labview program, which can be summed up as "what is the minimum hardware necessary to turn on an led?"

Can the COM port be used as a basic I/O port, can the pins be toggled?

 

Some people seem to use Arduino's to communicate, how easy are these to set up?

 

And my final option that I know about is a dedicated I/O board. I'm assuming these are plug and play, but overkill for my purposes.

 

Cheers,

Michael

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Hi Michael,

 

I am not sure how you could control the individual pins of the COM aka USB port. I suppose it can be done in LabVIEW using VISA functions, but it would be more complicated than using an Arduino.

 

You can interface Arduinos with LabVIEW by using the LabVIEW Interface for Arduino (LIFA). Here are some links to get you started:
1. https://decibel.ni.com/content/groups/labview-interface-for-arduino?view=discussions - LIFA forum
2. https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-16024 - LIFA FAQs
3. https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-15971 LIFA Setup Procedure

 

Even easier than using an Arduino would be to use an NI myDAQ or an NI USB-6008. Although these 2 devices are some of the simplest NI produces, they are much more capable than just lighting an LED. Moreover, using them would be completely plug-and-play and you would be able to deploy LabVIEW signal acquisition/generation code in literally 5 minutes.

 

You can look here to see the type of projects that can be made using the myDAQ: https://decibel.ni.com/content/community/academic/products_and_projects/mydaq?view=documents

 

If you are a student you’ll probably get a discount for the myDAQ if you call your local NI branch.

 

Hope this helps.

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Accepted by MJ834
You can easily use a com port. There is a property node for controlling the handshake lines. You do know that the com port is not TTL levels, don't you? The voltage levels can be as great as +/- 15.
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Thank you, that worked really well, a lot simpler than I was expecting.

 

For others, find Visa->Advanced->Visa Property Node then Select Property -> Serial Settings -> Modem Line Settings -> and choose your I/O pin

 

 

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