Any Rs232 serial com command-set for agilent power meter E4418B

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Agilent EPM Series Power Meter E4418B

Anyone knows the RS232 command to read or measure the value on Power Meter E4418B?

I can reset and read the Product name, but i dont know the command to read or measure the values.

Can anyone help? searched on ni.com and agilent website, no luck. Thanks.

"*IDN\n" to read the product name

"*RST\n" to reset the power meter

viWrite (serialHandle, "*IDN\n", strlen("*IDN\n") , VI_NULL);
viGetAttribute (serialHandle, VI_ATTR_ASRL_AVAIL_NUM, &bytesReady);
viRead (serialHandle, readBuffer, bytesReady, &actualRead);

MessagePopup("",readBuffer);

Thanks.

[Dennis_Knutson]

There are both LabVIEW and LabWindows drivers available for this power supply at http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niid_web_display.drv_results?p_app_area=&p_man=agilent&p_keywords=4418&p_.... I'm assuming that you're using either LabWindows or C++, so if you don't want to use the driver, you should at least be able to read the LabWindows C code. You should also go to Agilent's web site and get the programming manual. All of the commands will be in that. I had no problem locating it. The link is http://www.home.agilent.com/cgi-bin/pub/agilent/editorial/cp_MiscEditorial.jsp?NAV_ID=-536891064.536....

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Im using LabWindow/CVI 7.1. I have read the programming manual.  However, they didn't mention anything about RS232 command-set to measure the values on power meter.

I tried to use command like *MEAS, *READ, *INIT, and *FETC. I got no result.  I believed those command for GPIB.

Is there Rs232 command that i can use to retrieve measurement values using serial com port?

Dennis.

[Dennis_Knutson]

There is usually no difference between the commands for RS-232 or GPIB. You probably have to add a termination character such as CR, LF, CR/LF at the end of your command string. There should be a section in the programming manual that states what is required. There may even be an instrument option to change this. This should be in the operation manual. Try using Hyperterminal or MAX to send the commands. If they work there, you can get them to work in CVI.

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Okay Thanks,

I just re-read the power meter remote operation manual.  I will try to those commands listed on Table 1-1.

Thanks for all the help,

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Hi,

I have everything working on this computer but it's not working on production computer.

Right now,  I am trying to create a distribution kit.   For some reasons, when I install the cvi application on production computer, it wont read the value from Power Meter.  It seems the distribution kit did not get all the proper files.  For instance, like the instrument drivers or other files that needed to run on production computer.

Can someone provide me instruction how to create a distribution kit that will include power meter drivers?

Thanks.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Did you install VISA on the production computer? I'm not familiar with CVI installer settings but in the most recent LabVIEW versions, you can optionally include a version of VISA run-time that only has support for the serial port. If CVI doesn't have that, install the regular VISA run-time engine. If you use the VISA aliases Com1 or Com2, you may need to add this to MAX or use ASRL1::INSTR, ASRL2::INSTR in your application.

[ScottPageUSMC]

I know this post is older but, having dealt with this meter for some time now, here are some pointers.

The two basic commands for reading the current power for a channel are:

   MEAS1? for channel "A"

   MEAS2? for channel "B"

You must allow some time for the process to complete before the data will be available for reading.  Suggest IOTimeout of T10s (10 seconds) for the MEAS? commands, the command will probably complete within 3 to 5 seconds but to be sure set it for 10.  This is due to the process that is shown in the Programming Manual, something like:

  Abort

  Trigger

  Acquire Measurement

  Place data in output buffer

You can also Serial Poll the instrument and set the *SRE 16 for measurement available, and when the Poll result = 84 then the data is ready to be read.

You can use the CONF command to configure the measurement for a particular reading.

Also note that when you read the data back it will be in the format displayed on the screen at the time of the measurement.

Refer to the UNITS command tree to change the value for either channel.  I'm guessing at the moment because the manual is not in front of me, but the command is similar to

UNITS1 DBM or UNITS1 W For channel "A"

Hope this helps

[Minions]

Your instrument may be set in the HP 437B Programming Language.  You can set it by the front panel to SCPI or by sending:

SYST:LANG SCPI

The echo does not prove capability with the instrument.  In fact, echo must be turned off according to the instrument documentation.  Make sure the PC port is configured for 9600 baud and 8-N-1:None.