BFG500n

[averagejoe]

Hi guys and gals

Ive got a BFG500n Mecmesin force gauge. I have a rs232 lead for  it to connect to PC, I have been in contact with mecmesin and they said to their knowledge no one has used it with labview. I want to be able to read in coming data from RS232 constantly. the Mecmesin  has setting, if you want one reading sent at a time the baud rate 9600, parity is set to 0, bits is 8, flow control is none. If you hold the TXD button the BFG500n it puts it in to continous mode and the baud rate changes to 57600. In the data sheet for the BFG500n it says if i send a ?  command it will allow displayed readings to be sent over RS232.  I am a bit stuck because that is all the information i can get from Mecmesin. I have made a VI using Visa configure Serial port and a serial read.

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

Before trying to automate with LabVIEW, use a program like Hyperterminal to communicate with the instrument.

Once you are able to do so, *then* automate with LabVIEW.

[averagejoe]

without sounded dumb is hyperterminal the cmd promt window. also how do i find out which com port i have it connected to. thanks

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

No, the Command prompt window is not Hyperterminal.

Most modern PCs if there is a COM port has only one so it is by default COM1.

[averagejoe]

ok i had a look into this hyperterminal stuff and it says its not windwos 7 which is what im using, is there another way of communicating with com ports thanks

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

Google Hyperterminal Windows 7

[Dennis_Knutson]

Two free alternatives are Tera Term and PuTTY.

[averagejoe]

ok so got a hyperterminal and got it working on hypertermiinal being able to read data from it and also controll the time its sends a command by pressing ctrl and A, next thing is how to get this to work in labview. i opended one of the basic examples in labview for serial i can send read whats comming from the port but its not the same as hyperterminal. in hyperterminal it \displays whats on the BFG but in labview it just displays 40\r\n when its meant to read 160, can any one help me understand how hyperterminal reads the serial data. so i can implement that in LabView

[Dennis_Knutson]

With LabVIEW, you have the option to display data as Normal, '\' Codes Display, or Hex. The examples are set for '\' Codes Dispaly so the only major difference is that you will control characters CR and LF as \r and \n, spaces as \s, etc. The 40 you are seeing is no different. Perhaps what you are sending is incorrect. Are you sending both CR/LF (\r\n) like Hyperterminal does?

[averagejoe]

its ok got it sorted, tried sending a command and reading 1024 bytes instead and it now works a treat. thanks