EG&G Potentiostat model 273 + NI gpib pcII +labview 6.1

[solistar]

I have to develop a labview program to control EG&G Potentiostat/Galvanostat model 273 by GPIB card. Now I have some problems:
1. When I use MAX to "Scan for instrument", the instrument can be found, MAX also report that the instrument cannot respond by "*IDN?" command. I read the instrument's manual and found that the corresponding command is ID, when I tried this command from ibic by ibwrt "ID", I cannot successfully executed the following ibrd command, eabo error occurs. My instrument's terminal is set to be cr+EOI. My Device Templates sheet (from device manager) is also set to be cr+EOI. How shoud I set the GPIB property sheet?
2. I cannot find a labview driver for my instrument from internet. If I need to
write the driver by myself, can I use VISA? Since my instrument is too old to recoginize "*IDN?" command, maybe it is not visa compatible, since visa is compatible with ni488.2 commands.
3. Please give me some suggestions. I am a new learner of this.

[DiegoF]

Hi,

Most likely that the instrument you are using is not 488.2 compliant. This doesn't mean that you won't be able to communicate with it, but some of the commands will not be recognized, like *IDN?.

Double check the user manual to determine if the command that needs to be sent is "ID?" (I've seen other instruments use this command). Also, double check if you need to attach any termination characters.

A read timeout error usually indicates that the command is not correct. The instrument doesn't recognize the command, so it doesn't respond.

You mention you are setting the termination to (carriage return) +EOI. This setti
ngs will depend on the instrument you are communicating with. Most instrument will use the EOI line to determine the END message. A popular termination character is the linefeed. Refer to the user manual of you device for specifics.

As I previously mentioned, you can still communicate with you instrument even if it is not 488.2 compliant. The 488.2 is an extension of the 488.1 standard. Both are the same in the low level signals, commands and state machines. You should be able to use VISA without problems.

DiegoF
National Instruments.