Experience with STEPDOS diaphragm pumps in LabVIEW?

[Maria Villareal]

Hello,
I am trying to command a STEPDOS diaphragm pump (distributed by KNF Neuberger) (model # FEM08KT.18RC) using LabVIEW and an RS-232 connection, but am having no luck so far. The pump comes with software to control it remotely, but I want to control it with LabVIEW, if possible. I have a list of the serial commands from the manufacturer, but am making no progress. Any suggestions?

Thank you.

[DiegoF]

Hi Maria,

I'm not familiar with this particular device, but serial communication is pretty much the same in every device.

The first thing to determine is if the cabling and the serial port settings are correct. Are you able to communicate with the instrument using the vendor supplied utility?. This would allow you to determine if the device is properly connected to the PC.

You need to determine the serial port settings of the device and use the same setting to configure the port on the PC. These settings are:

- Baud Rate
- Data bits
- Parity
- Stops bits
- Flow Control (Handshaking, if any).

When sending commands make sure you add the termination character that the device expects. Usually it is the line feed (/n) character.

Here are some
tutorials on serial communication that you might find useful:

Serial Communication General Concepts
Serial Communication Starting Point

How to Do a Serial Loopback Test

Hope this helps.

DiegoF
National Instruments.

[hayabura]

thank you

diaphragm pump
vacuum pump

[Dennis_Knutson]

Do you have an actual question or are you spamming with those ads?

[Dennis_Dutoit]

I have kind of the same problem. I hooked a Stepdos 03 RC pump and connected it with my computer through a RS232/USB converter. I can communicate with it through the delivered software and I have a set of commands.

The baud is 9600 no parity 1 stopbit and 8 databits.

When I send a command with the delivered software ,the delivered software it sends a command along with the other characters like the start text , the actual command and the pump address. Do I have to send these also in VISA or do I just simply send the command. It's depicted in the picture what I mean.

[Poduval]

Hello

I also have a SIMDOS pump which I have been using in manual mode all these days. I am now interested to control this using LabVIEW and  installed the LabVIEW drivers available in their website.

My concern is they have provided a cable which at one end connects to the pump and the other end is open , with 5 wires each having  different colors .

I would like to know how did you guys connect this such that u could directly interface it with your PC to control the pumps.

What type of connector ? etc

Thanks in advance!