How do I send commands to a device through RS 232?

[hanchennz]

Hi,

I'm building a solar concentrator to test photovoltaic cells as a summer project at Tufts. The concentrator needs to be pointed at the sun directly, so I' have bought a computerized telescope mount to track the sun with. The telescope mount has a controller which can be connected to with RS 232. I have a list of commands. 

I'm using thermocouples to measure cell temperature. If the temperature gets too high the mount needs to point the concentrator away from the sun, to avoid damage to the cells. I want to use Labview or Matlab to program this function. Trouble is, I haven't had a chance use either of these programs in this capacity. I've only played around with Labview, made some wave generators, etc. 

How would I go about sending commands to the mount through an RS-232 Serial connection? 

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Wayne.C]

hanchennz,

The VISA functions that ship with LV will allow you to control the concentrator via RS-232 serial connection.  Example titled Advanced Serial Write and Read.vi ships with LV and demonstrates how to use the VISA functions.

[Albert.Geven]

Hi

look at the basic serial examples, and maybe there is a driver for that telescope mount somewhere