Is there any reason why I should not just be going straight to usb over a cable in this situation?

[labview12110]

I have this serial-usb box currently hooked up to some hardware: https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/model.usb-232-2.html , why would I not just nix the box and go straight to the pc with a serial to usb cable? I came in to this project after all of this has been set up and I don't get why the previous engineer did it this way. He wrote a custom program to parse the data as well, instead of using the NI VISA blocks, or the serial communication.

Alternatively, I have a voltage conversion table for my serial communicating device, and an ni BNC style daq, can I wire a bnc to pin 3 on the serial port and get my information to the daq that way?

[Dennis_Knutson]

The NI device provides two serial to USB connections so it is simply an extra com port if you need it.

No idea why the previous engineer would not use LabVIEW. What language was used?

No, your DAQ device does not read RS-232.

[labview12110]

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@Dennis_Knutson wrote:
The NI device provides two serial to USB connections so it is simply an extra com port if you need it.

No idea why the previous engineer would not use LabVIEW. What language was used?

I'm not sure, the Vi they have running calls up his premade program to initialize the Serial connection and establish a port/get data.

No, your DAQ device does not read RS-232.

Well the Tx from the RS232 device is just a bit stream, there is no way for me to parse this somehow so I only have to use one input to the computer for my application?

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[Dennis_Knutson]

You would spend hours and hours trying to decode the bit stream and that is assuming your DAQ hardware is capable. Since you already have the serial converter, it does not seem cost effective.

[labview12110]

I see. So new plan is try and get this thing through VISA instead of the proprietary program. thanks!