Problems with Thorlabs controller BSC103

[phoenix365]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has experienced difficulty and/or knows of a way to solve the following:

When i run the 2-Dscan.vi file supplied with the BSC 103 Motor Controller, it cannot communicate with the controller or the motor itself, despite being supplied with the same information that the APT user program has (which works).

For anyone who knows such things the error type and code are: Error; [10109] with an internal code of 14362805. It says the error is basically that the the control (i presume labview control and not the hardware itself?) is not communicating with any hardware (which is take to mean the BSC 103 and not the nanostep 150mm motor itself).

If anyone can help it would be much appreciated, and yes i have emailed Thorlabs, but i thought i might be quicker getting a reply from here.

Thanks

Euan

[TimBoy]

Hi Euan,

I have the same problem as you. I want to move three piezos with the Thorlabs BPC203 Controller and got the same error code (Error 10109) running the VI. Maybe you have fixed your problem and can give me a hint how to overcome it. I guess that I have to change something like the id -number of the controller, but I am not sure about that.
I am grateful for any hint, since I just started with Labview...

Cheers
Timo

[phoenix365]

the serial number that you key in to labview has to be the serial number you see in the APT user interface, NOT the serial number on the unit.

I;m on to new errors, contacting Thorlabs and waiting for replies.....the fun.

[TimBoy]

Thanks for your reply. After some trials  I  came to the same result...  Anyhow  I think I have to get familar with activeX control, methods  and property nodes etc.  to programm an acceptable VI and hopefully get good results.  So I'll keep on trying...

Cheers
Timo

[MarkRobson@Thorlabs]

TL Explanation:

I'd like to clear up any confusion on this post about the BSC103 controller.

The BSC103 unit consists of a motherboard [MB], with USB connection, which supplies power and communication to three daughter stepper motor controller cards [SC]. The MB and SC cards each have their own serial number.

The serial number located on the rear of this unit is the serial number associated with the MB of the unit. Each of the 3 SC cards fitted in the BSC103 units have their own unique serial number.

To communicate with each SC via the APT software it is necessary to use the serial numbers of each individual card.

One way to identify the serial numbers of each SC is to open the program "APT User". This will automatically open the connected hardware and will display the serial numbers of each SC.

Using these serial numbers will allow you to communicate with each of motor controllers.


TL Action:

Thorlabs will now indicate the serial numbers of the SC cards on each BSC103 to ensure that future confusion can be avoided.


Regards

Mark

[immi]

Hi Mark,

I have recently got BSC102 with 2 controller cards installed used to control x-y (2 Linear 150mm stages NST150) am having same problem communicating with the device using LabView and getting error messages. I am not that famaliure with active x but I have followed the demo videos came with it but I got the same error mentinoed earlier in this thread. Moreover I followed your TIP to identify serial numbers of the cards but still no luck. I would appreciate your or anyones help in this regard. If someone can give me a small Labview Active X test code for this device that would make the life much easier for me. I am including an event log below which may help clarify my problem

thanks

immi

*****************************************************************************

Event Log generated 08:45:48  Sunday, November 11, 2007
Thorlabs APT Logging Server (Built: Apr  5 2007 14:40:24).
Server Version:- 1:0:0:17.

08:45:25:0515> [SN 90811894] CMGMotorCtrl::SetHWSerialNum(90811894)
 [Internal Code: 11222511; Description: 'Normal' category event.; Notes: No notes.; Extra Info: No extra information.]
08:45:25:0515> [SN 90811894] CMGMotorCtrl::EnableHWChannel(1)
 [Internal Code: 23452901; Description: 'Normal' category event.; Notes: No notes.; Extra Info: No extra information.]
08:45:25:0515> Error [Code = 10109]:-
 [SN 90811894] CMGMotorCtrl::EnableHWChannel(1); Internal Code = 23462901.
 Description: Control HW Communications Disabled
 Notes: A software call has been made to a control which is not currently communicating with any hardware. This may be because the control has not been started or due to incorrect serial number or missing hardware.

[MarkRobson@Thorlabs]

The event log that you have supplied is telling you what is wrong. In order to start communicating with a control you must call the StartCtrl method. This opens communications channels and enables functions of the controller to be exposed.

Effectively what you have don is set the serial number of the controller you would like to talk to, then asked it to enable the output. But, you haven't started communications and therefore can't enable the output.

Our support CD includes LabView wexamples of communicating with the APT controllers and shows the correct way to start and end communications with APT equipment.

If you need further assiatnce please contact our technical support team at any location.

    Regards

       Mark


08:45:25:0515> [SN 90811894] CMGMotorCtrl::SetHWSerialNum(90811894)
 [Internal Code: 11222511; Description: 'Normal' category event.; Notes: No notes.; Extra Info: No extra information.]
08:45:25:0515> [SN 90811894] CMGMotorCtrl::EnableHWChannel(1)
 [Internal Code: 23452901; Description: 'Normal' category event.; Notes: No notes.; Extra Info: No extra information.]
08:45:25:0515> Error [Code = 10109]:-
 [SN 90811894] CMGMotorCtrl::EnableHWChannel(1); Internal Code = 23462901.
 Description: Control HW Communications Disabled
 Notes: A software call has been made to a control which is not currently communicating with any hardware. This may be because the control has not been started or due to incorrect serial number or missing hardware.

[espectometriajaveriana]

We are desinging a elipsometer and we have to communicate the controller BSC 101 with a new application using LabVIEW, Thorlabs tell us that the only way to do that is calling from LabVIEW the activeX of the APT software but i need more information about it, because we are not experts using LabVIEW and we have until november to make the project.

thank you for any information, or any reference

Andres

[AdnanZ]

Hi Andres,

Do you have a copy of LabVIEW? If not, then you can download one to evaluate from this page:

Try NI LabVIEW

Here is a tutorial of using ActiveX in LabVIEW:

ActiveX and LabVIEW

Remember, this is not the only tutorial we have on ActiveX. If you do a search on the homepage, you should be able to find more information. Also, LabVIEW itself has some ActiveX examples that you can look into. I would recommend going through the getting started manual of LabVIEW and getting familiar with the environment. You can then try your hand to program ActiveX applications. If you have any questions in the process, post them on the forums. If you have any other questions, please be sure to let me know. Have a great day!

[espectometriajaveriana]

We are using the Thorlabs motor controller BSC101, and when we try to use it with labview we have the following error: Error 3006 occurred at property node, and it says that this error code is undefined, so we don´t kwon what we have to do to control the nanomax301 with its driver DRV001 and with its controller BSC101, if someone can help, or can send me an example file, please contact us to: espectometriajaveriana@gmail.com

thank you for your help.