VISA compatible usb to serial adaptor

[HawkOwl]

I read a different forum thread that claims that 'low-cost' USB to RS232 adaptors don't work with LabVIEW.  But it would be very helpful if people were willing to name names.  I just tried a Radio Shack adaptor that worked fine in Hypertermial, shows up as COM4 in Device Manager but when I 'refresh' a VISA control in LabVIEW it doesn't list it.  When I type 'COM4' into a VISA control the Open VISA vi throws an error (-1073807202).  I got the exact same symptoms with a Belkin.  I have a Keyspan adaptor at a different job that DOES work with LabVIEW 6.1 on a Windows XP machine, but I need one that works with LabVIEW 8.6 on Vista.  Is it worth trying a Keyspan or do I need to wait and order an NI adaptor?

[mr_]

HawkOwl--

Have you seen these KnowledgeBase documents?

KnowledgeBase 4K70RTPH: "Error -1073807202 : A code library required by VISA could not be located" W...

KnowledgeBase 3ZC9A3DW: Using Virtual COM Ports or Third-party USB-to-Serial Adapters with VISA in M...

KnowledgeBase 2PB8A8DS: VISA Error -1073807202 (0xBFFF009E)

It is hard to say which non-NI USB-RS232 converters will work in Measurement & Automation Explorer.  All of the National Instruments adaptors were designed to fully comply with the serial specification, as such National Instruments supports their functionality in Measurement & Automation Explorer.  With that said, this doesn't mean that other non-NI devices will not work, but it is certainly not guaranteed.  I would suggest a National Instruments USB-RS232 converter.

Cheers!

[HawkOwl]

Huge thanks, Tyler, that was it - I didn't have VISA on this box.  Duh.  My apologies to Belkin (their USB-serial adaptor works now), and probably Radio Shack, too, although I returned that one already.

Although the VISA install was a nightmare.  It refused to install because it detected an 'unsupported system component'.  It detected it, but it couldn't tell me what it was.  Not very helpful.  I had to begin uninstalling everything remotely related to LabVIEW - LabVIEW itself, NI's Internet toolkit, Measurement Computing, IVision, an Olympus camera SDK....  VISA didn't install until I removed all of it.  Four hours into this and it's still not all rebuilt yet.

Thanks again, Doug

[mr_]

Doug--

I'm glad we were able to pinpoint the cause to this issue.

Cheers!