using agilent 33120a with labview

[Tech Toad]

Hi

I am just new to labview and the task that i am trying to come upto is connecting Agilent 33120A to my computer and controlling it with labview. I have already installed the driver from NI wesite. But I have no idea how should I proceed next...

I guess thr are some sort of commands that I have to look for, I read the user manual of 33120A and I also tried to find some explanations on the web, but I think i need explanation on a low level.

I m nt sure whether my question explains my problem properly bcoz i dont know how should i put it as i am very new to it...

It would be really helpful if any one can explain the process or send some sort of link or text.

Thanks already!!

[Dennis_Knutson]

Under the Learn section at http://www.ni.com/devzone/idnet/, there are topics on what an instrument driver is and how to use one in LabVIEW. In the driver, there are examples and with newer versions of LabVIEW and if you downloaded the project style driver, the examples will be found with the rest of the LabVIEW examples (Help>Find Examples).

[Tech Toad]

thanks dennis,

I read the stuff about drivers and i installed the specific agxxx driver for the func. gen..then i tried to run one of the application example, buut it gave the error:  'VISA:  (Hex 0xBFFF0015) Timeout expired before operation completed'...

Do I have to initialize the driver before i use or do i have to  write any program inorder to run...and one more thing that i dint understand was tht i had to select I/O for VISA session and there i can see two options, COM1 & LPT1..i have connected to COM1 but it seems that the func. gen. is not detected...

can anyone help?

thanks

dhaval

[Albert.Geven]

Are you  sure you have the right cable!
Serial is famous for having an almostt correct cable.

If you go inside the initialize vi or have a serial settings cluster on the frontpanel of the initialize vi fill it in properly and check on the instrument frontpanel
if it is reacting.

[Tech Toad]

thanks albert...

i checked and realized that the calbe was not actually null-modem...so i changed to it and atleast the instrument is responding...

I am very new so if you can explain the cluster part in a bit easier terms it would be very helpful...

this is the error that i got after i changed the cable:

'Error -1300 occurred at ag33xxx Error Query;
instrument reports the following:
-113:  Undefined header
+0:  No error

Instrument specific Error'

I changed the frequency settings on the front panel of the application example Wfm. Config. and the Instrument also changed according to that, but still this error appears...this atleast shows that the isntrument is responding...but as I dont have much idea about how to trouble shoot the error, I dont know whr I should look...

After checking I think might be VISA CLR has a prob. bocoz as soon as the signal enters thr, it shows an error, i m not sure to wht extent this is true...

Support appreciated,

thanks

dhaval

[BerkO]

Hello Tech Toad,

That error happens when one of the commands sent to the instrument is not recognized.  It is possible that the driver has a mistyped command.
Do you know which specific VI is causing this issue?
If you can give me list of the VI's that you are passing (in order) i can take a look.

[NathanT]

Hey Tech Toad,
       You should also give one of the example VIs a try and just leave all of the default values.  Also make sure that you are not disabling the ID Query on the Initialize VI.  If the driver supports a family of instruments that have slightly different command sets, it will use the ID information to choose which commands to send later in the driver.

Cheers,

NathanT

[NMD]

What is a good test command?  I want simply as possible to know the interface is alive.  I would like to try FREQ 5000 to see if the machine jumps to 5kHz, but do I type:  "FREQ 5000" with or without quotes, or is there a better "test" command?

I'm not interested in read-back at this point, only writing to the machine.

THank you,

[Dennis_Knutson]

Next time, create a new thread for a new question.

In a different thread of yours, it seems that you are using a serial connection, so doing just a write to verify communication is absolutely worthless if you want the verification to be automatic. There will be no error generated even with a cable disconnected.

The simplest is probably to just run the initialize function. You have to run this anyways to configure the serial port.

[NMD]

Thanks, Dennis.

I modified the Serial <--> Labview help example to be "send-only" (not posted, to avoid copyright infringement), and achieved the response from the device I was looking for -- my first baby step. 

Lessons learned:

(1)  Ensure you are using RS232 "null modem" cable; RS232 pass-thru cable will not work.

(2)  FREQ 5000, with no quotes, is an acceptable command to ping the 33120A; the device display should jump to 5kHz immediately.

Best regards,