EG&G 5210 driver

[JBanting]

Hi,

I am relatively new to Labview and have started a project that requires a driver for an EG&G 5210 lock-in amplifier. I have downloaded one found here http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.model_page?p_model_id=1928 on the NI website, however the driver seems to do nothing. The problem does not seem to lie in actually connecting via the GPIB as I am able to send IDN? queries and read and write via NI MAX without issue.

There are no errors coming up and the program is able to run, it's just that nothing actually happens.

Essentially I want to be able to control and take measurements from the amplifier via Labview.

Lternatively, I have a driver from this site http://www.signalrecovery.com/labview/intro-to-drivers.aspx, but with this several errors come up, ranging from being unable to interface with the GPIB device to problems with addressing VISA in property nodes.

I am using a NI GPIB-USB-HS with Labview version 11.0, and as mentioned above an EG&G 5210 lock-in amplifier.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

JB

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

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@JBanting wrote:

Hi,

I am relatively new to Labview and have started a project that requires a driver for an EG&G 5210 lock-in amplifier. I have downloaded one found here http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.model_page?p_model_id=1928 on the NI website, however the driver seems to do nothing. The problem does not seem to lie in actually connecting via the GPIB as I am able to send IDN? queries and read and write via NI MAX without issue.

There are no errors coming up and the program is able to run, it's just that nothing actually happens.

Essentially I want to be able to control and take measurements from the amplifier via Labview.

Lternatively, I have a driver from this site http://www.signalrecovery.com/labview/intro-to-drivers.aspx, but with this several errors come up, ranging from being unable to interface with the GPIB device to problems with addressing VISA in property nodes.

I am using a NI GPIB-USB-HS with Labview version 11.0, and as mentioned above an EG&G 5210 lock-in amplifier.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

JB

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To use an instrument driver, you need to know the instrument commands. Do you?

Or you just running the VIs at random without understanding what commands/queries they are sending to the instrument?

[JBanting]

Thank you for your response

I have had a little progress since earlier, but it's still not entirely working. I have found the manual for the amplifier which has a section on GPIB communication, so yes I have a reference to what each command actually means.

The driver essentially makes one long string which is then passed to a GPIB write vi. I tried changing this to a GPIB write vi for each part of the string, however I fear that this means that each part of the string is being written at the same time and so some are being overwritten before they have a chance to actually take place. This explains why some parts have worked  but others have not, seemingly at random.

I have then tried to put this into a sequence structure so that each GPIB command occurs after each other, however I have now returned back to the situation where nothing happens...

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

Perhaps you need to take baby steps and use NI-MAX VISA Interactive Control applet first.

[Lucas.]

Hi JBanting,

Would it be possible for you to attach your code to allow us to see what's going on.