GPIB communication with 34970A

[schiedeck]

I try to establish a GPIB-connection between Agilent 34970A Data
Logger and PC. I'm using a Agilent PCI/GPIB interface card and LabVIEW
6. Also I installed the NI driver for the 34970A Data Logger, the
HP-VISA and HP-SICL.

With Agilent Bench Link I can communicate between PC and 34970A.

Now I have the problem that MAX couldn't find the GPIB-device and any
other interface (i.e. serial) anymore, respectively they are listed as
unknown device. When I open one of the NI driver-vi's, there is a
class conflict between the VISA Resource Name control and i.e. the
VISA Write block. So I can't run the VI and communicate between PC and
34970A with LabVIEW.

Where is the Problem? Why is there a class conflict, when I use the
standard NI driver for th
is device?

To solve the problem by deleting HP-VISA or NI-VISA didn't work.

[Brian_Vibert]

Your problem is in getting the Agilent GPIB board to work with NI-VISA. Once you get that working communication to the 34970A should be easy. I've never dealt with setting up an Agilent GPIB board, but there is a KB here: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/3efedde4322fef19862567740067f3cc/227ea2291cf90393862569360068f627?OpenDocument . It looks like you need to use NI-VISA, not HP-VISA, and HP-SICL. Then you need to setup something called TULIP as described in the KB. It would probably be beneficial to have the latest version of NI-VISA installed on your machine which can be found here: http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/webcategories/85256410006C055586256BBB002C0E91?opendocument&node=132060_US

Good luck
Brian

[schiedeck]

Thanks for Your help.

I think this information will help me.

Florian

[Nick_S]

Its almost 7 years later and Im using an Agilent 34970A and trying to communicate with it using an Agilent 82357A GPIB/USB cable.

The downloaded VIs for the 34970A are giving me heck with the VISA Resource name and I also get an error as I pass throught the VISA Open VI.  This is all in the Initialization VI.

Anyone have any experience with these two pieces of hardware and LV code that works well?  By the way the 34970A and the 82357A work great with Agilent's Benchlink Datalogger.

Nick

[Dennis_Knutson]

Have you tried doing what is described here. Also, if you get an error, it helps to provide the error number.

Message Edited by Dennis Knutson on 07-24-2007 07:04 PM

[Nick_S]

Dennis,

The fix was easier than I expected.  I followed the instructions listed below which I found

on the NI Device Driver Reference CD for NI-VISA, Da go figure!

I was up and communicating quickly.  An hour later after working the VIs,

the temps and voltages were reading well.

SUPPORT FOR AGILENT/HP CONTROLLERS

----------------------------------

NI-VISA now works with Agilent/HP GPIB and VXI controller cards. To

use this feature, go into the Measurement & Automation Explorer, select

"Tools>>NI-VISA>>VISA Options", choose the Passports tab, and enable the

NiVisaTulip.dll Passport. NI-VISA will automaticaly find and access any

GPIB or VXI devices. However, NI-VISA will not configure the Agilent/HP

hardware; you must still do that with the Agilent/HP I/O Config utility.

If you have both National Instruments and Agilent/HP controllers in the same

system, you must configure the cards at different system addresses, such as

GPIB0 and GPIB1. If both vendors try to use the same interface address,

NI-VISA will report an error from viFindRsrc or VISA Find Resources.