Labview/ NI DAQ software

[poli]

Can NI DAQ  software  extract data from an instrument which is not from National Instruments? NI-DAQ came free with the DAQ 6020E device that i purchased but can i use it to extract data from a Radioshack multimeter, which has a serial port to connect RS232 cable.

[Dennis_Knutson]

No. For communication to serial, gpib, ethernet, usb instruments, you use NI-VISA. Look at the shipping examples for serial communication.

[Nick_CH]

Hi,

The DAQ driver or DAQmx driver provides services for Data Acquisition device or Signal Conditionning devices.
If you want to control your instrument with the Serial port form you computer, you must use the VISA fundtions provide with the NI-VISA driver.

You will find example under the NI Example Finder.

Best regards
Nick_CH

[poli]

cAN I USE LABVIEW TO COMMUNICATE  To the serial port MULTIMETER? Since ni-daq DOESNT work according to you.

[Dennis_Knutson]

The answer is yes, you use the NI-VISA functions. Which is what I think was already said.

[mallorim]

As Dennis mentioned in his first post, in LabVIEW, there are a number of great examples programs already available. There are examples of serial communication and VISA communication. I would suggest looking through a few of these to see if they meet your desired functionality. They can also be easily modified to address any concerns or specific requirements your application has. VISA is a higher level driver provided by National Instruments that allows you to use the same basic functions to communicate with your hardware no matter what communication protocol is being used. Should you change instruments, the program would still be functional. The commands you use to write and read with Serial and VISA are device specific.

You can find these examples in LabVIEW by navigating to the Help Menu>> Find Examples>> expanding the Hardware Input and Output folder>> and then looking in the Serial and VISA files. When you click on an example VI, a brief description will appear in the Information box to the right of the Example Finder.

Regards, Mallori

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

What is the model number of the meter? There may already be some vi's available here that can communicate to it (if my memeory serves me correctly)