Ocean Optics USB4000 Spectrometer

[OceanOptics.OliverL]

Hi Jason,

thanks for all the comments and also for making that free package available, first of all. I really appreciate that people put so much effort into our products. I favor the free availability of the driver as well. I also think the free available NI drivers are a crucial piece to the transparency of the product and the data it produces. After all, most of our users are from the scientific community and usually have good and strong opinions about black box solutions which I share.

I am not sure what you mean with OmniDriver being an "opaque" driver, but if that refers to hidden actions within, I have to oppose that statement. The interface is very clearly defined and all functions are laid out and included with the OmniDriver. The entire set of java docs is part of any OmniDriver installation. Even as a person not speaking java, I have always been able to understand the comments and function syntax laid out there to use the functions appropriately in programs. It is true that the OmniDriver provides several features to correct data, but their is no hidden action.

Again, I am not trying to make the NI drivers small, I just had the feeling that the OmniDriver took much more of a beating that it deserves. Several arguments are outdated and to be honest, the high quality of the OmniDriver interfaces was one of the reasons why I joined OO.

[Jason_P]

I think we're in agreement.  Two small clarifications though:

1) You're giving me credit I don't deserve... I did not make my drivers available.  I had issues with Omnidriver the OO was not able to resolve at the time, so I had to create my own set of drivers.  Shortly after that, NI approached OO and made their own set of drivers.  These were independent efforts - I developed my code on company time, and thus was not allowed to share it.  

2) You are correct.  The Omnidriver package has solid documentation. Opaque was a poor word choice.  What I was trying to convey is that whenever I have to include outside components in my own software, I prefer to have the ability to see and modify the code.  It's not that I WANT to mess with drivers... it's just that if a driver has an issue, I can't always afford to wait for the supplier to fix it.  

Sadly, #2 isn't always possible as many suppliers aren't open to this and don't publish documentation that would allow others to tinker with their drivers directly.  I have always been impressed with OO for publishing the detailed spectrometer datasheets that allowed me to make my own drivers, and even more so with working with NI to make an open driver available to the community.  I've looked at products offered by other spectrometer manufacturers, but in the end I've stayed with OO in large part for this reason.

JasonP

[Kitisak]

It's very helpful for me, thanks very much.

[Stuart_C]

Has anyone tried to modify this driver to add the "scans to average" command?

If not, anyone have an idea about how to send the command to the spectrometer?

I assume you would need to use USB RAW but I might be wrong...

[James_G1]

The scans to average in Omnidriver is actually done in software.  Since it does not happen on the hardware there is no command really for it.  You could do this in LabVIEW fairly easily.

[AllanNish]

Hello

I am trying to get the Ocean Optics USB4000 to work with the labview programs that are supplied under: ocean_optics_2000_4000.zip.  In the "examples", which includes "Ocean Optics 2000 4000 Acquire Continuous Waveform.vi", I have the VISA options: "COM1 and LPT1". However, I don't have the USB option appearing. I have downloaded the VISA_USB files, and in the "USB4000" folder, 'installed' the 'Ocean Optics USB4000.inf" file, and have even placed the inf file in the Windows 'system' and 'system32' folders, just to be sure.

Has anyone used the vi from NI? I think if I can have the vi recognize the USB input, then I can get the program going.  Any help would be gratefully accepted. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I can run 'SpectraSuite' all right, and that uses the USB input from the USB4000.

Thank you!!!

Allan

[Albert.Geven]

Read the html file with the ocean optics driver to see how to switch between the ocean optics software and the ni-ocean optics software.

They cannot be active at the same time, that is why you don't see a usb number in the visa comming up

[Jason_P]

I recently had a request from a user to pull the optical bench configuration from an Ocean Optics spectrometer.  Looks pretty simple - from the manual, I just need run the Query Information and pull variable #15.  I've been able to pull the serial number and calibration coefficients in the past, so I figured it worked the same way.  Unfortunately, while I'm getting data back, I have no idea how to interpret it.  Does anyone know how to convert the raw string obtained from the Query Information command?

Thanks,

JasonP

[Jason_P]

Never mind, I'm an idiot. I forgot I was working in hexidecimal and forgot to convert my 15 to "F". JasonP

[jean_bon]

Hi,

I have a problem with the drivers (for USB4000) on windows XP 64bit.

I read correctly the manual, and the drivers are functionning well on windows 7.

However I need to make it work on windows XP and the device is not recognized in MAX. Yet I did select the good driver in the device manager and it is properly installed.

Thank you in advance

Jean B.