connecting hp 8508a vector voltmeter with agilent 82357a usb/gpib converter

[ankarali]

Hello

For my experiment, I need to connect to a HP 8508A vector voltmeter by using an agilent 82357A usb/gpib converter. I have a serious problem about communicating with my device using NI-VISA. I tried to do the steps indicated at following links which were indicated at the forum posts by people using 82357A:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/F7C187DBF09EBE1186256F550065BD32?OpenDocument,

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/3B3626D9C1F999218625694200791AD7?OpenDocument,

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5990-3731EN.pdf?cmpid=1273CN.

The version of MAX is 4.3.0f0 and i am using labview 8.5 with NI-VISA 8.2. I am trying to configure my 82357A using agilent io libraries suite 14.1. 

First, I tried to configure my usb/gpib controller using  agilent connection expert and set the visa interface id to GPIB6 and connect to the 82357A without any problems. Then I connect this gpib converter to my vector voltmeter. The gpib adress of the voltmeter was 6(gpib address of the interface converter was 10) so visa address GPIB6::6::INSTR was assigned to voltmeter by connection expert. I tried to connect to the voltmeter from the connection expert by using the agilent interactive IO. Send *IDN? command and took the proper response from the voltmeter. The voltmeter went into remote mode and I tried to read the voltage values by using the FETCH? command of the device and got the voltage properly which means I successfully connected to the device.Then I went to MAX and enabled the NIVISATulip.dll and restarted the MAX. Then I went back to agilent connection expert and checked the box: "use agilent 488 library where possible" for side-by-side communication between the NI and agilent visa. By the way agilent visa was installed as the secondary library.  Then when I went back to MAX, I start to see the voltmeter under miscellaneous VISA resources with the address  GPIB6::6::INSTR. But the problem started here. When I tried to send commands from MAX to voltmeter with the "open visa test panel" I encountered an error which exactly says:"unable to open session to GPIB6::6::INSTR, return status code:0xBFFF009E, status name:VI_ERROR_LIBRARY_NFOUND, a code library required by VISA couldn't be located or loaded." As I said before i enabled the libraries of agilent 488 from the options of the agilent connection expert. When I went back to connection expert and unchecked the box for using agilent 488 libraries nothing changed. Also when I went to NI-VISA interactive control I couldn't see my device under the tab of VISA I/O. 

I tried to read some posts from this forum. People are using this usb/gpib converter successfully without any problems by performing the steps I have done. I have some questions about possible subtle points specific to my application.

First question is according to the manual of the voltmeter(this is an old device by the way from 1988):"vector voltmeter is capable of remote operation via the HP-IB which is HP's implementation of IEEE standard 488.1  "So, what I understand from this sentence is my device is communicating remotely with IEEE standard 488.1 and not 488.2 Does it make any problem? What kind of modifications should I do to my setup for overcoming this if it creates any problems? As I said before I was communicating with device very properly from the agilent connection expert. In manual there is also a sentence like "HP-IB commands used in the vector voltmeter conform to the standards set by document IEEE 488.2 1987." 

Second question is should I install newer versions of agilent io libraries suite or MAX or NI-VISA. I wrote the versions I am using before are they compatible? Where can I install newer versions? As I know the newest version of the agilent io libraries suite is 15.1 or 2. Is is compatible with 82357a?(maybe I should ask this question to agilent people)

Third question I don't remember how I did it but agilent visa is indicated as secondary visa resource in agilent connection expert(I think I did it while installing agilent io libraries suite.) . How can I switch between NI and agilent visa as primary visa resource? Do you think think this will help?

I terribly need measurements from this set up and really appreciate your help if possible.

Sincerely

Caglar Yavuz, University of Michigan,Ann Arbor,EECS department. 

[pflores]

Caglar,

The documents you mention ahould include the proper prcedure for using this hardware in LabVIEW. Here are my recommendations:

1. The version of NI-VISA  you mentioned is not valid. The most recent version is 4.6.2. I would recommend ugrading if you do not have this version. After the upgrade,ensure that tulip is enabled as well as the other settings and see if this helps.
2. When talking about the instrument, the biggest concern that usually is relevant with 488.1 is that it will not respond to *IDN?. In your case, it looks like it does, and should work as 488.2 is backwards compatible. It seems to me, the issue is still with the 82357A, and we have not yet reached the voltmeter.
3. In order for NI-VISA to work with your device, NI-VISA must be the primary visa driver.

Hope this helps, let us know how the upgrade turns out. If you continue to have issues, take some screenshots of the preferences in MAX and upload them on the forum.

Regards,

[ankarali]

Hello 

Thank you very much for your help. The thing is now I can communicate with the device very properly. The problem was most probably from the agilent library side as I told before. I upgraded the agilent io libraries suite from version 14.1 to 15.5. Now I can send data and read data from voltmeter. I think version 14.1 was not compatible with the ni-visa version I am using(the ni library is not up to date also as you are saying but it didn't make any problem after upgrading the agilent library.). I will inform you in case of any error etc.

Thank you again for your very kind interest.

Sincerely

Caglar Yavuz. 

[pflores]

Glad to hear it is working, thanks for posting your solution!