USB6008 as a VISA device

[Joe_(Oxford_ICT)]

I am trying to use a USB6008 as a VISA device. After going through the installation procedures to install NI-DAQmxBase,370 - Windows 7 - upgrade firmware to mxBase, etc and it is recognised - 

Start the 'VISA Interactive Control' and try to make a query '*IDN?\n' but the answer is:

Read Operation
Error

VISA: (Hex 0xBFFF0015) Timeout expired before operation completed.

Tried to go through the 'NI-VISA Driver Wizard' - it does it's thing but nothing changes...

I assume if it is a VISA device it should answer to VISA commands, using VISA procedures, or does the USB6008 is a VISA device that is not VISA compatible?

Am I missing something? Any suggestions?

Thanks

Joe Rosa

[Aaron_W.]

Is there any reason you are wanting to connect through VISA instead of DAQmx Base, which you already installed? I don't believe there is a way to communicate with the device as a VISA resource (not 100% sure) but you should be able to use DAQmx Base to communicate with the instrument. Take a look at the Getting Started Guide for DAQmx Base and that should get you up and running.

[Joe_(Oxford_ICT)]

Thanks Aaron

We do have a platform to handfle/control VISA devices for measuremnts - oscilloscopes, DMM, etc - and we would like to expand that to include DAQ devices, so the idea is to start with a simple DAQ-USB-6008.

All installation process was straight forward, and it is recognised by the NI-VISA Interactive Control

And it starts a session

But - when sending a query:

Lots of stages working seamless, so my hopes are high. Where can I ask/look for more details regarding NI-VISA??

Best,

Joe Rosa

[Aaron_W. · Accepted solution]

yep, I was wrong. You can communicate with VISA on some DAQ devices, this uses the Driver Development kit, but it's not very typical and most of the time DAQmx or DAQmx base is used. However, it looks like there are details on putting the device into RAW mode, which it looks like you already did.

This is what is called Register Level Programming. You would need to be using the Measurement Hardware Driver Development Kit. There are details on Architecture, Support, and FAQs here.

Looking at the FAQ page, there is a list of "Supported Hardware" and the bad news is that the USB-6008 isn't on there. Not sure that completely rules it out, but you would be well served to go to the Driver Development Kit forum and ask for help with the 6008 over there.

[Joe_(Oxford_ICT)]

Thanks Aaron, I'll do that

Best,

Joe Rosa

[Dennis_Knutson]

Trying to do an IDN? query is just silly since that is GPIB instrument query. Using the VISA wizard is silly since you would need the USB RAW protocol from NI and that's not going to happen.

[Aaron_W.]

Joe,

Did a little more digging. Here is the home page for the Measurement Hardware DDK. It has a link to download the DDK, accept the license agreement and there appears to be a link for request USB-600X examples. Looks like a form to fill out and likely gets sent to NI R&D.