How do I make VISA talk to a HIOKI3651? MAX and GPIB work OK.

[Ben_7128]

I have a HIOKI 3561 Battery HiTester and I can not talk to it with a serial cable and VISA commands.  I can using MAX and the serial cable, and it will work with GPIB, but I don't want to purchase a GPIB for every tester.

I am using a basic VISA Write and Read and all I get is a read error and either nothing in the buffer or the command is bounced back.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Ben P.

[Omar_II]

Can you talk to it using HyperTerminal?

If so your should be able to talk to it from LabVIEW using the same COM port.

How have you tried to talk to it using VISA?

[josborne]

It looks like you can get it to work with MAX, right?

If so, then it should also work using VISA.  Did you make sure to use the same baud rate settings, etc?

[josborne]

Also, did you try testing this free software:

BATTERY HiTESTER 3561 Data Capture Software:

http://www.hioki.com/download/soft/3561/3561_e.html

Might help determine if its a HW or Sw issue.

[smercurio_fc]

---

Ben 7128 wrote: 

I am using a basic VISA Write and Read and all I get is a read error and either nothing in the buffer or the command is bounced back.

---

Details, please. What is the error code? If I had to guess I'd say you don't have the termination character set up properly for knowing when to stop the read operation.

[Ben_7128]

I just made a simple VISA Open, Write, Read and then made the same GPIB series.  The VISA didn't work and gave a read error.

When I open MAX and the test console I can execute a write and then read and I get good numbers from the meter.  I also get good numbers from the GPIB commands.

The error is non descriptive and nothing is found when I search it.

I have tried using no termination characters and using a "\n" in the command line.

Thank you for the ideas.

Ben

[josborne]

Maybe you should post your code with screenshots.  It would help us to help you.

[Omar_II]

What VISA Read Error?

[smercurio_fc]

---

@Ben 7128 wrote:

I just made a simple VISA Open, Write, Read and then made the same GPIB series.  The VISA didn't work and gave a read error.

---

Still haven't told us what the error code is.

---

I have tried using no termination characters and using a "\n" in the command line.

---

Trying randomly is pointless. What does the documentation for the device say that you should use?

[Ben_7128]

The error code is "-1073807339" and the source is "VISA Read in VISA HIOKI 3561.vi"

The manual has a "\n" as a termination and I tried it with this and without with the same results.

I don't have any custom parameters in the vi.  Do I need to add some?

This vi works if I direct it to a GPIB cable, and a vi similar to this with GPIB write and read also works.  It just doesn't work with a serial cable.

Thank you for the help.

Ben