Adding GPIB Instruments with RS-xxx to GPIB ConvBox

NI-VISA is used to communicate with GPIB devices, such as third party battery cyclers, chillers, and environmental chambers. GPIB communication is possible in the system using a GPIB-RS232 device in S Mode. Refer to the GPIB-Serial Converter Help for more information about using the GPIB-RS232 with your serial instruments.

  1. From the VeriStand Editor, launch System Explorer.
  2. Expand Controller and select Custom Devices in the configuration tree.
  3. Right-click Custom Devices and select Instrument Addon.
  4. Select RS-xxx to GPIB ConvBox as the Protocol.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Configure the following settings:
    Figure 1. GPIB Instrument Configuration Page


    1. Enter a unique name in the Name field to reflect the instrumentation that you are using.
    2. Enter the rate, in Hz, in the PCL Decimation field, at which communication with the instrument occurs. For example, if you set the Target Rate of the cRIO-9047 controller to the recommended 1,000 Hz in Configuring the VeriStand Engine (cRIO-9047), and the PCL Decimation to 100, communication with the instrument occurs at 10 Hz. This custom device is designed to communicate at tens of Hz.
    3. Use the Discovery Wizard () in the ConvBox Port field to select available serial ports on the target.
    4. Specify the address of the GPIB-RS232 device in the ConvBox Address field. Refer to the user documentation for your GPIB device to learn how to discover this address.
    5. Configure the GPIB Address, System Controller, IST Bit Sense, and Assert Ren w/ IFC as needed for the instrument you are communicating with.
  7. Configure messages to send to your device, as listed in Configuring Instrument Messaging.
    Note You can reuse configurations you have completed for a specific instrument by right-clicking the custom device and selecting Export Config. This saves the personality to a DAT file. When creating a new instance of the instrument, you can then right-click Custom Devices and select Instrument Addon. When the Set Your Initial Settings dialog appears, change the Protocol to RS-xxx to GPIB ConvBox, set the Previous Personality Path to the path of the saved DAT file, and select OK. Then change any configuration that is specific to this instrumentation instance, for example, ConvBox Port.
  8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for each GPIB instrument in your system.
  9. Save the system definition file and configure instrument communication as listed in Configuring Instrument Messaging.