ShaunR

I nearly spat my coffee out on that one...lol.

You need to be careful here. The ground is a "signal ground" to differential voltage devices and may or may not be isolated (depending on the devices). The USB 5v supply is probably chassis ground. I'm not an expert on USB so it would be worth running it by your hardware gurus whether you need a separate "supply" ground to compliment the 5v. It may be important, it may not.

It will work WITH events as well Look at what it is doing rather than how it is implemented.

Agree. Disagree. Agree but would add Control and Automation.Use the right tool for the job!

“It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you place the blame.” : Oscar Wilde

lol. Luckily I don't live in the USA. so am not paranoid. But now you have pointed it out in text, I know who to blame when it turns up of a search engine eh? Anyhoo, programmers have to install these nefarious clients so they can come up with software to defeat them....right? Your virus scanner would go ape on one of my machines.

Nope. But I can get them above if i do Dir /on.

Well. This is what I get when I follow your instructions. LV2009, Windows 7, LS-CHL NAS storage (don't know the versions off-hand but know its Samba on Linux).

They are not phantom directories. They are shorthand for the current directory and the parent directory. Filenames, Paths and Namespaces If you type in "cd .." in a command prompt it will take you to the parent directory. If you allow "view hidden files" and "OS Files" and uncheck "Hide Known File Types"in the folder options you will also see them on the local drive.Its a throwback to DOS.

Hmmmm. Knarley one. Surprised there's no DNS in that lot though. It'd be easy then. Personally I would try and get a change in the next firmware update (dip switch or special dongle) that means it remembers its last set IP address regardless of re-flashing (if set) or defaults (if not set). Then its not your problem...lol. We do it with things like baud rates and startup modes. Design for test is the motto. You can set it up on the bench and then put it where you like and forget about it. But I'm guessing thats not an option (I'm very lucky in having very flexible engineers and managers that I can bully ). So I'll have a sleep on it and see if I can think of anything else.

Indeed. The MAC address is a physical assignement (serial number if you like) and the IP address is a logical (arbitrary) assignment by the co-ordinator-usually a DNS server or router. The only thing that knows about the mapping is usually the router (s), or (as you rightly say) the local PC if it has communicated with the device. You can force an update to an ARP cache by pinging, but, the pitfall here though (apart from having to know the IP address first) is that if the ARP cache is on a router, its the routers cache that gets updated not your local one. What you are trying to do is a bit like knowing someones name and trying to get their house address. You can look them up on the "Electrol Role", but you only have access to your own countrys electral role and they could be anywhere in the world. If they (or you) have already exchanged letters then you have thier address. I think you will find this a dead end since it could circumvent security. What is it you are trying to do that you have MAC addresses but not IP addresses? Wouldn't it be easier to ask the Admin for the IP address the device has been assigned?

if you are running windows then you can go to a command prompt and type in "arp -a". It will give you the IP to MAC mapping that your PC knows about.

Well. The difference may at first glance seem semantics. But it is fundamentally important. Whilst "Bi-directional" literally means "2-way", Full duplex means "2-ways simultaneously"!. If you think of the difference between a walkie talkie and a telephone. One you cannot hear the person at the same time as you are speaking, the other you can. But they are both bi-directional. Its much harder having an arguement on a walkie talkie than a phone...lol. I wouldn't agree that RS485 implies 4 wires. (RS422 yes but not RS485). Almost all modern industrial PC's come with at least 1 COM port that is configurable to RS232, RS422 and RS485. Only when configured to RS422 does it use 4 wires. RS485 they use only 2. The good thing is though, that RS485 works with RS422 but not the other way round So if you set the PC to RS422 you get true full duplex operation and can talk to RS485 devices. The penalty is that the bus cannot support as many devices. I think we will have to wait for USB 3.0 for true full duplex USB

You also need to install the Vision Development Toolkit. And the Motion Control Toolkit which are installed separately.

NI 9485 x 2

I have my moments. As few and far between as they may be though Ah. Thought you wanted to definitively know. Just for reference. It will also show as maximized.

Not sure if there is a better way. But if you try to load it into a sub-panel and it is already in one, you will get Error 1145 Possible Reason(s) Labview: Cannot open VI because it is already in a subpanel control. If its not in memory, it will succeed, and if its already running but not in a sub panel you get Error 1144 LAbview: Cannot insert VI in subpanel because VI is already open.

OK. So your convinced you need a digital OP. (If you are insistent on NI products compatible with your chassis, I would have chosen the NI 9485 purely because it is 1/2 the price of a digital card but still 4x the price of other alternatives). From your image I can guess that your sensor port is in fact a constantcurrent source. This makes sense to me as changes in resistance willyield a change in voltage as the load increases/decreases. (This is whyyour analogue output idea won't work). If you think of a current sinking digital output as a transistor switchto ground. Then (relating that to your diagram) each Digitaloutput would be connected to the other side of the resistor. i.e between the resistor and common. If you are using it in this manner, it is important that you DO NOT connect the External supply to the Digital modules External Power Supply Terminal. This is because internally, each "transistor" is connected to the External supply pin via a resistor. You would in effect be putting this in parallel with all of your other resistors you are using. You also have to remember that it is "inverted logic". i.e setting the output to "1" grounds the device, but this can be changed in the NI configuration if it hurts your head. Get the NI 9485 unless you are looking for fast IO and it will directly replace your switches and half the price...No brainer!

I think you are missing the point. The image is an "example" of a counter. Not a solution to your project (that would be too easy ). Look at what it does and how it works and apply it to your current "real" example. Your dependency on the "i" iterator will cause you problems since it increments every loop execution. Your dependents need to use a counter (oooh...like the example ) that can be started and stopped regardless of how many times the loop executes.

Like I said. Twice as long (as 1/2 its length).

Not surprised. Or ya could use one of these or something similar. Google for em. USB Relay Board

You need "current sinking" digital outputs, then you can switch the resistors in direct without relays. The 9172is a chassis. what modules do you have currently? You could also use the parallel port to switch some relays (be carefull about current though). Or a non NI rs232 digital board (about $90).

Amen...lol. Just look at the internet toolkit and the Vision stuff

Twice as long

First you will need to allow the time-out case to execute by wiring a value (say 100ms) to the blue icon in the top left hand corner. You will then have to use the state of the "Running" boolean to decide whether to increment the counter or not. You can use 2 shift rgisters (one for the state and once for the count). This is thesort of thing you will want to use for the counter.