How do I use RS-485 communications in LabView?

[dnvalen]

I am trying to interface a SATEC PM171 multimeter with LabView via RS-485 communications. I do have a NI PXI-8423/2 (RS485) installed on the computer I am using. I do not know where to start so if anybody has any suggestions I would appreciate it.

[Khalid]

Hi,

You would start with the examples (\examples\instr\smplserl.llb). If the examples do not give you the desired results, try the loop-back test. For RS-485, on one of the ports you would short pins 4 and 8 together, and 5 and 9 together, thus connecting RX+ to TX+ and RX- to TX-. Whatever you write to this port should be looped-back to you. You may use the 'Basic Serial Write and Read.vi' example for testing this. This should eliminate any issues with your multimeter and test the card and the serial drivers first.

If you haven't already seen this, here's a troubleshooting tutorial on NI's website:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/we...29?opendocument

Hope this helps,

Khalid Ansari