HP 8903B HPIB/GPIB read problems

[stevens69]

Greetings,

I am trying to control a newer ('95) HP 8903B with an 82357B USB-HPIB controller and the Agilent 15.5 IO libraries. I want to use P. Millet's software and also write my own.

I can send data, but I can't read anything back. I just get timeout errors. I've tried essentially every setting possible on the controller. I can control and read back from all my other HP instruments (ranging from 1980-2000) so I'm pretty sure it's not the USB-HPIB adapter.

Intensive web searching leads me to believe that many others are having the same problem. I suspect a malfunction in this otherwise flawless instrument. Has anyone encountered this and actually found a solution?

I posted something similar to the HP/Agilent equipment group a few days ago.

Jonathan

[luvdunhill]

I have the exact same problem. Looking forward to a solution.

[macboy]

Check if the instrument is in Talk-only or listen-only modes. You do not want either of those modes. Use special function 21.0 for that. (just to be perfectly clear, press [2] [1] [.] [0] [SPCL]). The address, in binary, will be displayed in the left display, and in the right display is another 3-bit binary number representing Talk-only, Listen-only, and (HP-IB)IRQ. So you should see 000 or 001 in the right display, otherwise you need to disable Talk-only or Listen-only. There is a DIP switch inside the instrument for that. The procedure to access and set the DIP switch is covered in the manual on page 2-5.

[stevens69]

Nope; that's not it. The instrument is not in talk-only or listen-only mode. The right hand display shows "001". (I've read all of the user's manual and a good chunk of the service manual, and can't find anything in the settings that I haven't tried.)

It's either a weird incompatibility with HP's own 82357B or there's something in the hardware that is prone to failure, as far as I can tell. Unfortunately I don't have any other GPIB controllers to compare with.

[tomchr]

Could it be a read-after-write issue? The 8903 doesn't support that.

With the 8903B in any mode you should be able to transmit command "RR" (Read Right) and get the reading of the right display output to the GPIB. I use (pseudo code):

Transmit "RR"
Delay 200 ms
Read GPIB

I'm having no issues with my 8903A and Prologix GPIB-USB and GPIB-LAN controllers.

~Tom

[luvdunhill]

Mine says 00010 000. I assumed that it was an issue with the USB GPIB adapter.

[LafeEric]

Do you have the correct line termination set? Incorrect line terminations will leave the instrument waiting for the end of the request.

[Luke_g]

Hi,

I'm having the same issue as other guys here and tried several things but no solution.

I can get good result from Pete's Millett softwares "Frequency Response" and "THD vs F", but the "THD vs Level/Power" routines gives a GPIB error on instrument "ERROR 24" during the execution and than a bad result in terms of graphic result: I get just a vertical line on the THD vs Level/Power curve!

Did you find a solution meanwhile?

Cheers,

Luca.

[klewis]

Originally Posted by stevens69

Greetings,

I am trying to control a newer ('95) HP 8903B with an 82357B USB-HPIB controller and the Agilent 15.5 IO libraries. I want to use P. Millet's software and also write my own.

I can send data, but I can't read anything back. I just get timeout errors. I've tried essentially every setting possible on the controller. I can control and read back from all my other HP instruments (ranging from 1980-2000) so I'm pretty sure it's not the USB-HPIB adapter.

Intensive web searching leads me to believe that many others are having the same problem. I suspect a malfunction in this otherwise flawless instrument. Has anyone encountered this and actually found a solution?

I posted something similar to the HP/Agilent equipment group a few days ago.

Jonathan

I have an HP8903A, and never had luck using Pete's compiled interface. I ended up purchasing the student addition of VEE. Pete was kind enough to send me the VEE code and I was able to get Pete's code to run.

For simple I/O using the Agilent Connection expert, you need to double click the instrument (my 8903's address is 28) then select properties, then turn off the Auto- Identify feature. The instrument will now have a green check mark next to it. This will allow you to send it commands with the I/O feature.

The syntax for sending command with the I/O function is as shown in the manual, except with a "*" in front of the command.

Because I purchase the student addition of VEE, I can't compile anything otherwise I would share compiled files. If you own VEE, I would be happy to share the stuff I've made.

Don't know if this helps, happy to try and answer any questions.

Ken

[Luke_g]

Hi All,

I have fixed my issue with Mr. Millett's "THD vs Voltage/Power".
For clarification the above issue comes out only with those GPIB adapters (mainly USB to GPIB) that are not able to add automatically the "EOL" command to each WRITE command send to the instrument.

Original Millett's softwares "voltage_v2.vxe" and "power_v2.vxe" have a missing "EOL" on the command WRITE TEXT "M1" . This missing EOL causes the instrument to produce an "ERROR 24" during its setting to "AC LEVEL" mode (operated by M1 instruction) and for this the subsequent voltage reading is not correct producing voltage spikes in the reading and finally in the graph THD vs. Voltage/Power.

I have fixed the native VEE files, that Mr.Millett has kindly provided to me, by adding the EOL command to the above said line (attached line detail on one print screen), installed an evaluation version of VEE (7.0) and then producing the RUN TIME version of the 2 fixed files.

Thought the software were not mine and kindly supplied by Mr.Millett I have sent him an e-mail to inform about the bug I have found and how to fix so please kindly ask him for the solution or wait for him to publish the updated files for HP8903B on his website (if he will).

Bye,

Luca.

P.S. All the 4 softwares from Mr.Millett now works perfectly on both XP and 7 OS with VEE RUN TIME 9.2 patched to 9.22 and using the BMJD TECH S82357 USB to GPIB adapter.