scotty said:
I have a SPI-TRONIC PRO-3600 digital level with SPC output. You should be
able to find it here
http://www.swissprec.com/CGI/ISSRIT2?PMAKA=31-041-7&PMPXNO=2952227&PARTPG=ISLMK3
It has a footswitch with a 25 pin-female connector that connects to computer
and a 10 pin rectangular RS-232 connector that attaches to the level.
When you press the footswitch, the value on the level should be entered into
the active cell I.E. Excel, or at least I think it should.
Problem is that is doesn't work and the company that sold it didn't supply a
driver and they say that you have to write one yourself, and that sounds sort
of a stupid way to do business as Not everyone knows how to do that.
I have connected it to both ports on the computer(25 pin female parallel??)
and 9 pin male serial?? using adapters. It just won't work.
Computer is a compnay pc using XP PROF. HP Pentium II
Does anyone out there have an ideas for me.
Thanks!!
I don't see a manual for download from that site.
Did it come with a manual ?
Chances are, it has a serial port with RS-232 serial output.
So should have worked when connected to a serial port.
But having a pinout for the cabling would be a great
help. Maybe then you could understand whether the port on
the instrument is DTE or DCE.
I keep a bag of adapter plugs, like 9 pin to 25 pin,
null modem adapter, and the like, for fighting with
serial port problems. RS-232 is supposed to be protected
against connecting two things at RS-232 levels the wrong
way, but I don't know what would happen to your device if
you connected it to a parallel port. This is one little
toy I keep handy, when I don't know whether I've got a
DTE or a DCE. (Chances are, you don't need this, and you
should do your testing with Hyperterminal first. The
interface flavor is undoubtedly correct for direct
connection to a computer serial port. They'd be idiots
if they used the wrong flavor.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_modem
The thing to do, is fire up a copy of Hyperterminal (which
deals with serial ports), and see whether serial data
shows up in the Hyperterminal window, every time you
press the foot switch. Chances are, the digital level
sends a reading serially to the computer. Using Hyperterminal
would allow you to verify if any ASCII characters are coming
out of the digital level. But getting the data from there, to
Excel, is another matter.
(Included in my copy of Windows...)
Programs:Accessories:Communications:Hyperterminal on Win2K.
You would enter a series of bogus information, when
Hyperterminal prompts for setup info, until you got
to the point of specifying "COM1" or "COM2" and the
details of the serial port rate. If the digital level
uses 9600 baud, you'd want to select 9600 baud from
the baud rate menu. The baud rate has to match,
otherwise you'd see garbage characters in the
Hyperterminal window. The user manual for your digital
level, should tell you something like 9600,8,N,1 and
that is the info used to set up the serial port in
Hyperterminal.
If you are getting a character stream from the instrument,
then you'll need to post to some other USENET group, for
help with the programming aspects of your question. It
would certainly be easier to dump the data coming in
on the serial port, into a file. You could save the
file at some point, then open the file in Excel. Excel
would offer the option to "Import" the data.
But I expect, depending on the skill of the operator,
you'd want to automate this somewhat. Being able to
record the serial number of the item just measured, with
the measurement taken with the foot switch would be nice,
but such automation requires more than a casual approach
to the problem.
Virtually any programming tool, would seem like overkill
for solving your problem. But first you have to decide
whether the problem needs the streamlined solution, a
kludgy solution (a la Rube Goldberg), and decide how
much you want to spend on it. Computers all come with
an attachment, that "vacuums up money"
So it is
easy to get carried away.
This is a tool that some people like, for automating
laboratory situations. Some people connect multiple lab
instruments, and have them take automatic readings 24 hours
a day, for experiments. I don't have any experience at
all with this, and haven't even seen a computer screen
with it running.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labview
Paul
