BK Precision 1786B not showing up in VISA resource name or NI MAX

[hlai]

I have an existing setup that controls an Agilent 34970A and wanted to add a power supply(BK Precision 1786B).

The power supply has a NI certified driver, so I thought the example VIs would work when I installed the driver, but they don't and I could use some help figuring out what's wrong.

Some details/things i've investigated:

• Labview 2014, NI-VISA 16.0, MAX 16.0.1 (other installed software also listed in the attached image)
• "BK Precision 178XB Series" appears under "Installed Instrument Drivers" in the NI Instrument Driver Finder window, but does not show up under "Connected Instruments" and does not respond when I run the example VIs in the driver folder
• The power supply is connected to the computer through a usb-serial and shows up under windows device manager as "Prolific Serial-to-USB Comm Port(COM3)" 
• I am able to add it to NI MAX as a new port, but after setting it up NI MAX is both able to validate and unable to validate the connection. When i press the validate button on the "port settings" tab it says the setup is okay, but it says unable to open a VISA session under the "general settings" tab, and doesn't let me open the VISA test panel. (see attached image)
• I am able to communicate/control the power supply with the manufacturer's program, so I know that both the cable and power supply are functional

I'd appreciate any input on what could be wrong/steps I could take to get the power supply working with Labview.

[the_mitten]

Hi hlai,

Thanks for posting in the National Instruments forums! In order to receive the best support, however, you should re-post this in the Instrument Control forum. Since this is the LabVIEW forum, you won't get as much visibility on your question.

Apparently, however, you aren't the first to have trouble with this driver. When you try and communicate with it, what is the response that you see? Does it generate an error, or just nothing happens? If you reply to this message with a link to the new forum post I can answer you there.

Regards,

[hlai · Accepted solution]

Hello Michael,

Thank you for the suggestion. I wasn't aware there was a better forum for this issue. I've reposted it here.

The device just doesn't show up under the "VISA resource name" box on the front panel of the manufacturer's example VI. So I am unable to communicate with it.