Labview cant connect to my motion driver(via ethernet cable).

[ElementalFranco]

Hello,

Im a new Labview user. My project is to modify and be familiar with the current Labview program. I installed Labview to another PC and connected every peripheral that includes camera and a chinese motion driver for my stepper motors. I want to clarify that the current system works with another PC but my managers want to implement the program into my own PC. I successfully connected the camera but NIMAX doesnt recognize the motor driver via ethernet - its not listed in NI-MAX. I ensured that I can "ping" the IP address of the motor driver(thru command prompt) but it didnt work when I run the exe file(standalone file) of our program. Is there a specific driver I download or software to connect the motion driver to Labview? Is there a DLL file for a motion controller?

I would add that my ethernet cable coming from the motor driver is connected to a ethernet to USB cable? Would that have an effect on it? I assumed no, because I can ping the hardware.

Thanks

Thanks.

[mano123]

Hello,

Following link has the necessary steps to configure an ethernet device in NI MAX, https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA03q000000x3gXCAQ&l=de-DE

Regards,

Mano Prabha

[NIquist]

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@ElementalFranco wrote:

Hello,

Im a new Labview user. My project is to modify and be familiar with the current Labview program. I installed Labview to another PC and connected every peripheral that includes camera and a chinese motion driver for my stepper motors. I want to clarify that the current system works with another PC but my managers want to implement the program into my own PC. I successfully connected the camera but NIMAX doesnt recognize the motor driver via ethernet - its not listed in NI-MAX. I ensured that I can "ping" the IP address of the motor driver(thru command prompt) but it didnt work when I run the exe file(standalone file) of our program. Is there a specific driver I download or software to connect the motion driver to Labview? Is there a DLL file for a motion controller?

I would add that my ethernet cable coming from the motor driver is connected to a ethernet to USB cable? Would that have an effect on it? I assumed no, because I can ping the hardware.

Thanks

----------------------------------------------------------

You have asked the right question, but you are the only one who can answer it.  It is almost certain that you will need some kind of driver.  If you are lucky, there will be LabVIEW drivers that will put a new palette set with all the commands provided as VIs.  If not, you will have to learn the commands and send them with whatever protocol your motion controller uses.

Check the manufacturer's website for drivers or an API you can use to communicate with their hardware...

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[Bob_Schor]

Good morning, @ElementalFranco.

     You have asked a good question -- given that you have a working system with LabVIEW, Drivers, etc. on Computer A and it works, but you now need to set up (from scratch) Computer B, and are having trouble connecting to the Controller through Ethernet.

     @mano123 provided a very helpful link about how to configure Ethernet devices that "speak VISA" to work with LabVIEW.  Note especially the final comments that describe using MAX, once you've configured the TCP/IP port to talk to MAX, to open a VISA communication "Test Panel" and send a query (such as the relatively-common string *IDN?\n (which asks for a String to be returned identifying the device -- note the terminating "new line" character commonly used as "End of string/command/data".  It then shows you a simple LabVIEW routine you can run that should do the same thing -- it sends the "Who are you" request and then asks for 1024 bytes to be written back.  It assumes that when you set up VISA for this device, you turned on "Use Termination Character" and made it \n, which makes the VISA read (a) wait for characters, then (b) read characters until it gets 1024 (which is far more than it ever expects) or gets a \n which signals "OK, stop reading and return the (much shorter) string".

Before you start doing this experiment, some things you need to consider.  LabVIEW comes in "Versions", with both a year-like identifier (e.g. LabVIEW 2024 Q3) and a bit-size (32-bit or 64-bit).  You should make sure that you are using the same version on your "Move to" computer as you "Copy From" machine.  You absolutely want to install VISA (which is comes "pre-selected" when you install LabVIEW the first time, so you probably already have it).

Hopefully these hints (especially how to get VISA to talk to a machine that uses TCP/IP) will get you started.

Bob Schor

[ElementalFranco]

Thank you for all your responses. Looking closely at my original PC where the Labview program works, it also doesnt show any ethernet connection aside from the Camera (attached image). Also, there are visible ports in this PC that shows up in NI-MAX. While the ports in the CPU are not connected to anything, I still tried to send a signal thru VISA communication, similar to your instructions. 

Then, I connected the motion controller to my "B" PC (with Labview) via ethernet. Using NI-MAX and tried to create a new "VISA TCP/IP Resource," it doesnt detect my device from the same the IP address I pinged from the command prompt. I decided to create it manually using the known IP address for the motion controller but still didnt get any success.

Is there any way I could see how the motion controller connects to Labview aside from NI MAX?
I have access to the VI proj but I am not sure where to start aside from the original developer have some DLL for various FPGA from NI that I do not know if its related. 

Also, the previous developer used 2015 32-bit Labview while I am using 32-bit 2025 version. I do not think it would matter - my theory is I am missing a driver somewhere. I apologize for a long message but I am the only engineer here who is learning Labview and looking at the previous program at the same time. 

[rolfk]

Your most likely barking up the wrong tree here. VXI-11 is a protocol that is specifically developed for Test & Measurement devices and people outside of the classic T&M market have never heard of that. Even some T&M manufacturers don't bother to implement it and cook their own soup. Chances that your motion device is VXI-11 compliant are very low.

Basically in terms of VISA, your devices is a raw socket device. There is nothing VISA can do to try to detect it nor help you in how to talk to your device. VISA does support SOCKET TCP/IP resources. That lets you open a connection if you know the address, and talk to the device if you know the specific commands. You have to find those commands yourself from the programming manual of your device. Or, as you have a working LabVIEW project already, from looking at the source of that project.

You say you have those sources available but don't understand where to look. That would indicate that you have most likely zero experience with programming in LabVIEW. In that case it would be definitely very helpful to work through some tutorials and with that I really mean work through them. Look at the resources mentioned at the top of the main page of the LabVIEW forum. It will take a few days for sure to go through some of them, but it will be worth it. Otherwise you can keep punching on your system for days and poking holes in your screen, without getting anywhere.

[ElementalFranco]

I found out that the current motion controller I have had a software driver on its own similar to Tenet Technologies, youtube demonstration. Unfortunately, my motion controller is from China and looking for its driver in the PC it was installed with is almost impossible (I found a very similar controller in AliExpress). A section in my current LV project file has a vi called "DMC3600" where all the control parameters and visual directions are located; I found a similar folder in Chinese with this driver but I need a license. So, we decided to just buy a new motion controller that has all the manuals and detailed installation. Do you guys have any suggestions on brand? I just need 4-axis ethernet connection capable motion controller similar to the attached picture (this is what we currently have).  

[rolfk]

Since you want to buy a new device and already talked about Tenet EMotion, have you looked into their solution?

https://geco-lv.com/emotion.html

John Wu is quite active in the LabVIEW community, so I think it's definitely worth checking this out.

[NIquist]

+1 to try Tenet.  I've worked with Thorlabs and Newport since NI-Motion/SoftMotion faded out and they are OK, but the API is mostly just DLLs that you have to fumble with in LabVIEW.  I think they focus on USB too, not ethernet.

[RIObotics]

Thank you @rolfk and @NIquist for your recommendations, much appreciated!  Franco has sent me an email, we'll see how LabVIEW can connect to this Chinese motion driver.  If we have significant findings or breakthroughs, I'll report back.

BR

John

Add motion to LabVIEW in 30min or less - TENET EMotion
Finding it hard to source legacy NI hardware? Try Extend Test