Question about labview control of oriel monochromator 74125 USB read

[dahollings]

I am also trying to get a connection established with a CS 260 monochromator. I have downloaded the Mono Utility 5.0.4 software which works well. However, I could not find any example VIs to work with, only the C++ and C#/.NET APIs. If someone does have example VIs I would love to take a look since I could not find them on the Newport website!

I have tried to establish connection using .NET constructor nodes and invoke nodes in LabVIEW but I keep receiving a null error. I have successfully created subVIs and connected to a Newport 2936-R power meter (which did have example VIs included). I tried to model my monochromator initialization scheme after these but did not have any luck.

Has anyone else connected to a Newport USB monochromator? If so what methods/nodes (and associated libraries) did you use?

[dahollings]

I did some more digging around the Newport website and finally found some sample VIs that come installed with the "MonoTerm" utility. 

ftp://download.newport.com/Oriel/Monochromators%20and%20Spectrographs/Mono%20Terminal%20Software%20v...

In my case the Monoterm utility that shipped with my unit did not install due to some files missing from the USB stick. However, the version at the link above does install. Once installed go to the installation folder and extract the source code zip. There seems to be some issues with the invoke nodes connecting to the correct dll, however I think this may supply some of the subVIs needed to connect to the monochromators. I will mess around with this more tomorrow and post my results.

[sunny1992]

Dear daholling

can u pls send me the example of any one VIs for cs 260 so i will come to know how it will work. my e-mail id is sunnysainidolle@yahoo.com.

[dahollings]

Attached is a simple test VI that successfully connects to the CS 260 monochromator. I haven't done anything past that yet, but it does connect and report the result to the boolean indicator. In order to use this you will have to also have the "Cornerstone.dll" and "CyUSB.dll" files that are included either in the monoterm link I sent before or in the C# API files that can be downloaded from the Newport CS 260 product pages.

If you are having trouble make sure that you select the correct .NET class for the constructor. To do this right click on the constructor and then "Select Constructor". Find "cornerstone" in the list or browse to the file if it doesn't show up automatically.

I'll be digging into this more but this should at least get you started.

[sunny1992]

dear sir
I am working on interfacing of cornerstone 260 monochromator. But i am getting trouble in interfacing it with using "NI VISA Device wizard". I am trying to build a interface between monochromator and my PC using NI VISA USB raw type.
Through NI VISA wizard ,i am able to get .INF file but it is not installing as it is showing that digitally unsigned. Below i have attached the error file
to show you. Please suggest me the steps i will be able interfacing it with my PC.

warms regards
Sunny Saini

[dahollings]

Hi Sunny,

Unfortunately I do not have any experience using the VISA Device Interface you described. It sounds like the mono utility is working for you so the USB drivers must be installed and working properly. Beyond that I'm not sure I can offer much help.

[sunny1992]

dear sir,

you have provided me the program for cornerstone 260 mono. i would like to tell you i am working on same program for PIA setup but through it, i can able to run SR 830 lock in but not the monochromator itself. the link for C# . net file is not opening from NEWPORT website.

please can you tell me the detail step to interface monochromator with my PC and this is very urgent.

mono utility software is quite useful but i dnt know how to get blockdiagram and see it in labview front panel

warm regards

Sunny Saini

Research intern

IIT-Bombay

[dahollings]

Here is another link to the C# API: ftp://download.newport.com/Oriel/Monochromators%20and%20Spectrographs/Cornerstone%20Monochromator%20...

You should be able to use the "cornerstone.dll" and "cyUSB.dll" files from there. I've attached three example VIs that should help you connect and do some basic testing:

1) Mono-init.vi: This is the subVI for calling the "connect()" function from the dll to connect to the monochromator

2) Mono_SetWavelength.vi: This is a subVI for sending the "setWavelength(dbl Wavelength)" command to the monochromator

3) Mono SubVI Test Structure: This is a test structure that call both of the subVIs to actually send a wavelength to the monochromator.

To send other command you just need to make additional subVIs similar to Mono_SetWavelength.vi. You can then call these in a similar wave to the test structure and write your program that way.

[sunny1992]

Dear Sir,

Thank you very much for your response. But the link is not opening.

Can i have your e-mail so i will send you some images so you can see the error.

Please help me out.

regards

Sunny

[dahollings]

Can you get to download.newport.com. I'm not sure what else to do at this point. If you cannot find a way to get the dlls the programs are not going to work. Those are required to communicate with the mono.