need IVI or USBTMC driver for multicomp pro MP710086 US

Question

I bought a few multicomp Pro MP710086 US power supplies and although they work great using SCPI over the DB9 serial connection I would rather use USB, which the power supply also has, but that interface uses the IVI or USBTMC protocol.

I have not found a driver for this yet nor can I find the necessary setup information to have it recognized with the IVI compliance package using LabVIEW.

Can anyone provide me a direction to look for more information? The Newark page for this says it supports USB connectivity - but doesn't give any further information.

See link here - https://www.newark.com/multicomp-pro/mp710086-us/power-supply-bench-prog-1ch-5a/dp/42AH0483#anchorTechnicalDOCS

fmilburn · Answer

It may not solve your problem but I documented my experience with SCPI on the MP710086 here: https://www.element14.com/community/community/project14/test-instrumentation/blog/2021/05/18/multicomp-pro-mp710086-dc-power-supply

I did not need to install a driver using Windows 10. Haven’t tried it with LabVIEW.

wosipoff · Answer

Frank,

As it turns out, after using LabVIEW for over 27 years, I learned something new. (or remembered something I knew but forgot - they kind of run together nowadays). In any case, the USB connection on these power supplies enunciate on Windows 10 computers and show up initially in the National Instruments software as IVI devices. To make things worse, the documentation provided by Newark says they are USBTMC protocol. What is really needed is for the user to go into MAX, NI's configuration tool, and to give the power supply a meaningful name when it shows up as a device. Then, the trick is to right click on the VISA I/O control used to establish a connection to the device and select "USB class" for the power supply. The rest is just grunt work using SCPI as you pointed out in your excellent article.

Thanks and regards,

Bill