[time-nuts] OT: Anyone programmed HP 59306A relay actuator (orother old device)?

Didier Juges didier at cox.net
Sat May 24 10:46:23 EDT 2008


Remember these units don't have uC, so any signal that would normally depend
on some timing must be generated externally, i.e. come from the bus. I
suspect the box might need some signals that other equipment (uC equipped)
may not absolutely require. However, this being a piece of HP equipment, I
am pretty confident that is will strictly obey (and require strict adherence
to) the HPIB specification, even in areas where more recent equipment will
show significant tolerance. 

Now that I think of it, I really never cared much for the low level NI
programming. I did some of it way back under DOS, and ever since finding the
BlackBox and more recently the Prologix controllers, I have not looked back.

Didier

> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
> [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Dr. David Kirkby
> Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2008 9:13 AM
> To: daun at yeagley.net; Discussion of precise time and 
> frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] OT: Anyone programmed HP 59306A 
> relay actuator (orother old device)?
> 
> Daun Yeagley wrote:
> > Hi David
> >
> > Don't worry about all the level stuff.  That's internal to 
> the box (59306).
> > The only thing you need to worry about is how to generate 
> the proper 
> > commands on the bus for your particular H/W-S/W combination.
> >   
> But looking at the example program, one sends
> 
> * "?" to clear all listeners
> *  "%" to listen
> * The commands to set relays, such as "B123", or "A1"
> * REN=H to reset to local control.
> 
> But all 4 combinations have different TTL levels on the control lines.
> 
> On my bench multimeter, something as simple as
>  
> dd=ibdev(0, gpib_address, 0, T3s, 1, 0); /* open a device at 
> address 'gpib_address' with 3 s timeout. */ ibclr(dd);  /* 
> Clear it */ ibwrt(dd,"PRESET",6);  /* Can't recall what this 
> command did on my meter, but it works! */ ibwrt(dd,"DCV",3); 
> /* Set to DC voltage. Command ends in 3, as DCV is 3 characters */
> 
> will set it to DC voltage. If I want frequency, the last 
> command would be
> 
> ibwrt(dd,"FREQ",4);  /* ends in 4, as FREQ is 4 characters */
> 
> But this HP 59306A relay  actuator will *not* respond 
> similarly if I send
> 
> ibwrt("A1",2);  /* Unsuccessfully try to join contacts A-C on 
> relay 1 */
> 
> In various attempts, I've managed to get the odd click from 
> the relays, but nothing useful is happening. I've got two of 
> these, and neither is doing what I expect, so I suspect the 
> units are not faulty, but just my bad programming.
> 
> 
> 
> > In hopefully simple terms, you need to address the 59306 as a 
> > listener, and then send the ASCII string that represents the relay 
> > state you need. In Didier's example:
> >   
> >> 1) to turn all channels off, send "B123456"
> >> 2) to turn channel 1 on: send "A1"
> >>     
> >
> > You don't need (or want an end of line sequence or anything). When 
> > done sending the command, just unaddress it.
> >   
> Perhaps that is what I am doing wrong. I am not un-addressing 
> it. But I've never had to before. I've normally on other 
> instruments just sent the command via ibwrt(), then read 
> responses with ibrd(). For this instrument, I don't believe 
> there is anything that can be read - you can't for example 
> read the state of the relays, so I don't think there is any 
> need for using ibrd().
> 
> > Hope that removes a bit of fog.
> >
> > Daun
> >
> >   
> 
> 
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