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Manual Connection To PC: 1.1 Setting Up The Instrument For A PC Link

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38 views

Manual Connection To PC: 1.1 Setting Up The Instrument For A PC Link

Uploaded by

Fred montalvo amanca
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Manual connection to PC

This instrument is configured to be used with commonly available software for


RS232 communications such as “terminal” (Windows 3.11TM) or
“Hyperterminal” (Windows 95TM onwards). These are usually located under
Program Manager “Accessories => Communications" with your PC. After you
have the data displayed on your VDU you can easily save the information and
import it to other applications to store or analyse.

Please note that the use of a manual connection to a PC is quite limited as


commands must be sent to the instrument in order to receive any data. These
commands appear in the terminal window along with the received data.

Biochrom ltd spectrophotometers are designed to be used with either swift


software or Biochrom ltd’s serial interface software

Note that the Windows 3.11 'Terminal' facility is very dependant on the speed
of the base machine. A slow 386 or 486 machine may miss data. In such
cases, it is advisable to use a DOS based package such as 'Odyssey' to
collect data.

Before disconnecting or connecting the instrument turn the PC and instrument


off to avoid damage to any part.

1.1 Setting Up the Instrument for a PC Link

First connect the instrument and the PC using a suitable cable, such as cable
(80-2105-97). Connections to the most common PC COM ports are shown in
the Table below, together with the necessary connectors.

9-way D-Type Male 9-way D-Type Female


(spectro) (P.C.)
2 3
3 2
4 6
5 5
8 7
1.2 Windows 95 Onwards

Open HyperTerminal program under Program Manager “Accessories”.


Double Click on icon “HyperTerminal”

You will be asked for a suitable name - e.g Spectrophotometer and an icon.
Once this is set up you can click on this icon and the settings will be loaded
correctly.

You will then be asked to configure the phone number. Ignore the first
options and move the "Connect using" option. Select the correct COM port
(which will be used to receive the instruments data) under “Connect Using”
and then OK.
Now set up the COM port: -

Set the settings as above then press OK. The program is now set-up to
receive the data. You can save these settings using the file menu. The
connection settings will be retrieved when the file is opened in the
“Communications” folder.

1.3 Windows 3.11TM


Open the Terminal emulator and under the “Settings” menu, run down to
“Communications” and set the following parameters.

COM1/COM2 : Depending on which port you are using.


(Usually the mouse is in COM1 and COM2
is available)
BAUD RATE : 9600 or 19200 depending on instrument
PARITY : None
STOP BITS : 1
DATA BITS : 8
FLOW CONTROL : “Hardware” with the parity check and carrier
Detect boxes inactive.

Once you have set the values click OK. You can save these settings using
the file menu.

1.4 Data Capture


To capture data, to a file, select Transfer - Capture Text.
You will be asked for a file name - e.g. Test Data.txt. Then Press START.

Pressing PRINT on the Instrument will send data to the PC (ensure that PC is
selected under Communication).

To End data transfer Select Transfer - Capture Text- Stop.

The file can then be imported into EXCELTM directly using the Import Wizard
within MS Excel TM. The import wizard will detect the format automatically.
Data can also be captured to a “.csv” file which is native to MS Excel TM.

1.5 Importing Into Excel (or similar spreadsheet program)


Open Excel™ and open the data file (You may have to select “All files” from
the File Open menu); the following screen will be displayed:-

Choose Delimited (if not already chosen) and press NEXT.


Select comma, then NEXT

Select General, then FINISH. The data will then appear as indicated in the
excel spreadsheet. To create a graph of the data (if scan data) use the graph
facility in Excel. You will need to re-arrange the columns (wavelength first,
Absorbance (or %T) second).

NB: If data is captured to a “.csv” file it will open in MS Excel TM without


the need to use the “Text Import Wizard”.

An ExcelTM file (sample.xls) has been set-up to import the


data and display Spectra. This can be obtained from our
sales office and e-mailed to you or put onto a disc.
Alternatively the data can be imported into you own Excel
file.
A typical printout would look like that below:-
The PC format is designed to be compatible with most WindowsTM
spreadsheet software including LOTUS 123™ and MS EXCEL™.

Absorbance 1.5

0.5

0
0 200 400 600 800
W avelength

1.6 Common commands

COMMAND MEANING NOTES

(General Commands)

CONTROL Request control


RELEASE Release control
ID? Query software ID Returns the flash memory version
SERIAL? Request serial number of instrument

(Accessory Commands)

ACC Identify accessory


ACC? Query accessory Returns E00 8, e.g. 8-position turret
CELL n Set cell number e.g. CELL 2
CELL? Query cell number
PELTcc Set Peltier to cc degrees PELT 0 turns it off
PELT? Query current Peltier temperature

(Reading Commands)

WAVE nnn Move to wavelength nnn


WAVE? Query current wavelength
MODE Set current reading mode A, T, C
MODE? Query current reading mode
READ? Return reading
SETREF Set reference on current reading
NOREF Undo last set ref

(Lamp commands)
LIFE? D/W Query lamp life (D2 , W repectively) Format: Date and time lamp was
installed, number of times lamp has
been switched on and time it was
actually on (seconds)
LIFE D 0 Reset Deuterium lamp life
LIFE W 0 Reset Tunsgten lamp life
(Clock Commands)

DATE Set date format is dd/mm/yyyy


DATE? Query date
TIME Set time format is hh:mm:ss
TIME? Query time

1.7 Error Messages from HyperTerminal:

E00 OK. Query information follows the E00


E01 Invalid
E02 Internal Comms failure
E03 Command failure
E90 Wrong number of parameters
E91 Not recognised
E92 Not implemented
E93 Busy
E94 Bad argument
E95 Command too long
E99 Unknown error condition

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