GW-Instek PSP-2010

[aphalo]

Hi. I would like to control the GW-Instek PSP-2010 programmable power supply. I have also seen it re-branded and sold under other names. Seems to be a very common type of equipment. It can be connected to a PC COM port through a non-standard cable and fully controlled. I have it working with a Java console application, but I would like to build something a bit fancier with FlowStone. FlowStone seems like the best solution as the settings (e.g. sequence of voltages, and limit settings) will change frequently (different experiments).

Before I reinvent the wheel, I would like to know if anybody has experience with this or other serial port controlled instruments, and can point me to some example code. I am totally new to FlowStone, but I have programming experience in several computer languages (but little experience in building GUI's). My idea is that after I have built the interface to the power supply, other researchers with less programming experience should be able to "reprogram" the FlowStone diagram. My intention is to control up to four power supplies simultaneously, so I will need to upgrade from the FREE version that I have currently installed.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Pedro.

[DSP]

Welcome Pedro

There are lot's of examples of Comport stuff, check a few of these out in the Examples area:

http://www.dsprobotics.com/support/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=315

http://www.dsprobotics.com/support/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=295

http://www.dsprobotics.com/support/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=270

http://www.dsprobotics.com/support/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=29

Once you have something running post it here and I'm sure you will get some help.

[aphalo]

Thanks!
Those examples are very useful, but I am at moment stuck with a simple problem when converting a float to a string. I need a specific format ##.##, for example 2.0 float should yield the string 02.00 and 10.5 -> 10.50, in addition 10.499 and 10.502 should be rounded and yield 10.50

Is there any easy way of achieving this? I looked in the palette of modules and the documentation and didn't find any suitable module. I guess, I have just missed something obvious...

Pedro.

[DSP]

There is a nice String Format Module:

String Format clip.png (18.44 KiB) Viewed 15476 times

I stole this out of the 'Float Label' module