EEVblog #1232 - Add Web Access To Old Instruments

[EEVblog]

A look at the KISS-488 GPIB to Ethernet adapter that lets you add a web based user interface, HPGL plotter emulator, and Telnet interface to old instruments with a GPIB interface. And you might even get some extra resolution out of those old instruments too!

[sibeen]

Now that is a grouse little device and it may be the answer to one of my problems. I have an old Yokogawa DL708 scopecorder which has a GPIB interface. It also has RS232 but unfortunately that has failed on the instrument and it has an internal floppy drive which is what I currently use to get screenshots off the scope. If I could get this to work taking screen shots direct to the PC it could save me a lot of grief.

Thanks for this one, Dave.

[sibeen]

I have also just noticed that there was already a thread about this device on the forum, so a link for information.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/kiss-488-gpib-webserver-anybody-used-one/

[maxwell3e10]

There is also a thread about an Arduino-based GPIB adapter. In the latest version WaveyDipole even added Bluetooth support:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/ar488-arduino-based-gpib-adapter/msg2446080/#msg2446080
It doesn't have the nice web interface and software of the KISS-488, but the cost is also a lot lower:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/$5-usb-gpib-adapter-for-ezgpib/

One thing I've been pondering recently is if one can steal power from one of the GPIB lines (maybe with a little boost converter) to power the Arduino. Then one could have a truly wireless connection, just plug it into your instrument and access it on a phone or PC.

[JxR]

The creator must be very happy right now.  6 more sold in the last 24hrs, and I would be surprised if his current stock last another day on eBay.

I picked one up for my Keithley 617 and looking forward to trying it out. 

I'm still searching for my unicorn GPIB to LAN adapter that would allow me to control pre-SCPI GPIB based instruments via TSP scripting using only the IP address instead of a full VISA name (Like an old 238 SMU).  Keithley unfortunately doesn't go into the details of the requirements for "TSP-Net", but I already tried it with a Agilent E5810 and that was a no go since it wouldn't accept a VISA name as a connection parameter.

Regardless I'm not really interested in doing any automation for the 617 and just want a simple way to plot some data over time. This adapter looks great for that since both the instrument and adapter both natively support the old school plotters.

[Dr. Frank]

Thanks Dave. Nice interface for single instrument use.

But if you need to combine several instruments, it's too expensive, and you could as well get a regular / used GPIB card from N.I. for about the same price, plus used cables, and simply get the actual W10 drivers.. GPIB has still some advantages, especially when using instruments under program control..

Frank

[joeqsmith]

You need one per instrument?  If not, you still need all that GPIB cable mess you mention.   I have 12 instruments connected on GPIB now, so 12*150 or $1800.   I would rather stay with the NI Ethernet GPIB controllers.

http://www.ni.com/en-us/support/model.gpib-enet-1000.html

I know that Labview will natively support it.  So it just works.  There's no magic when it comes to programming.  You will still need to do the work.  From the start of your video, I was really hoping to see you control the old HP analyzer and pull the data from it.   For simple things like meters, LabView has canned programs to support many of them.  In some cases, you can just view them with their pre-built software.   

[EEVblog]

You need one per instrument?  If not, you still need all that GPIB cable mess you mention.   I have 12 instruments connected on GPIB now, so 12*150 or $1800.   I would rather stay with the NI Ethernet GPIB controllers.

Maybe you can do it in software though, but it's not standard as it obviously wasn't designed for that use case. Horses for courses.

[HighVoltage]

Looks like a very useful tool for my very old spectrum analyzers.
I just wanted to order one but they are all gone...

[JxR]

Looks like a very useful tool for my very old spectrum analyzers.
I just wanted to order one but they are all gone...

No doubt the creator is scrambling to assemble some more units as quick as they can. 

[richnormand]

The moment I saw Dave's video I grabbed one!
I do have NI LabView, old cards and cables for the bench instruments but this should be much nicer to just plug in when I wheel something to the bench for a test and just want to get a plot on my network printer (assuming it does what I think it does).
I see today they are all gone but I am sure there will be other batches on the way.

Thanks for the timely video Dave. (need an emoji of my screaming wallet as TEA slowly set in....)

[HighVoltage]

I have one ordered now and look forward testing it on my old instruments.

[theHWcave]

About using the “power” of the GPIB, I made my own Arduino-Nano based GPIB-to-USB converter and found out the hard way that there are quite some voltages coming from the GPIB.

I recently moved my Solartron 7150+ multimeter to a shelf to get more space on the bench and as the rear wasn't easily accessible anymore I started to leave the GPIB connector permanently in. Soon later, I noticed that my GPIB-to-USB adapter stopped working and the only way to revive it was to re-upload the program. It worked fine for a day or two and then was dead again.  I spare you the lengthily troubleshooting.

In the end it turned out that when removing the USB power from the Arduino by turning my PC off, but with the Solartron still powered on,  the ATmega328pb chip would be lingering sort of half-dead, just getting a little bit of power ( 2.2V )  coming in through its IO lines from the GPIB termination resistors. This state would cause the flash memory to corrupt in no time and the only way to get it working again was to re-upload the program into the flash memory.

The solution was to program the chip fuses to enable brown-out detection (BOD) on the ATmega328pb, which was an adventure in itself because that chip (used by Chinese Arduino clones) is not really supported by the Arduino IDE when it comes to setting fuses and reloading bootloaders... In the end I managed to get around this and program BOD for 4.3V so the chip stays reset until the supply voltage (5V from USB) exceeds  that threshold. You can see the story on this here https://youtu.be/DAS1KVU_FaA  and there are a few other GPIB videos on building this adapter  https://youtu.be/RaLirRvSngk   and using it to automate measurements with a DPS5005 programmable power supply module: https://youtu.be/FXv_CFu6FPw.