I asked the group about communicating with a Bruker MAS controller that was
not connected to a Bruker console. (Original request is down below).
Here is a summary of the what is necessary to communicate with the device
via its RS232 port.
============================================
Martine Ziliox at the Center for Structural Biology at Stony Brook, NY was a
tremendous help with providing a list of commands that the controller
recognizes. (List is included below) He pointed out that the Bruker
provided "rstest" program can send commands to any of the Bruker serial
devices. Of course this program communicates to the devices through the
console's computer (CCU). However, the program gives a list of commands
that can also be sent directly to the MAS controller.
I confirmed that the RS232 protocol, which is not included in the MAS
controller's documentation was the same as found in the variable temperature
controller's manual (BVT3000). The protocol is 9600 baud; 8 data bits; 1
stop bit; even parity. The required cable is a 9 pin (female/female) null
modem pinout:
2--3
3--2
4--6
5--5
6--4
7--8
8--7
My initial testing was with a Windows PC running Hyperterm. This lead to a
frustrating series of mistries until I realized that for some unknow reason
Hyperterm was able to send the first command sucessfully but the second
command would consistently lockup the controller. Only a reset at the
controllers touch pad would wake it up.
I had better success using a free ware program called "RS232 Controller"
(
http://www.newpast.net/en/). This program allowed full control of the MAS
unit but the reponses from the controller were not interpreted correctly and
showed up on the PC as "Arabic" characters. Still, the MAS controller
accepts commands perfectly and can be operated from the PC.
My final step was to connect the controller to the serial port of a Sun
Blade 150 workstation (running Solaris 8). This is the host computer of my
Varian Inova 500, where the controller is driving a Doty 4mm/XC MAS probe.
Configuration of the Sun was fairly straight forward. I had to add a line
to the /etc/remote file to define a device (I called "mas") on the serial
port A. This new line was a copy of the "hardwire" entry with a change of
the port from dev/term/b to /dev/term/a. The "tip" program (tip mas), run
in a Unix terminal window, allows commands to be sent to the controller. To
my surprised the responses from the controller are fully recognized by tip
so there is true two-way communication unlike the PC operation. Enabling
the local echo makes it a little easier to work with. Another important
thing to note is all the commands are capitolized.
I hope that this information is a help to someone else. Please email me if
you have any questions or comments.
Thanks again Martine.
Perry.
============================================
Perry J. Pellechia
Director of NMR Services
University of South Carolina
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
<mailto:pellechia_at_sc.edu>
<
http://homer.chem.sc.edu/perry>
============================================
============================================
RS232 Commands for the Bruker MAS Controller and their description:
MA SIO and Handshake test
GM Go Manual; select manual mode
MD value Set maximum drive pressure
PP value Select startup program
GS Go Spin; start spinning in automatic mode
ES Stop rotor eject
OM Select operational mode
PH value Select probe size and type
MS value Set maximum spin rate
T0 Select ambient output temperature
V0 Reduce spin to zero
VA Read actual spin rate
DM Select diagnostic mode
MM value Set minimum main pressure
RS value Set minimum bearing safety pressure
T1 Select -70 degrees C output
IN Start rotor insert
VD Read demanded spin rate
GA Go Automatic; select automatic mode
MB value Set maximum bearing pressure
FT value Set treshhold frequency
T2 Select -120 degrees C output
IS Stop rotor insert
DP 0-DPmax Set demanded drive pressure
LB value Set minimum bearing pressure
DT value Set maximum drive pressure to achieve frequency
DS 0-SRmax Set demanded spin rate
EB Start rotor eject
BP 0-BPmax Set demanded bearing pressure
PM Read main pressure
AS Read current status
HW Read hardware version
PD Read drive pressure
PB Read bearing pressure
PS Read bearing sense pressure
SW Read firmware version
============================================
ORIGINAL QUESTION:
Hello Group,
I have an older Bruker MAS Controller running on a system that does not have
a Bruker console. The unit operates fine in its "Local" mode using the
unit's control panel. However, sometimes during long data collections I
operated the instrument from remote locations and it would be nice to be
able to either change rotor speeds or even stop the rotor from spinning.
Therefore, I am looking into the possibility of sending commands to the unit
via the serial port of the host computer that is running the console.
The MAS Controller (Labeled: "MAS Pneumatic Control Unit") has a Bruker part
number H2620. My documentation does not include the serial port commands
that the unit can recognize. Bruker USA Tech support does not seem to have
the information either. If there is anyone out there that has this
information I would appreciate you contacting me.
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Received on Mon Feb 05 2007 - 17:53:57 MST