How to Control Third-Party Programmable Power Supply in VeriStand

Updated Nov 1, 2022

Environment

Hardware

  • PXI Controller
  • PXI-8430/2
  • PXI-8432/2
  • PXIe-8430

Software

  • VeriStand

For ECU software validation, the programmable power supply is absolutely necessary to power the ECU and actuators. Sometimes, the output power of NI PXI Programmable Power Supply Modules is not enough to support the applications. The customer has to take into account the 3rd-party programmable power supply. This article explains how to control the 3rd-party programmable power supply in VeriStand.

1. Run the VeriStand and Drivers installation in NIPM and make sure the VeriStand Custom Devcies is installed:
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2. Add Instrument Addon in Custom Devices and select RS-xxx protocol (RS-232 is supported by most of 3rd-party programmable power supply).
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3. NI controllers except for PXIe-8880 have a COM port that supports RS-232. For PXIe-8880, PXI-4830 can be used. Click the Browse Target for Compatible Device to select the compatible device.
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4. Add Message Group in Instrument Addon. Then you can add three Message items for current limit control, voltage control and output control.
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5. Take the Voltage Message as the example. In the Command Message Settings, enter VOLTage [Volt] in the Command window. The command can be found in the programming guide of third-party programmable power supply. Then add a MetaData Channel named Voltage Value. Select Voltage Value from the Available MetaData Channels drop-down list.
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6. For MetaData Channel Voltage Value, select Format in drop-down list of Channel Type. You can set the default value if you want to set a voltage value when VeriStand is deployed. 
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7. Configure other two Message items, then deploy the system definition file to control the power supply.