Nesikep,

     Just joined this forum today, saw your post witn no reply so if you still need help this may be it.  I would use a microcontroller called the VINCO. It is produced by ftdichip.com and sold by them and Digi-key. This device is a generic microprocessor similiar to the Arduino but I like it because of the drivers provided by ftdi. You can have it send the results to your laptop  via a usb connection and it will appear in your VB program as a Com Port.  This makes interfacing simple.  The vinco board has a very powerful cpu with many input / output options including analog to digital sampling, pulsewidth modulated outputs and almost any combination of digital I/O that you would ever need.  It also supports a series of what they call "Shields" which are plug in hardware adapters that add functions such as motor drivers, network interfacing, lcd displays and others. Most arduino shields could be used but you may need to do a bit more code writing.  If you have not yet figured it out the arduino is also a microcontroller pc board and you can find out about this at sparkfun.com. I have used both but find the vinco to interface with VB easier.  The arduino however is more widely used and much forum support is available.

Just somewhere to start, Good Luck!

Catman88

Hi,

The company HEXWAX is selling tiny chips which connect to the PC using USB and offer a large variety of functionalities.

Their KEY advantage is that these chips are DRIVER FREE ;=) as they use HID USB class.

Additionally Hewwax offers the software libraries to write on host side the application which connects to DLL API.

Regards

Hello,

We had a similar requirement for measuring strain gauge transducers and controlling machines. We build a machine control interface, with:

16-bit millivolt level data acquisition unit with Analog Devices AD7795 - can have three channels, more with circuit modification.

Pulse-counting input from Opto or Prox, PNP or NPN.

USB interface: Silicon Labs CP2102;

0-10 volt DC output;

Four relays with 5A contacts;

We supply application programs written in VB6, or, better, we encourage the customer to write his own.

The measured value is available as a string, "00000" to "65535" inputted to VB6 via Silicon Labs Driver, and VB6 MScomm.

The pulse count is available in the same way.

Measuring rate is slow, about 5 readings per second.

The relays are switched on and off by outputting a number via the MSComm.

The 0-10 volt value can be varied by outputting a number via the MSComm.

The USB, Analog input and 0-10 volt output are all isolated from each other.

The unit is supplied as an open circuit board.

Its power supply is 220 volt or 110 volt AC mains

This is a commercial item, which started as an RS232 interface, then evolved to the USB version because of changes to PCs and operating systems.

We sell it for about 300 USD ex works.

If you are interested, let me know, and I will send you more information.

Have a happy day,

Louis Eder

instruments@mweb.co.za