ITC 503

It is an oxford instruments Piece of kit. It is used as the cryostat as part of the 7.5T magnet (see also https://github.com/ISISComputingGroup/ibex_developers_manual/wiki/OxfordInstrumentsIPS which has more detailed documentation about the 7.5t magnet). It is also used as part of the MuSR 3He Refrigerator (though that lives in its own IOC see https://github.com/ISISComputingGroup/ibex_developers_manual/wiki/MuSR-3He-Refrigerator).

Gotchas

• Scans very (very) slowly. This is necessary for communication with device.
• It is stolen from diamond.
• Occasionally device will ignore first character of command, e.g.

2018/05/16 16:57:02.169 \\.\COM2 write 3
R9\r
2018/05/16 16:57:02.190 \\.\COM2 read 3
?9\r
2018/05/16 16:57:02.189831 L0 TE:NDW1799:ITC503_01:I: Input "?9" mismatch after 0 bytes
2018/05/16 16:57:02.189842 L0 TE:NDW1799:ITC503_01:I: got "?9" where "R" was expected

Usually it should reply with something like R+5.000 to that command. The ?9 response suggests that the device has dropped the first character. I tried various things to get this to work but it is just a fail on the device's part.

Getting weird stuff on serial line

• Check serial settings (9600 baud/8 bits/No parity/2 stop bits)
• Check you only have one device on the end of the line. ITC/ILM systems can be addressed, if they both share a line then you can get interleaved replies from both devices which looks like nonsense on a serial line

ISOBUS addresses

ITC and ILM devices can be addressed by an ISOBUS address. There is a utility in C:\LabVIEW Modules\Oxford Software\COMMDEV.llb\Instruments?.vi which will scan all ISOBUS addresses on a COM port and tell you what device(s) are connected to each one.