Chromatography Forum

I have an HP 5890 Series II Plus GC; before anyone asks, no- I have no budget for a new one.

It came with the 19242-60015 INET integration board, but I have no integrator so I purchased a 19242-60030 RS-232 interface board.

I found an Agilent 19242-60500 RS-232C cable, and hooked the GC to a computer with a DB-25 parallel connector, through the RS-232 interface board; however, using PeakSimple, there is no connectivity.

Any suggestions- other than to buy a GC made in the 21st century?

osp1001,

Unless you have the time and fortitude to write code across the RS-232 port, I would suggest you simply hook the 5890 up to the data system using the 0-1V output from the 5890. This will give you a signal for the Peak Simple that will allow you to collect chromatograms. The signal will come from the signal 1 or signal 2 port on the upper right hand side of the GC. If you search the forum, you should find more info on this route to collecting data.

You will either have to manually start the Peak Simple (spacebar for example) and the GC at the same time or you can wire the GC start signal into the Peak Simple as well.

Best regards,

AICMM

You will have to configure the GC output.

Is this the instructions I used when I upgraded an older 5890 to communicate via 232.
http://www.chem.agilent.com/Library/use ... -90107.pdf

I just remembered, I think you need a nul modem cable to connect a GC to a data system.

Bigbear,

Are you talking to a 5890 using RS-232 Chemstation? I have always used the HP-IB version and cannot seem to find anything on an RS-232 version of Chemstation..... Much puzzled... Or, is RS-232 there for other software like EZChrom or what not??

Best regards,

AICMM

You will have to configure the GC output.

Is this the instructions I used when I upgraded an older 5890 to communicate via 232.
http://www.chem.agilent.com/Library/use ... -90107.pdf

But what I have is the 19254A, not the 19257A. The instructions are very different in hooking up the two. I've used the instructions from Agilent to set the baud rate to 19200, and the GC stops working after that. I can set the GC to do the "test chromatogram" thing *before* changing the settings, but once I change the settings all that happens is the green run light blinks, and- no test chromatogram. In either event, I can't get the test data to display on a computer.

In the meanwhile, I have tried to see if the board is any good by turning on the GC and holding down the Clear button. If I do this with the INET board, the HP goes into the test screen and I can access all of that. When I replace the INET board with the 19254A RS-232C board, I get no test screen. But the RS-232C board seems to be so rare that it's tough to find out if this is the normal condition. Does anyone know?

I still can't get data off the computer. However, when I check the pins (1, 2, 3, and 7) on the cable from the RS-232C board while running the test chromatogram, the voltage never changes while the chromatogram runs. I suspect the data coming off the board (if there is any) is digital; now I just need to figure out how to get it to a computer.

I've been using a DB-25 to DB-9 converter, and then a serial-to-USB converter; still can't "see" the GC with that.

What I described works for me using Justice Innovations chromatography software.
I'm unsure as to what chromatography software you are using. If Agilent I think you need to go with HPIB and when I was using chemstation with a 5890 i could only use BA software . Addedd to this a secondary vendor had to monkey with the software for it to work.
If you are using another software package I would suggeas you speak to them.

You can also call Alpha Omega Tech. as they have lots of experience with older Agilent hardware.

Dear osp001,

Please, do not waste time, and include your local Agilent technicians in this cyrcle.
Working with 5890 some of my challenges were overcomed with Brazilian Agilent technical suport.

Hoping the best,

Carlos de Souza Teixeira
teixeiracs@yahoo.com
http://br.linkedin.com/pub/carlos-de-so ... 15/7b0/125

Maybe this helps clear the situation:
http://www.unichrom.com/hpx890/hpx890e.shtml

OK- for anyone else with the same problem, here's how it stands right now (thanks to UniChrom and AOTI):

HP 5890 Series II Plus, in emulation mode (board jumpered as per instructions), set for 19200 baud (as per HP/UniChrom instructions).

Board: 19254A board (also known as Option 560, or 19242-60030), connected using 19242-60500 Agilent cable (4-wire, only 3 wires used, can make yourself). Cable terminates in a male DB-25 connector.

In order to connect this using USB, one needs to run the DB-25 connector into a DB-9 female plug, and then plug that into a suitable DB-9-to-USB widget. I used the Micro Connectors Inc. model, Serial to USB; it comes with drivers.

However, running this in the following fashion does not work:

5890 --> RS-232C board --> 19242-60500 cable --> DB-25 to DB-9 adapter --> DB-9 to USB adapter --> laptop

Instead, a null modem widget must be installed as follows:

5890 --> RS-232C board --> 19242-60500 cable --> null modem --> DB-9 to USB adapter --> laptop

This null modem can be hardwired as follows:

DB-25 ////////// DB-9
2......................2
3......................3
7......................5

Hope this helps someone at some point in the future, but the 19242-60030 board seems to be a rarity!

Looks correct on the cabling. If I may ask: What software are you using and how are you testing for results?

Instead, a null modem widget must be installed as follows:

5890 --> RS-232C board --> 19242-60500 cable --> null modem --> DB-9 to USB adapter --> laptop

This null modem can be hardwired as follows:

DB-25 ////////// DB-9
2......................2
3......................3
7......................5

Hope this helps someone at some point in the future, but the 19242-60030 board seems to be a rarity!

Dear OSP001,

Your suggestion looks really helpful for my situation!
I also have a GC 5890 Series II and want to acquire data using UniChrom via RS-232 connection. My question is regarding the configuration of null modem -do both sides need to be hardwired?
Actually I have a different type of RS-232 cable, one side connected to the RS-232 board and the other side a DB-9 female adapter. Therefore, I wonder if I can simply include a DB-9 male to DB-9 female in between this cable and the computer, and merely modify the DB-9 male connector (remove pins other than #2, 3, 5).

Thanks!

Thank you for posting your solution!

Looks correct on the cabling. If I may ask: What software are you using and how are you testing for results?

I never replied to this, and I apologize. I have been using Unichrom's software.

http://www.unichrom.com/unichrome.shtml

Anton has been very helpful.