PGDT Serial interface cable ...USB Alternative :D

[Burgerman]

Well now I have 3 cables that dont work, on win7 64, andtwo computers...
Tested masses of drivers, and serial port numbers too.
So for now I give up...

Why was that first cable different?

[woodygb]

Did this cable have the 4 wires?

Why was that first cable different?

Don't ask me ...I'm as confused as you are.

[woodygb]

Whilst it won't help with the Win 7 prob ... you could ..if you feel like it ... try finding someone with an XP based machine and try on that.
The only other thing that I could suggest is using XP emulation mode...PITA ...stupid thing should work on ALL VERSIONS..

I HATE BILL GATES!

[Burgerman]

yEP. SND AND RCV were seperate. Soldered to one pin in the connector by yours truly. Still says "inactive" comm...

Just spent an hour removing every trace of every driver, by the usual contyrol panel, the uninstall built into the setup program, by deleting driver files from the device damager, and then searching the registry for every reference to the files, or the name and deleted every key.

Rebooted, used the minidisk the new cable came with, and it installed the 3.2.00 driver. Still the same!

Pulling hair out here...

[woodygb]

There are plenty of references around the web for Win 7 USB problems ...but I haven't a clue if they'd apply or why indeed a FIX needs applying when the original lead just worked!

I cannot see for the life of me why this should make any difference ...BUT ... I did ...in the process of testing other configurations ...attach the red to the 5v USB at the board.... ( see pic ) ....the red was however just folded back and insulated at the Neutrik plug ...in the orig lead you tested.

P1010014A.jpg (78.56 KiB) Viewed 13859 times

[woodygb]

Have any Windows updates come down in the last 4 months?

[woodygb]

NO idea if it's relevant ...
http://www.google.co.uk/#q=site:answers ... 24&bih=588

[expresso]

that sucks - i just upgraded both my computer and laptop also - last week - my computer is running Win 7 and laptop is Vista -

i hope my new cable will work - i was looking to run the cable off the laptop with vista - since it easier for me to have the chair connected to the laptop -

anyone having a problem with the USB - first check device manager - and see if you have any errors there - you can try to disable USB controller etc, all of them and re start them again - or delete them and reboot to let Win find them again etc, -

hope this gets figured out -

[woodygb]

Again ..
NO idea if it will help ..but I have seen this fix/solution referenced for Curtis 1314 connection problems using Win 7.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/wind ... ws-xp-mode

[gologen]

It's applied to Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise editions. But most of computers in retail have Windows 7 Home Premium edition.

XP.jpg (51.4 KiB) Viewed 13824 times

[Burgerman]

OK. After manually clearing the registry, installing ONLY the 3.2.00 driver (the disk that came with the 4 wire cable) It worked for a few secs...

So I threw away the 3 pin crappy connector, and fitted a new one. Lo and behold we have a solid working connection. Only works on com 8 though. Same on laptop...

So it is a combination of driver, port, as well as in my case a typical shagged xlr connector making intermittent contact.

But FINALLY!!!

confirmed WORKING on 2 machines.

dETAILS NEXT POST...

[Burgerman]

CONFIRMED GOOD:

1. COMPATIBILITY MODE for XP SP3. (been using it since the start - not sure if its needed)

2. THIS cable: http://www.radioarena.co.uk/index.php?_ ... ductId=628


3. The driver on the disk it comes with... Which has a bunch of drivers on it. Just run the disk. It installs 3.2.0.0 driver. Changed this to COM 8 as the others do not work on 2 PCs...

4. Choose com 8 in the PG Drives program. woohoo...

Not sure how much of this was my bad connecting Neutrik plug. They are sh*t...

But the above works flawlessely.

[Burgerman]

Note Active comms bottom right...

And serial etc. And access level C (OEM) all good and for the price of a USB cable thanks to woody...

Screen one of 3...

[woodygb]

PHEW!...GOOD NEWS!

Tried the ICOM's again just to see?

[Burgerman]

Not yet. Need another plug. I suspect that it *may* work. But I knew this had to do because its the same as your original.

Wonder why only com 8 connects? Still as long as it does... No wonder they cause charging problems too.

[woodygb]

Only COM 8 has to be a Win 7 config prob.... perhaps some other previously installed prog has somehow marked the other COMS ports.

I "unhid" all my devices in device manager ... due to all my new installs insisting on picking a HIGH COM port number.

device manager / view / show hidden devices

This showed that I'd filled all the previous numbers with various installs ...many of which were no longer required.

I then deleted the COMS assigned to the greyed out ones ..( they'll re assign when you plug them in again )

[Burgerman]

cOULD BE BECAUSE i HAVE A LOT OF CHARGERS, usb DEVICES ETC ALL EATING UP COM PORTS.

[woodygb]

Here's a pic of my unhidden Human Interface Devices .... Seems to be everything I've ever plugged in!
But only one is actually in use...the optical mouse.

hidden.jpg (48.35 KiB) Viewed 14406 times

[expresso]

Great !!! -


i was looking for that cable here in the states - this is what i have found - is this the correct cable if i wanted to try to make one later on down the line ?

http://shopwiscomm.com/Kenwood-AFTERMAR ... 11484.aspx

i would need the XLR connector and then solder the wires as in the picture posted ?

green and white wire soldered together - black is ground on pin 2 -- and pin one would be nothing ? the red wire is left alone or has to be connected also ?

thanks

[woodygb]

Great !!! -


i was looking for that cable here in the states - this is what i have found - is this the correct cable if i wanted to try to make one later on down the line ?

http://shopwiscomm.com/Kenwood-AFTERMAR ... 11484.aspx

i would need the XLR connector and then solder the wires as in the picture posted ?

green and white wire soldered together - black is ground on pin 2 -- and pin one would be nothing ? the red wire is left alone or has to be connected also ?

thanks

Yes ...follow the pic ..you have the colours correct and ignore the red.

The lead you linked to ...NO IDEA ...that's the BIG PROBLEM ..the ONLY one so far ( WINDOWS 7 ) appears to be that make/model supplied by Radio Arena.

[expresso]

ok great thanks - i am not going to try to make one just yet - i got lucky and scored myself an original cable and serial to usb convertor adapter from P G
i didnt expect to get one - i just tried and they processed it - after talking to me first - asking questions etc. -

i didnt get it yet - maybe next week - i am hoping everything will work since its an original cable - but you never know with the computer -drivers etc,

i will try it on a vista laptop -

[Burgerman]

Somewhere on the forum there is details of a USB serial port adapter that works well with the PG OEM Software and cable. Try searching for serial USB adapter?

[ex-Gooserider]

Somewhere on the forum there is details of a USB serial port adapter that works well with the PG OEM Software and cable. Try searching for serial USB adapter?

I believe that it was the adapter with the FTDI chip, as opposed to the Prolific.

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

No I mean it was a simple over the counter used for anything serial port, that plugged ito a USB. So the official lead can be used on a PC without a serial port. He has an official cable but its serial rs232.

[expresso]

thats correct -- PG told me that i could get any serial to usb adapter in the store - should work fine -

right before they shipped it out etc, - i asked again about the adapter and they found one left - so they shipped both an official cable and adapter which they use -

now what kind it is - i dont know till i get it - i didnt get a tracking number but expect it sometime end of next week - if i am lucky i can get a chance next weekend to try it - just so happens - my landlord decided to upgrade the kitchens - which is nice - but going to be messy for a week easy - they will start on Monday next week - once they are done - i can relax a little and give it a shot -

these things can be tricky even with an official cable - its the computer that can give alot of problems - i am running vista and it just downloaded another update -- who know what that would do -

[ex-Gooserider]

For what it's worth, I'd been chatting with a fellow inmate at the Asylum about my difficulties getting the P&G software to run properly under WINE on Linux... He was suggesting a different approach using VMware, but at the time I didn't have my computer or the cable handy to try it out.

Today I was in for another course, and brought the cable and PC in with me, and he was to busy to give it a lot of effort, but I copied the programmer zip file over to him, and he installed it on his MAC in a VMware slice, hooked up my FTDI USB-Serial adapter, and got that working... Once he did that, we were able to open and run the program and did a quick run through on the parts where we were able to quickly match up the descriptions on BM's programming page to what was showing on the programmer - they don't quite match . We didn't play with motor compensation, or any of the other "adjust and test" options)

Everything just worked, and the chair's handling is significantly better already...

The fellow has promised me that when he gets a chance in the next few days, he will package the software with the free VMplayer application, that should allow me to run the programmer easily from my Linux box...

At any rate the key thing is that the FTDI adapter and the stock P&G serial cable seems to be a workable combo.

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

Good.

Does this mean it will have drivers that are workable in windows though? Trouble with drivers is that there are many versions, and many operating systems, and 32 and 64 bits too.

But I think that is the one that others were using in windows too.

[woodygb]

This USB Serial adaptor from Ebay is one that I purchased a few months ago whilst playing with Comms to Curtis controllers ... IT'S REALLY CHEAP .. installed easily and worked fine for my project.

It might be worth a punt.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270491516064? ... 1439.l2649

It also arrived the next day 1st class !

[woodygb]

i maybe lucky and get a OEM original cable from PG - but its a serial cable - and would need to make it work with computer usb -

-

Buying a usb to serial adapter is a high risk gamble from what i've heard. I've heard that those containing the FTDI chips are the best bet. P&G also supplies one that they recommend to use with their serial cables.
This appears to be a new online store set up by p&g. It wasn't there when i was searching for a cable.

http://pgdrivestechnology.com/remoteservice/serial-usb-adaptor-63-57-001.html

http://pgdrivestechnology.com/remoteservice/programming-cable-sa76525.html

looks like they take paypal. Has P&G started selling cables without having to buy the software package. Looks like they may have lightened up on their requirements.

peace
brax

PGDT Blurb ...

This facility is for countries where there is no established powered wheelchair or mobility scooter service network. Organizations operating in the following countries are excluded from purchasing items from this facility: All European Member Countries, United States, Canada, Iceland, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.

So I can buy if I live in Jersey or the Isle of Man but NOT the U.K. ETC...

[expresso]

I got luck and got the serial to usb adaptor also from P&G - so the chance of them working should be good - but you never know with these things - i should be getting it this week - but i have work going on in my Apt. and its a mess - till i get back to normal with my apt. - then i give it a try with and hope i make my chair better -

I cant buy from that site either - my country is not on it - so its a good think i am getting the setup now -