Got my ssc-32 a few weeks ago, set it up according to the user guide. I broke a pin attempting to wedge the 18g wire harness ends into the terminal, so I snipped the other pin and soldered the ends directly to the VS1 + and - tabs on the board. As for the rest, 9v alkaline to VL, 6v to VS1, VL=VS jumper removed. I am using a prolific usb to serial adapter with the latest driver and everything was humming along smoothly on two different computers. Baud rate 115,200 jumpered on ssc correctly and 115,200 baud 8, none, 1, no flow control for port settings. So, all of a sudden, servos stop working. I still have green led lit but neither SEQ or Lynxterm will find SSC on either computer which worked previously. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling the port, nothing. I did notice when I have both packs connected and flick the servo supply on, the servos twitch briefly. And upon further inspection, port 18 on the SSC has some solder dribble over the side of the pin header. Guess that explains why that one never worked! So, any ideas what could be the problem? And would the serial port on the board be bypassed completely with installation of a bluesmirf modem, as this just arrived in the mail today?
Well I switched my servo power from VS1 to VS2, successfully connected via bluesmirf from ssc-32 to pc. Configured Lynxterm as described, sent ‘ver’, still nothing! I was hoping something wrong would be limited to DB9 problems and the bluesmirf would bypass and send serial data to the board. This seems to not be the case. Defective SSC???
Have you verified that the baud rate jumpers on the SSC-32 match the bluesirfs baud rate?
When you send a command from Lynxterm does the LED on the SSC-32 blink?
Kurt
Yes, baud is set to 9600 on ssc-32 and same with bluesmirf on correct com port. No blink, ssc-32 is not seen.
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These are pics of my setup.
links and images are supported using bbcode not html.
your post is fixed to make links and images display properly.
mannyR7,
I think I have found the problem. In the guide on LM’s website, it says that the blue ceramic antenna indicates you have the NEW version of the bluesmirf, and you need to set the baud rate to 115.2k.
I would not recommend trying to troubleshoot bluetooth if you’re not sure if the db9 coms are working. You said the green LED was lit. The LED is not a power indicator but a status indicator. It’s job is to turn on telling you the SSC-32 is 99% functional. Then when it receives data it will go out and then blink when it is receiving data. So if it was working the LED should have been out. Because it was on it can mean the SSC-32 reset. This can happen if you are powering the VL from the same supply as the servos. Also remember your PC will only allow one program to have the serial port at a time. Make sure you’re not leaving a program open with serial the port tied up. Also the SSC-32 draws about 35mA. A fresh 9vdc battery will last about 10-12 hours, are you sure it’s not low? It wouldn’t be the first time…
Check device manager to make sure your USB adapter is recognized as a comport, and what comport number is currently assigned to it. You can connect the tx and rx pins on your USB adapter and see if the adapter is working using lynxterm (what you type in should be returned).
Tried two different batteries, reading 8.63V and 9.12V. All com settings are correct. I know the serial cable is good because I use it with my gps but just to eliminate another possible gremlin, connected directly to only serial port on my desktop system without usb adapter. And no other serial programs are existant on my system, but just to be thorough, shut down all unnecessary services and background apps. I have used it from the start with separate VS/VL supplies for just this reason. Didn’t want an untimely reset. zoomkat: When you say USB adapter, you mean the adapter cable? How would I connect the tx and rx pins?
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bmXD7F7iFMfSW7Ln9ypJvg?authkey=Gv1sRgCN7I0NT2_43dMA&feat=directlink
In the below discussion you can see a female DB9 connector I got at Radio Shack and soldered wires to it for testing. I plug it into my USB serial adapter to do various testing and trouble shooting.
Thanx to everybody for their help. I have it working again! Special thanks to ‘wowy7’. Seems there must be a break in my serial cable, because I eliminated everything else. As for the bluesmirf, he pointed out I have a newer model which runs at 115,200 not 9600 baud by default. I was going off an older tutorial by Jim, dated 06/18/2007. (Got the link at the bottom of sparkfun’s product page for the bluesmirf) After jumpering correctly, and trying every bluetooth port installed, success! Thanks again everybody!!