Picaxe 28X1 Connection Issues

Community General Discussions
1

I know someone is going to recommend I buy a new cable here, so let me get this out of the way. I plan on buying a new cable, I just want to exhaust every option while I wait for some money.

I built a cable using a pinout picture. I soldered a Stereo 3.5mm (1/8") headphone connector to a DB9 female connector, and used wire from a previously working serial mouse. Heres the picture:

I know that I may have had an error in my headphone plug soldering, but I'm confident I got it right. The shaft was the longest on the outside, the ring was in between, and the tip was the solid piece in the center. The DB9 connector had the sockets labeled, so I found 2, 3, and 5, and soldered them to the corresponding wires from my headphone connecter.

The issue is that when I connect my picaxe to my laptop, I cannot connect it. I use COM 3, as COM 1, and 4-15 are Bluetooth COM ports, and 2 and 16-17 are unavailable. There is no other options. Therefore, I think I made the logical choice. I wanted to test something simple, so attempted to download a small program to turn a motor I had connected. I used the example in frits's Start Here robot. I used an LR293D (I think thats the name) motor driver and connected a bidirectional 6v motor to outputs A. This was on a starter board. I checked that I was using both A's, and not an AB.

Code:

High 4

Low 5

I attemted to download the program, and I got an error "Hardware not Found".

If it affects anything, I'm running Windows 98.

2

Might be an silly thing, but
Might be an silly thing, but you did get the DB9 plug orientated the right way up according to the wiring diagram? You know, like if the plug in the picture has the solder pins facing up or facing down.

3

Well, how would you suggest

Well, how would you suggest regulating a 6v supply down to 5v. I got a 7805 not thinking of the minimum power requirements.

I’d use my multimeter if I had one, but it’s not in the house right now. That’ll have to wait. And with the code, I’ll try that.

4

Connect 2 diodes. They take
Connect 2 diodes. They take off approx .4-.6 volts each.

5

I got it working, kinda

I got it working, but only when I don’t use a cap on it. Does the cap fill to the voltage rated, or only to the voltage supplied? I always thought the latter.

 

And to get it working, I soldered the cap in series into the battery case, thinking I’d save space. I use 3 AA batteries (Alkaline for now.) and the cap is right after the batteries, soldered between the + output and the connection to the other batteries. I’ve tried both orientations also.