Hello,
I recently bought a Hagasonic Stargazer from here, and I am having trouble with the connection of it. I bought a Serial to USB cable, but it doesnt have a DB 9 input, it has those 6 pin inputs. How do I connect the stargazer serial connection, to this pins.
This is what the cable looks like: abra-electronics.com/product … 24_std.jpg
The stargazer has 7 wires for DSP module, and 3 wires for IRED module. 3 wires go to the batter source of 12 V. But the DSP module’s 7 wires. How do i plug them into the serial cable which has only 6 wires?
shiv844,
Are you having trouble connecting the StarGazer to your computer, i.e., are you trying to connect the serial port on the StarGazer to your computer? I found that the only way to get the StarGazer to communicate with a computer is to use a pure serial to serial connection. The computer/laptop has to have a built-in serial port. Using a serial-to-serial cable, hook the StarGazer module's serial port to the computer's built-in serial port. The computer/laptop then receives data from the StarGazer. It took me 10 months to figure this out, but now I can finally start using the StarGazer.
I had to go out and buy an old laptop that had a built-in serial port. This old computer uses Windows XP, but the StarGazer Monitor program works fine on it. You will probably have to change the screen resolution to get the StarGazer Monitor program to fit on the laptop's screen.
If this not the connection problem you are experiencing, I can't help you. I am just now trying to figure out how to connect the StarGazer's Rx/Tx terminals to the Arduino.
Are you sure that You have to have a built in serial connection port in the computer(DB9), in order to get the stargazer running. I have a serial to USB cable, and connected the stargazer to computer but I am not sure about the communication between the stargazer and the PC. How do you go about checking the communication in Windows 7? Did you use the Arduino Software?
The only way I was able to get data to be received into the StarGazer Monitor dashboard (the “Received Data” fields -
“ACK”, “Get Data”, “Angle”, “X”, “Y”, etc) was to hook the DB9 (serial) port on the StarGazer module to the DB9 (serial) port on my computer.
Is this what you are trying to do? Are you able to get data into those fields I mentioned above? If this is what you’re having trouble with, I can help you.
I also tried many combinations of serial-to-USB cables and nothing worked. I had to go to a local used computer store and buy a laptop with a built-in serial port. I then used the serial cable that came with the StarGazer kit to hook up the StarGazer module to the laptop.
digikey.ca/product-search/en … maction=on
This is the wire that I am using ^
Its connected to the laptop and stargazer, how do I test the connection? How do I know that it’s working? I am using windows, and how do I actually go to using the stargazer from here?
This is the cable that you should use to connect the laptop to the StarGazer module: robotshop.com/en/serial-cable-db9-m-f-6-foot.html
That aforementioned cable is a male-to-female Serial (9 pin) cable.
The wire that you are using (from Digikey) would connect the StarGazer module to the motor controller on your robot–an Arduino motor controller or Devantech, etc, if you are using those brands. I have not yet completed this step, so I can’t advise you (yet) on this StarGazer-to-motor-controller connection.
The cable that I mentioned above (which connects the StarGazer module to a laptop) must be hooked into a built-in serial port on your laptop. It never worked for me if I tried to use a serial to USB converter. Serial ports on new computers are rare these days…the were more prevalent 10 years ago. I went to a used computer store here in town and bought an old laptop that had a built-in serial port (cost? $200.00).
– Dexter
shiv844,
I forgot to answer one of your questions...you asked how you can test the connection to know that StarGazer is working. You can use PuTTY ([putty.org/](http://www.putty.org/)) or Hyper Terminal. PuTTY is free, and last time I tried to use Hyper Terminal, they required a payment before I could continue.
HOWEVER....just because the one of these programs shows that you are actually getting data from the StarGazer, it doesn't mean that the data is getting into the Monitor program. As I said previously, the only way I got it to work was to use a pure Serial-to-Serial connection.
-- Dexter
Can’t I use a USB to Serial Converter Board?
digikey.ca/product-search/en … ds=A000059
You can try it, but I don’t know if a Converter Board would work. The only thing I know for sure is that the serial-to-serial cable is the only way I got it to work. Other ways may work, I’m not sure. I tried several different serial-to-USB cables as well as a wireless connection, and none of them worked. The wireless way might work if one uses a serial connection…I used a USB connection, and it didn’t work.
The USB to Serial Converter Board is only $15.00 It wouldn’t hurt to give it a try, and if it does work, please let me know, as that is the way I would prefer to make the connection.
Hi there,
I have purchased the following:
robotshop.com/en/hagisonic-s … ystem.html
How can this be powered up and how can i connect this to a laptop to play around with its software?
the stargazer i have purchased doesn’t have a serial port in it? please advice??
Hi all,
I’m a student and I’m having StarGazer Localization Sensor Model : HSG-A-02. Please suggest how to power it up as I’m new to this.
Thanks.
Hi ahtiram2725 and msiostream,
The RB-Hag-01 Hagisonic StarGazer Robot Localization System includes cable tails that make it easy to integrate into embedded systems. If you are planning to use with a computer, and haven’t already made your purchase, the complete kit version.
Page 6 of the manual explains the pinouts for RB-Hag-01. First, connect power to the 3-pin connector: black is ground and yellow is 12V. Then connect the serial: ground to the black wire, RX to SDOUT (the white between the red and black), and TX to SDIN (the white between the blacks).
The module’s serial is 5V tolerant, but it only outputs 3.3V so not all devices will receive the signal. If connecting to a computer, we recommend a 3.3V FTDI cable like this one:
If connecting to a 5V microcontroller, like an Arduino, we recommend to use this logic level converter:
I have bought the stargazer but it doesn’t have a serial port on it. Do I need to purchase something additional to add serial to the stargazer¿
hi,
Just want to confirm apart from the complete kit, is there any way to connect the stargazer to a pc? The pinouts from RB-HAg-01 could be soldered to a serial wire as per page 6 of the manual? Are there any pics for this?
Also i could robotshop.com/en/ftdi-usb-to … RB-Spa-432 but which wire from the RB-HAG-01 pinouts goes where in the 6 pin connector?
Hi Jarcand Sir,
Thanks for your detailed reply. Please advise that do I need only one 12V power supply for powering it up , with the instructions you provided i.e “connect power to the 3-pin connector: black is ground and yellow is 12V.”?
Yes, you can connect the RB-Hag-01 to your computer with the RB-Spa-432 serial cable. The pinout for the cable is RTS, RX, TX, 5V, CTS, GND (RTS is the green cable and GND is black).
For the serial connector of the RB-Hag-01 connect: black to the black, RX of RB-Spa-432 to SDOUT of RB-Hag-01 (the white between the red and black), and TX to SDIN (the white between the blacks).
We unfortunately don’t have any pictures of this setup.
This probably should be in a new thread, but I couldn’t find the button to start a new one.
Should all the lights on the top of the StarGazer be lit up? That is, the lights that form a circle on the top of the StarGazer as seen here:
robotshop.com/en/hagisonic-stargazer-rs-localization-system.htmlThree of my StarGazer’s lights, the lights that form a circle on the top of module, do not light up. Should they all light up? Can the Stargazer still perform without all of the lights being lit up? Can I replace these lights myself, or do I need to send it back to the factory?
-Dexter
That’s doesn’t seem normal. We haven’t used the Stargazer much ourselves, so we’re not entirely sure. We’d recommend contacting Hagisonic directly and seeing what they say. You can reach Sean at this address: [email protected]
Let us know how it goes!
I did contact Hagisonic and they said I should send it back to them, which I will do.
Also, I believe Sean is no longer with the company…the new contact is:
The new name is Ho-Jeong Song. The email address is [email protected]
