Did I solder this datalogger cable correctly?

[360glitch]

This morning I put together a datalogger cable to connect to my laptop and ended up with one that didn't work. I've never been able to solder a thing in my life but I think all of the connections are pretty solid, I just wanted to make sure that all of the little pieces are where they should be. Please keep in mind this cable is for a laptop, not a Palm. from what I understand the position of the diode is swapped?

 

[xioca]

kinda hard to tell but it looks like you have them solder to the wrong pin-outs.

here's a schematic http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/tun...3009-how-make-your-own-data-logger-cable.html

and a pinout chart
http://www.western-data.com/products/images/9-pinout.jpg

 

[xioca]

Wow nevermind my post, I'm tired and didn't realize the male to female plug

the first link I posted said something about that the kind of cable you made doesn't work with computers..

 

[360glitch]

Looking at that chart and my cable everything looks fine. The diode is off of pin 3. :S

 

[xioca]

hooked up correctly on the obd1 port? hmm

 

[steve]

That's a male connector and I think you'll find that you have the pins reversed.
You have the ground soldered to pin 1 and the diode soldered to pin 3 and 4.

Which serial cable is that? Radio Shack part #? I assume it's a male to female cable but want to make sure it doesn't switch pins 2 and 3 on you.

Looking at the pin end of a DB9 male connector the pins are numbered:

 

[360glitch]

That's a male connector and I think you'll find that you have the pins reversed.
You have the ground soldered to pin 1 and the diode soldered to pin 3 and 4.

Which serial cable is that? Radio Shack part #? I assume it's a male to female cable but want to make sure it doesn't switch pins 2 and 3 on you.

Looking at the pin end of a DB9 male connector the pins are numbered:

Yep, you're right. It is a male to female converter. Don't have the part number but it's the just the radioshack brand 6ft male to female rs232 cable. I the pins are numbered as you just showed me, they are in the wrong places. Makes sense. If you guys weren't around to help me I'd be in a mess.

 

[steve]

It seems to be a common problem that people get confused by the pin numbering as they switch from looking at one side of the connector to the other. I've done that a few times.

It doesn't help that most diagrams of the connectors don't make it clear if they are relative to the back side where the wires come out (the default) or looking at the pins and which connector, the male or the female.

 

[360glitch]

It seems to be a common problem that people get confused by the pin numbering as they switch from looking at one side of the connector to the other. I've done that a few times.

It doesn't help that most diagrams of the connectors don't make it clear if they are relative to the back side where the wires come out (the default) or looking at the pins and which connector, the male or the female.

Ha, well hopefully I can get that straightened out tonight. Here's another question. How do I know which COM port is my serial port? Just try them until one works?

 

[interex]

If your computer has an actual serial port, then it will 90% of the time be COM1

Most of the time this is shown, or set in your Bios.
Example in Bios will be like this...

# 3F8/IRQ4 (COM1): Sets the serial port to the I/O address and IRQ normally used by COM1. This is usually the default for the first serial port.
# 2F8/IRQ3 (COM2): Sets the serial port to the I/O address and IRQ normally used by COM2. This is usually the default for the second serial port.

 

[xioca]

You can look under device manager and it will list out which port it is vs. the lp1 and others.

 

[360glitch]

Oh ok, thanks for the tips.

 

[360glitch]

Got the pins swapped and everything works now. I'm logging like crazy. My problem is, I don't know what do with these logs! Sure I know what some of it means, I don't really know what all I'm looking for. Are there any tutorials that would help me with using TMO and/or MMCD?

Also, now that the cable is working fine, I was thinking about giving it a good coating of liquid electrical tape to protect it. Would this be a bad idea for any reason?

 

[steve]

I'd chop off the connector and rewire it first.

 

[360glitch]

I'd chop off the connector and rewire it first.

Hmm. If I chop off the connection I'll be left with 9 wires, correct? at that point, how will I know which one is which? Just chop it off very carefully?

 

[steve]

Just chop it off very carefully?

Ha ha, Yes. You should know which wires are which now at the female end so soldering the circuitry to the wires shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[xioca]

You can pick up d-sub connectors at radio shack and their hoods. I would make it 2 individual cables for a much cleaner install.

Obd1 port has the open ternminal ends (but it's hidden) then that has a 9 pin female end on it. Then that will plug in clean to the cable you currently soldered to.