Mares Puck PC Cable

[Moerby]

Has anyone managed to make their own USB data cable for the Mares Puck to download their data to a PC? I had a look online and almost had a stroke when I noticed the price of these cables - yikes! :shocked2: Otherwise I will probably have to keep an eye on eBay for a used one.

 

[mikecotrone]

Has anyone managed to make their own USB data cable for the Mares Puck to download their data to a PC? I had a look online and almost had a stroke when I noticed the price of these cables - yikes! :shocked2: Otherwise I will probably have to keep an eye on eBay for a used one.

Hehe The oceanic ones are 80-100 dollars USD. I had the same reaction myself when I had to replace my oceanic cable.

 

[Moerby]

Hehe The oceanic ones are 80-100 dollars USD. I had the same reaction myself when I had to replace my oceanic cable.

Think I'll have to stick to good old Excel for now

After a bit more Googling it seems that there is actually some sort of interface that has to be plugged into the Mares Puck first (called a DRAK?) and then you plug the USB cable into that. The plot thickens ...

 

[mikecotrone]

Funny I saw the same thing for the Liquivision X1 and Xeo computers. I wonder if they are all going to that type of interface?

 

[Moerby]

Did a little more digging and I'm pretty sure the DRAK interface is just some sort of UART serial interface. With a little bit of time and electronics know-how this can probably be manufactured at home quite easily

Time is short for me though so I ordered this:

Smartinterface – Your online shop for dive related accessories

Much cheaper than the original (around $63 CAD, delivered) and actually looks a little more rugged IMHO. Time will tell if it actually works though!

 

[Moerby]

Quick update ... I got the SmartInterface cable today and it works great. The trickiest part was installing the DRAK software itself and USB/UART drivers on Windows 7 64bit. In case anyone else needs this info, here is what I did ...

1. Go to the Mares software site and download the latest full version of the DRAK software (at the time of writing it was 1.5.0).
2. Right click on the downloaded file and go to Properties > Compatibility. Check the box that says "Run this program in compatibility mode". Select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)" in the drop down just below it. Click "OK".
3. Double-click the download file to run the installer. I just accepted the defaults and followed the prompts. Right at the end it will start what appears to be another installation. That's for the USB/UART drivers. You can go ahead and install that, or click cancel (which is what I did) because you will have to download and install updated drivers anyway.
4. Download the latest USB/UART drivers from here.
5. Double-click the download and once again just follow the prompts to install the drivers.
6. Now you're ready to download from the Puck. Follow the step-by-step instructions here.

Hope that helps someone because it took a little bit of trial and error to get this going. Mares can really do a lot better as far as Windows 7 64 bit support is concerned.

 

[flebel]

Thanks Moerby, I will purchase also and try it out.

Francis

 

[ras07]

Thanks Moerby, I will purchase also and try it out.

Francis

I'm going to as well.

Were you able to update the Puck software with this cable?

 

[Moerby]

Were you able to update the Puck software with this cable?

No I didn't try that but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the Puck software can't be upgraded. Might be wrong though.

 

[Bryscus]

Has anyone managed to make their own USB data cable for the Mares Puck to download their data to a PC? I had a look online and almost had a stroke when I noticed the price of these cables - yikes! :shocked2: Otherwise I will probably have to keep an eye on eBay for a used one.

Moerby,

I have recently come across a similar situation. I'm tired of the costs of these interface cables being so high. It's just ridiculous. At this point in the game every computer should come with a cable - they're pretty cheap to make. The Mares Drak uses a CP2102 serial to USB converter, a dual NAND gate IC (with two LEDs) and a diode.

I purchased a Mares Drak and (what you could loosely call) reverse engineered it. I found the ICs (chips) that they used and drew up a schematic from what I traced out. I've attached it to this post.

Keep in mind that I have yet to test this and so TRY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Here is how you make a Drak for under $10.

First, go on eBay and search for CP2102. This will pull up a bunch of USB to TTL converter modules. If you don't want LEDs, you can pick any one. If you do want LEDs, then I suggest one like the link below:

Mini USB To TTL / COM Converter Module build-in CP2102 | eBay

Basically, you just use the power, gnd, TX and RX from the converter to go into the attached circuit. Then connect your Puck to the DIO and GND pins and it should work just fine. If you want to use LEDs you need to connect them to the SUSPEND and /SUSPEND lines. This basically just turns the LEDs off when USB is not active and provides power to the LEDs otherwise.

If you're not using the LEDs any NAND gate IC that operates at about 3.3 volts should work. If you ARE driving LEDs you should probably get one with higher drive currents - I suggest the MC74AC132NG. Digikey.com has them for $1.26 plus shipping.

I suggest that this project be tried only if you know what you're doing. I take no responsibility for blowing up your computer. When I actually build this I will confirm that it works. However, I do this is correct.

- Bryce

P.S. I may later draw up more complete schematics completely spelling it out, but for now this is enough for one with some know how to get it done.