The great Suunto data cable thread (incl DIY)

[jamiei]

Also, depending on what transistors you bought, you could be in a mess trying to get the correct orientation for them. I've forgotten most of my statistics classes, but if you take all the possible configurations for the 9 leads from the 3 transistors... you could spend months trying to blindly get it right. If the number on your transistors isn't exactly as listed on the plans you used, chances are the pin configuration isn't the same. Thats a big headache and thats exactly what made me decide to start making up DIY kits for people. I had that problem when I tried to build my first interface and saw that a lot of other people probably ran into the same problem. I spent a lot of time mapping configurations that worked. So I can help, first of all, are the part numbers the same as in the plans? If not, you need to find out which pin is which on each transistor. Also, make sure you didn't mix up a pnp with a npn.

 

[brizzolatti]

Hello friends. Looking for some ideas. Just got Suunto dive manager. Have installed software which seems fine. However, when I plug in the com cable and go to test the interface, the software goes into "not responding" mode. Ie - it says it istesting interface, nothing happens, I press Ctrl-ALt-Del and it says dive manager not responding. I only have one port on the laptop the cable will fit into so it's plugged in the right place. I have looked in device manager at the ports and com1 is working properly. One time it came up and said com port was being used by another device but there is nothing else plugged in. Most things I plug in are via USB - eg IPAQ, IPOD, bluetooth for phone.

Any thoughts?? I'm hoping it's something simple

Thanks

 

[Warren_L]

You should check your device manager to see which com port your serial port is set up for. If you use a modem, for example, it may be set up as com 1 already. In fact, your on board com port may not even be installed (or installed correctly).

 

[RPanick]

On laptops you often need to go into the BIOS configuration to turn on the serial port, and assign it a COM setting. Also be aware that power management can turn it off.

wlo93 is right you may be picking up on the modem port which is also a COM port. Depending on what version of Windows you are using, this might not show up as a COM port. In XP the modem shows up as a modem not a COM port on my computer.

Also you can have Dive Manager scan for COM ports which might help, make sure you follow instructions about not having the computer plugged into your laptop.

 

[DennisS]

Make sure the computer is not plugged in when testing interface.

Make sure the dive computer is in the TR PC mode when attempting download.

Clean the dive computer contacts with a pencil eraser

Just some of the problems I've encountered

 

[brizzolatti]

Thanks for the input guys. Have played around with com settings and now it is reading the device!! Don't ask me how it happened. It has transferred some data but I got messages saying some dives were missing. It seems not to have downloaded a couple of dives. But I'll go away and play with it. At least it is talking to the laptop. And my modem still works. It apparently uses com3 and dive manager is using com2. Knew someone here would send me in the right direction!

 

[Warren_L]

Good to hear you got it going. I had similar issues when I first got mine too.

 

[jamiei]

may have nothing to do with it... but do you happen to have any Palm software installed on the laptop?

 

[brizzolatti]

Hi, Jamie. Don't have Palm but do have sync software for IPAQ. ActiveSync. It's for pocket pcs. I recently reinstalled it because it had stopped recognising the laptop. Has been working fine for the last few weeks now, though.

 

[jamiei]

I would check the software... since you recently reinstalled it, it could very well be causing the divemanager software to not recognize interface on a serial port