The great Suunto data cable thread (incl DIY)

[edneeves]

Oh so I don't need anything as flash as those spring loaded jobbies on the diagram!

Looks like I should just find anything that works then.

Ed.

 

[grouchyturtle]

This is off topic, but Ed COOL AVATAR! I had an animated banner in my sig but he mods made me remove it, never thought of animating an avatar.

 

[edneeves]

Yeah moving GIF's are the nuts!

Ed.

 

[grouchyturtle]

Yeah, too bad we can't use Flash though!

 

[Jai Bar]

Cheers Air_Miser I must have missed that one!! What have you used for the pins that connect to the Dive Computer. I went to my local store and they didn't really have anything that was suitable.

Ed.

I use the pins from an old wrist watch. Probably they cost a few cents, but you can go to any place where they repair clocks and they'll be glad to handle you old pins.
So, these pins are great. They have springs inside, and they are just the correct size!
What to do with these pins? I carved a connector from a piece of plastic. It fits exactly into the Vyper. Then, I drilled 1mm holes through the connector, and the pins fit into it.
Works excellent!

 

[Jai Bar]

... one other thing. My laptop doesn't save a serial port, will the interface still work if I get a serial to USB adapter?

If not I might have an Interface for someone!

Ed.

Works great for me... The serial ports in my PC are disabled, and I connect several devices with an RS232-USB adapter.

 

[edneeves]

Jai Bar,

That looks good. Does the mechanism lock into place on your dive computer?

Ed.

 

[Jai Bar]

Jai Bar,

That looks good. Does the mechanism lock into place on your dive computer?

Ed.

As you can see in the photos that I have attached in previous post, the connector sits perfectly in the Vyper's recepticle (I removed the protective cover so you can see how it sits inside the Vyper). After carving, I used a knife to cut the groove between the connector's "legs", so the plastic connector is "springy". It fits into the Vyper with a silent "click" and stays there so you don't need any locking mechanism such as holding with your hands, rubber bands etc.. It is also easy to remove.
The wrist-watch pins contain springs inside them, so there is a good contact between them and the Vyper's static pins. Never had a transmission error with this connector. I think it is worth trying to do something similar. It's fun (at least for geeks like me )

I used an old serial mouse as a box for the interface, and the cable was used too...

I used a slightly modified "roli circuit" made by a friend, "el-ninio" who is also posting in this forum. He also gave me the idea of using the mouse and its cable. He is now using a better diagram with LEDs instead of diodes, so you can see them blinking during transfer- very cool...

 

[edneeves]

LED's yeah thats sounds wicked. If you get some diagrams let me know.

Ed.

 

[Air_Miser]

Ok, board's built, what I think are reliable contacts are in place, the computer recognizes the interface when I do the "Test" procedure, but-

When I try to do the download, if I have the Time-out set anwhere from 2 - 50, I get a time-out error immediately. If I set it to 1, it starts the transfer, the little arrow indicates it's trying, but the progress bar stays at zero, even after a minute or so.

Anyone else have this happen with a working circuit? ("working circuit" being an optimistic assumption for me) Interested to hear any feedback or thoughts.

Also, how long does the download take? I have nine dives on my Vyper, just curious.

Thanks for any help,
Matt.