MonkSeal
Contributor
UP, I suppose you use Stinger only as bottom timer
Do you download your dives ?
The great Suunto data cable thread (incl DIY)
- Thread starter Former FLL Now MSP Diver
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UP, I suppose you use Stinger only as bottom timer
Do you download your dives ?
And thank you for the reminder.MonkSeal once bubbled...
UP, I suppose you use Stinger only as bottom timer
Do you download your dives ?
121' max 52 min TTBT today... took my computer using air breathing buddy a notch into the yellow but we managed to get him well into the green by the end of the dive.... gotta download it so I can see that picture purrrrfect profile.
ScoobyDave
Contributor
New Suunto Vyper - very nice product. I did not get the PC interface, because I wanted to look at the unit to confirm my thoughts. Rather than spend $100+ on what appears to be a simple cable, I wanted to see the Vyper to see what the actual pinouts were on the dataport.
Indeed, the data "port" is simply 2 pins, which probably translates to pins 2 & 3 on an RS-232 plug.
Does anyone have the Suunto PC interface that can confirm the pinouts between the data port and the serial plug?
I'm prepared to build my own cable, considering I already have downloaded dive manager. Any info is helpful. Thanks, in advance.
Dave
Indeed, the data "port" is simply 2 pins, which probably translates to pins 2 & 3 on an RS-232 plug.
Does anyone have the Suunto PC interface that can confirm the pinouts between the data port and the serial plug?
I'm prepared to build my own cable, considering I already have downloaded dive manager. Any info is helpful. Thanks, in advance.
Dave
rgerman95
Contributor
One of the members here has already done all that work; his nick is awap, I believe.
He sells the kits for do-it-yourselfers or a complete interface. Search for old threads and I'm sure you'll find it easily.
Rich
He sells the kits for do-it-yourselfers or a complete interface. Search for old threads and I'm sure you'll find it easily.
Rich
Dryglove
Contributor
jamiei is the man to talk regarding this http://www.scubaboard.com/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=7544
http://www.athenshomesolutions.com/id19.html
http://www.athenshomesolutions.com/id19.html
scoobydave, its not as simple as you might think... There are two contacts on the dive computer, but the interface has input from four of the serial port pins (5,4,3,2). You can build it yourself from scratch, but my kit is actually a cheaper way to go when you consider all factors. Take a look at my site if you need more info. Unless you're really confident in your abilities, save yourself some aggravation and buy the prebuilt unit from me or find one on ebay. There are 13 components on this circuit; 3 transistors, 4 diodes, and 6 resistors. A few PCs out there don't put out the necessary voltages to power the interface and require an additional component. There's a price breakdown on my site about how much you can plan on paying if you buy all the parts (except the gold contacts) yourself from somewhere like radioshack. This price for buying the parts yourself doesn't include the spring contacts that I use. Figure $3 for them plus $3-$5 for shipping them to you. I save folks money because I buy in bulk and keep you from having to pay a few bucks shipping here and there. My kits also come with a circuit board that is cut to size and the circuit is etched, drilled, and labeled for those that have trouble reading diagrams. The circuit board is also transparent so that you can really easily match the component locations to your circuit from the diagram in my instructions. In addition to that, on my site, I have step by step pictures of the installation of each and every component. Note: if you build your own, please do use solder intended for small electrical circuits (.032") and an iron of 15 watts ideally. I've got a couple circuits back in the mail that were literally melted. These components are sensitive to intense heat.
Anyway, I'm quite proud of my kits and the work that I've put into providing another alternative for those that want to save even more money or just love little projects like these. If you got at it alone and run into any problems, let me know and I'll try and help out.
Anyway, I'm quite proud of my kits and the work that I've put into providing another alternative for those that want to save even more money or just love little projects like these. If you got at it alone and run into any problems, let me know and I'll try and help out.
ScoobyDave
Contributor
Thanks everyone - appreciate the time taken to post your input.
Jamie, I took a look at your site, and it looks like a nice alternative, where paying for just the hardware versus the hardware and software. I understand the time and effort you've taken to reverse-engineer the connection. Heh, I like your icon/avatar - think that says it all.
Meanwhile, I was doing some playing and actually got the Vyper to handshake with the computer with some simple connections, and a simple terminal program. It's not reliable, and I didn't move any data, so I'll likely be looking at your product to keep my frustration level at bay, and save the excitement for diving.
Dave
Jamie, I took a look at your site, and it looks like a nice alternative, where paying for just the hardware versus the hardware and software. I understand the time and effort you've taken to reverse-engineer the connection. Heh, I like your icon/avatar - think that says it all.
Meanwhile, I was doing some playing and actually got the Vyper to handshake with the computer with some simple connections, and a simple terminal program. It's not reliable, and I didn't move any data, so I'll likely be looking at your product to keep my frustration level at bay, and save the excitement for diving.
Dave
nickjb
Contributor
If you do want to 'play' with it a bit then I wrote up some stuff here:
http://www.timecities.com/Members/vtoy/PTDive/
This documents connecting a Stinger to a Palm but a lot of the stuff in generic.
Have fun
Nick
http://www.timecities.com/Members/vtoy/PTDive/
This documents connecting a Stinger to a Palm but a lot of the stuff in generic.
Have fun
Nick
SA-Diver
Contributor
If you want to build your own, look at this site.
This is the person that designed the interface most people use, it has the PC-board layout, and it is quite simple to build your own.
http://www.geocities.com/scubadiver_roli/english.html
This is the person that designed the interface most people use, it has the PC-board layout, and it is quite simple to build your own.
http://www.geocities.com/scubadiver_roli/english.html
As you can see from my site and Roli's, the circuit I use is based on his. Prices and availability for parts seem to differ around the world. I believe SA-Diver says that he can buy all parts needed for something like $5-$10 (locally) based on his previous posts whereas a person in the U.S. would pay quite a bit more. You just have to compare apples to apples and do your research. You can use two gold plated spring loaded contacts for $3 plus $5 shipping/handling or you can use two $0.05 screws for contacts(I've used both before). I try to make mine as professional as I can and make transfers as easy as possible while still being pretty cheap. Case prices in the U.S. range from $2 and up plus shipping or $3.50 at radio shack. Drawing,etching, and drilling a single circuit board may take you 45 minutes to a couple hours. Thats included in my kit and its labeled. A kit from radio shack to etch your circuit costs just under $15 or about $10 if you only buy a copper board and etching solution and use your wife's fingernail polish remover and your kids sharpie. Resistors at radio shack come in 4 or 5 packs for $1 a pack and you need 4 different values. Diodes are another 4 bucks and transistors are almost a buck each (need 3). The serial plug and hood itself will cost you $3.50 at radio shack. You can order these for slightly cheaper, but the cost of shipping/handling offsets your savings. I buy resistors by the 1000 pack and cases 50 at a time and transistors and serial plugs 100 at a time. I also buy those expensive little gold contacts 100 at a time or more so the $5-$10 shipping charge is offset quite a bit.
A lot of people have said that I should sell my interfaces for much cheaper, but those people never seem to put their money where there mouth is and offer something cheaper. I have them listed on ebay all the time. I have them on my site for sale all the time. If a friend wants one, heck yeah I'll make it for next to nothing for them, but I can't offer that same price to anyone in the world that wants one because I end up wasting my time. I'm not selling 3 or 4 a week. If I only had a couple people ask for them a week, I would be glad to sell them for next to nothing but I couldn't afford to offer any warranty or spend any time doing email tech help for those with pc problems... I have about 100 emails to answer from over the weekend...I'm the only person that has went to the trouble to make a kit to take some of the hassle out of it and stand behind it fully. I've been in the same place as most of the people that go to Roli's site to find info on building an interface. I know all the problems in finding/matching parts to those in the UK and getting the thing to work. I know that of the thousands of transistors out there, there are almost as many possible pin layouts and that nothing is really standard so you can spend a lot of time flipping the things and never get it to work. I know all of this and thats exactly why you see kits for sale on my site. I'm in the U.S. and by the time I got my very first interface to work, I had almost $50 in it including a $9 soldering iron and it took about 3 circuits boards and a lot of soldering and resoldering to get it to work. I've been there and it can really suck. Roli is a great guy, but he can't possibly help every single person that asks him why thier interface doesn't work. I've sold a lot of kits to people that have tried and failed to build their own interface from scratch and my kit helped those same people figure out how to make their failed attempts work. To some people its simple to build and to others it's quite confusing. I'm just taking some of the confusion and hassle out of it for those that find it more difficult or are afraid of frying their suunto that they paid so dearly for.
I have a feedback rating on ebay of almost 100 (from selling interfaces alone) with 100% positive feedback the last time I checked. You can't get that at radio shack with your parts. I know that SA-diver hasn't seen my kit instructions that are on my site because they're only available for those that buy the kit because I've spent so much time taking pictures. You get a lot more detail and in depth instructions with my kit and step by step assembly pictures.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about these, but I guarantee you that there isn't a person out there thats built as many as I have, got more divers downloading their data for as cheaply as I have, and that offers a full warranty and stands behind it. I've never seen or heard of anyone else offering a kit to build these with either. If money is really tight (which isn't likely if you own a suunto anyway) you may be able to sacrifice a couple extra hours of your time to save $5 or so from the cost of my kit, but I think you'll find it isn't worth it. I'm not trying to sell anyone on this board an interface... just mainly trying to share my experiences, which weren't good initially. No one thats successfully built one will say its hard. Those that tried and failed won't most likely tell you they failed. Thats just how it goes.
I hope this gave a few people a little more info to go on and I also hope it didn't offend or upset anyone. I'm only trying to add to the discussion. I told myself I wouldn't post on this subject anymore because people would think I'm boldly trying to push my product. I'm not at all folks because I simply don't have to and don't want to push them. My interfaces and my customer's feedback does that for me. If anyone feels any part of this post is not appropriate, let me know and I'll change/erase it. I just write what comes to mind guys...eace:
:whack: me
A lot of people have said that I should sell my interfaces for much cheaper, but those people never seem to put their money where there mouth is and offer something cheaper. I have them listed on ebay all the time. I have them on my site for sale all the time. If a friend wants one, heck yeah I'll make it for next to nothing for them, but I can't offer that same price to anyone in the world that wants one because I end up wasting my time. I'm not selling 3 or 4 a week. If I only had a couple people ask for them a week, I would be glad to sell them for next to nothing but I couldn't afford to offer any warranty or spend any time doing email tech help for those with pc problems... I have about 100 emails to answer from over the weekend...I'm the only person that has went to the trouble to make a kit to take some of the hassle out of it and stand behind it fully. I've been in the same place as most of the people that go to Roli's site to find info on building an interface. I know all the problems in finding/matching parts to those in the UK and getting the thing to work. I know that of the thousands of transistors out there, there are almost as many possible pin layouts and that nothing is really standard so you can spend a lot of time flipping the things and never get it to work. I know all of this and thats exactly why you see kits for sale on my site. I'm in the U.S. and by the time I got my very first interface to work, I had almost $50 in it including a $9 soldering iron and it took about 3 circuits boards and a lot of soldering and resoldering to get it to work. I've been there and it can really suck. Roli is a great guy, but he can't possibly help every single person that asks him why thier interface doesn't work. I've sold a lot of kits to people that have tried and failed to build their own interface from scratch and my kit helped those same people figure out how to make their failed attempts work. To some people its simple to build and to others it's quite confusing. I'm just taking some of the confusion and hassle out of it for those that find it more difficult or are afraid of frying their suunto that they paid so dearly for.
I have a feedback rating on ebay of almost 100 (from selling interfaces alone) with 100% positive feedback the last time I checked. You can't get that at radio shack with your parts. I know that SA-diver hasn't seen my kit instructions that are on my site because they're only available for those that buy the kit because I've spent so much time taking pictures. You get a lot more detail and in depth instructions with my kit and step by step assembly pictures.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about these, but I guarantee you that there isn't a person out there thats built as many as I have, got more divers downloading their data for as cheaply as I have, and that offers a full warranty and stands behind it. I've never seen or heard of anyone else offering a kit to build these with either. If money is really tight (which isn't likely if you own a suunto anyway) you may be able to sacrifice a couple extra hours of your time to save $5 or so from the cost of my kit, but I think you'll find it isn't worth it. I'm not trying to sell anyone on this board an interface... just mainly trying to share my experiences, which weren't good initially. No one thats successfully built one will say its hard. Those that tried and failed won't most likely tell you they failed. Thats just how it goes.
I hope this gave a few people a little more info to go on and I also hope it didn't offend or upset anyone. I'm only trying to add to the discussion. I told myself I wouldn't post on this subject anymore because people would think I'm boldly trying to push my product. I'm not at all folks because I simply don't have to and don't want to push them. My interfaces and my customer's feedback does that for me. If anyone feels any part of this post is not appropriate, let me know and I'll change/erase it. I just write what comes to mind guys...
eace::whack: me
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