Autopilot

[Viking Sailor]

Gerben,

You might want to look into getting a RS-232 tester. They have LED lights that indicate the state of the RS-232 signals. The tester I have has DB-25 connectors and DB-9 to DB-25 adapters.

Best of luck,

Paul

[CarCode]

Viking Sailor,

if you really want to find out what is going on at the serial port, use portmon.exe.
It is part of the Sys Internals and for free from Microsoft web site. Point it to the com port number to be sniffered.

[no-use]

Originally Posted by CarCode

....Where other Prolific and the such converters failed, the Keyspan works.

I am wondering why Opencpn suggests to download the latest Prolific drivers. The only cables I am able to find in local (South-west Netherlands) are based on the Prolific PL-2303 chipset/driver. And all those cables fail to work.

Are there more people with problems getting a prolific-based serial converter to work, or even better: are there people who did get it working?

A RS232 tester might learn me more, for now I'm trying to get my hands on a computer with a 'real' comport to see what happens.

Regards,

Gerben

[CarCode]

I have best results with the Keyspan USA-19HS adapter. More expensive than the mostly chinese manufactured Prolific or FTDI based adapters, but worth its money. But anybody might have his own learning lesson...

[CarCode]

BTW a port sniffering program like Portmon.exe from Microsoft Sysinternals might show you the data passing the com port and not only a flickering LED from a tester which does not show you any data.

[richardhula]

HyperTerminal (hypertrm) used to be the classic built in Windows utility for reading & writing to COM & TCP/IP ports, dial-up modems etc. & still is if you are running Windows XP.

I think with Vista & certainly Windows 7 it was discontinued. However if you can steal a copy from an XP installation it will work fine with either of the newer OS, allowing you to see exactly what is coming out of any particular COM port.

To install, copy the whole hyperterm folder including the executable & associated drivers, & pop it in Program Files or Program Files (x86) folder if you have 64 bit OS. Create a shortcut to hypertrm.exe & you are in business.

To view output of COM port:
1) Run HyperTerminal - New Connection window will appear
2) Give connection a name of your choice. Doesn't matter what it is but avoid COMx as they are reserved.
3) Press OK - new window will appear - ignore dial box's, but bottom "Connect using" box will have drop down list of available COM ports - select as required.
4) Press OK - new port settings window will appear - change baud rate to suite (leave others)
5) Press OK & you should immediately see NMEA data stream (if there is one on that particular port)
6) You will be invited to save this connection when done so you can choose .ht shortcut from hyperterm folder next time & be connected straight away.

Note if you are using virtual COM ports they will not appear in drop down list as they are not listed in Device Manager. You need to manually create an entry in Device Manager to match.

[no-use]

I just got my problem solved by installing Xport, a serial port splitter.

The boat is now listening to the laptop and the laptop is now listening to the boat.

Thanks to all for suggestions and help

Regards,

Gerben

[danamatic]

Yes, now it also work for me. Have change the seriel USB converter to the USA Keyspan. This one can be recommended.

[CarCode]

I am in no way associated with Keyspan, but their devices are really better than any chinese stuff.