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Thread: Uber-easy DIY USB ALDL Cable

  1. #301
    LT1 specialist steveo's Avatar
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    there's actually nothing wrong with the clone chips; have you ever actually seen evidence of one dying? just bundle drivers with your cables

  2. #302
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    i've never had one die that i didn't put too much heat into the pins(let's call it unintentional hardware stress testing)... but the real ones would have done the same.

    it's the issue of having to develop and maintain workarounds... most people will never have an issue, but then someone is going to come across the driver set that will blank the VID and PID values and then probably get frustrated with the thought of having to run a linux distribution just to change the values back. changing the driver to work with the blanked drivers isn't that difficult, IIRC, but that's another workaround.
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  3. #303
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    Sorry if i missed it at some point in this thread, but im looking to set up a cable using the link below, for a 1st gen dsm. Seems mostly gm related here.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/6pin-FTDI-FT...17151841&rt=nc

    I would only then need a 1N914 diode, a 10k resistor, and 3 spade connectors.

    Using only the white green and black in that particular link.

  4. #304
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    DSM is way out of my realm of familiarity. I've seen a few things for them before and remember thinking they were simple, but I couldn't summon up anything more than what google could for "diy dsm cable".
    1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS 3100 + 4T60E


  5. #305
    Fuel Injected! phonedawgz's Avatar
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    The diagrams for making a DSM cable start with a Rs232 serial port board and then they add the diode and resistors. Actual RS232 ports operate at a + or - 15v. The cable you show is for a TTL level RS232 port. That operates at only +5v and 0 or +3.3 and 0. I don't think it will work for you. Look for a board that terminates in a DB9 connector. A board terminating in a DB9 shouldl have the actual RS232 voltages on it. Perhaps something like this on - http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-TO-R...item5d4e74f15a

    For your reference - RS232 voltages - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232
    TTL - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transi...ansistor_logic
    Last edited by phonedawgz; 05-04-2015 at 10:18 AM.

  6. #306
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    Quote Originally Posted by RobertISaar View Post
    DSM is way out of my realm of familiarity. I've seen a few things for them before and remember thinking they were simple, but I couldn't summon up anything more than what google could for "diy dsm cable".
    No worries. I seen it brought up a few times throughout the thread, but never any confirmation. I was mostly hoping to clean up schematics of old diy cables.

  7. #307
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    Quote Originally Posted by phonedawgz View Post
    The diagrams for making a DSM cable start with a Rs232 serial port board and then they add the diode and resistors. Actual RS232 ports operate at a + or - 15v. The cable you show is for a TTL level RS232 port. That operates at only +5v and 0 or +3.3 and 0. I don't think it will work for you. Look for a board that terminates in a DB9 connector. A board terminating in a DB9 shouldl have the actual RS232 voltages on it. Perhaps something like this on - http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-TO-R...item5d4e74f15a

    For your reference - RS232 voltages - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232
    TTL - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transi...ansistor_logic
    Thank you for the info. I was hoping to avoid the db9 all together. The current diy cable uses a db9 and keyspan usb adapter. But its still messy. I was hoping to streamline the whole thing.

    http://forums.ds-map.net/logging/jac...up-for-1g-dsm/

    Even deleting the null modem for a pc only set up its messy and the keyspans are getting up there in price.

    I thought about picking up a
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arduino-FT23...c=1&rmvSB=true

    Just to see what i could come up with. Just seems like there has to be an easier, more streamlined way to go about it.

  8. #308
    Fuel Injected! phonedawgz's Avatar
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    Like this - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mitsubishi-U...687519&vxp=mtr

    Not me btw.

    The one you linked to is also a TTL voltage cable so it won't work.

    The USB to DB9 cables usually have the electronics in the DB9 end so you can't just cut off the DB9 end and make one like the above ebay link.

  9. #309
    Fuel Injected! phonedawgz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by steveo View Post
    there's actually nothing wrong with the clone chips; have you ever actually seen evidence of one dying? just bundle drivers with your cables
    It is illegal to sell pirated clone chips or cables made with pirated clone chips in the US. You could end up in criminal or civil trouble.

    From the negative attitude I got from FTDI when I talked to them I would not be surprised if they did it.

    Remember FTDI is the company that included a driver update in a Windows update that reprogrammed clone chips to disable them. For a while, until everyone got on them and they disabled the bricking function of the update. - http://hackaday.com/2014/10/22/watch...ng-fake-chips/ - And yes this story is real. Search and you can find quite a few articles about the ethics of bricking clone chips. * They weren't totally bricked but for most users it was too much to figure out how to program them back to functional.

    ---

    Edit - I just looked and see the clone bricking issue was already discussed here - but still these people sounded fairly threatening when I talked to them on the phone. The a- wholes also wouldn't give me any indication on how to identify a clone vs a legit one. I thought that sucked of them.
    Last edited by phonedawgz; 05-05-2015 at 03:21 AM.

  10. #310
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    Quote Originally Posted by phonedawgz View Post
    Like this - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mitsubishi-U...687519&vxp=mtr

    Not me btw.

    The one you linked to is also a TTL voltage cable so it won't work.

    The USB to DB9 cables usually have the electronics in the DB9 end so you can't just cut off the DB9 end and make one like the above ebay link.
    Exactly like that. Sadly i do not have the skills to recreate such a clean set up. I've made 3 working cables, but they werent much to look at lol.

    The dsmlink v3 cable works and is only $45. If i cant recreate a clean cable such as the one in your link i'll likely go that route.

  11. #311
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    A Blue SMIRF Gold RN41 bluetooth module could probably be used just like the FT232 USB module. You'd need a 6-18vin 5vout DC-DC power supply so it would be slightly more work than the FT232 on a USB port...
    Maybe add it on top of one of the 5v FT232 USB breakout boards and you get a universal ALDL interface. You could just use one of the $2 Micro USB breakouts... Use a phone charger or, better yet, one of the big 9,000mah Samsung external smart phone batteries to power it through the USB port in Bluetooth mode.

    On the commercial units... why not eliminate the bare pin cable for the GM 12 pin ALDL by having the 160baud serial terminal from the ALDL input to the module be dipswitch or jumper selectable between D & E?
    Last edited by Johnnynightstick; 11-11-2015 at 07:50 PM.

  12. #312
    Fuel Injected! phonedawgz's Avatar
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    If you can't set the baud rate to 8192, don't plan on it working.

  13. #313
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    The Blue SMIRF Gold uses Roving Networks RN41 module. According to the documentation non standard baud rates can be programmed. Command: SZ,<val> non-standard raw baud rate <val>=baud*0.004096

    It's worth a shot. It's not a nice clean neat polished solution that you could hand to just anyone unless the baud rate automagically follows the SPP rate... I bet yours does.
    Last edited by Johnnynightstick; 11-11-2015 at 10:52 PM.

  14. #314
    Super Moderator Six_Shooter's Avatar
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    I have an RN-42 module here that I attempted to use as a BT ALDL adapter, and it did not work. I haven't looked at programming it for non standard baud rate, but the one I have was programmed for 9600 (currently back to 115,200 for my Megasquirt project, which it works well with), which is what most ALDL communucation programs use, since it's closest to 8192. It seems to be the latency of BT on top of the non matching baud rate that makes it not play well.

    --==EDIT==-- I just looked in the datasheet for the RN-42, which also includes the RN-41 and the non standard baud selection is there. My only concern would be to be able to change the baud rate later, for other use, though a hard reset could likely be used to reset to the default baud rate.
    Last edited by Six_Shooter; 11-15-2015 at 03:40 AM.
    The man who says something is impossible, is usually interrupted by the man doing it.

  15. #315
    Super Moderator Six_Shooter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by whitebread View Post
    Thank you for the info. I was hoping to avoid the db9 all together. The current diy cable uses a db9 and keyspan usb adapter. But its still messy. I was hoping to streamline the whole thing.

    http://forums.ds-map.net/logging/jac...up-for-1g-dsm/

    Even deleting the null modem for a pc only set up its messy and the keyspans are getting up there in price.

    I thought about picking up a
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arduino-FT23...c=1&rmvSB=true

    Just to see what i could come up with. Just seems like there has to be an easier, more streamlined way to go about it.
    LOL, The use of a null modem adapter in this setup is well completely pointless. Just swap pins 2 and 3 on the DB9 when you solder up the little circuit and you avoid any need for the null modem adapter.

    Also an FT232 based USB to TTL cable or adapter could be used and then a MAX232 IC used to convert to the RS232 levels. I did this recently to make my own USB to serial adapter for my Megasquirt project, since all of the USB to serial cables I have on hand are junk Prolific based cables. I had the FTDI BOB from other projects so I made my own. I also swapped out the FT232 BOB for a Bluetooth board, which may work in a similar fashion for the DSM cable.
    The man who says something is impossible, is usually interrupted by the man doing it.

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