Thanks Sonar Tech... I originally bought two ( 1 black and 1 silver ) but do not run the two at the same time... I'm sure the other puck has died by now good to have these instructions... now I need to dig into the closet to find the other puck and test it out... I guess with your USB cable solution I could just keep the extra puck charged up using a USB wart and the custom cable...
later Dick Bell On Monday, August 28, 2017 at 5:24:11 PM UTC-5, Sonar Tech wrote: > > Hi, folks - > > I wanted to drop a quick note that might help someone in the future > regarding the Haicom HI-204III GPS pucks that Jeff Thomas used with the > NixieChron clocks. I have 3 of these clocks. As some of you may know, > Jeff programmed the GPS receiver pucks to *only* output the NMEA $GPRMC > string, so it wouldn't blow the buffer on the PIC with a bunch of messages > he didn't care about. Doing this also allowed for more reliable precision > enabling him to trigger 1PPS off of the leading edge of the $GPRMC string. > > Anyway, the pucks have a small 3V Li-ION battery inside that stores > configuration data. If you unplug the puck for several weeks, the battery > will die and the programming and configuration will be lost, returning the > puck to factory defaults. I moved offices and boxed-up my clock for a > couple of months. When I tried to set it back up, all it would do is start > counting up, from 00:00. Additionally, the red LED light in GPS puck > itself would never flash, even in the presence of known good GPS signals. > If you have a HI-204III that isn't flashing anymore and won't work with > your Nixichron, your puck may have fallen back to a factory default > configuration which would prevent it from working with the NixieChron. > > To fix the problem, you need to re-program the puck. Unfortunately, this > is a little tedious for people without the right tools, as it requires an > RS232 serial dongle with a 5V power source to make the puck work while you > re-program it. You can't just use a FTDI UART cable; you need a RS232 > transceiver cable because you need the level shifter for RS232. > > Lucky for me, I had a nice dialog with Jeff about this process when one of > my pucks reset itself back in 2012, and Jeff was kind enough to supply me > with enough details to figure out how to re-program the pucks myself if > they ever misbehaved again. > > Here's the thread I had with Jeff about this subject, provided here so > that the Interwebs will never forget them: > > *From: Jeff Thomas [mailto:[email protected] <javascript:>] * > *Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 5:24 AM* > *To: Sonartech* > *Subject: Re: Bad Nixichron MCU?* > > *Hi Sonartech, SiRF Corporation produced a utility program for the peecee > that functions as a test and programming environment. It's what I use.* > *The receivers can be configured with any NMEA setup, or the native SiRF > protocol.* > *To effect a change to NMEA, the receiver must first be placed into SiRF > protocol mode (via pulldown menu), then NMEA is selected again in the > pulldown menu.* > *When NMEA is selected, a submenu appears, and you can edit the various > NMEA strings being broadcast.* > *All strings are turned off, except for $GPRMC at once per second. * > > > > * ...I hard wired a dongle from the mini DIN to a DB9, with a small 5v PS > "tee'd" into the dongle wire for power. Your NixiChron schematic shows the > connections to the mini DIN. You'll have to wire the DB9 as needed.* > > *At the bottom of the page is a communication log, and it will show the > serial data. Only the NMEA $GPRMC will show as being broadcast.* > > *Here's a link to a site who has the SiRF demo program:* > *http://www.falcom.de/support/software-tools/sirf/* > <http://www.falcom.de/support/software-tools/sirf/> > > *Regards, Jeff* > > > Finally, here's a quick summary of what I did, based on Jeff's > instructions above. > > First, I purchased an FTDI RS232-to-USB cable from Digi-key, part number > 768-1074-ND. <https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=768-1074-ND> > This will provide a USB-based COM port, the level shifter and the required > 5V supply all in 1 package. Next, you need a 6-pin female mini-DIN > connector. I used Digi-Key P/N CP-2160-ND > <https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/cui-inc/MD-60J/CP-2160-ND/96928>, > but CP-2660-ND > <https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/cui-inc/MD-60SP/CP-2660-ND/166652> > and CP-2860-ND > <https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/cui-inc/MD-60CV/CP-2860-ND/352863> > are also good options. > > I used Red, Black, Orange and Yellow 28 AWG stranded wire to make the > connections. You need +5VDC, GND, RX and TX. I cut each color to a single > 4 inch piece and stripped & tinned each end. > > Next, I dismantled the RS232-to-USB cable. Using some Style 2A flat > tweezers, I wedged-open the halves of the connector, top and bottom, > revealing the circuit board. There are no screws, only a tight press-fit > between the two white plastic halves. Try not to jam the tweezers into > your hand - it kind of hurts and bleeds for a while. > > Once inside, carefully remove the DB9 jack soldered to the PCB. Take care > not to lift the pads or overheat; it may make more sense for you to just > cut the leads behind the jack body, then use a soldering iron to clean up > the pads - less risk doing it this way. > > Once the pads are clean, solder the red wire to the MD-60J Mini-DIN socket > <http://www.cui.com/product/resource/md-xxj-series.pdf>, pin #2 - +5VCC. > Next, solder the black wire to MD-60J Mini-DIN socket, pin #1 - GND. Then > solder the orange wire to Mini-DIN socket pin #4 - Rx. Finally, solder the > yellow wire to Mini-DIN socket pin #5 - Tx. > > Now you're ready to attach the Mini-DIN to the RS232 PCB. First, route > the 4 wires through the jack body and the blue rectangular collar that > should have popped-off when you dismantled the plastic case around the > cable. Solder the red wire to the same red wire near the rear of the PCB, > where the USB red wire is connected. This will supply +5V to the puck. > Take care not to allow the original red wire to pop free; you need both > wires attached to this same pad. > > Then solder the black wire to the same black wire near the rear of the > PCB, where the USB black wire is connected. This will supply GND to the > puck. Take care not to allow the original black wire to pop free; you need > both wires attached to this same pad. > > Next, solder the orange wire to pad #2 (Rx) on the RS232 transceiver > board. For reference: If you're holding the PCB with the cleaned-up solder > pads to your right and you can see 5 pads (top side), the bottom-right pad > is pad #1. > > Finally, solder the yellow wire to pad #3 (Tx) on the RS232 transceiver > board. > > Before you proceed to clean-up the plastic and reassemble things, TEST > YOUR CABLE with the GPS puck. Plug the puck into the cable, then plug the > cable into the PC. You should immediately see the red LED glow in the GPS > puck base. If you don't, immediately unplug the cable and check your > connections, because something's wrong! If you have a red solid light, and > you have a decent GPS signal, you [may or may not] see one of the blue > LED's on the RS232 puck light-up and flash every second as it receives NMEA > data from the puck. If you don't see anything, make sure you have a GPS > signal and wait at least 5 minutes to acquire a signal. If after 5 minutes > you still don't see any flashing lights, try swapping the Rx and Tx lines; > they may be reversed. You can safely T/S this once you get the program > running below. > > Next install the SiRFDemo tool Jeff mentioned. As of 8/28/2017, it was > still available HERE > <http://www.falcom.de/uploads/media/setupSiRFDemo3.87.zip>. > > Once installed, connect the puck, verify the red LED in the GPS puck is > working, then start the SiRFDemo program. It will immediately ask you for > Data Source Setup; go to device manager and figure out what the COM port > number is for your USB-to-Serial cable. Look under Ports (COM & LPT) for > something called a "USB Serial Port (COMx)", where "x" is your COM port > number. Select the correct COM port in the Data Source Setup dialog box, > and select 4800 for your Baud Rate, then click OK. > > If everything's working OK up to this point, you should see valid NMEA > strings being shown in the Debug View window, and the Receiver Output View > window will show "255 (0xFF) NMEA Data". If everything's working, and the > blue light on the serial cable is flashing once per second or so, it's time > to re-program the puck: > > > 1. Pull down the "Action" menu and select "Switch to SiRF Protocol" > 2. Wait a few seconds for everything to update; you should see data in > all the other windows "come alive" with information. > 3. Go back to the "Action" menu and select "Switch to NMEA Protocol..." > 4. A new menu should now appear, confirming which NMEA messages you > want to see. Change all of the menu settings as follows: > 1. GGA: 0 > 2. GLL: 0 > 3. GSA: 0 > 4. GSV: 0 > 5. *RMC: 1* > 6. VTG: 0 > 7. MSS: 0 > 8. User 8: 0 > 9. User 9: 0 > 10. User 10: 0 > 11. Use Checksums: *CHECKED* > 12. Baud Rate: *4800* > 5. At this point, the GPS puck red LED should now be > flashing once-per-second. GPS reprogramming is now complete and the GPS > puck can be used once more with your NixieChron clock. > > That's it! I tried to be comprehensive enough to get anyone going with > this, but if you still need help getting this problem resolved, please > contact me and I'll see how I can help. > > Cheers, > > SonarTech > > > > > > > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. 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