CONGRATS. I was trying to understand how the MSC51 processor could have failed, but the Motorola M12 receiver was functional. The ML621 sold as solder-tab or coin version (for socket). ~ $2.00 each. My Harbor Freight Digital Caliper uses the ML621 coin cell size (as well as my 1980s HP 10-series calculators) https://www.digikey.com/products/en/battery-products/batteries-rechargeable-secondary/91?k=ML621
Panasonic LC-R061R3P : 6 volt gel cell, at $12.84 each. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-bsg/LC-R061R3P/P128-ND/6671 It sounds like you could “Mod” the ES-911 Auxiliary connector to function as GPS receiver port (routing TTL level signal via a MAX232 level converter) Greg w9gb == When I received an ESE ES-160U, earlier this year (June 2019), both of it batteries were also DEAD (common from eBay surplus). Its behavior was erratic, to say the least. Changing both of those batteries (2) restored the ES-160U unit to operation (accurate master clock). Not bad for a $5.00 purchase, being sold “for parts”, plus $15 for new batteries. === Message: 7 Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2019 06:39:00 +0000 From: Mark Sims To: "time-nuts@lists.febo.com" Subject: [time-nuts] Used ESE ES-911/GPS/NTP Master Time Clock I got my ESE ES-911 to work. The problem that I was seeing was that the unit was not seeing data from the GPS receiver... it would not show a GPS lock, even though the GPS receiver (a Motorola M12+) was working properly. Probing around the ESE motherboard showed the GPS receiver was not sending any data. I assumed (improperly) that the GPS receiver was not being initialized to send data by one of the two microprocessors on the ESE motherboard (no data seen being sent to the GPS receiver). There are two batteries in the ES-911. One is a 6V 1.2Ah gel cell. The other is a tiny ML-621 rechargeable lithium coin cell on the back of the GPS board. Both batteries were dead. It turns out that the microprocessors do NOT initialize the GPS receiver! You have to do that over the "auxiliary" data port (the DB-25 connector). Pin 2 is the "config" pin. It is a RS-232 level serial input connected to the GPS receiver RXD input pin. There is no external connection to the GPS TXD signal so you cannot monitor the GPS receiver. To initialize the GPS receiver, I built a two wire adapter cable to connect a PC serial port to the ESE "aux" connector (PC pin 3 (TXD) to ESE pin 2, ESE pin 7 (ground) to PC pin 5. I then used Lady Heather configured to talk to Motorola receivers (heather /rxm /serial_port#) This sends commands to initialize the Motorola receiver on the ES-911 motherboard. Voila... ESE-911 started working properly. Note that Heather will complain about not seeing any data from the receiver since the ES-911 does not have any way to send the GPS serial data to the outside world. While connected to the "config" port you can use the "PC" keyboard command to set the antenna cable delay. Note that this will be a "blind" command with no apparent response back to the computer. After initializing the GPS receiver I moved the PC serial port cable to the ES-911 "broadcast" connector and re-started Heather. Heather v6.30 and later can decode the ES-911 time codes sent out the "broadcast" port. So if your ESE ES-911 loses input power, 6V backup battery power, and the GPS coin cell drains then you will need to fix the battery problems and then manually re-initialize the GPS receiver in order to get the device working again! _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe, go to http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com and follow the instructions there.
