RS232 data logger

[bigandy]

Good evening all,

I am looking for a way of monitoring a standard PC serial port (RS232) to see exactly what is being sent and received from it. Ideally, I could do with a bit of software that allows a log to be kept of exactly what data is sent and received from the Serial port, although if there is some hardware out there that is needed, that'll do!

The serial port I want to monitor is set to 9600 baud rate, 8 data bits, no parity and 1 stop bit. And all I want to see is the raw data words going in and out of the port. Ideally, I would like to log them too, but that isn't important.

The reason? well, my Orbit Microlader (charger) works well and provides a way of getting charge/discharge data into a pc, but I don't want to lug a pc down to the flying field, so I am trying to get a bit of Palm software to store a log of the data the charger sends out. And that's where I have a problem, as I have no idea of the data format sent from the charger. The orbit manual gives an idea, but is not complete.

I also have several other rs232 devices I wouldn't mind seeing the raw data passing between them and the pc!

Thanks for any help in advance!

Andy

[tve]

Good evening all,

I am looking for a way of monitoring a standard PC serial port (RS232) to see exactly what is being sent and received from it.

Andy

I've used this one before for reverse engineering a protocol with success.
http://www.hhdsoftware.com/sermon.html

Regards,
tve

[Timbo337]

HyperTerminal comes on new versions of Windows. I am not sure if three is a variant for a Palm device, but its a start. The HyperTerminal program is in the Accessories menu in the start menu, and sometimes it is under Communications. Check it out. It is pretty straightforward for setting up the connection to a com port.

[joe@tech-mp]

This one has the right price as well HERE (http://www.beyondlogic.org/protocolanalyser/protocolanalyser.htm)

Joe

[Luap]

I used a freeware activeX Called I/O communications at http://www.jspayne.com/io/home.html
to make a small visual basic application in excel to chart in real time and set alarms in case of overdischarge etc whilst the Orbit is charging.


The setting, "baud=9600 parity=N data=8 stop=1"

A raw data line sample:
"#L00924,11389,+0301"

So if you can find a similar activex type program for you palm, should be very easy to do.
If you are interested I can mail you the excel file.

[bigandy]

Thanks for the links folks. That sermon program seems to do the trick...

Now I just need to figure out how to log this data to the Palm computer (it's a rather old palm pilot personal edition!). I've also been thinking about using a PIC micro controller to log the data being sent via the rs232 device.

I've had a good look at the serial port activity and it seems that the Orbit microlader only sends data to the PC. There is no data being sent from the PC to thebattery charger at all. So it must be pretty easy to interface a PIC to store all this data in ASCII format on an EEprom or in internal memory right?

Cheers
Andy

[Malc C]

Andy... nice to see you over here :)

[bigandy]

Evening Malcolm!

Nice to see you too! :)

I've done a bit of thinking and head scratching, and some drinking of scrumpy (I had to drink it, honest! long story involving my piccolo, and a glass demijohn full of scrumpy... oh and one of my unplanned aerobatic manouevres!) and a bit of messing about with some flow charts, and I reckon I can write a bit of software for a PIC chip to read in the data from an RS232 level converter (±12v to ttl), and log the data in internal memory, or maybe external memory for longer periods.

The program flowchart is quite simple, but I am pretty sure I am going to drive myself insane writing software, as not only do I have to get my head round a serial interface, but also writing data to an external eeprom! So don't hold your breath for anything, but I'll see what I can come up with.

Bed time...

Andy