Wiring of RS 232 Cable

[Niall]

Hey All
Finsih time to use this forum. But from reading some of the mails you seem very helpful and experienced bunch.(ass kissing aside)
I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!
Wondering about the wiring of the cable to connect my laptop to several different machines(several different fanuc controllers, a mitsubishi and a siemens) . I've been doing some research across different sites and cann't find a definitive answer (if there is one) on how to wiring up my 9-25 pin cable. Due to the different types of controllers do i need different cables for the different controllers or is there one wiring type that will suit them all...

Thanks
Niall

[Al_The_Man]

Niall, It would help to know the Control model, but Fanuc and Mitsubishi usually bring their RS232 communication out to a standard RS232 25 pin connector, Fanuc post a bulletin for serial communication on their website , You can try obtaining a 'null modem' cable which has all the lines connected between the two ends for hardware handshaking etc.
But sometimes all that is required is that the hardware handshake lines on the 25pin end are jumpered together i.e. 4-5 6-8-20 and just the pins 2, 3 & 7 are used.
If you want drip feed then you may need hardware handshake.
Siemens, I am not sure of, but if they have a 25 pin D connector, the chances are it is standard RS232.
If you need the pin out for either cable, I could post it.
One nice source of a DNC program is the 'Terminal' program supplied with win 3.1, it will run under Win95/98. It operates better than Hyperterminal.
Al

[Niall]

Hey Al
See therein lies the problem. There's eight different machine with eight different Fanuc controllers 3T,3TF,21T, 518MSC & O-MATE. I'm trying to follow up on somebodies elses work who has now left the company without writing anything down. I have a RS-232 cable and have been lead to believe that uploading and downloading work to a certain extend.
But some lines/spaces/decimal places were sometime left out and from what i'd read on transfering files this may be a wiring problem???
The cable is 25pin connect to a 9 pin. On the 25 pin the 6-8-20 & 4-5 are jumped with only 2, 3 and 7 used on the 25 pin conecting to the 2,3 and 5 on the 9 pin.
Are these the standard wiring.
Are all Fanuc control transfer setting (4800baud, 7data,2stop, even, Xon/Xoff)
What is the benefit of jumping the 1,4 and 6 on the 9 pin???
Read through alot of manuals/instructions recently and all the techno jargen has my head swimming....

Thanks in advance
Niall

[Al_The_Man]

Niall, The pin out you state is standard RS232, the jumpered pins are to fool out the hardware handshake and Xon/Xoff in the settings indicate it is set for software handshake. You did not mention what software you are using for transfer. If you have quite a few machines, it is usefull to have a program like Terminal I mentioned earlier which enables you to set up a protocol for each machine if they require different characteristics.
Dropped characters are usually a sign of improper handshake. You may need to confirm the CNC machine parameters to ensure they are set up for Xon/Xoff software HS.
But most of these machines will report errors if any occur on data transfer.
If you still have problems, try a null modem cable and see if that helps on the machines you are having a problem with. it cannot hurt.
Al

[Niall]

Hello Again
Was trying the ConnectCNC program on evaluation???

There's a copy of terminal on the laptap i'm going to use for up/downloading too.

So basically the jumped pins are to facilitate software handshaking, and this happens by having pin 1,4,6 in 9 Pin sockect and 6,8,20 on the 25 pin connect to themselves on either end, and nothing else, or 1,4,6 connect to 6,8 & 20???


Heads gone swimming again abit....

Matter of interest does hardware handshaking happen if theses aren't jumped, or is it only on certain machines.

Was trying program transfer with connectCNC on Bridgeport 316 with O-mate controls and download from machine no problem but won't unload, alarmed out #087 "input is not interrupted after 10 characters read".... Thats handshaking right???

[Al_The_Man]

Originally posted by Niall So basically the jumped pins are to facilitate software handshaking, and this happens by having pin 1,4,6 in 9 Pin sockect and 6,8,20 on the 25 pin connect to themselves on either end, and nothing else, or 1,4,6 connect to 6,8 & 20??? Matter of interest does hardware handshaking happen if theses aren't jumped, or is it only on certain machines. O-mate controls and download from machine no problem but won't unload, alarmed out #087 "input is not interrupted after 10 characters read".... Thats handshaking right???

Yes, the handshaking pins are only jumpered out at each end, All this really does is making sure the hardware handshake is happy, wether or not it is enabled. This leaves a choice of either software HS or non at all.
Hardware HS can only occur, if instead of being jumpered they are connected in the correct fashion to either end.

If I recall, that #087 may be because a parameter is not set regarding a line feed being/or not being sent.
I will have to look up some of my notes as I recall this occuring on a 0P system once.
Al

[Niall]

Al you have elevated yourself beyond the realm of mear humans

Thanks a million, save a lot of time second guesting everything i'm doing if something goes wrong......