I was wondering if anyone can help. Im almost finished my home docking station. Im just having problems getting the serial port to work. Basically the sled's serial port doesnt seem to work. Ive set the config.ini serial option as mentioned in the FAQ, and ive also tried plugging a 2.1mm jack into the power so the player is in home mode.

There is just nothing when i open hyperterminal, or use the logo editor etc. The wiring harness seems to be wired properly. Has anyone else used the harnesses serial port in a home docking unit successfully?

Thanks

don't forget that some of the early model Mk2 sleds had a wiring fault that means that the Ground wire is not wired at all [Ground is on pin 5 of the serial connector].

All Empeg sleds earlier than about serial#1050 have this wiring fault.
[its hard to tell exactly as the sleds aren't numbered].

Try connecting a ground wire from your devices ground [probably the metal case if it has one] to the sled somewhere and see it helps any.

I assume you have checked to make sure this same serial cable and PC work correctly when plugged directly into the player.

One possibility is that there's no grounding wire on the serial port to the sled (known problem on some sleds). Or perhaps one of the sled wires is loose. Is it one of the older sleds?

Check and see if the pinout diagrams at the developer section of riocar.org can help you.

It looks like the sled is wired incorrectly. on mine instead of pins 8 wired to serial pin 2, and 9 to 3, it was the other way round (8 -> 3 and 9 -> 2)

This is a bit worrying as i have another sled which is the same. So it may be a batch (and may be worth adding to the FAQ).

After switching these round i now get output in hyperterminal. However it does not accept any keystrokes. And logo editor find the player, but complains it cannot find manufacturer ID.

So i guess something still isnt right.

My pinouts are as follows (they seem to match the ones on the FAQ except for P2->P4?):

Harness-------Serial
P2---------------P4
P8---------------P2 (was P3)
P9---------------P3 (was P2)
P10-------------P8
P11-------------P1
P13-------------P5

Any help would really be appreciated. This is driving me nuts!

Try disconnecting everything except P2,P3, and Ground (forgot which pin). Should work.

Thanks for your help everyone, finally figured it. It was me being really stupid - i assumed the serial cable that comes with the empeg is wired straight through. It isnt, and i hadnt tried connecting straight out of the sled into my PC - that worked fine. Also the sled was wired correctly to start with, which means the FAQ wiring diagram for sled pins 8 & 9 is wrong.

Thanks again for your help. Looks like ill have to go buy a null modem cable tomorrow, but at last my docking unit is finished!

In other words, DB9 on empeg itself and on the sled are wired differently (empeg as DTE, sled as DCE - or is it vice versa)? Good to know.

>I assumed the serial cable that comes
>with the empeg is wired straight through. It isnt

You are correct! The supplied cable is a NULL modem cable,
with pins 2 & 3 crossed.

-ml

Yes, that is correct. The reason for this is that when at home, the empeg player is usually connected to a PC, whereas in the car, it is "usually" connected to some other equipment that is designed to be connected to a PC, like for instance a GPS.

Marius (Escort Cab + Mark II)