aldl interface cable
 

since my other thread was getting a little long and kinda merged to this anyway i decided to make a new one and put it here. Im haveing a little trouble building the interface cable to datalog with winaldl. Here is the diagram i have

http://w1.601.telia.com/~u60113744/s.../interface.gif

Here are the questions, First, i think this may be my problem, is that the front (part that goes into comp) of the DB9 port or the back (side wires are soldered into)?
Second, does anyone use R3?
Finally, did anyone need the external power source?
thanks
-chuck

your DB9 shoudl say what pins are what, IIRC that diagram is from the back, but don't quote me on that.

you don't need an external power source with that setup, it uses the power 1.5v lead from the serial port.

none of the TBI cars i have worked have not need the 10k jumper (R3)

well, i hope you recally correctly, or im out another $1.50 in parts....heh....

I checked the backs of the boxes and nothing. Im headed off to radio shack to see if they can help me.

one other sidenote, does the heat from the solder gun fry any of the connections inside the transistors or resistors? am i supposed to be using some sort of 'heat sink' to make sure i dont mess up the inerds of these parts?

So does that mean a yes or no for the jumper? :confused:

you shouldn't need the jumper.

sorry for the bad english.

my connector had the numbers stamped on it. It took me a couple of trys to get mine to work, and a few more to get it to fit inside the connector. Just keep trying you will get it.

when you say a couple of trys what exactly does that mean? just remade the thing a few times till it worked?

Wow, the numbers are stamped in here, i wouldave never noticed this unless you told me, i need alot of light, or a magnifing glass to see em! ;)

just to make sure im getting this, if it does work i should be able to tell using that 'dash' button in winaldl, i mean it'll show rpm's and such if the cable is working right? And when i datalog, do i check all the boxes and hit start? or just certain ones?
thanks again,
-chuck

Well, i got it to work, my dad went out and bought a circut board, and a little black box to cram all the stuff in, looks great, works great.

BTW, the diagram does display the back of the DB9 connector.

Where to buy connector?
 

Where can I buy one already made? I don't think I could make one thats as durible as I want. I would really like to but one though,but can't find any where. Here's my info if anyone can help, Car-'91RS TBI TH700R4, Laptop-Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS.
I can't even figure out what I need from the digram, I'm not very keen on building eletrontic stuff. If someone knows a plase or if they want to sell a very good cable let me know. I've already downloaded the Winaldl program. Thanks

http://w1.601.telia.com/~u60113744/s...dl/winaldl.htm

diagram is on that site along with the diagrams. buy a little circut board and a 'project box' all the other parts are listed, some one at radio shack can help you find them. its not too hard, just take your time and do it right.

There are also links to buy premade ones there, cost between $37-$45 IIRC.

Chevypower, I think that you can make this thing. Mine has held up nice even tough I know that I have crossed some wires before. It is easy to make and sometimes people on this board will help. What is it that you dont think that you can do?

Ive tryed making this cable 3 times and it never worked for me.
is it that it just wont work with a regular desktop PC?
or does a desktop PC not provide the 12v power source needed?
I tryed using the cars battery as a 12v source with one of the cabels and it fryed the little 10k resistor.
Id realy like to get a working cable, but dont know what to do exactly. can any of ya give me an idea of what to try?

desktop PC shoudl give you the voltage, just make sure you wire it with the diagram posting in this thread.

customefis.com $35 plus shipping. nice unit no problems!

I dont know if you tried this, but try switching the positive and ground wires.some poeple read wiring diagrams backward.also when you get winaldl running try flicking the + & - wire tips to each other and see if you get any bursts of garbled info on the raw data screen.this worked for me when i built my first aldl cable!if you need any more help let me know,ill be glad to help.

The Winaldl website list these two links for ready made cables.

I bought a package of 2N2222 transistors from Radio Shack. When my cable didn't work a closer inspection revealed that the package contained 2N3904 transistors. The 2N3904 will work BUT the emitter and collector pins are swaped from the 2N2222 and the diagram on the package was for the 2N2222. Go figure!

How could you tell??? I bought a pack of the 2N2222's and my cable isn't working. How do I make sure i have the 2N222's and not the 2N3904's?

The resistor itself has a part # on it.

I am terrible with wiring schematics etc...but this post has me sort of interested etc.....and I have a couple of questions

1) Where it says Q1....what is that???? I dont know what a "Q" is...I know a "r" is a resistor and there are the different ones 10K, 1.5K, etc etc..but what is that "Q1" thing on the schematic.

2) also...that +12v supply and the 10K resistor which look to be conected into the #2 port.....how does that work since I dont really see that in some of the pics from the above link etc.

Anyone?

Q1 is the transistor, it lists part #'s on the scematic.

the +12v + 10k rester is to power it, since the voltage it ends up using is with the 10k resistor, you can use the +1.5v lead coming form the serial port, with a 10k resistor, making it a more compact and self-conained unit.

surprisingly enough that makes sense to me!!!!!!! Thanks..I just might try that out one night this week!

another question does it matter which way the resistors go in? i mean whichside the tolerance band is on the aldl port side or 9 pin side?

To keep it simple, no.:thumbsup:

Steve

Does anyone have a pic of their cable that they made.

another question...the middle pin on the transistor...where does that get soldered into?????

Edit:....Forget it I think I figured it out...it was a bit of a "brain fart" :)

How does that circuit compare to an interface using an rs232 chip? Does anyone have any complaints with using that circuit? If not, it looks like I have a project for the weekend!