PPS10 and XP

Ladies and Gentlemen,
some days ago, I bought the oscilloscope PPS10 from your house.
Measuring signals and electrical events does not represent problems.
Only if I liked to load the measured values by means of the program PPS10 into my computer, this does not go.
The System is:
Windows XP professional
Version 2002 Service pack 2
DELL DM061 Intel Core 2 CPU with 1.86GHz

The inserted adapter is adjusted with all transmission conditions indicated in the guidance.
In the menu i have set the button SEND in the SCREEN column.
The programm runs on the computer. But, no data will transfer.

How can you help me?

Yours sincerely

Did you try it on a different PC ?
At this time, we do not know if the problem lies with the PPS10 or the PC.

That is a good objection!
I will try this out in the evening. It is a PC with Windows 2000.
Still is electronics contained in the plug connector between PC and PPS10?
Or only is one cable connection with two plugs?

There are no electronics in the cable.

In the course of my error tracing I measured the cable.
I found the following pin assignment thereby.

____________ — ____ — __ --__
-----------------XXX-----XXX—/---
-----------------XXX-----XXX----------!
_________XXX____XXX/_/

------Pin3-----------Pin7-------Pin2

The pins 2 and 3 are intended for data exchange. This is clear.
The pin 7 is however the RTS - line. Here I would have expected
the connection on GND with the number 5.
Was the connection intentionally on RTS, in order to be able to
realize a galvanic separation without further voltage supply?
(Tension not related to GND but with +12V or -12V connected)

The is only one-way communication (i.e. from the scope to the PC).
The RTS line is used as neg. power, to avoid use of MAX232 IC…

Well, it is with the RTS so like expected.
I soldered myself an adapter, in order to be able to measure the signals with a second oscilloscope. The voltage levels are against mass (pin 5) as follows:

Pin 2 = -5V
Pin 3 = -10V
Pin 5 = GND
Pin 7 = +10V

If I put the mass of the second oscilloscope on the pin 7, the voltage levels are:

Pin 2 = -15V
Pin 3 = -20V

But I have on no pin a signal. Only static tensions are to be measured.

After the activate of SEND in the PPS10, a constant data stream is not be measurable. It comes nothing from the PPS10.

Even the serial exit nothing is sent, the PPS10 uses in the active SEND mode about 4mA more current.

By the way the change to another PC brought nothing.

Help me please as soon as possible. I need the measured values on the PC for the documentation and justifications.

If your measurements and interpretation is correct, we must conclude that the PPS10 is the cause of troubles. As the unit is still under warranty, please return it for inspection/repair to your distributor. If you live in Europe, you can return it to:

Velleman Instruments Service Dept.
Legen Heirweg 33
9890 Gavere
Belgium

I attached the PPS10 on the evening of yesterday at an old PC with integrated RS232. To my surprise then the PPS10 go.
After further tests and attempts it was clear that the PPS10 with USB - RS232 - transducers does not function. The produced tension is not sufficient, in order to communicate with the PPS10. Also the trick with the pin 7 does not help.
Since we do not have old computers with RS232 here in the company. So I cannot use the PPS10. I must give back again.
A further reason to the return are also errors in the data transfer to the PC. If you should have interest on this data-log´s, I can send it to you by eMail. Give me only your email contact.
Have thank you, for the assistance here on the forum. I hope also that the lines will help other users.

That is strange, here it works fine with a USB to serial converter.
Furthermore, we have not experienced communication errors before. If you wish, you can return your unit for inspection.

Excuse me, but we are not private users of the PPS10. We are a company. If I buy something, then I need it. And naturally it must also function.
The delivery times of the projects press on the course. There I need strong results of measurement.
The measuring instrument I already gave the dealer in the last week back. I was still within 14 days - return right.
With the wrongly transmitted data to the PC recognizes clearly that bit 8 tilted.

5mV up
10mV up
20mV up
50mV down
0,1V ok
0,2V ok
0,4V up
1,0V down
2,0V ok
4,0V ok
8,0V up
20,0V down

The tilt respected bit with several attempts always directly behaved.

Since I had to measure very slow signals, I had transferred the series of measurements now with a multimeter by means of an optical RS232 the data into the PC. This functioned perfectly.

Excuse my of making nervous questions

I think the problem was the USB to Serial converter, Most type are only handle the RxD and TxD but not the handshake lines, our PPS10 need one of these lines to make the -12V for the TxD line.
These converters can help sometimes but these are not ‘perfect’.

Regard my answer from the 24.06.2008. Here I already described that handshake lines are supported by my adapter. As usually is the case for the USB - adapters only with 10V.
With other devices my converter works perfectly. And those have also opto couplers for the galvanic separation inserted…

There could always be a problem with this section, we can’t ‘see’ this via mail or forum, you have written that you already send back the unit ?