Happy New Year Greetings to all My Friends on AAC.

Wish you a prosperous new year 2017.

I like to know if there is a way to check what the PIC UART & MODEM is talking about. ( I mean of course I know what they talk since I am the one programming them. )

I like to do some time calculations and to do that I need to know the time the two takes to talk to each other.
i.e response time calculations and to trouble shoot certain errors if it occurs.

I like to see the communication via serial port of PC.
The PIC UART is connected via MAX232 to Modem

 

Hi.

Happy new year.

I connected a PIC TX pin to the RX pin on an RS232/TTL USB converter, which in turn was connected to my computer. I was able to see all the communication coming from the PIC.

 

Get yourself a logic analyzer. There are a number of open source ones out there now

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/28/open-source-logic-analyzer-2/

 

Hi.

Happy new year.

I connected a PIC TX pin to the RX pin on an RS232/TTL USB converter, which in turn was connected to my computer. I was able to see all the communication coming from the PIC.

I can see that.
I wanted to see the communication going on between the PIC and the Modem.

 

A logic Analyzer is more expense.
Wondering if I could build one .

 

A logic Analyzer is more expense.
Wondering if I could build one .

Of course you can. You will just need to understand of of the timing of the pulse train so you can decipher the data. Then there is the whole GUI end. But look at that open source stuf, that part might be free.

And I think the open source hardware is free too. But I think they sell complete kits.

I wrote a "serial data analyzer" for a PC years ago. It requires your PC has 2 serial ports. If you are interested I can see if I still have it.

 

I think I have two coms.
Can I see it ?

 

I found it but it is so old I can't load it into Visual Basic. Maybe you can find an old version or figure out how to convert?

I have the EXE but it says there is a missing OCX. That give you an idea how old this thing is.

 

Do I need VB ?

 

Get yourself a logic analyzer. There are a number of open source ones out there now

If you have a Pickit2 the standalone program has a UART diagnostic in it as well as a logic analyzer.
Max.

 

I can see that.
I wanted to see the communication going on between the PIC and the Modem.

The link I believe I posted earlier to the RS232COM monitor program also has how to make a cable and a free limited time program to use a data logger between two RS232 ports.
http://www.rs232pro.com/ it requires a third monitor P.C. to data log.
Max.

 

Do I need VB ?

Yes but looks like Max cam up with something better,

 

I do shit-tons of serial com debugging work, in terms of cost and simplicity, you cannot beat the combo of:

A) Digital scope, watching TX and RX lines.

B) A terminal emulator program, like Brays Terminal.

Use the scope to see the overall timing and relationship of the data packets, use the terminal emulator to see what the data actually is.

There are better tools (some digital scopes can decode and display the serial data along with the waveforms) but they tend to be very expensive.

 

It's good to have such a tool.
Thanks guys