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Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 9:24 pm
by gregorio

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 3:42 pm
by Paganini
SamCoVT wrote:
Does the port on the back of your device look like this, and it is labeled RS-232C?

If so, that's a serial port (sometimes called a COM port) and not a parallel port. The cabling is different for those ports and there indeed is a "crossover" cable available for that kind of port.
That was my first thought, too. It would seem weird for a device like this to connect to a printer port rather than a serial port. But the OP was so adamant that it must be a printer cable I didn't pick it up. However, going by the picture, the device seems to be this one, which on cursory inspection does, in fact, use an RS-232C cable!

And it appears that the image you shared is of the actual device itself, going by this youtube video!

Well played, Sam! :D

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 12:49 am
by dmsc
Hi!
Paganini wrote:
SamCoVT wrote:
Does the port on the back of your device look like this, and it is labeled RS-232C?

If so, that's a serial port (sometimes called a COM port) and not a parallel port. The cabling is different for those ports and there indeed is a "crossover" cable available for that kind of port.
That was my first thought, too. It would seem weird for a device like this to connect to a printer port rather than a serial port. But the OP was so adamant that it must be a printer cable I didn't pick it up. However, going by the picture, the device seems to be this one, which on cursory inspection does, in fact, use an RS-232C cable!

And it appears that the image you shared is of the actual device itself, going by this youtube video!

Well played, Sam! :D
And in fact, even the schematic is available, at https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/m ... /#msg83008 , and it shows it has an isolated RS232 interface, powered by the DTR signal:
Screenshot From 2025-01-07 21-47-34.png
So, mystery solved, it was always a serial cable that was needed.

Have Fun!

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 8:18 am
by barnacle
But what has happened to the OP? He's gone quiet...

Neil

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 9:57 pm
by L0uis.m
barnacle wrote:
But what has happened to the OP? He's gone quiet...
I'll be back . . .
:wink:

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 2:02 am
by BillO
According to this page on Tequiment: https://www.tequipment.net/MetexMS-9150 ... escription

It came supplied with an RS232 cable.

So much for all the sugar on top.

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 8:57 am
by L0uis.m
Hello Bill,
BillO wrote:
According to this page on Tequiment: https://www.tequipment.net/MetexMS-9150 ... escription

It came supplied with an RS232 cable.

So much for all the sugar on top.
"TEquipment Buy from People who know Test Equipment" is their slogan.
But I found out their specifications are unreliable, for instance, the MS-9150 has no Inductance measuring function❗

Furthermore, I have a Voltcraft, not a Metex, and it was not purchased from TE, but from Conrad.

So much for your reply :!:

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 3:41 pm
by BillO
L0uis.m wrote:
Hello Bill,

...
...

Furthermore, I have a Voltcraft, not a Metex, and it was not purchased from TE, but from Conrad.

So much for your reply :!:
Hmm, if you look at post #13 (your post) it clearly shows a picture of a device you identify as the one in question.

Nice photo, as the detail allows us to clearly see, at the bottom of the instrument, the words "METEX UNIVERSAL SYSTEM MS-9150"

I wonder where they came from?

Also, it clearly says in the datasheet that inductance measurement is for the MS-9160 only.

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 6:06 pm
by BigEd
Can we all just forgive each other and move on?

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 10:44 pm
by L0uis.m
Hello Bill,
BillO wrote:
Hmm, if you look at post #13 (your post) it clearly shows a picture of a device you identify as the one in question.

Nice photo, as the detail allows us to clearly see, at the bottom of the instrument, the words "METEX UNIVERSAL SYSTEM MS-9150"

I wonder where they came from?

Also, it clearly says in the datasheet that inductance measurement is for the MS-9160 only.
I think you are mistaking about "post #13", that is the total amount of posts I placed on this forum, so al my posts showed the number 13 (now 14 or higher, see at left and my previous posts). In future, please, place a quote in your replies (that makes finding things easier).

The filename of the image I uploaded is: voltcraft-ms-9150-lcd-univerzalna-mjerna-stanica-psu-slika-5177470.jpg
Because my eyesight is rather poor I didn't notice that the small brand name in the picture was Metex (I didn't looked at it "full size") when I downloaded it, sorry for that.


I am writing the following for everyone, to give some additional information, and not to accuse anyone (except TE and Conrad for presenting and selling equipment with incorrect specifications).

When we bought the MS-9150, Conrad stated clearly in their own specifications that it was capable of measuring inductance (just as TEquipment erroneously does on their site now, see picture below), that function was a very important argument to buy it and at the time we ordered the MS-9150 we had only Conrad's specifications to go on.
Screenshot from TEquipment site,all edited by me is in red.
Screenshot from TEquipment site,all edited by me is in red.
(Conrad add for the Voltcraft MS-9150 no longer available)

After delivery a whole history of "No, it isn't - Yes, it is" developed between my colleague and Conrad about it, they blamed it on my colleague's "incompetence", it was only after his death that I discovered Conrad was wrong not he ❗

Maybe now days TE supplies the MS-9150 with a DB25-DE9 cable, Conrad didn't, meanwhile their "expertise" and their specifications (as well as those from TE), proved wrong. My conclusion; they were/are selling equipment that does not meet their own specs and Conrad's aftersales service was lousy.

At first Conrad sent a incomplete printout of the "manual" with the MS-9150, only much later upon urgent request an "original" manual was sent together with blurry copy of a wiring diagram that only shortly turned out to be from a MS-9160. Even in that "original" (German-language) MS-9150 manual the inductance function is stated !

For further info see: https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30342

Re: How are GND & data lines pared in parallel I/O cable❓

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 11:22 am
by L0uis.m
Hello,

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. It's quite a puzzle to process everything, but together with the responses I got at stardot (see link in my previous contribution) and data from elsewhere, it provides enough information to attempt to reconnect the MS-9150 to a PC.