Re: [Hampshire] Serial Ports

Hi,

On Thu, Apr 03 at 07:13, Peter Brooks wrote:
> Hi All,
> Our radio station has just purchased an Audioarts Air 2+
> (http://www.audioartsengineering.com/audioarts_consoles.html#air2) ,
> of which has a dsub-25 connector as in this diagram:
> http://www.theneb.co.uk/air2Dsub.png

Firstly I see no serial ports. The only thing that connector has in
common with a serial port is the choice of connector hardware. It's
an unspecified logic level and relay contacts connector that I'd call
a hodge-podge.

I count 13 unspecified logic "start" output signals and at least one
pair of relay contacts "on air tally".


> We're also using a canford on-air light, of which has technical specs
> as given here:
> http://www.canford.co.uk/commerce/resources/datsht/02-050.pdf
>
> All of the start common/channel needs to be received by our custom
> software on our pc and the 'on air tally' needs to be sent to the
> canford on-air light.

Controlling the Canford light directly from the console tally relay
should be straight forward. Sling a bell wire between pins 9,10 on
the console and 1,2 on the lamp. However I would want to inspect the
lamp first to ensure safe isolation between the control input and the
mains. Lighting engineers have been known to take some awful shortcuts
in the past.


> Can all this be done via software? Ie I plug the dsub-25 into our
> computer and then receive the start signals, log the 'on air tally'
> and send the signal to the canford on-air light via another serial
> port.

DO NOT PLUG THIS UNIT DIRECTLY TO ANY STANDARD PC PORT. It is not a
serial port, nor is it anything like a standard parallel (printer)
port. Plugging this into a PC may damage one or even both ends.


To monitor the 13 start signals I'd use a PIO (parallel I/O) or simple
data acquisition card[1]. If you can determine the logic level being
used then a cheaper TTL card might be usable. Hah I've just discovered
a USB based unit that might work[2], all you'd need to do is remap the
wiring between the two connectors.


[1] http://www.bluechiptechnology.co.uk/products.php?part_id=84&sm_select=7
[2] http://www.audon.co.uk/usbpio.html

-- 
        Bob Dunlop