Problem with B1236R LED display and its USB/serial connection

hi guys
i bought a led display model
and it has a usb cable
also i installed a usb-serial software
the software created a virtual serial port com 3 for my pc
i should use it to send text to the display
but
nothing happened text was not sent thru that virtual port
since the display supports usb and serial
i wanna connect that to my serial port directly
my question is
can i buy a usb to serial adapter for the display's usb cable( it comes with a usb cable only)
just connnect the display to my serial port and see if it will work?
thanks

Re: usb to serial

Could you post the display model that are you using, we can help you better.

Bye
Powermos

Re: usb to serial

Hi,
No, this will not work since USB is an assymetric interface, the USB port on the PC side is a host interface and the USB interface on your Display is a device interface. The converter cable interface is also a device interface which takes the signal from the PC and converts into RS232. Does not your display come with appropriate software to down lonload data from PC through USB?

Regards,
Laktronics

Re: usb to serial

hi
thx for your replies
here is the story and this is the website
**broken link removed**
ps I got the B1236R model
this led display badge comes with a usb cable
and a cd rom that has a simple software inside-- the prolific usb-serial driver and a software for me to send things to the badge

( it is supposed i can use it to send self-made logoes to the badge )
as it says , it has 2 connection model , one is thru serial port directly and one is thru the usb cable ( the software made a virtual com 3 with prolific usb- serial driver)
i installed the driver properly and saw com3 under my computer
also in the software i control text to place into the badge shows a activated com 3
when i pressed the send button, nothing happened lol
I seldom give up i think i tried at least 400 times and tried different ways

i even tried to go to prolific website to install the latest driver
still did anything work
sigh
the weird thing is on the led badge there are only 3 buttons
one brightness button, one power on off button
and message select button( in the software , I can send 8 msgs and the button is for me to select which msg to be appeared on the led badge screen
I tried and tried from one msg to the 8th msg
nothing was sent there

i tried to work with them all while sending simple text to the badge thru the virtual com 3
and today i went to the shop and the owner gave me another one to try it out
same things happened --------- nothing worked
it seems to me that this is a big company
it is weird that 2 of these led badges are not working
suppose something is wrong ??????????????
what would that be?
oh my god lol i am not kidding
i tried the first one for 7 hours straight and then
today i tried the second one for another 5 hours
nothing worked!

any smart people in this forum out there
i really hope u can tell me why all these happened
thanks so much
lol by the way i am still trying
if it is still not working, i think i will return this to the shop
tomorrow


Added after 5 minutes:

hi

let me add one more thing
my model comes with a usb cable ( it is a usb type)
and the software has a driver called prolific usb-serial driver that makes a virtual com 3 to the pc for me to use to send text and logos to the badge.
thanks


regards

Re: usb to serial

Hi,
From what you described it appears that your basic unit has an RS232 interface and the cable is a USB to 232 converter. In that case it should also work directly with serial port with out the converter cable, provided you know the correct order of pins on the serial connector of the unit, I suppose, the cable itself is detachable through a serial connector on the unit?

But I do not understand why their software is not doing the job. Even if you physically connect the unit to a serial port, you need to install their software for the serial port and use it, since you may not know the protocol they are following to communicate with the device.

You may have to check up with the Company as to why thier software is not able to send data, assuming you have not got any errors while installing the software and you have followed their istructions properly.

By the way, what about the baud rate, and other serial parameters like no of data bits, start /stop and parity bits setting and flow control options for COM3? These will have to match with those of the display's internal serial port.
I will get back if I get some more ideas.

Regards,
Laktronics

Re: usb to serial

hi
thanks all for trying to help
i really appreciate it
the cable is just like a usb cable to me
but there is kinda transparent like a dark tea color plastic near the usb socket
i looked inside and saw a chip ( it is a max232 or something, i cannot see the exact model no )
apart from the chip , there are resistors or caps.

about the virtual com 3
i clicked it open and saw
all settings were set by the profilic use-serial driver- all default
baud rate(B) = 9600
no of data bit(D) = 8
(P)parity = none
(S) =1
(F)flow control option= none

after i read what you wrote, I even tried to change them all one by one
still nothing worked
hmmmmmmmmmm
Simonwai
best regards

Re: usb to serial

Hi,
Regarding the RS232 parameters, do they specify anything for their hardware side? And, if they are matching with what is set in the PC, then I think you have to only contact the manufacturer for the clarification. There is no point in trying with another serial port, as the set up you have done is the right way to use it.

Is the display remaining blank or shows some fixed data?

Regards,
Laktronics

Re: usb to serial

hi
thx for all
i returend it to the shop and got my money back
it was a malfunctioned badge
regards