BESTCOMS_DECS100_11000 - Error "Communication port is not responding"

[Giuseppe.Ing]

Hello. I am an engineer working for a company in the energy sector. I need to connect a PC to a Basler Electric AVR to read data. I have connected the PC with a serial cable for RS-232 ports (DB9 connector). When I start the BESTCOMS-100 software and select the COM port, pressing the initialize button gives me an error message: "Communication port is not responding." Do you know how I can solve this? Thank you.

 

[Gr8blu]

Did you actually try contacting Basler directly?

https://www.basler.com/

Since we don't know where you are in the world, click on the "Contact" pulldown menu in the upper right of the webpage and enter the appropriate data.

Converting energy to motion for more than half a century

 

[catserveng]

Does your computer have a native RS232 port? Or are you using an adaptor like a USB to RS232? I have found the older Basler software can be picky about Comm Port numbers, older AVR's and their software would only recognize com ports 1-9.

Go into your Device Manager and verify what port you're using. Check the baud rate, 9600 seems to work best on the older Basler softwares.

If you have a USB adaptor, see what comm port number assignment it has, try setting it to a number lower than 9, and make sure about checking the baud rate.

Several USB adaptors I have tried over the years have not worked as expected, my best luck is with a StarTech USB adaptor, which allows you to assign a comm port number.

Hope that helps, MikeL.

 

[Giuseppe.Ing]

Does your computer have a native RS232 port? Or are you using an adaptor like a USB to RS232? I have found the older Basler software can be picky about Comm Port numbers, older AVR's and their software would only recognize com ports 1-9.

I used three different PCs: a laptop connected with a USB-Serial cable, and two PCs connected with a Serial-Serial cable. When I identified the port through Device Manager, it was number 1 on the desktops and number 3 on the laptop. The result (negative) was the same on all three PCs. As for the baud rate, I believe it was exactly 9600.

 

[catserveng]

Are you trying to connect to the DECS AVR while the unit is OFF?

The DECS has no auxiliary power input, if you are trying to connect to the DECS with no power input on terminals 3,4 and 5 the AVR will not respond.

If you want to program a DECS AVR offline, you can connect a power cord two any two of the power input terminals.

A DECS 100 manual is attached, go to section 4-13 Preliminary Setup to see how to connect to a DECS with no generator input power.

Hope that helps,

MikeL.

 

[wcaseyharman]

One thing that has also bit me is making sure I’m using the right serial cable (null modem versus straight-through). My recollection is you need to use a straight-through cable, but I’ve only worked on DECS400s.

 

[davidbeach]

Basler and SEL use opposite configurations. The setup that works for one won’t work for the other. And, ironically, the easiest solution is using the SEL USB to serial cable and just switching the configuration switch as needed.

When one this sentence into the German to translate wanted, would one the fact exploit, that the word order and the punctuation already with the German conventions agree.

-- Douglas Hofstadter, Jan 1982