MSView usb/serial connecting

Thomas · October 2013

All is connected with my new TS-45. My battery order got loused up so I have to do the return/ thing with the merchant.
Any way, my computer won't find the device and wont start it error 10. I uninstalled my whole usb structure and reinstalled the usb/com port driver.
Still no connection. There is a yellow exclamation point next to the usb/com port driver in Device Manager.
If I drag my desktop to the controller instead of my notebook, would it make a difference?
Is there a port settings for the baud/bits/parity etc?
Morningstar indicates a problem with some usb/serial adapters voltages, yellow exclamation?

mike95490 · October 2013

Re: MSView usb/serial connecting

I didn't know MS had a USB port ? I use the serial port, talking to a SERIAL/USB translator, to get to my laptop. The translator dongle should have it's own driver, in addition to the laptop USB driver.

Coach Dad · October 2013

Re: MSView usb/serial connecting

I've got the Morningstar MPPT 60 and I use MS-View, so I can tell you how to configure that. It should be the same (or close enough that you can get through)

You have a COM port not a USB… When connecting directly from PC to controller via COM port you need to use cross-over cable.

Check your Local Area Connection settings ,
- Go to control panel
- Network and Sharing Center
- Change adapter settings
- Double click on Local Area Connection
- Click on Properties
- Select: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click properties
- IP Address to , 192.168.1.2 ,
- Subnet Mask to 255.255.255. 0,
- Default Gateway to 192.168.1.1,
save changes restart PC and controller.

Good Luck

RandomJoe · October 2013

Re: MSView usb/serial connecting

The yellow exclamation mark means Windows has a problem with the USB/serial adapter. Either the driver didn't install right, or it isn't initializing the device right. I'm not a Windows user, so can't help much with that. In Device Manager, if you double-click (or right-click then select properties) on the item with the exclamation Windows will tell you what's wrong - hopefully it'll be a useful message!

Once you get that working, you may still have issues - the voltage problems MS mention won't show up as an error in Windows. Serial signals are supposed to be +/- 12V minimum by spec, but many serial devices will still work with less. Really cheap USB/serial adapters often go to extremes and may be so far off-spec they can be flaky or just flat won't work with devices that expect levels closer to spec. I got tired of having to deal with that and buy good USB adapters. Yeah, I pay $35 for them while the cheapies can be had for $10 but I also haven't had any issues whatsoever. The drivers have also always worked out of the box! There are also two main categories of chipset. Better devices usually use the FTDI chipset, cheaper ones the Prolific.

For port settings, that is usually left up to the application itself. If the application is old enough, it may expect the OS to arrange the settings. Again, in Device Manager, right-click the device and select properties. There will be a page somewhere in there that says what COM port it is emulating. There should be a button there that allows you to change the settings. Some of the cheaper USB-serial adapters I've used are pretty limited in available settings, some of the nicer ones have an incredible array of settings available! But you'll have to get the driver working properly before this even shows up.

Coach Dad, the settings you list are for ethernet networking settings. They won't have any effect on a serial connection.

scrubjaysnest · May 2015

After going through this old thread, found out Belkin doesn't offer a Win 7 64 bit driver for my F5U409 usb to serial adapter. An internet search found that some Belkins' use a chip set by MCT. Here is the link to page that talks about this. The driver is working great on my win 7 machine. Now to see if I have a cable to interface with the TS-45 PWM.

http://www.clearchain.com/blog/posts/how-to-use-a-belkin-f5u409f5u409-cu-usb-to-pda-serial-converter-in-visawindows-7-64bit-mac-osx-10

scrubjaysnest · May 2015

Well, the DB9 connector doesn't fit the TS-45 because the status LEDS are in the way. Any ideas around this problem?

scrubjaysnest · May 2015

Gave the DB9 connector an attitude adjustment with my Dremel tool and it now fits. Got MSview to talk to the TS-45 and converted the log file to CSV. Good thing as MSview says it saves the log as a *.xml file but I sure can't find it.
Took a look at the data in the csv file; just feb to date. Appears Dec 2014 and Jan 2015 went into the bit bucket. So much for saving 200 days worth. Looks closer to 100 days. Looks like a big learning curve of MSview unless I can find a MSview for dummies some where. When I looked at the data in Excel the Vb max and min columns were reversed. Fixed that; some of the column headers haven't figured out yet and data needs to be more often then once a day. But what I have is a start.

MSView usb/serial connecting

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