Caanoo / WIZ Howto: Easy Wiz Usb Serial Cable For $25 Or So


fells

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I recently built a simple USB-serial cable for my Wiz to help in development work. Here's a list of parts and simple instructions.

  1. I ordered this Samsung E810 Serial Cable from negsm.com. You don't need a cable, you just need a connector. Here's a list of places to find the connector only, but I found it easier to just buy a cheap $9.95 Samsung cable from negsm.. I have no affiliation with them, never ordered anything from them before. I ordered it on a Monday and it was in my US Mail box on Wednesday. That's fast and good service. Note that the cable that actually arrives to you looks nothing like the picture, that's ok, we only need the 24-pin connector.
  2. I then ordered this USB Serial breakout board from Sparkfun. Again no affiliation (but I have ordered lots of things from them.) Shipping is not free here, but it is cheap and fast. Ordered Monday, got it Thursday via priority mail.
  3. I cracked open the Samsung cable (screwdriver) at the 24-pin connector end. On this cable the connector breaks out into 4 rows of 6 leads each. It was kind of hard to find the right pins because everything is so small back there. I was helped out by this pinout for Samsung connectors because ground, TX and RX were already connected (to the wrong place, of course) on my cable-- that helped me get oriented with the pin #s. After determining which pins were what, I desoldered all the existing leads (making the connector freestanding with no cable) and then soldered a lead on pins 12, 13 and 14 each. Of course I was helped by andymanone and sbock's awesome pinout for the Wiz to find the right places.
  4. I soldered the 3 leads coming off the connector to the breakout board. Pin 12 (ground) went to ground on the board, pin 13 (RXD) went to TX-O on the board, and pin 14 (TXD) went to pin RX-I on the board.
  5. Connected the board with a mini USB lead, booted a terminal at 115200, XON, 8-N-1. It works!!!

Total parts list:

I'll try to post pics later, but this was easy and pretty simple. I imagine you could save $$ if you just found the connector part -- does anyone have any leads on those?
 
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http://www.ipmart.com/main/product/LG,C1100,,C2200,,U8110,,G7050,,Samsung,E720,,E810,,Z500,24,Pin,Connector,Compatible,9698.php?prod=9698
 
Even cheaper is an E810 cable + DKU-5/CA-42 cable off eBay, can get the price down to about £3.25 (err.. about $5 I think) for both.

If you check that the large usb plug containing the usb-serial board (usually a pl2303) has a plastic shell, you can take it apart and solder the 5v for charging too (well, you could cut open a moulded plug, but you won't get it back together).

Plus you don't have to have a board dangling in the middle of your wire. ;)

edit: personally, I like the idea of an FT2232 based usb/jtag combo cable, but I probably won't bother building one now I've got a serial cable - unless I manage to brick my Wiz. ;)
 
It´s not a big thing and it´s really easy :) .

(I made my first serial cable for the WIZ in 11/08/2008 ;) )

Here my first success:
DSCN4694800x600.JPG


DSCN4705800x600.JPG


wiz_screenshoot2.jpg



My thread: Wiz Serial Access



I´ve used for it a (Wiki- and Wiz-modified) original Samsung PCB181NSE cable.

It use a 9pin 232-Serial-Connector, but you can use a additional Serial-USB converter (e.g. you see in the picture below)
to make it "USB-ready"
(You can find some cheap versions via internet - i´ve tested it and it works fine w/o any probs ;) )

USB-232-ConverterII.jpg



Maybe it could be also interesting :) :

Some times ago, i made a Serial and USB-Host "Twin-cable".

So you can access the WIZ via Console and additional you can attach a low-power USB Device to the Wiz
(like a keyboard or a USB-Joystick, USB-Memory-Sticks eg)

Here some pictures:

DSCN6061.jpg


DSCN6065.jpg


DSCN6068.jpg


DSCN6075.jpg


For more USB Support you´ll need a active USB-Hub (or a WIZ-Cradle)

Gtx.,
andY
 
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damn, i'd really like to have one of these cables. would make my life so much easier ;)
sorry if it is a stupid question, i'm just a coder, never been into that tech stuff. i can't find any of the e810 serial cables here in austria but only the USB versions - would they also work in a way? ...
 
crow_riot said:
damn, i'd really like to have one of these cables. would make my life so much easier ;)
sorry if it is a stupid question, i'm just a coder, never been into that tech stuff. i can't find any of the e810 serial cables here in austria but only the USB versions - would they also work in a way? ...

They're all USB, but it doesn't matter anyway, you only want it for the plug. :)
 
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pseudonym404 said:
crow_riot said:
damn, i'd really like to have one of these cables. would make my life so much easier ;)
sorry if it is a stupid question, i'm just a coder, never been into that tech stuff. i can't find any of the e810 serial cables here in austria but only the USB versions - would they also work in a way? ...

They're all USB, but it doesn't matter anyway, you only want it for the plug. :)
aah, ok. i *think* i finally figured all out what it needs :)
 
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pseudonym404 said:
crow_riot said:
damn, i'd really like to have one of these cables. would make my life so much easier ;)
sorry if it is a stupid question, i'm just a coder, never been into that tech stuff. i can't find any of the e810 serial cables here in austria but only the USB versions - would they also work in a way? ...

They're all USB, but it doesn't matter anyway, you only want it for the plug. :)
Hi crow_riot, sorry, but I must contradict you a little bit ;)

It´s not only the plug its also the build in RS232-to-TTL Converter (seen on the picture below):

Serial-pcb-view.jpg


But you can take of course a Samsung USB cable and use only the plug , but you must add an FTDI converter
if you want to use a USB-Port on your PC, or a 232-to-TTL converter (e.g. MAX3232) if your PC has a COM-Port .

Best regards,
andY
 
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andymanone said:
pseudonym404 said:
They're all USB, but it doesn't matter anyway, you only want it for the plug. :)
Hi crow_riot, sorry, but I must contradict you a little bit ;)

It´s not only the plug its also the build in RS232-to-TTL Converter (seen on the picture below):

But you can take of course a Samsung USB cable and use only the plug , but you must add an FTDI converter
if you want to use a USB-Port on your PC, or a 232-to-TTL converter (e.g. MAX3232) if your PC has a COM-Port .

Best regards,
andY

Fair enough, in that case, I couldn't find any with with built in converters either, all the ones on eBay when I got mine appear to be for devices that actually have USB pins.

I just bought a Nokia CA42 cable too for the USB to TTL converter (I haven't owned a computer with a serial port for some time). :)
 
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Ahh, okay :)

So i use several computers, some with serial ports and some which have only USB ports..
(For this ones i take an additional inexpensive standard Serial-USB converter cable)

Btw.: sorry i´ve seen i´ve confused your nicknames (ouf course i mean the post of you pseudonym404, and not crow_riot) ;)

andY
 
andymanone said:
Ahh, okay :)

So i use several computers, some with serial ports and some which have only USB ports..
(For this ones i take an additional inexpensive standard Serial-USB converter cable)

andY

hehe, no problem from my side. at least i'm starting to understand all that matter ;) ,,,, i hope to get that cable done soon :)
 
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andymanone said:
But you can take of course a Samsung USB cable and use only the plug , but you must add an FTDI converter
if you want to use a USB-Port on your PC, or a 232-to-TTL converter (e.g. MAX3232) if your PC has a COM-Port .

I have just purchased this lead. Am I right in thinking I just need to connect:

GND -> EXT(12) GND
Tx -> EXT(13) RX
Rx -> EXT(14) TX

My electronic skills are lacking and am confused by pins 20,21 and what role they play in serial communications. Or can I just connect the usb lead's 5V VCC line to EXT's USB(slave) power input and get usb charging with a serial cable.
 
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UByte said:
andymanone said:
But you can take of course a Samsung USB cable and use only the plug , but you must add an FTDI converter
if you want to use a USB-Port on your PC, or a 232-to-TTL converter (e.g. MAX3232) if your PC has a COM-Port .

I have just purchased this lead. Am I right in thinking I just need to connect:

GND -> EXT(12) GND
Tx -> EXT(13) RX
Rx -> EXT(14) TX

My electronic skills are lacking and am confused by pins 20,21 and what role they play in serial communications. Or can I just connect the usb lead's 5V VCC line to EXT's USB(slave) power input and get usb charging with a serial cable.
Hi UByte, yes you´re right,
maybe you need power too, than take the Pin 4(or5) from the external WIZ connector.
The rest is correct.

Btw, don´t be confused, Pin 20/21 is used as "Power-in"-Line for charging the WIZ Accu :)!

Good luck !

Gtx.,
andY
 
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andymanone said:
Hi UByte, yes you´re right,
maybe you need power too, than take the Pin 4(or5) from the external WIZ connector.
The rest is correct.

Btw, don´t be confused, Pin 20/21 is used as "Power-in"-Line for charging the WIZ Accu :) !

Good luck !

Gtx.,
andY

I'm pretty sure the TTL convertor is powered from the PC, the 5V header on the lead is to power the device so I guess that's going in pin 21/22.

I'd also like to add a USB socket to the USB host pins, should I take one of the power out pins 4/5 for usb host power? These are only 3.7V though will this be sufficient?
 
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UByte said:
I'm pretty sure the TTL convertor is powered from the PC, the 5V header on the lead is to power the device so I guess that's going in pin 21/22.

I'd also like to add a USB socket to the USB host pins, should I take one of the power out pins 4/5 for usb host power? These are only 3.7V though will this be sufficient?
@USB Powered: Yes i think so too, i needed power from the WIZ, ´cause i use a Serial Conector (instead of USB),
So the TTL-232 Converter must be powered by WIZ.

@USB-HOST: yes you can use the line 4/5 but your´e right, there are only 3,7V available.
You can use it for low powered USB devices (e.g. Keyboards, mouse, Joysticks etc.) that works fine.
Active Devices can work, but don´t must..
If it´s needed, so you can fix it, by putting an active USB-HUB in the USB-chain, than it works too :)

I build for myself in the past a stable and good working selfpowered cradle for the Wiz (see picture), with a lot of features :

DSCN5836.jpg


Best regards,
andY
 
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