Problem Configuring the SMiRFv2

Wireless & IoT
1

Hi,

I recently purchased a SMiRFv2 and am having problems getting into the configuration utility.

I am running Hyperterminal V5.1 under XP home SP2.

First of all, I get two New Hardware Found dialogs when I first connected the SMiRFv2 to my PC. The first was for the CP2101 and the second for the SFE RS232 controller. This does not concern me too much. I mention it because a double install dialog was not mentioned in the PDF documentation.

I have insured that HT and the SFE device driver are both configured for 9600, 8, N, 1 (I am on COM6).

The multiple control S command does not bring up the SFE configuration screen as described in the PDF data sheet. I have tried this with the remote SMiRF powered and unpowered.

I then ran some user code for the remote SMiRFv2 (I am connected to a PIC18C) and was initially unable to establish communications.

While I was looking at my user code, I noticed that communications had been established with the remote and I was getting data on HT.

About a half hour later, the communications halted and HT is, once more, dead. I have nor been able reestablish.

When I plug in the USB part of the SMiRFv2 pair, the status light is lit for about a minute and then goes out. When I run the remote, the remote status LED blinks once a second which is consistant with my PIC18C code (sends 30 to 50 ASCII data characters once per second).

I am mostly concerned about not being able to access the SMiRFv2 configuration via multiple control S keystrokes as per the data sheet.

Any ideas?

Mike

2

An update…

My problem appeared to be Hyperterminal. I dusted off my Visual Studio and compiled the Visual Basic program VBTerm.vbp (from the MSDN library). Ran VBTerm and can get into the SMiRFv2 config… So far, so good… everything looks like it is working now.

3

I was under the impression hyperterminal was fairly generic - that it shouldn’t have issues, but I may be wrong. Let me know if you run into any other problems.

-Nathan

4

Obviously not. I have had no issues since steering away from HT.

5

Hyperterminal is awful as far as terminal programs go…

Ask me about the project I did for NASA a few years ago and they insisted on using it with the astronaut’s laptop on the ISS. Long story short, they don’t use it anymore. :lol:

A couple much better terminal programs (free for the download) are:

TeraTerm Pro - http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html

or

Bray Terminal - http://bray.velenje.cx/avr/terminal/

I use both and they work really well, unlike Hyperterminal.

6

I also experienced the same problems with Hyperterminal V5.1 under XP home SP2. Using one of the recommened terminal problems worked just fine.

The pdf should be updated to recommend a different program. I wasted an hour or more before finding the forum.