Switching from LCS to LSU

Nice to know, I was wondering about how to do each easily.

 

Are you going into production?

Dave Slie has a switch that he uses.  Maybe he'll chime in.

I have a similar setup on my layout.  A 9-pin serial A/B switch selects either the LCS WiFi module or the Legacy Y cable which is attached to the pc running the LSU using the Serial Comm end of the Y cable.  I do power down my Legacy base before switching serial inputs just to be on the safe side. 

My TPCs are connected to the SER2 which is connected to the WiFi module.

Power-cycling the Legacy base during the switch-over is a good idea.

cjack or Rudy, I just had a similar problem but without an a/b switch. When I connected my USB to Serial cable to a SER2 and powered up I got red lights blinking on all the LCS boxes except the SER2 that was connected to that cable which blinked green. The LCU said no base found. I connected to a different SER2 and it did the same thing. I connected the USB/Serial cable directly to the Legacy base and had a connection with the LSU. Any ideas?

It was reported earlier in this thread that the SER2 cannot communicate with the LSU PC software.  Other than using that, not sure why you would need the USB to serial. 

 

I guess if you are using another TMCC type program It would be handy. 

 

Interesting Steve that it would cause an issue though. 

The SER2 DB9 output cannot be used for the computer serial connection for the LSU. It can be used to run things like TPCs, etc.

That is why I needed to switch the Legacy Base output from the LCS use to the computer serial LSU use. I found that just having the metal shell of the computer serial connector connected to the metal shell of the LCS connector caused the system, for me, to prevent the LCS from functioning. The solution was to just connect the pins of the computer serial cable...but not it's shell to the other two shells.

Thanks guys. I was going off the pic on page 14 that shows a SER2 connected to a computer. I didn't realize the LSU would'nt work with the SER2.

 

Marty, my laptop doesn't have a serial port.

 

cjack, any suggestions for what to get for a setup like yours?

Steve

 

Rudy I believe mentioned they are working on a WiFi version of LSU. 

 

Rudy also recommended if you do a switch, to power off the base before switching. 

Well do a search on say Amazon for a DB9 serial switch box. Then select one that will switch between two outputs A and B. Pay attention to the gender of your Legacy Base, Serial to USB cable and the LCS cable. The Legacy Base is female, and most serial cables are male to female...but you can get same gender cables, males or females...depending on the genders of the connections on the A/B switch box. The LCS cable end is male. Draw a diagram of what you have and what's available and order a box and cables so that everything will fit up. Then plug the LCS into A, the computer serial into B and the Legacy Base into I/O.

If you run into what I did, you might have to isolate the metal shell of the computer serial plug from the LCS plug shell (the switch box connects them thru the metal of the box)...might just be my issue here with grounds, etc. Radios, etc. connected to whatnot here .

Thanks again for your help.