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October 12, 2004
Instructions for making a serial communication cable
To program a Basic Stamp, you can use the 9-pin RS232 serial port that's built in to the carrier board. However, to communicate between the Stamp and a multimedia tool (such as Director, Max/MSP or Processing), you'll need to build a serial cable that ends in bare wires, so that you can connect it directly to two Stamp I/O pins, which you'll use for serial input and output.
Here is a diagram of the cable you'll need to build:
Following are detailed instructions for one method of making this cable.
Use a 9 pin female D-sub connector [Radio Shack 276-1538].
The solder terminals are numbered from left to right, top row first.
You will want to find some way to hold the connector in place while
you solder it (such as a vice, a clamp, a weight, or a piece of tape).
Use .032 diameter light-duty rosin-core solder [Radio Shack 64-005].
Fill terminals 2, 3 and 5 with solder. (Heat the terminal with the soldering
iron and then hold the solder to the terminal until it flows into it).
I recommend using a green wire for ground [5],
a black wire for BS2 serial in [3], and a red wire
for BS2 serial in [2]. Strip 1/4 inch of insulation
on each wire. Coat the bare wire with solder.
Reheat the solder in each terminal.
When it is liquified, push the appropriate wire
into the terminal and hold it until it hardens.
I recommend soldering the necessary 22K resistor
inline with the BS2 serial in cable.
That's it. Now you're ready to test communications
between the Stamp and your authoring tool.
Posted by Perry at October 12, 2004 11:58 PM
Comments
Perry, this is very helpful - thanks. I plan to build mine tonight after the forum. Should we each purchase the D-sub connectors or do you have enough to go around?
Posted by: Andrew at October 13, 2004 12:56 PM
I'm going to go ahead and get my own supplies to build the cable:
Resistors: $1
Wire: $5
D-Sub: $2
Having your own cable, so no one else snatches it: priceless
Posted by: Michael Steffen at October 13, 2004 09:04 PM
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