Hi gang,

Well, I got an ND-6530 and wired it to my STXR as shown in the excellent FishBowl manual. I really appreciate those photos!

Connected the other end of the ND-6530 to my Windows XP computer through the USB port.

Windows XP immediately discovered the usb connection, and downloaded the ND-6530 driver. After a reboot, it recognizes the ND-6530. So far, so good.

When I fire up FishBowl 1.3, it shows "offline".

A few questions:

First, I set the switches on the ND-6530 for RS-232 (that is, switch 1 down and switch 2 up). I assume that this is what it should be (can't find any documentation about it!) Is this right?

2) Which of the 8 Comm ports should I check (I thought that a USB didn't know about comm ports)

3) Is there any way to test if data is arriving into the ND-6530?

4) Is there a simple way to tell if the ND-6530 is sending data to the computer?

Thanks for any help!
-Cliff

A little progress in the past 15 minutes:

The System Properties > Device Manager shows Ports (COM & LPT) to have ADLink USB-to-Serial Converter (COM6)

So I guess that FishBowl should be set to use port Com6.

But when I select port 6, FishBowl still reports "offline".

Within the USB-to-Serial COnverter Properties is a menu for Port settings. What speed should I select (1200 baud/2400/9600 etc)? Databits 8? Parity None...

Also, the ND-6530 seems to have driver version 1.5.0.0 dated 4/9/2002. Is that what others show?

Thanks for any help -- I'm stuck on this one.

More understanding, no progress:

Under the ND-6530's (well, ADLink USB-toSerial Converter Properties) Port Settings, there is an "Advanced" settings button.

This lets you select the size of the receive buffer and also choose the COM Port Number. Apparently, the driver automatically chooses the lowest port number that's not already in use.

I hung an oscilloscope on the data output of the Suntie ST-XR and see that the data is coming out at 9600 baud (or at least the packets are about 1 millisecond long).

So data is getting into the ND-6530. But FishBowl is still offline.

Next, I'll start looking at the USB output....

Solved!

Problem was in the FishBowl Options: "XR-GP (UPG)" was checked. I'm using a Trace ST-XR.

Looks like it's working now. Big thanks to the FishBowl makers!

Hi,

Glad you figured it out and since you responded with how you debugged it , this will help others , Thanks !

You don't need to set the baud rate or the fifo setting , the program sets the baud rate up when it is launched

And why do your have an XR ? and not an Upgraded unit ?

The Upgrade was free and even now for I hear 400 bucks you can get a new (refurb) inverter. Better yet , if your XR is under warrenty and "needs" to be repaired , they will NOT send you an XR but a UPG.

Hey - thanks for the note!

Funny you should mention the upgrade. Yes, I *did* have my ST/XR upgraded in June (took Xantrex two days to do a complete upgrade - wow!). And the unit is clearly upgraded, with the new controller board, exactly like the one in the photo in the Fishbowl manual.

But for reasons I don't understand, the Fishbowl program will work only if the Settings Options is *not* checked for the XR-GP(UPG). I'm using version 1.3, and everything seems to work normally when the checkbox is unchecked. When I check that box, the red "offline" flag appears. and everything goes to zeros.

Any ideas?

Cheers from Oakland California, where the politics are nutty!
-Cliff

Oh - three fields on FishBowl are zeroed out: MPPT, Amps DC, & Watts DC.

I assume these are blanked because the XR-GP (UPG) box is not checked.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Something isn't right ...

Was does the LCD display show for revision numbers when first powered on ?

You mentioned you modifed the fifo settings , I would try turning them back on which is the default for XP.

What is the computer speed ?

Yes , the XR (non upgrade) has no current circuit as well as the other new varibles , so they are blanked out

[ 09-22-2003: Message edited by: Solar Guppy ]

Thanks for the fast response!

On restarting the ST/XR, it says, XR with SunSweep, Rev 03.2

I've reset all the fifo/port settings to default.

Any suggestions?

Computer is a 2GHZ generic Pentium 4, running XP with current patches & revisions.