Makes And Models > Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+

Using Putty to connect to MBB

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2020_SRS_Commuter:
I made up a USB to OBD2 cable as shown in the unofficial manual. So far I've not been able to get putty to open a serial window. I think the problem is in the laptop perhaps. Putty says its missing a file or some such.
The instructions in the Unofficial Manual say:

1.   Cut the connectors off the end of the green, white and black wires to expose bare wires.
2.   Solder the wires to the pins on the OBDII connector as follows:
•   Black wire (ground) to pin 5
•   White wire (RX) to pin 8
•   Green wire (TX) to pin 9
•   Red wire is not connected (+5V)
3.   Plug cable in to laptop computer; device should be recognized and driver installed successfully.

But... I don't understand this. If all this cable is is a ground, and two data lines to pin 8 and 9, how would it even know something was connected and install a driver? I tried it on two laptops, an old Vista one and a Windows 10  one. Neither one sees it as a "device" or installs anything and I don't know why it would. 

My background to help frame an answer is : I don't do much with PCs anymore but use them, however in the past I assembled, repaired, and upgraded PCs in a shop, and back in college we even constructed our own memory boards for Z80s, and used Edlin to communicate with them. I've written some code in C and Basic, and in Arduino IDE

atomicdog:
The PC OS knows when the dongle is plugged in (starts talking to the microcontroller in the cable) but doesn't know about or if anything is plugged in on the other side. The microcontroller in the cable translates the USB signal to UART (TTL).

On Win 10 the driver is probably already installed. If you go to the device manger you should see it under Ports (COM & LPT)

I also wasn't able to get putty to work for some reason.
I would try tera term instead; it also lists the available COM ports unlike Putty, so you don't have to look it up in the device manager.

2020_SRS_Commuter:
Thanks, I downloaded that and will look at it tomorrow.
Where is there a microcontroller in the USB cable? In the side that plugs into the PC?
I know for sure there is nothing in the OBD2 end of it as that was just a shell I bought from ebay, and I cut off the end of the USB cable and soldered to the pins in there.

atomicdog:
Yeah, the side that plugs into the PC (similar to this).

2020_SRS_Commuter:
Thanks for your help. I did not read the instructions properly and used a normal USB power cable. Duh.
The article writer is explicit that a "USB to TTL" cable should be used, which contains a UART, and even shows a picture of it.
Ordered it today. I'll be back after I've assembled the cable correctly. Thanks again.

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