How to connect um6-LT to PC?

Robotics and electronics discussion Electronics
1

I have read dataship, but some things I do not understand. How to connect um6-lt to a computer. What do I need? Can this be done with the help of RS - 232 or USB or another things ?? Please help me. Thank you.

2

Hello.

The UM6-LT Orientation Sensor can be connected to a computer using a USB-to-TTL serial adapter like this:

pololu.com/catalog/product/391

  • Grant
3

Hi

So if I understand correctly.

UM6 Serial to USB convertor
Tx -> Rx
Rx -> Tx
Gnd -> Gnd
Gnd -> Gnd (do I need to connect both on the UM6-LT ?)
3.3Vdd -> 3.3v
5Vin -> 5Vbus

These are the only connections I need to make, is that correct ?

thanks
Steve

4

Hello, Steve.

The only connections you should need for the UM6 are TX, RX, GND, and VIN, as shown in the “Getting Started with the UM6 Orientation Sensor” instructions. You can find this guide under the “Resources” tab on the product page of the UM6-LT. You can supply power to VIN from either the Vbus on the USB-to-Serial Adapter or a separate power supply. If you supply the UM6 from a source other than the serial adapter, you should make sure that you connect the ground from both the adapter and the supply to it.

- Grant

5

Hi Grant

Excellent, I had them connected and so far I’m only using Tx, Rx, GND and 3.3v

I saw the guide, I wasn’t 100% sure hence I only used the 3.3v line as a test as it is a pricy board and I didn’t want to damage it

Both green lights are showing on the UM6 and the red light is showing on the USB serial adapter and the device shows up as /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART on OS X and in a Mac Serial test app. I’ll try the 5v instead of the 3.3v

I’ll need try to find a windows box to test on now, my old windows test drive got thrashed recently :frowning:

thanks for the confirmation, I’ll let you know how I get on

Steve

PS Just noticed I had the Rx & Tx connected wrongly (how does that happen !) , hooked up to 5v and I’m getting loads of characters back so I guess the baud rate needs setting correctly ?

6

It does sounds like you could be having issues with the baud rate. According to the UM6-LT’s datasheet, the baud rate is 115200 by default.

- Grant

7

Yes I got past that issue, 115200 seems to be the right value

Rather than try to set up a windows box for testing I’ve decided to to do my programming straight from OS X, that was my long term plan anyway so I’m currently writing the code to access the UM6 (using sample code from the apple developer site as a template, an approach I’ve used before)