I have a Tic 36v4 that works correctly with a USB connection using the Tic Control Center software. I need to write my own program in LabView to control the device using a serial connection but I sem unable to get any response from the device at all. I have downloaded the Pololu Serial Transmitter software to test that I can establish a serial connection to the Tic but I cannot. I am using a USB to Serial adapter that provides me with COM3 and I have ensure that the Baud rate on the port settings matches that of the Tic (9600). Other settings for the port are 8 data bits, 1 stop bit , no parity and no flow control.
Any advice anyone has about getting a response from the Tic over a serial connection using Serial Transmitter software would be much appreciated.
Testing with your setup with our Serial Transmitter Utility first seems like a good idea, so lets try to get that working first. What specific bytes are you sending? Does the Tic give you any response such as a red LED indicating an error? If so, could you check what error you’re getting by connecting it to USB and checking the “Status” tab of the Tic Control Center?
Also, could you post some pictures of your setup that show all of your connections, as well as a copy of your Tic settings file? You can save a copy of your Tic settings file form the “File” drop-down menu of the Tic Control Center while the controller is connected.
It’s hard to give a specific recommendation without knowing what state your Tic is in. For example, if it has a safe-start violation triggered, you will need to send an exit safe start command before it will respond to a set target command. You could try sending a “Get variable” command to read the error status by sending the following 3-bytes:
Additionally, please note that with the default settings, the Tic will trigger a command timeout error if it does not receive certain commands for a full second. You can adjust the timeout threshold or disable the command timeout entirely from the “Input and motor settings” tab of the Tic Control Center.
If you do not receive a response from the Tic, please provide the information I asked for in my first post.
