sending saved information

[robertpeach]

Hi sorry if this is an obvious question...

basically i managed to program a microcomputer 2431. it basically acts as a digital controller in the controller of the active rectifier of a wind turbine.

I can easily code it to take the information about the wind turbine without too much work i hope.

the question im asking is how would i take any saved data thats in the microcomputer and send it to a real computer and turn it into a text file for example? from there i already have programs that could take the data and graph it etc for customer use. im sorry if this is a bad question but im not very hardware (and software) competent.

[Art]

The most obvious approach for smaller amounts of data is over the serial port.

If you're not using picbasic a code example is of little use.

Most serial terminal programs can capture to file.
If you wanted something more reliable you could use checksums.

[robertpeach]

well im using picbasic pro for the microcomputer...

so i would the Synchronous Serial Port on the 2431 to send information? how would a normal computer that runs OS of xp takes this data... would anyone know how to convert it etc or any good software to create a program to take the data and create a text file from it

i found quite a nice terminal program called realterm http://realterm.sourceforge.net/ do you reckon this could do the job?

[Charles Linquis]

Send out of the hardware serial port. Use a MAX232 or equivalent as a level shifter. Send the data out as ASCII text.

Capture the data with HyperTerm (use TRANSFER/CAPTURE TEXT) or
with TERMINAL or with virtually any other terminal software.

[robertpeach]

ok thanks ill give that a try!

if im getting this right, is a level shifter just to change the voltage of the active signal as its being sent? where the pic is running at about 5v what would be normal for the computer to recieve it at?

sorry i may have completely missed the point of the level shifter...

thanks for the replys

[LinkMTech]

Hi Robert,
The data out of the PIC will be 0 to 5V but will be converted to a +- signal out of a RS232 chip that has a negative voltage generator for +-5V swing. Here's a scope shot I found when I Googled "what is RS232"
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rs232_oscilloscope_trace.jpg

[robertpeach]

ahhh ok thats making alot of sense thanks for the help guys im gonna do somee research and hopefully get it up and running!