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© 2009 Active Research Limited

USB Driver Installation

The 

Actisense

 USG-1 makes use of a virtual serial port 

driver (know as the Virtual COM Port Driver) to interface 

between  the  USB  port  on  the  PC  and  the 

Actisense

 

product.  This  driver  allows  software  running  on  a  PC 

to  communicate  with  the 

Actisense

  USG-1  as  if  it  was 

connected to a standard serial port on the PC, when in fact 

all communication is done over the USB connection.

The  required  driver  installation  comes  in  two  separate 

packages. The first driver is a called the ‘Serial Converter’ 

which  converts  the  USB  data  packets  to  a  serial  data 

stream.  The  second  driver,  called  the  ‘Actisense  USB 

Serial Port’, makes the USB connection appear as a COM 

port in the Windows Device Manager. 

The  USG-1  with  USB  connection  has  been  extensively 

tested with both Windows XP and Windows 98 SE.

For  the  experienced  Windows  XP  user  who  is  used  to 

installing  drivers,  this  section  will  be  very  familiar. To  all 

other  Windows  users,  the  required  steps  are  detailed 

below to help with installation.

The steps for Windows 98 SE are very similar to those of 

Windows XP and so are not detailed here.

The 

Actisense

  CD  also  contains  the  USB  drivers  for 

Windows  2000.  These  drivers  have  not  been  tested  by 

Actisense

, but should operate in the same manner as the 

Windows 98 SE and XP drivers.

The required Linux drivers are already included in the Linux 

kernels from v2.4.20 and onwards. However, 

Actisense

 

has not been able to test the compatibility of the USG-1 

with USB and this driver. 

For  MAC  OS  8,  9,  and  X  please  contact 

Actisense

  for 

details (refer to the 

Company Information

 section).

Step by step guide

1.

  Make  sure  the 

Actisense

  USG-1  is  connected  to  an 

available  USB  port  on  the  PC.  The  standard  Windows 

‘Found New Hardware Wizard’ window will then appear.

Select  the  ‘

No,  not  this  time

’  option,  to  allow  driver 

installation  from  the 

Actisense

  CD  which  was  supplied 

with your Actisense product.

2.

 Insert the 

Actisense

 CD, choose the ‘

Install from a list 

or specific location

’ option, and click ‘

Next

’.

Summary of Contents for USG-1-B-422

Page 1: ... a safe serial port connection to an NMEA 0183 system that may be on a different power circuit Connect two PCs together that are on different power circuits Provide a fully compliant NMEA 0183 port from a USB port Receive low level differential signals that are too small to be received directly by a PC serial port ...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...NMEA 0183 interfacing 6 The basics 6 The NMEA signals 6 The different NMEA standards 6 Opening the USG 1 6 USG 1 connections 7 Connecting NMEA 0183 devices 8 NMEA 0183 Input 8 NMEA 0183 ISO Drive Output 8 Connecting to a Personal Computer RS232 port 9 Connecting to a 3 pin RS485 Listener IEC 61162 2 9 USB Driver Installation 10 Step by step guide 10 USB Configuration 12 Step by step guide 12 Troub...

Page 4: ...f copyright industrial property right or other rights of a third party caused by the use of information or drawings described in this manual Active Research Limited will not be held responsible for any damage to the user that may result from accidents or any other reasons during operation of the user s unit according to this document When used on an NMEA 0183 system the USG 1 does not validate the...

Page 5: ...g ingenious circuitry unique to Actisense in both it s Listener receiver circuit and its ISO Drive Talker transmitter circuit These circuits are compatible with both RS232 and NMEA 0183 types Please refer to the NMEA 0183 Interfacing section for more information on Talkers and Listeners Solution 3 PC has no serial port Many laptop and desktop PCs do not come equipped with RS232 type serial ports a...

Page 6: ...s the other line similar to the way a computer serial port works This connection method is referred to as single ended instead of the differential method used by NMEA 0183 v2 0 devices The data format is largely the same between both systems with v2 0 adding some extra sentence strings and removing older redundant sentence strings from the specification The situation is further complicated as many...

Page 7: ...It is useful where an RS485 or IEC61162 2 3 terminal type connection is required or where ground continuity is needed between source and target NMEA connections No damage will be caused by connecting to this GND in error Always follow the connection diagrams shown in this manual to ensure correct operation Actisense supply a four core screened cable pre wired to the Phoenix terminal blocks that wi...

Page 8: ... 1 there will be a chance that isolation will not be maintained between them as some of the connected devices may not have correct opto isolated inputs If the user manuals for the connected instruments indicate that all the listeners are opto isolated then they may be safely parallel connected into the ISO Drive output and safe isolation will be maintained The connections on an NMEA Listener may b...

Page 9: ... inside In this case use one pair for the TX line and one for the RX line Use the spare wire in each pair as ground and connect the cable shield to ground only at the computer end 3 The OUT A of the USG 1 should be connected to the RX of the computer standard D type pin 2 and the USG 1 IN A should be connected to the TX of the computer pin 3 4 Connect the IN B and OUT B together and connect to the...

Page 10: ...s this section will be very familiar To all other Windows users the required steps are detailed below to help with installation The steps for Windows 98 SE are very similar to those of Windows XP and so are not detailed here The Actisense CD also contains the USB drivers for Windows 2000 These drivers have not been tested by Actisense but should operate in the same manner as the Windows 98 SE and ...

Page 11: ...al Converter driver is now installed click Finish to complete the wizard and wait for the Found New Hardware Wizard to appear again This second wizard will guide you through the USB Serial Port driver installation 6 Follow steps 1 to 5 above for the USB Serial Port driver installation and click Finish to complete Your new hardware is installed and ready to use will appear in the bottom right corne...

Page 12: ... manually change the allocated COM port number to the same number for each USB port Once configured the COM port number will not change unless instructed to do so by the user This is very useful when the USG 1 is working in unison with a software program that is set up to use a particular COM port as the user does not need to reselect a different COM port every time the PC reboots or the cable is ...

Page 13: ... for the USG 1 device It is not necessary to change the default settings here as each software program will define these settings itself 4 Click on the Advanced button and choose a different COM Port number if required to make it compatible with the software requiring the USG 1 NMEA data The other settings are already optimised for the Actisense USG 1 and should be left in the default values Click...

Page 14: ... sending data and that it has opened the comms port assigned by user or allocated by Windows Device Manager to the USG 1 LED does not flash when the Talker is sending data Check that the Talker device is correctly connected to the USG 1 that it is powered on and that it is sending data In addition the USB driver must be correctly installed and the PC software must have the assigned comms port open...

Page 15: ...ve protection 40 V ISO Drive Flexible Output Output voltage between and under no load Logical 1 4 8 5 2 V Logical 0 4 8 5 2 V Output current at max load of 100 ohm At maximum load differential drive voltage reduces to 12 1v 21 mA Output short circuit current note 1 Due to short circuit protection 50 55 mA Galvanic isolation From Opto input and USB ground 1500 V Static discharge protection PC Commu...

Page 16: ...2 Fax 01202 746683 International 44 1202 746683 Actisense on the Web For advice support and product details E mail support actisense com Website www actisense com Actisense is a registered trademark of Active Research Limited Company Information Order codes USG 1 422 USG 1 for use with NMEA 0183 and RS422 interfaces USG 1 485 USG 1 for use with RS485 industrial interfaces ...

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