Blichmann communication cable question

[woodbury]

I am having a problem with my tower of power when running it off the computer. It gets errors and freezes up or sometimes it starts the brew session over when it shouldn't. The unit sometimes has problems on its own but almost always when connected to my laptop. Now its at the point it can't connecte to my computer. This never was a problem for for the first 18 months or so. The computer and unit would flash when the burner was getting ignited so I didn't know if the cable itself was damaged. I did notice the plug end that goes into the back of the tower of power itself appears to have the white wire not connected to the plug. If anybody has this cable could you look and see if your white wire appears to be connected to the plastic plug or is this and extra wire. I am just trying to narrow down the causes as to the cable or computer. I would look at Northern Brewer or Midwest, but they don't actually carry the cable in the store itself. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[pointcity-homebrew]

Have you tried to connect to a different PC? Sorry if you stated that, I just scanned through the post. It is possible that the USB-RS485 converter went south, I would imagine it's just a simple USB-RS485 cable with the RJ11(or RJ45 cannot tell from the picture) connector. I would also uninstall and re install the driver for the cable, if applicable.

I do not know the chipset or pin out of the cable, as I do not own one. But RS485 usually has +Data,-Data, and GND. Sometimes the Ground is not used depending on the device.

 

[woodbury]

My wifes laptop is a work computer and software installs are prevented otherwise I would have checked that out first. The unit requires software installation though to work. I was not at all familiar with the cable you mentioned but I looked it up and and it seems correct. They are priced inline with what blichmann sells it for. Thanks for the info. I guess I need to see the blichmann cable or get another computer to test this. If it isn't either of those then its inside the unit itself and I am likely SOL. I don't think it was a good sign when the unit and my laptop would flash upon burner ignition. I think the cable or the unit itself may have been damaged. Will have to keep trying to narrow it down.

 

[pointcity-homebrew]

You can get a cheap dongle on eBay


Sent from the future using neurological impulses.

 

[woodbury]

My wifes laptop is a work computer and software installs are prevented otherwise I would have checked that out first. The unit requires software installation though to work. I was not at all familiar with the cable you mentioned but I looked it up and and it seems correct. They are priced inline with what blichmann sells it for. Thanks for the info. I guess I need to see the blichmann cable or get another computer to test this. If it isn't either of those then its inside the unit itself and I am likely SOL. I don't think it was a good sign when the unit and my laptop would flash upon burner ignition. I think the cable or the unit itself may have been damaged. Will have to keep trying to narrow it down.

 

[pointcity-homebrew]

Also you should be able to look in the windows device manager and see if the cable is working. That will give you an idea as to if it's the cable.


Sent from the future using neurological impulses.

 

[woodbury]

Thanks, I will check the device manager option when I get home.

 

[pointcity-homebrew]

Most commonly the white wire in a USB cable is a DATA line, or a ground in some cases. You can re crimp the connector easily