Elk, Serial interface

[IVB]

Do I need to enable the serial interface on the Elk main board somehow?

I've tried communicating with it, both via ElkRP, HyperTerminal, CQC, just can't seem to figure out how to get the Elk to respond.

On ElkRP, the Send/Rcv is grayed out, even though i've selected the correct COM port.
In CQC, all I get is "wait for connect", which is CQC for "i've acquired a lock on the COM port, but I haven't heard back from the Elk".
In HyperTerminal, I get nuthin.

I confirmed that the serial cable was good via a multimeter, then just in case I just bought a new serial cable, so I know it's not that.

I've also made sure that I close each of the above apps to make sure none of them are locking the serial port and blocking anything else. The fact that CQC is able to acquire a lock makes me confident that no other program is using that com port.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Can you try another Com port?

 

[IVB]

Thanks! I SWEAR i did that earlier, but all of a sudden CQC can connect.

However, i can't get ElkRP to connect. Here's what i'm doing, perhaps i'm using ElkRP wrong:
- Select Setup.Communications, select COM port.
- Wait for send/rcv to ungrey. (that's how you upload to Elk, right)?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Do you have CQC shut down while trying to use Elk RP? (Look in task manager and make sure no TSR is running as well).

 

[lazyone]

In Elk RP...
Load a configuration file
Click connection Icon
Click on the "Direct using Com1" - even though it is checked
Should connect using Com1 (or what ever you set up)

 

[IVB]

Tried that, isn't working. Should it automatically ungrey the send/rcv?

 

[IVB]

scratch that, i'm an idiot.

I've clearly been at this too long today, b/c within minutes of posting here, blatantly simple things i thought i did before have suddenly resolved the situation.

Thanks for the help, sorry it was such brain-dead stupid requests.

 

[IVB]

Thanks very much for the great help you've all given me already. Against my better judgement, I put in another several hours, managed to get the Elk working & connected to CQC. Continuing my lunacy, I decided to pull out the architectural drawings for my house and mock it up in PhotoShop, so I could create a decent UI.

Here's the screenshot so far. I've only got the 1 temp sensor run, so you only see one reading. I'll be running more sensors tomorrow, so this should fill out quickly. I've also already run the doorbell & ring detector, so then i'll be off to figure out how that works.

Caveat: There's dummy text and actions at the bottom; well, it wouldn't have been dummy had I not broken my Aprilaire RS232 interface, but hopefully that'll get fixed soon.

Thanks again.

 

[elcano]

For the benefit of other having problems connecting via the serial port I got to shut down ActiveSync in my lapto before being being able to select a port in ElkRP. Active sync seems to block all serial ports while searching for the PocketPC.