If all else fails I could always just get some generic inclinometers and find a way to attach them to the caster brackets, but this seemed like a novel enough side project and the parts are reasonably available.
The cheaper DRB III emulator isn't an option as it can't talk to the external sensors, it's just software. So long story short, any electrical engineers out there that want to help out in trying to reverse engineer the setup? Or does anyone have a lot of in depth knowledge of how the DRB III communicates with the external sensors? If I can figure out how these sensors talk it would be easy enough to build a small box that would just be a live readout for them to let anyone use them to measure caster without needing the $3000 DRB III. I would rather not remove the sensor from the board, even if that may be the easiest way to do what I want.
Drb3 emulator on sprinter serial#
The PCB does have the wire hookups clearly marked as RX, TX, +, and - though, so guessing it is also outputting something like RS232 serial data. While I think at their very base level they are probably a simpler output, inside the aluminum box is a sensor on a PCB with a microcontroller (coincidentally the only chip I can't find a datasheet for). The sensors themselves are also quite a bit more complex that I was originally expecting. That is the big question I have right now I'm hoping someone might know. I haven't tried hooking it up to anything to try to intercept data just yet, so I don't know if the sensor just constantly outputs data without being asked or if it will require a request for data before it sends. I think the DRB also supplies 12V to the switchbox over the cable, which is not exactly in the RS232 standard pinout, but makes some sense. That in and of itself would be easy enough to read with most microcontrollers. As best I can tell and guess, the switchbox itself outputs an RS232 signal to the DRB III. I took the switchbox and sensors apart and pulled the numbers off of all the chips I could see inside and have been trying to trace the wiring to get an idea of what goes to what.
These sensors are a little more complicated than I was expecting, so I'm wondering if anyone out there has any background knowledge of the DRB III tool. My thought was I would plumb the signals into a simple microcontroller like an Arduino or even just a volt meter and figure out what angle corresponds to what output. I figured the sensors were probably typical 0-5V output or 4-20 mA like most lab style sensors you can find for data acquisition systems. I don't have a DRB III, but I have some background in sensors as I helped to set up the test department where I work and deal with sensors and DAQ equipment on and off. So the other day I picked up a Miller 6990 kit, which has the control arm bushing remover/installer, the caster fixtures (for gen 2 unfortunately), and the inclinometers and switchbox used by the DRB III to read caster.
0 kommentar(er)
