found something...
http://www.kolor.com/forum/viewtopic.ph … 50&p=1

but is it really true, that the panogear has only two used lines on the aux connector?

Has anyone have a more complete pin assignment diagram?

greetings from germany
Chris

fma38 wrote:

Rememeber that the Merlin head (Panogear) does not have RS232 port!!! Do not try to connect the AUX port to a standard serial PC port, or you will burn the head. To connect to a standard RS232 port, you need a TTL-RS232 converter.

The Merlin uses TTL signals, and yes, TX/RX are wired together, so only half duplex is possible. This is why we use 2 resistors in order to route this single signal to both RX and TX port on PC/controler side.

Thank you for the hint. You use the term "PC/controler side", is this the same as RS232, or does a USB-RS232 *1)  need stronger resistors for protecting the Merlin? RS232 has +/-12 v as signal, your "PC/controller" has a signal level of ... ? (TTL == 5 v)

Would a voltage divider with two resistors be better?

Or is the RS232-TTL converter really necessary?

greetings from germany
Chris

*1) http://www.delock.de/produkte/G_61018/m … anguage=de

Last edited by Christian Stüben (2012-12-14 10:56:37)

Ok, lets summurize.

On the Merlin side, we have TTL-level signals (5V). So, all electronics connected to the Merlin side should use TTL levels.

The Merlin only uses 1 DATA line, which acts as RX or TX (by default is RX, and switch to TX to answer requests). But on our electronic side, we generally have 2 distinct lines: TX and TX (TTL-level, remember?). The resistors are here to mix these 2 lines, and wire the resulting signal to the DATA line of the Merlin.

Then, depending on what you want to connect the Merlin, you will need to convert your 2 RX and TX TTL-signals in a usefull level: if you plan to use a real RS232 port, you will need a RS232-TTL converter, as these you linked in your previous message. If you want to plug the head on a USB port, just use a FTDI cable as seen in the picture you found.

About RS232-TTL converters: they need to be powered up, and it is not always possible to do that from the RS232 port (using unused signals), as it will need to drive the line to a defined state, which Papywizard does not manage. So, you need to get the power supply from the Merlin; but it only has 12V on the AUX connector, so you need to add a DC-DC convertor (any technology you want, as long as you can get 5V).

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you still have missing points. Better than burn somthing

Yes, don't let the magic blue smoke¹ escape, or it won't work anymore

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_smoke

You can also try this:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10622