will serial port voltage ruin a BS-1?

ejdarling

·I just got my starter kit, with a BS-1IC and the SuperCarrier board. Like a dummy I hooked it up to the serial port on the pc without using the little serial-port adapter, and fired it up to see the "quick-start" output... The PC recognized that it was a BS1, but got no "echo" or other indication that the BS1 was alive.
·Would you guess that the serial-port voltage ruined the BS1·(a)for sure,·(b)maybe, or·(c)probably not? This makes a difference in·whether I·buy a new one right away & test by substitution, or try to find other reasons for non-communication.
·I looked at all the NV columns & indexed them for use as a reference. This is great stuff! Thanks for your time!·· -Eric

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thanks for your time,· Eric

Jon Williams

(B) Maybe -- the serial port *could* swing between -15 and +15 volts; the BS1 uses TTL serial (0 - 5v). You might have got lucky with a serial port that uses lower than standard voltages. Get an adapter (#27111), they're cheap.

BTW, shouldn't see loopback when using the BS1, so don't worry about that.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

ejdarling

The adapter is in the starter kit. I just got in a hurry and wanted to try something. Can you suggest another thing to check, in this case of non-communication, to verify the health of the BS1IC?. The 9v battery powering the SuperCarrier board is new and tests ok. What do you check next? Is there a FAQ file or other help available?

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thanks for your time,· Eric