FLIR Tau with replicator board - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: adamp
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 08, 2018, 02:14:34 pm
content: Hi everyone, my first post here.I have a Flir tau 320 fitted with a photon replicator board. I have read Frasers threads on how to connect the TAU to a PC with his DIY interface board but I would like to use the replicator board as it allows me to power it with 12vdc and apparently allows full volatge RS232 communication.I can power up the camera and output analogue video with no issues at all, my issue is I can not seem to communicate with it using RS232.On the back of my camera I have a 30 pin SAMTEC connector described here:http://www.flir.co.uk/cvs/cores/knowledgebase/index.cfm?CFTREEITEMKEY=342&view=63111I have tried communicating with it via 3.3v usb to ttl and have also tried running the RX and TX lines through an inverter as suggested on Frasers thread with no joy.I have tried using a usb to serial adapter with the TX and RX lines connected to the RX and TX pins of the camera with no joy.I made sure the serial comm settings are correct according to the user manuals and have tried Flir GUI camera control software and the older Photon GUII do not have a great level of skill when it comes to electronics but my main goal is to be able to connect this camera to a PC and control zoom and AGC settings.Short of removing the replicator board and following the steps Fraser toko to get his working with serial comms I am at a bit of a loss.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

author: railrun
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2018, 06:00:57 am
content: Hello and welcome.Have you double checked that you connected your Rx from your PC to Pin 12 on the Photon-board and your Tx to pin 10 on the Photon-board?

author: adamp
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 09, 2018, 10:39:48 am
content: HiYes those are the pins that I have used. I have them connected to the rx and tx lines of an FTDI usb to serial adapter but doesnt seem to work at any baud rate in Flir GUI

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2018, 01:02:07 pm
content: What did the FLIR TAU core come from ? Depending upon its original intended purpose it can have its RS232 control locked out, or it could have suffered damage to its 3V3 communications port due to abuse by the previous owner applying true RS232 bi-polarity voltages to it.Fraser

author: adamp
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 09, 2018, 01:12:16 pm
content: It came from a FLIR f334 series camera, It has a nexus server PCB sandwich that connects to flir sensor manager via TCP/IP which works just fine but the electronics are too big to fit my project and not really needed. So I unplugged it all and started to try and communicate with it without the nexus server pcb. I suppose the RS232 could be locked out as the nexus pcb would not nessisarily need it. I will try and get pictures tomorrow when I am back in the workshop.I have a 12-5vdc transformer that I could use directly to the TAU, maybe I would be best removing the photon replicator board and making an interface device like the one you made. Do you have a pinout or a rough schematic of how you wired up the inverter?

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2018, 01:28:33 pm
content: I used the inverter as both a means to invert the signal and change its level to 3v3/0vI used a common USB to UART converter PCB that also provides a 3V3 dc voltage for users use.The UART output is Mark = +5V and Space = 0V. The TAU1 requires Mark = 0V and Space = +3V3.To achieve this level and polarity change I fed the UART logic level TX and RX pins into a pair of inverting gates on a 74HC04 Hex Inverter chip. I supplied the 74HC04 with the 3V3 available from the USB UART board. It was very simple to do. The 74HC04 specification shows it to be happy receiving a 5V gate input whilst powered from 3V3 and its output voltage is just under its supply voltage so no problems there.Note that the later TAU2 core has automatic RS232 communications polarity checking and correction. It still requires 0V and 3V3 signal levels though.Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2018, 09:53:13 pm
content: The USB to UART bridge that I used was the CP2102 as that is the bridge chip FLIR use in their TAU development interface. They are available mounted on a PCB from China for around $1. As stated, the PCB also provides the 3V3 voltage for the inverter IC.Fraser

author: adamp
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 10, 2018, 04:17:34 pm
content: ok sorry if i am just being stupid. I now have the CP2102. I have connected the tx line from CP2102 to pin 1 on the 74HC04, the rx line from tau to pin 2, the rx line from CP2102 to pin 3 and the tx line from tau to pin 4. I have supplied the 3v3 line from CP2102 to pin 14 on the 74HC04 and connected the ground from CP2102 to pin 7. Is this correct?I have powered the camera up with an external battery pack but still cant communicate with it.

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2018, 11:30:19 am
content: You can check that you have the inverter correctly connected to the USB-UART bridge by linking the RX and TX lines that would connect to the camera and using a terminal program to test for correct looopback. This is always a good test to do if having RS232 issues as it tests the USB-UART bridge plus its driver does also, in this case, the 74HC04 inverter. Make sure the handshaking is set to XON-XOFF to avoid hardware handshaking issues. The TAU uses XON-XOFF anyway.If the loopback works, then ensure the correct Baud rate is set for a TAU camera and connect the interface to the camera. If it does not work, reverse the RX and TX lines at the camera connector. This is standard RS232 experimentation when a manufactures RX and TX annotations may be misleading.If the camera does not respond to commands, try the different Baud Rates in case the camera Baud rate has been changed.If all this fails to work, you have little choice but to reconnect the TAU to its original controller and use an oscilloscope on the RS232 lines to see if they are being used. If they are, you need to analyse a data packet to establish why your interface is not working. If the original controller does not use the RS232 control lines you are somewhat stuck. The RS232 control function might be disabled, but I doubt that considering the original use of the core in a CCTV camera.Fraser

author: Sia
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 02, 2018, 09:05:38 am
content: Hi all,My apology for putting this post here as it is somehow related to my problem. I am hoping to get some help from you guys with my radiometric Tau2. I am a total dumb around the context of electronics so I appreciate your patience in advance.Briefly, I am trying to extract the radiometric (digital data) per pixel of a recorded video (something like breaking down a SEQ or CSQ file). Tau 2 does not have the video capture mode built-in the GUI so an external video/frame grabber must be used. I am using a Photon replicator board (same as Adamp) which converts the native 50-pin Hirose connector on the camera to a 30-pin SMATEC (pictures attached) and increase the Tau 2 native voltage from max 5 v to max 24 v. FLIR provides an optional expansion board for converting CMOS to Camera Link. But I don't have this piece.Can anybody advise on any alternative for extracting digital data from the current connectors (either 50pin or 30pin) and what framegrabber to use? I am thinking of using LDVS pinout as already available at the backend of Photon board and get a LDVS frame grabber like this:https://www.activesilicon.com/products/phoenix-lvds-frame-grabber-PE4/but I have no idea what's gonna be the required pinout numbers and arrangements at the photon end? To be honest it is just an idea? any advice please?Many thanks,Sia