Can anyone help me with an Ozark ARTS version 1 problem?

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Len B

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I have an Ozark ARTS version 1 altimeter. I haven't used it but I was hoping to do so.
I am having a problem with either the altimeter being toast or the communications, or ?
I don't have a PC with a serial port. I use a USB to serial adapter.
The adapter works fine communicating with another altimeter. (Perfectflite Mini Alt WD)

I tried the following with a laptop that is Windows 10 and another PC that is Windows 7.
1) Installed the Data Analyzer version 1.7.4 beta. This is the only one that will install in the above mentioned PC's
2) Set the COM port to COM2 in the device manager.
3) Started the Data Analyzer.
4) Set the Data analyzer to work with COM 2.
5) Clicked on Altimeter and pulled down to Diagnostics.
6) In that window, I was able to successfully chirp the speaker, read the state of the sensors, read the state of the Boomer/Sw setting (DIP Switches and Apogee/Main status) and also read the firmware version.

The firmware version is 1.50.

All of this makes me believe that the communication is fine.
Whenever I try to either read from the altimeter, the dialogue box in the bottom corner says Altimeter Busy.
If I follow the procedure to update the firmware, I get to the point where I would click on Advanced and then Upload Firmware and it also goes to Altimeter Busy.

It seems like it communicates but that there may be something wrong with the instructions.
Has anyone had any success getting a problem like this resolved?

Am I stuck with a dud until I can try it with an older PC and older software? (Win XP)
I'm not sure if I can get the Win 7 PC to use virtual machines and therefore XP mode. I was irritated to learn that Win 10 dumped XP mode. (Yet another reason to stick with Win 7!)

Any help would be appreciated.
I have other altimeters but I don't want to toss this one out until I can be sure it is smoked. (It's never been flown)

Thanks,
 
ARTS were/are always kinda funky to get to connect. It's been awhile since I've flow mine. IIRC there is sort of a built in time limit from turning it on, to connecting it to the provided cable. It always took me several tries of opening and closing the program and restarting the ARTS flight computer to get it to work.

Dan probably can add some info to this subject.

On a side note: I always liked them mostly for the motor burn profiles. Downloading flight data on anything newer then Windows 6 (?) was always showed much lower Altitudes then when using a Windows 6 computer.

Tony
 
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Loki



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Re: Connecting ARTS to PC







Originally posted by MET
I have a new ARTS (altimeter) and I can't get it to connect to my PC or laptop. It usually says that it can't connect to the com port. The best that I can get is an error message that says "The altimeter is not in the correct state. Please verify that it is turned on and not currently busy." Any thoughts on how to get the connection (through the serial port) working? The "can't connect to COM port" error means the COM port is busy. This can happen if you are trying to run more than one instance of the DataAnalyzer program, or if another program or device is using the COM port. If your computer has a modem, it's usually using COM 1 and you'll need to tell dataAnalyzer to use COM 2.

Also, you need to do things in the correct order.

1. Plug the ARTS download cable into the computer and the ARTS.
2. Start the DataAnanlyzer program.
3. Power up the ARTS.

When you power up the ARTS it should beep once or twice and then go silent.

Let me know if this helps or not.
 
The only thing I would add is that you need to confirm what Comm Port the altimeter is hooked up to. Once you've done that, follow the instructions Tony just provided.

I haven't had an ARTS in a while.
 
Thank you for the replies.
In my case, it does connect. I can run the diagnostics and likely even fire the charges from the laptop. (I haven't tried that yet)
What it won't do, is download the current program so I can verify what it going to do or upload a new program.
Additionally, I cannot upload the firmware.

My guess is that the problem relates to the 1.50 firmware version not being compatible with the 1.74 beta Data Analyzer.

I have a launch coming up so I may put this project aside for a while. I can't depend on the ARTS for a flight computer. I was obsessed with it last night and today I am more inclined to move on.
I think I will try to borrow or purchase a surplus laptop that is on Win XP and has a serial port. Then, I should be able to incrementally upgrade.
I have some other ideas but I really need to get my electronics bays ready for flight. No big deal, I just have to re-drill the holes and maybe change some wire lengths.

Thanks for the help.
 
I've been messing with this for a while, and I think you are going to run to the barricade that this is just old software. I can make it work and program well with an XP virtual machine (using v1.5 of DA). Like you I can run diagnostics in Win7 or later. I just cannot do the upload or download. For about a year I tried to get a hold of Erik to obtain the source code (He is out of business as far as I can tell) so I could recompile it in a newer environment. No luck. I have his last known e-mail address and if you want to try yourself, I'll give it to you offline. However, do not expect any support at all.

Shame, it is a nice, simple accelerometer based deployment controller.
 
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What is your USB to serial controller? WinBlows 10 loads "new" drivers and you might have a generic chip in your converter. I had Winblows 7 auto update and some of my devices failed to work. I haven't tried my ARTSII in a long time but it could be you might have to roll back the Prolific Driver. This Ham Radio site has some details about rolling back to an earlier driver: https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Drivers.php#install

It might be simply a driver issue. Roll your driver back and see what happens. A lot of folks couldn't program their radios or their Sainsonic AP510 Trackers (which could be used for a rocket tracker mind you!):wink:

Yeah, If you have an old XP machine it can work with a lot of older devices. Kurt KC9LDH
 
Just gave an old Toshiba XP laptop away. Makes me think I should have hung on to it. The only thing wrong with it was the C MOSS battery needed replaced and I could not figure out how to get at it with out possibly breaking something. Worked fine if kept plugged in. Once the laptop battery was in a state of needing charged for a while the C MOSS battery would also go dead and you would have to load bios and reset date and time.
 
Thanks again for the replies. Al, your reply gives me hope. I'll try either XP mode or I might just try to grab an XP based laptop somewhere. At least I feel confident that the altimeter is okay and worth follow up.

Kurt, the driver issue was certainly possible on the Win 10 install. However, it did "seem" to install the right driver. On the Win 7 installation, it wouldn't install a driver and I had to go to the manufacturer's site and download the installer. That worked fine. I got the exact same results with both computers.

Brent, I had an opportunity to buy my old company XP laptop for $50.00 with no OS. Last night, I wished that I had done so. Now, I just figure I will find another one. My big beast Alienware 17 is a pig to drag to launches anyway!

I appreciate the help everyone.
Cheers!
 
I bought a Dell Latitude D620 to run all my old software on. I had this laptop in college, it can be had really cheaply on eBay (~$30). Add a solid state drive, some more memory if necessary, and a 9-cell battery.

The nice thing about the 620 is that it has a serial port. It's also a common corporate computer so peripherals are very, very cheap.
 
Len - Odds are XP mode won't help. Or, at least, it did not for me. You will probably need to do as mentioned and find an old laptop your can run XP on and use it as a dedicated machine. I've had pretty good luck with an XP VM on my ZBook (Xeon, 32GB/2TB).
 
Hi Al, By XP mode, I meant setting up an XP VM. I did it previously with my laptop when running on Win 7. Had I known I would lose that, I wouldn't have upgraded to Win 10. I think I'll just grab an XP laptop. Locally it seems a lot of folks upgraded theirs to Win 10. Even old laptops. Yikes. Thanks.
 
Len, try a different version of the software? Take a look at my site, rocketryfiles.com under avionics and software and manuals. Username and password are guest. Perhaps you need an older version of the analyzer, which should be there.
 
Hi Mark. I downloaded earlier versions but they won't install on my Win 10 laptop. I get an error right away to try a different version.
I appreciate the resource you have there. That's awesome. It's very helpful.

Thanks!
 
In the past, I had problems with a Prolific based USB to serial adapter when I used it with a different OOP altimeter (SALT 3). Things might have changed with Prolific in the mean time, but I haven't touched their adapters since. FTDI based devices worked much better for me.

Reinhard
 
In the past, I had problems with a Prolific based USB to serial adapter when I used it with a different OOP altimeter (SALT 3). Things might have changed with Prolific in the mean time, but I haven't touched their adapters since. FTDI based devices worked much better for me.

Reinhard

Ditto on that. If you can get a USB to serial cable based on an FTDI chipset, would eliminate that potential problem. Kurt
 
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