MacGuyvering a Stratologger Data Cable

[David_F]

Hi All,
I'm involved with a college team, and need to pull data off two StratologgerCFs to find out what happened at a launch at apogee. Sadly, the rocket was badly damaged and needs surgery. We don't know where, or if, we have the data transfer kit. I ordered and received the Pigtail cable thinking it would fit a USB-TTL FTDI kit for an arduino uno; guess not without some rewiring. Perfectflight has been out-of-stock on the data-transfer-kit for some time, and this... concerns me. I have found Micro USB to 5-pin DIP header boards on the Banggood.com electronics website. Looking at a picture of the Stratologger data-transfer-kit, there is a surface-mount part in the upper-lefthand corner of the chip; is this a fuse or something important? Can I just solder a header to the board and plug-in? Any answers/solutions including donations of Stratologger data-transfer kits welcome!

 

[BryRocket]

Call AMW. They had some recently.


https://cart.amwprox.com/index.php?...t_id=972&virtuemart_category_id=76&Itemid=474

 

[mikec]

You need the FTDI, just the USB breakout isn't going to work because the Stratologger is a serial TTL device. I just use a 3.3V FTDI and a pigtail without the power cable hooked up, just RX, TX, and GND. IIRC you can't use a 5V FTDI because all of the recent products are 3.3V.

 

[David_F]

Apparently, Stratologger CF and the data cable kit are back in stock on Perfectflight's Website.... Just purchased 3 each.

 

[mikec]

The OP solved his problem. For reference, if you have a 3.3V FTDI and a Perfectflite pigtail cable, you can hook up to an SL CF or SL100 by connecting blue to RXI, yellow to TXO, and brown to GND, leaving red disconnected. The data transfer kit uses the red line to pull power from the altimeter and adapt between the newer 3.3V devices and the older 5V devices, but the FTDI is fixed voltage.

Works for me, at least. If you can afford a DTK, just buy it, it's simpler and more convenient.