# Phoenix Sound Serial/USB interface



## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

Does anyone have the schematic that Phoenix says is available for the serial adapter for PC programming? I just want to make sure I have the levels right to make sure I can use one of these:





SparkFun USB to Serial Breakout - FT232RL - BOB-12731 - SparkFun Electronics


This is the SparkFun USB to Serial Breakout for the FT232RL, a small board with a built in USB to serial UART interface. This little breakout is built aro




www.sparkfun.com





Also, I have trouble believing that they only have one way communication, So I want to see if they have some multiplexing going on.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Does the software read anything back from the decoder? If not, believe the one way communications.
I thought I read it did diagnostics, so that implies it is 2 way comm... also the "programming" jack is a stereo plug, 3 circuits, transmit, receive, ground... 

Are you just wanting a USV <> DB9 serial conversion? if so, I'd buy a cable for that, they are cheap enough...

greg


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Phoenix does read back from the sound units I have and even tells you the model number and you can store your changes and load these changes into another Phoenix sound unit.


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

As the attached diagram shows, there is only one signal port, the other two are 5 V and ground, I am pretty sure it is 5 V and not another signal, since it is also used as a VCC for the P5T expansion board. Anyway, the only reason I bring up the serial port is that the Phoenix Sounds website says about the Soundboard to Serial Converter:
"We will happily provide you with a schematic and parts list if you desire, but many components are surface mount and available only from electronics supply houses. This is not a project for the casual hobbyist."

Since I have been an electrical engineer for 30 years or so, I am not afraid. However, since it appears that it does do some multiplexing I would like to see the schematic. I don't know if they provide the schematic for the USB version.
I tried emailing Phoenix Sound, but have not heard back, much like another poster on this board recently reported.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

So, it may be "technically" serial data, but clearly not the RS-232 standard that most people would expect.

Can you share the schematic when you get it? Must be a bidirectional communication line, or use positive transitions for xmit and negative for receive or something like that.

Greg


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

I am guessing that the default state is for the PC to listen to the sound card and they just have a tristate buffer that is activated when they transmit from the PC. Since they control the communication, they can just tell the sound card to send data, and how much, so they can prevent collisions.


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

Oh, and I am sure that the cable converted the signals to and from RS232, and now USB.


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

I got the schematic from Phoenix. I hesitate to post it because of copyright, but I can describe it well enough. 

They did send the USB interface schematic. It uses a standard FTDI USB chip - they use the FT230XS. They set it up for 3.3 V logic.

They do connect the RXD and TXD, but instead of a two tri-state buffers, they use a single open-drain buffer on the TXD, a SN74LVC1G07DBVR with a 20K pulldown connected to 3.3 V. They also use a "pre-biased" transistor a MUN2211T1, on the 5 V line from the sound card with a 20K pulldown connected to *CTS. 

The only other gothcha is that they use the FTDI setup utility FT_Prog.exe to invert the *DSR signal.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

hah! a little trick to keep people from using a stock setup.

Will you mail the usb schematic to me? clearly there is no charge for it. thanks greg @ elmassian dot com


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

Done


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thank you, received!


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

Sorry for the out of focus picture, but here is what I ended up with. The small board is the USB to digital converter and the large one holds the buffer and the transistor switch.

Once I turned the power on to the sound card(!) and lowered the latency (both described clearly in the manual) it all worked great.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Which manual describes reducing latency?

Thanks, Greg


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

http://www.phoenixsound.com/pdf/CDmanual.pdf



This is the standard manual, not the "advanced" one.


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

The new one from Phoenix is in a very nice small package.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

How much does it cost? I think this was about the cost, or the fun of building it yourself.


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

They are $85 when available.


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

Treeman said:


> The new one from Phoenix is in a very nice small package.


I can believe they can be very small, as you can see, mine is mainly red board.
Mine was all about the fun.


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

KeithRB said:


> I can believe they can be very small, as you can see, mine is mainly red board.
> Mine was all about the fun.


I understand, have heard that they are not easy to buikd.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Interesting, looks very simple to me, the right hand board is off the shelf, and the left hand one has 5 components.

Not trying to take business away, but many people don't buy the programmer because of the cost, when maybe making a less expensive one would encourage people to buy more Phoenix... who knows.

Keith, can I use your pictures on my site? I would of course credit the photos to you.

Greg


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

No problem you can use the images, The trick is getting the breakout boards.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks, have a few Arduino projects here (home automation), sparkfun is one of my goto places!

Much appreciated,

Greg


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## KeithRB (Sep 25, 2015)

I got most of the component parts from Digikey, who actually stock Spark Fun products.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I get a digikey box almost every day, got one today. (also Mouser, Avnet, Arrow)

(I run a small electronics company and I have the stuff delivered to my house during Covid, as half the people are working at home, and the UPS and Fedex drivers hate to wait)

Greg


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## toddb (Oct 2, 2017)

I finally bought the serial/usb cable from Phoenix. I cannot get it to connect with my 2K2 board. The PC sees the cable (loaded the FTDI drivers) as a COM port (COM4). The Phoenix software cannot 'see' the board. Any tips? running Windows10.

I, too, used a SparkFun WAV trigger board to make my own sound board that I trigger with another RF remote control relay board. Nice thing about using these off the shelf boards is cost and ease of customization. The Sparkfun board has a SD card slot you can just copy WAV files to on your PC, then insert on the board and Voila! Sure it doesn't rev up and down with the motor, but for $50 it's not bad, and I can add any sound I want.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Doesn't the Phoenix software have the com port number setting somewhere?


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## toddb (Oct 2, 2017)

yes, it does have you select the COM port, but still will not communicate with the board.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I would contact Phoenix.... I assume the board works and makes sound?


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