Can anyone help...?

I want to interface my seiko S129 with my PC using the data jack. I know seiko never built the interface but I'm informed it uses RS232.

Has anyone else attempted this - can you offer any advice?

Is there an alternative product available for less than £300 that will be able to store more than 150 splits and interface with a pc?

Many thanks

Hi There,

I had the same problem but i discovered Seiko in Australia (Harold Wood) developed a cable to conect the output of the S149 to the PC using the 9 pin serial conector. The only problem is they only had 7 which i purchased for my bike club. They have the ability to make more but they will only do in batches of 10. We are holding an Australian title race end of July and im sure many other clubs will be interested.
We will be keeping 3 and have already on sold the other 4 once our race is over.I have coupled it with CPS plus to get the data to Excel. Please feel free to contact me ccdrc2003@yahoo.com.au

Rod

Anybody ever get one of these working?

Hi Doug,

Yes I have got it working.
Rod in Austrailia helped me get the connection cable from harold wood and talked me through the use of different software with it.

I also bought and made a minor alteration to a Antilog rs232 recorderfor use with the seiko

I'm intrigued as to why you are interested?

If I could get the cables, I know of several of our customers that would buy them. We sell a lot of S149's where I work (VSathletics.com). Right now I use palm pilots for recording/dowloading data for cross country so it'd be nice to have another downloadable source.

As far as I'm aware only a small number of the connectors were made in tokyo then sold onto harold wood of seiko Australia. He then outsourced the development of part of the cable that converts signals to rs232.

The cost of the cables is expensive. When I bought mine I was told it was one of the last to be made as the number of connectors left are very few. email rod on the address above to find out more. If thats no use I have harold woods email but he seemed reluctant to suply me one as I'm outside australia.

If your interested in a bit of a project to produce some then I have some plans from seiko on how its done (as well as the working article).

I am interested in the serial cable info and might be interested in making a cable, or two?

Did you know the s 129 and 149 can work with an Alge photocell? Use a thumb switch cord with bannana plugs into the outpit of the photocell and the stopwatch will see the pulse. You will need to power the photocell seperately if they don't have an internal battery.

If I could get the specs, I could have a cable company develop one and then have Easymeet (the program I use) customize an com port interface for it.

Send me an email for the plans. knottdom@hotmail.com

Whats easymeet?

not sure you really need to develop any software with so many terminal programs available, its more a case of hardware development.

I am also very interested in making a couple of these cables. Making the connector is not very difficult, I have already made a few for the grip switches. Does anyone have the pin out and specifications for these cables?

We are at a point where we need the PC interface and will need to buy some new timing units if we can’t get the interface to work. I know I can get some from Harold Wood in Australia but they are very expensive and would need to order at least 5. It would be less expensive to purchase some newer units.

Hi yes I have the pin configuration but its not quite that straight forward. email me on knottdom@hotmail.com and I'll send the details

Anyone know the part number for the seiko end of the cable? (not the db9 port)

I don't know of the part number, I have recently talked to Harold Wood and it sounds like they have a very limited supply and I know he wouldn't sell any.

I am making some connectors. It's not easy, probably the most difficult ones I have had to make because the pins are so close together. the grip switch is not a problem. I just tuned a piece of plastic in the lathe to get the correct diameter and then drilled the two holes for the female pin recievers. I use plastic called P-tex for this. It's hard enough to drill and it can be easily molded and glued with heat. I think a regular heat gun and glue would work well too.

I am now waiting for the pin config before I start on the data output cable. I need to see how many pins are actually used.

Hi All,
For those who can get the signal from the s129/s149 i have found "CPS plus" a great program to convert seiko language to pc. for those whishing to use photocells i use "omron" units which are good for around 30feet. all i did was soilder into the back of the plug with fine wire to an RCA plug.

Now you have a fully automated data collection and processing system that only needs the entrants number to be entered.

Can also help with a very hand excel based program that will have results within minutes of the last competitor completing the day.

please feel free to ask any questions.

PS been useing system last 12 months.

Rod

So, does someone have the pinout for the Seiko S149 data cable? I tried emailing knottdom@hotmail.com, who claimed to hav it, but it bounced as ndeliverable.

Hi, sorry VTTOM my hotmail address got too much spam so I shut it off. Leave me an email address and I'll get in contact

I'm so happy you're still out there. After hours of Googling, this was the only lead I've been able to find on this subject, and I was afraid it had turned out to be a dead-end.

Here's me email: j_tetazoo at hotmail dot com

Thanks!

I have seen the specs and there is more than just a cable requred. You will need to buid an interface to read the values on a 4 bit bus and convert it to serial output. A strong background in electronics and micro controllers is a must. I have been working on this... on and off for the last few months. I am struggling with the micro controller part but will be recieving a new chip this week and will try it again this weekend.

Fortunately, I have a BS in electrical engineering, so I should be able to figure it out. I'll be happy to publish circuit diagrams and such once I do so. All I need are electrical and functional specs for the pins.

I did go so far as to take my S149 apart and poke at it with a multi-meter. At first blush, it looked to me like the data port hangs off the same bus that drives the LCD screen. If only I had access to an oscilloscope or a logic analyzer....

I wonder what the interface to the printer looks like? If I'm going to have to build an interface circuit, then it might be easier to read the printer interface. I have a hunch that the little embedded printer just accepts ASCII data on a 7-bit bus.