Can I use the RS232-serial-to-RJ45 cable that came with my Axpert 7.2, to programme my old Mecer Axpert MKS 5K (5000VA/4000W  |  SOL-I-AX-5M)?

The linked post from 2021 suggests I may burn the comms card. 

Pinouts 1,2, 4 and 8 are populated in the RJ45 plug, but I don't have the means to test if pin 4 is connected in the DB9.

 

 

Edited March 4, 20233 yr by Davy

Very tangentially related:

Weber and I had trouble plugging into the USB port of our Axpert King; it's a micro USB socket on the underneath of the removable display. It's hard to see what's going on. But Weber reported seeing sparks! I immediately thought of this thread, but this was different. The USB socket was completely missing from the PCB, and the sparks were coming from shorting bare tracks on the PCB!!

When we opened the removable display, sure enough there was a micro USB socket rattling around loose. With a bit of effort and solder paste, we managed to re-solder it into place, and it seems to be working,  though we still get a fault code when attempting a reflash via USB. The fault code is related to what's on the USB stick though, so it seems to be working enough to read the USB stick.

I'm not sure if it came like that from the factory, or if it came loose afterwards. I don't think we tried USB updating last time, so it may well have come like that from the factory.

Of course, the rest of this thread is about the RJ-45 RS-232 port. But I suppose that the much larger RS-485 socket might not be soldered properly on some displays or comms boards. Perhaps something to look out for.

Edited March 7, 20233 yr by Coulomb

On 2023/03/05 at 6:42 AM, Coulomb said:

Very tangentially unrelated:

Weber and I had trouble plugging into the USB port of our Axpert King; it's a micro USB socket on the underneath of the removable display. It's hard to see what's going on. But Weber reported seeing sparks! I immediately thought of this thread, but this was different. The USB socket was completely missing from the PCB, and the sparks were coming from shorting bare tracks on the PCB!!

When we opened the removable display, sure enough there was a micro USB socket rattling around loose. With a bit of effort and solder paste, we managed to re-solder it into place, and it seems to be working,  though we still get a fault code when attempting a reflash via USB. The fault code is related to what's on the USB stick though, so it seems to be working enough to read the USB stick.

I'm not sure if it came like that from the factory, or if it came loose afterwards. I don't think we tried USB updating last time, so it may well have come like that from the factory.

Of course, the rest of this thread is about the RJ-45 RS-232 port. But I suppose that the much larger RS-485 socket might not be soldered properly on some displays or comms boards. Perhaps something to look out for.

Thanks Coulomb. I read somewhere else that the micro-usb socket is not well secured.  I carefully got mine in and it's working fine - but probably not up to regular use.
PS really appreciate all your time and effort replying to questions with such detail and insight. You truly are a saint and not always appreciated enough. Thank you.