CM200 USB/RJ45 Programming Cable ????? Fact or Fiction

[1crazymax]

I'm needing to program a newly aquired CM200. As always I try and do as much research on my own as possible before undertaking such task. I've read numerous forums stating you cannot use a USB / RJ45 ribless cable with WIN7 64bit. Instead a MO FKN8096B adapter is required, or you can make your own. I really get lost sometimes looking at the pinout diagrams I guess because of the way they are typed up. Also, most of the articles are past dated material and are not current. Short question long, is there a Ribless USB / RJ45 programming cable available for the CM200 that works? I've emailed several buyes of the ones being sold on ebay by various sellers and I'm being told they do not work. Any insight would be greatly appreciated and I apologize for beating a dead horse.

[1crazymax]

Hummm, it's starting to look like fiction. Can anyone explain to me what I need to program the radio then? I would like a method that didn't involve a serial cable if possible so I could use my laptop. Thanks

[wavetar]

Motorola never made a USB cable for the Commercial Series radio, nor does the CPS recognize USB ports, only COM ports. So, without a serial port you need some sort of adapter that gives you a serial port, so you can use the standard Motorola RIB and cable for programming. Many USB-to-serial adapters either don't work with the RIB at all, or are very flaky. As well, many that might work fine with 32-bit Windows don't have drivers available for 64-bit versions. Your best bet is either a docking station that gives you a real serial port, or a PCMCIA-to-serial card or similar.

[Will]

[snip] Many USB-to-serial adapters either don't work with the RIB at all, or are very flaky. As well, .

Problem is the Motorola RIB and it's clones are NOT true RS232 devices. We even have trouble with the RIB and older computers because the RIB does not conform to the RS232 standard voltages or impedance.

It would be best to find the RS232 to radio cable that includes the "RIB" electronics, AKA RIBless......

[HLA]

I still stick with the rule of thumb that if the factory never made it to work with usb don't try to force some kind of adaptor. Especially since older computers with real serial ports are so cheap to find and keep around for programming only

[1crazymax]

I don't know if Big M made a USB cable for the CM200 but I've programmed many a CP200 via USB / 2.5mm cord. It was just the basic necessities no where near what I'm sure I'd be able to do with a serial setup, but it worked for my needs. Thanks for the replies...

[wavetar]

I don't know if Big M made a USB cable for the CM200 but I've programmed many a CP200 via USB / 2.5mm cord. It was just the basic necessities no where near what I'm sure I'd be able to do with a serial setup, but it worked for my needs. Thanks for the replies...

That would have been an aftermarket cable, as Motorola only provided serial cables for the CP200's as well. The CP185 used a factory Motorola USB cable however.

[1crazymax]

Motorola never made a USB cable for the Commercial Series radio, nor does the CPS recognize USB ports, only COM ports. So, without a serial port you need some sort of adapter that gives you a serial port, so you can use the standard Motorola RIB and cable for programming. Many USB-to-serial adapters either don't work with the RIB at all, or are very flaky. As well, many that might work fine with 32-bit Windows don't have drivers available for 64-bit versions. Your best bet is either a docking station that gives you a real serial port, or a PCMCIA-to-serial card or similar.

Well then is there an aftermarket USB cable availble for the CM200 in 32bit. The USB aftermarket cable for the CP200 I have works fine on 64bit, but I don't know if the issues with the online CM cables are with the cables or the 64bit OS.

[SteveC0625]

Well then is there an aftermarket USB cable availble for the CM200 in 32bit. The USB aftermarket cable for the CP200 I have works fine on 64bit, but I don't know if the issues with the online CM cables are with the cables or the 64bit OS.

I have used the aftermarket USB cables on both 64 and 32 bit Win 7 machines. The only problems I ever encountered were because of not having the proper drivers for the chipset. A quick trip to Prolific's website for the PL-2303 drivers fixed that and I have never had a problem with USB programming cables since.

One note on this: It is worth your time to remove all other USB drivers from your computer before installing the Prolific 2303 drivers.

Also, many of the aftermarket cables sold for the Commercial family of mobiles are missing the jumper from Pin 1 to Pin 3 of the RJ45. They work fine with Pro series mobiles and a lot of the Radius ones too, but they need that jumper for the Commercial Series radios. Pin 3 needs the 9.3 volts from Pin 1 to place the radio in programming mode. I made up an adapter using 1/2 of a Cat-5 cable and a RJ45 wall outlet in about 5 minutes.

[1crazymax]

Well then is there an aftermarket USB cable availble for the CM200 in 32bit. The USB aftermarket cable for the CP200 I have works fine on 64bit, but I don't know if the issues with the online CM cables are with the cables or the 64bit OS.

I have used the aftermarket USB cables on both 64 and 32 bit Win 7 machines. The only problems I ever encountered were because of not having the proper drivers for the chipset. A quick trip to Prolific's website for the PL-2303 drivers fixed that and I have never had a problem with USB programming cables since.

One note on this: It is worth your time to remove all other USB drivers from your computer before installing the Prolific 2303 drivers.

Also, many of the aftermarket cables sold for the Commercial family of mobiles are missing the jumper from Pin 1 to Pin 3 of the RJ45. They work fine with Pro series mobiles and a lot of the Radius ones too, but they need that jumper for the Commercial Series radios. Pin 3 needs the 9.3 volts from Pin 1 to place the radio in programming mode. I made up an adapter using 1/2 of a Cat-5 cable and a RJ45 wall outlet in about 5 minutes.

See if I'm following you correctly... You get an aftermarket USB cable that says it will work with the CM200. You get an RJ45 wall jack and plug the RJ45 end of the aftermarket cable into the wall jack. You take a piece of RJ45 cable ( I have a piece with an end already attached ) and wire it to the wall box then plug it into the microphone port on the CM200. I've seen numerous articles related to this especially where it says you need to energize pin 3 with power. Some of the articles mention a 10 pin plug, is this what comes on the aftermarket cable? This is where I get a little confused looking at the pin out charts. I guess if you could explain it to me in text I could understand it better.


If both are 8 pin say: Pin 1 from PC to pins 1 and 3 going to radio, etc. This tells me to jump pins 1 and 3 together inside the RJ45 wall box feeding the radio. I went back and read your posting from another web forum from March about the adapter. You mention everything is thru and thru except 9.3 volts to pin 3 going to radio so am I correcting in assuming

8 pin FROM PC 8 pin from wall box TO radio
pin 1 to pins 1 and 3
pin 2 to pin 2
pin 3 ( not used FROM PC )
pin 4 to pin 4
pin 5 to pin 5
pin 6 to pin 6
pin 7 to pin 7
pin 8 to pin 8

[wavetar]

Well then is there an aftermarket USB cable availble for the CM200 in 32bit. The USB aftermarket cable for the CP200 I have works fine on 64bit, but I don't know if the issues with the online CM cables are with the cables or the 64bit OS.

I assume so, but I work for a Moto dealer so we have all the OEM gear and don't need to mess with aftermarket stuff, so I haven't tried to research it.

[SteveC0625]

Let me explain the adapter a bit better.

Pins 1, 3, 4, & 7 are really all that is needed for the CM's. The other four are taped off in my adapter.

Pin 1 from the radio goes through the Cat5 to the wall socket where it's jumpered to Pin 3 and back to the radio. (Pins 1 & 3 are not populated on my USB cable's RJ45. All you are doing is using the screw terminals in the socket as a convenient and secure jumper point.)

Pin 4 and Pin 7 go through from the USB cable to the radio.

Pins 2, 5, 6, & 8 can be taped back as they are not used by the CM200/300 for programming.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CM200/300 mic connector:

Pin 1 at the radio is regulated +9.3v. The jumper in the adapter applies the 9.3v to Pin 3 which then converts Pin 7 from DTMF Keypad Row to SCI for programming.

Pin 4 is ground.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 10 pin RJ50's are for the CDM/PRO family of mobiles. For pin numbering, the outside left and right pins are 9 & 10 leaving 1 through 8 identical to the CM's in count and position. While you won't find much on the CM's, full info on the 10 pin CDM/PRO mic connectors and the earlier Radius and similar radio's 8 pin mic connectors over at batlabs.

Here's pic of the wall socket end of the adapter. The yellow jumper between Pins 1 & 3 is clearly visible as are the 4 taped off wires.

[1crazymax]

Roger that. I appreciate all the extra effort and pic, it really clarifies things. I guess if I had to do it for a living I'd have all Moto equipment, but just needing to program one maybe two CM's i'll try the aftermarket route. Thanks again for all of your comments and help and I'll post the results when I get everything needed. Hope you have a good week.

David

[1crazymax]

Latest update. The CM200 USB Ribless programming cable is Indeed A Fact. I received my cable which I purchased off eBay. I made sure to get a Maxon brand because my CP200 cable is Maxon and I've yet to have any problems with it. Anyway, I constructed the RJ45 adapter cable and box as listed in previous post and set out to program my CM200.( I actually constructed 2 adapters using different brands of cable, boxes, etc. ) I connected the USB cable end to my PC then the RJ45 end to my RJ45 adapter box, then the RJ45 adapter plug into my CM200 mic port. I tried several times to read the radio with both adapters but kept getting Can Not Read Radio error #512. So I figured what the hey, and plugged the RJ45 end from the USB ebay cable into the CM200 mic port and completely bypassed the adapter. I clicked Read and low and behold a status bar and the radio details appeared. I then had no problem changing field info and then writing the radio. So in fact the cable listed above and CPS software was all that I needed to program the radio. Additional info...This is the USB Ribless design cable, I am running Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit software. If I shouldn't have linked the eBay USB cable, I apoligize. Thanks again for everyones comments.