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Old 2008.10.17, 12:59 PM   #1
ianc
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Hacking the ICS cable

Hi guys,

I'm intrigued by the ICS software and the ability to tweak the boards in our cars and would like to give it a try. Except...

The $75 price tag associated with the USB cable is a little out of control.

Since the software is available for download, it seems to me that it's just a question of fabricating a cable, which could be done for a lot less than that.

I'm wondering if anyone here has the cable and could give me a pin out of it, so I can cut up an old USB cable I have and make one?

Haven't seen this posted before, so I'm hoping some one can chime in?

Thanks,

ianc
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Old 2008.11.02, 09:27 AM   #2
flat 4
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I havent seen an ICS cable yet where cant you buy one at?
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Old 2008.11.02, 09:41 AM   #3
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ingenious idea. i too will be looking for answers here. having made my own rj45 cabling, this can't to bad can it?
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Old 2008.11.03, 04:22 AM   #4
danieluki
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I also thought the same about doing yourself , but finally bought it and...
Take a look what is inside:





I think that wil be impossible to copy....
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Old 2008.11.03, 07:46 AM   #5
Tim Johnson
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I havent seen an ICS cable yet where cant you buy one at?
http://shop.tinyrc.com/product.php?p...9&cat=0&page=1
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Old 2008.11.03, 01:24 PM   #6
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Are we talking about the same thing here?

Danieluki: is this what you purchased?



ianc
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Old 2008.11.03, 09:54 PM   #7
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will the ICS for AD Band work for 2.4?
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Old 2008.11.15, 10:50 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by danieluki View Post
I also thought the same about doing yourself , but finally bought it and...
Take a look what is inside:





I think that wil be impossible to copy....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi All

Kyosho selling price is too high to accept!!!!!

The similar product already have in Taiwan.

If you computer have com port, you only need to buy this cable.

If you do not have com port in your computer then you need to buy USB adapter in computer shop.

This cable is less than US$50

Kyosho sell price is too high
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File Type: jpg 11080830621527_497.jpg (120.5 KB, 139 views)

Last edited by CCL; 2008.11.15 at 10:55 AM.
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Old 2008.11.15, 11:57 AM   #9
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Nice pictures CCL; making a cable like that is what I wanted to do!

Can you provide the pin-out for it? That is, say which pins on the com port are connected to which ports on the car's ICS port?

Thanks for any help,

ianc
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Old 2008.11.15, 07:11 PM   #10
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Nice pictures CCL; making a cable like that is what I wanted to do!

Can you provide the pin-out for it? That is, say which pins on the com port are connected to which ports on the car's ICS port?

Thanks for any help,

ianc
Hi

It was not easy, just connect wire .

There have IC inside connector
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Old 2008.11.15, 08:13 PM   #11
ianc
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It was not easy, just connect wire
Ha, not until I know which pins go to which. I think you are misunderstanding me, so let me try again:

I see that your cable has three wires: red, black, and white. I can see from your second picture how (in what order) they connect to the car.

What I don't know is which pins on the serial cable those three wires connect to.

I believe (if I remember correctly) that a serial (COM) connector has 8 pins.

So, which pin does the red, the black and the white connect to?

Thanks very much for any help, and please let me know if you can't understand my question,

ianc
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Old 2008.11.15, 10:39 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by ianc View Post
Ha, not until I know which pins go to which. I think you are misunderstanding me, so let me try again:

I see that your cable has three wires: red, black, and white. I can see from your second picture how (in what order) they connect to the car.

What I don't know is which pins on the serial cable those three wires connect to.

I believe (if I remember correctly) that a serial (COM) connector has 8 pins.

So, which pin does the red, the black and the white connect to?

Thanks very much for any help, and please let me know if you can't understand my question,

ianc
I would not do this if I were you. From the looks of everything posted the ICS port on the Mini-Z runs with a CMOS voltage level for serial communications, (0-5 Volt). A standard COM port on your computer has a voltage level of -12V to +12V. You will damage something if you tie the two together.

I imagine that serial cable posted earlier has at least 1 chip in it to convert the levels. Something like a MAX232 would work.

The USB adapter posted above uses a standard FTDI chip, I could not tell which from the picture as I could not make out the model number. This chip takes care of the voltage level problem for you as it operates at a CMOS level.

Is the software freely available? If so I would just use something like this:
http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Eva...its/UB232R.htm

And connect the ground, send and receive pins.

We just need to know which FTDI chip was used to be certain.

danieluki, can you tell us the model number, it should start with FT followed by a few numbers and maybe some letters again.

I can not believe Kyosho charges 75$ for a USB to serial convertor.
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Old 2008.11.16, 04:53 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by ianc View Post
Ha, not until I know which pins go to which. I think you are misunderstanding me, so let me try again:

I see that your cable has three wires: red, black, and white. I can see from your second picture how (in what order) they connect to the car.

What I don't know is which pins on the serial cable those three wires connect to.

I believe (if I remember correctly) that a serial (COM) connector has 8 pins.

So, which pin does the red, the black and the white connect to?

Thanks very much for any help, and please let me know if you can't understand my question,

ianc

I think he means that there is an IC inside the serial connector. So its not simply a mather of having a pinout. There are some electronics insede the connector.
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Old 2008.11.16, 05:58 PM   #14
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i tried "hacking" the port on an xmod once, and it blew up. IF you're gonna do this, be careful please. it would stink to ruin your board
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Old 2008.11.17, 05:26 PM   #15
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Thanks for the warning on the voltage levels gentlemen.

I have PM'ed Danieluki asking for more information about the chip on his ICS device, so hopefully he'll check in with a little more info for us.

Thanks for everyone's help,

ianc
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