After seeing a few people have trouble making these cables, or getting them to work, I've written up a small tutorial, with a revised edition of the schematic (Thanks Chuff for (parts of) your drawings).
For this Tutorial you'll need:
A soldering iron
Some solder
Pliers (long nose are especially useful)
3 x 10kOhm 1/4 watt resistors
1 x 9 pin RS232 plug plus casing
1 x ALDL wiring connector, Supercheap part AERPRO Model No. APP0141; Car stereo wiring harness to suit Toyota Camry 87-89, Celica 87-96, Corolla 87-96, Land Cruiser 87-96
1 x length of cable, can be Cat5 cable, security cable. Must contain at least 3 wires. (1 to 2m is good, maximum 9m).
Some electrical tape, or if possible, some small heat shrink.
NB. Tinning is the practice of soldering wires to prepare them to be soldered to another wire.
Firstly, grab the wiring harness you bought from Supercheap and go match it with your cars ALDL connector. This is the connector you want. Cut of the excess connectors, and try to leave as much cable on the plug as possible. Pull the cables out using long nose pliers on all pins. Re-insert singular wired pins (some of the pins have 2 cables on them) back into pinholes 1 and 3. Cut the cable off 2 of the pins, and insert two of these pins into pinholes 2 and 4 (these help in guiding the connectors together). Strip the insulation off of another pin, then cut it back so some copper remains (about 1 cm). Tin this with solder. Tin one of the resistors with solder, and join the resistor to the pin you stripped. grab another pin, and from the pin end, strip the insulation to reveal some copper. Dont strip it completely! Tin this small segment of copper, attach the other end of the resistor to this segment. Push these pins into pinholes 5 and 6. Onto the Serial end.
This bit takes some fiddling. Grab the serial connector. If you look closely, you can see the pins are numbered on the back and front (If not, the view in the diagram is from front of the connector). Snip some of the leg of a resistor, and put it into pin 2. Place the transistors collector leg into pin 2 also. Now solder these into the pin. Put the emitter leg of the transistor into pin 5 on the connector. Grab the cable (the cat5, etc.) and strip the sheath back (outer insulation) about 5cm. Cut all but 3 wires off. At this point, note which wires you are going to use as Data, Ground and Voltage. Write them down! Data attaches to the resistor coming off the base of the transistor, Ground to the emitter and Voltage to the resistor in pin 2. Strip one of the wires back about 1 cm. Place it into pin 5 on the connector, and now sodler the wires in pin 5. Now, bend the base of the transistor back on itself (as if it were pointing at the cable). Shorten the resistor, about 1cm of leg at each end is good. Tin both ends of the resistor, and the base leg of the transistor. Solder the resistor to the base of the transistor. Tin the other end of the resistor in pin 2. Attach your Voltage wire to this (remember, you wrote it down!). Solder your DATA wire to the resistor coming off the base of the transistor. Put some tape around the cable, and attach the small metal bit that stops the cable from pulling out of the RS232 connector. Put it all in the case, and screw it up.
Now, get the other end of your cable. Strip the sheath back about 5cm. Cut out all the wires except the ones your using for DATA, Voltage and Ground. Strip back the 3 wires from the ALDL connector, about 1cm. At this point, if your using heatshrink, its a good idea to cut 3 small pieces off, and put them on the cables. Tin the bare copper on each of the wires. Now strip the insulation off your 3 wires on your cable, and tin them aswell. Now solder your DATA wire to the wire on pin 3 of the ALDL connector. Then solder your Voltage wire to the wire on pin 1, and lastly your ground wire to the wire on pin 6. Put the heatshrink over the soldered joints, and either gently touch it with the soldering iron, or use a hairdryer/hot air gun to srhink it. If your using tape, wrap some around the joints. We definetely don't want them touching. Wrap some tape from the connector, all the way to where the sheath starts on the cable.
Voila, your done! Now all you need to do is connect it up to your laptop, and start logging with WinALDL; http://winaldl.joby.se/ .
If anyone has any queries, questions edits or comments, feel free to post, or message me. Enjoy
For this Tutorial you'll need:
A soldering iron
Some solder
Pliers (long nose are especially useful)
3 x 10kOhm 1/4 watt resistors
1 x 9 pin RS232 plug plus casing
1 x ALDL wiring connector, Supercheap part AERPRO Model No. APP0141; Car stereo wiring harness to suit Toyota Camry 87-89, Celica 87-96, Corolla 87-96, Land Cruiser 87-96
1 x length of cable, can be Cat5 cable, security cable. Must contain at least 3 wires. (1 to 2m is good, maximum 9m).
Some electrical tape, or if possible, some small heat shrink.
NB. Tinning is the practice of soldering wires to prepare them to be soldered to another wire.
Firstly, grab the wiring harness you bought from Supercheap and go match it with your cars ALDL connector. This is the connector you want. Cut of the excess connectors, and try to leave as much cable on the plug as possible. Pull the cables out using long nose pliers on all pins. Re-insert singular wired pins (some of the pins have 2 cables on them) back into pinholes 1 and 3. Cut the cable off 2 of the pins, and insert two of these pins into pinholes 2 and 4 (these help in guiding the connectors together). Strip the insulation off of another pin, then cut it back so some copper remains (about 1 cm). Tin this with solder. Tin one of the resistors with solder, and join the resistor to the pin you stripped. grab another pin, and from the pin end, strip the insulation to reveal some copper. Dont strip it completely! Tin this small segment of copper, attach the other end of the resistor to this segment. Push these pins into pinholes 5 and 6. Onto the Serial end.
This bit takes some fiddling. Grab the serial connector. If you look closely, you can see the pins are numbered on the back and front (If not, the view in the diagram is from front of the connector). Snip some of the leg of a resistor, and put it into pin 2. Place the transistors collector leg into pin 2 also. Now solder these into the pin. Put the emitter leg of the transistor into pin 5 on the connector. Grab the cable (the cat5, etc.) and strip the sheath back (outer insulation) about 5cm. Cut all but 3 wires off. At this point, note which wires you are going to use as Data, Ground and Voltage. Write them down! Data attaches to the resistor coming off the base of the transistor, Ground to the emitter and Voltage to the resistor in pin 2. Strip one of the wires back about 1 cm. Place it into pin 5 on the connector, and now sodler the wires in pin 5. Now, bend the base of the transistor back on itself (as if it were pointing at the cable). Shorten the resistor, about 1cm of leg at each end is good. Tin both ends of the resistor, and the base leg of the transistor. Solder the resistor to the base of the transistor. Tin the other end of the resistor in pin 2. Attach your Voltage wire to this (remember, you wrote it down!). Solder your DATA wire to the resistor coming off the base of the transistor. Put some tape around the cable, and attach the small metal bit that stops the cable from pulling out of the RS232 connector. Put it all in the case, and screw it up.
Now, get the other end of your cable. Strip the sheath back about 5cm. Cut out all the wires except the ones your using for DATA, Voltage and Ground. Strip back the 3 wires from the ALDL connector, about 1cm. At this point, if your using heatshrink, its a good idea to cut 3 small pieces off, and put them on the cables. Tin the bare copper on each of the wires. Now strip the insulation off your 3 wires on your cable, and tin them aswell. Now solder your DATA wire to the wire on pin 3 of the ALDL connector. Then solder your Voltage wire to the wire on pin 1, and lastly your ground wire to the wire on pin 6. Put the heatshrink over the soldered joints, and either gently touch it with the soldering iron, or use a hairdryer/hot air gun to srhink it. If your using tape, wrap some around the joints. We definetely don't want them touching. Wrap some tape from the connector, all the way to where the sheath starts on the cable.
Voila, your done! Now all you need to do is connect it up to your laptop, and start logging with WinALDL; http://winaldl.joby.se/ .
If anyone has any queries, questions edits or comments, feel free to post, or message me. Enjoy