Turbine to PC physical connection
This article describes how to make a USB to serial cable. With this cable it is possible to connect a PC direct to Turbine units. This is useful when you have a Turbine unit that is bricked.
Contents
Preparing the cable for PC-Turbine serial connection
To connect the Turbine with the PC we have to modify the serial to USB cable. In addition you must also make a strap cable.
The cable that we will use can be found here.
The original cable looks like this:
When the modification is done it should look like this:
Modifying the cable
There is no soldering or crimping required for this process.
First remove the metal connectors from the plastic casing. This is done by lifting the small plastic clip and then pulling the wire:
All the metal connectors must be removed:
When all the connectors are removed the cable should look like this:
When all cables are removed they must be inserted in the new plastic casing.
When this is done the cable should look like this:
Strap Cable
A second cable is also needed witch is used as a strap between Turbine GPIO pinns:
That concludes the process of cable creation. You now have a cable kit that makes it possible to connect the PC to a Turbine device.
Connecting the PC to the Turbine device
The new cable layout:
| 3-PIN connector | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLACK | GND | ||||
| ORANGE | TXD | ||||
| YELLOW | RXD | ||||
| 6-PIN connector | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BROWN | CTS# | ||||
| RED | VCC | ||||
| GREEN | RTS# | ||||
GPIO pinout for the Turbine:
Connecting the cable:
Connecting the strap cable
The strap cable needs to be connected like this:
The PC Turbine cable connection overview
This is the overview of the connetion between the PC and the Turbine device:
