Hi,
I want to connect my Whisper Node LoRa module to my PC in order to use the Arduino IDE. When I connect the device with a micro USB cable, no drivers are installed, so no COM port is added. Do I need to install USB/Serial drivers manually and if so which drivers?
Thanks,
Nico

Hi Nico,

The microUSB connector is for power only. To communicate between a computer an the MCU probably going to need a FTDI Adapter (USB-to-Serial). Something like this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FTDI-FT232RL ... 2550311726

Alternatively you might be able to use an Arduino to "hijack" the USB-to-Serial by removing the MCU Chip from the Arduino board. If your board is the one with a non-removable chip, you can try to follow the instructions discussed here: http://talk2forum.wisen.com.au/topic23.html

Regards,
Mike M.

Hi,

Thanks for your quick reply. I ordered this one from ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/FT232RL-FTDI-US ... 0005.m1851

Yes, this should be all you need.

Once you plug this device on your USB, the operating system will add a "COM/Serial" port, which than can be used to communicate to the device.

Just remember to cross the TX and RX lines. For example: TX from Whisper Node goes to the RX of the FTDI adapter and RX from Whisper Node goes to the TX of the FTDI adapter.

Cheers

Talk2 wrote:Yes, this should be all you need.

Once you plug this device on your USB, the operating system will add a "COM/Serial" port, which than can be used to communicate to the device.

Just remember to cross the TX and RX lines. For example: TX from Whisper Node goes to the RX of the FTDI adapter and RX from Whisper Node goes to the TX of the FTDI adapter.

Cheers

Slowly I got further. I now have a serial port which I can connect to. The serial monitor shows me the basic information about the board. If I now try to upload a sketch, I get an error "An error occured while uploading the sketch". I also see 10 attempts like "avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x3d

I have TX and RX connected crossed and GND of the FTDI pin. After trying to upload the sketch and failing the yellow led keeps flashing.

Any advise?

Hi,

Yes, you also need to connect the DTR pin. This will send a "reset pulse" to the board, as the upload of a new code via serial is handled by the bootloader.

Regards,

Talk2 wrote:Hi,

Yes, you also need to connect the DTR pin. This will send a "reset pulse" to the board, as the upload of a new code via serial is handled by the bootloader.

Regards,

Thanks, you mean DTR pin from the FTDI directly to the DTR pin on the Whisper Node Lora?

Yes, that's correct.