Cycle Analyst Setup Utility

I am trying to download my Cycle Analyst data to my MacBook Pro. I have the official Grin USB-TTL cable, downloaded the utility from Grin and saved to my application folder. I am running the most current MacOS.

No matter what I do or what order I do it in I get the errors shown below, in that order. Can you shed any light on what I may be doing wrong? (the only thing I didn't do is exchange the cable, in case it's bad)

Besides the $99 Analogger from Grin, perhaps there is another program or device that allows me to upload my ride data and gives me the ability to update firmware when it is out? Thanks!!

amosthedog said:

No matter what I do or what order I do it in I get the errors shown below, in that order. Can you shed any light on what I may be doing wrong? (the only thing I didn't do is exchange the cable, in case it's bad)

Click to expand...

If the OS can't "see" the cable, then neither can the program. It's been a few years since I've worked with MacOS of any type, but there used to be a System control panel that you could see active devices in. Does yours have this, and does it show the USB_serial cable?

Does the program correctly see the right USB-serial port? If it sees more than one, does it make any difference to choose one over the other?

Do you have the CA powered on, from the ebike battery? if not, the computer can't talk to it.

If you do have it powered on, what do you see on teh CA screen itself when you attempt to connect to it from the computer? It should clear all the usual stuff off the scrreen, and show "PC CONNECTION" instead.

Besides the $99 Analogger from Grin, perhaps there is another program or device that allows me to upload my ride data and gives me the ability to update firmware when it is out? Thanks!!

Click to expand...

What ride data do you want to get?


If you're wanting to see the data from different points along the ride, the CA doesn't by itself have that data stored in it. It only stores peaks or minimums for some things, and totals of other things. Some data is not stored at all, but can be transmitted regularly out the serial port for another device to log.

You'd need the Analogger, or another device that continously receives and logs the information the CA can output thru the serial port (the same plug you use to connect to the computer).

If you only want to see the peaks, etc., that's available directly in the CA screens on the device itself, but it is not *all* available when you read the CA remotely--just a few things can be read remotely; AFAICR it's just the Lifetime Statistics (none of the Trip Statistics).



The only way I know of to do firmware updates is via the setup program itself, thru the USB-serial cable.

Thank you so much for your reply. My CA does show …PC CONNECTION when the cable is plugged in. Battery and controller, on.

While I can find my External drive, which is plugged into one of two serial ports, I can’t seem to find the CA. Other than my SSD drive this is what shows in system preferences under USB:

FT230X Basic UART:

Product ID: 0x6015
Vendor ID: 0x0403 (Future Technology Devices International Limited)
Version: 10.00
Serial Number: DO01LKIR
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/s
Manufacturer: FTDI
Location ID: 0x14100000 / 6
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 90
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0


I did download the drivers from the site recommended my Grin

Lastly, the picture shows that the USB port listed on the CA Setup Utility.

Unless you see something missing in my approach I guess I’ll be out of luck when Grin
updates the CA firmware.

Many thanks for your thoughts

Andrea

amosthedog said:

Thank you so much for your reply. My CA does show …PC CONNECTION when the cable is plugged in. Battery and controller, on.

Click to expand...

If it shows PC Connection the entire time the cable is plugged in, then something is wrong. It should only show that when the setup program is actively "talking" to it, either reading or writing. I don't know if it's wrong in the hardware or the software, but I would suspect a wiring issue in the USB-serial cable somewhere between the phono plug and the casing around hte USB plug, though it could be a wiring fault in the jack/cable on the CA itself.

While I can find my External drive, which is plugged into one of two serial ports, I can’t seem to find the CA. Other than my SSD drive this is what shows in system preferences under USB:

Click to expand...

The CA doesn't communicate with the computer itself, so it doesn't show up as a device.

The FT230x is probably the Grin cable. If it's not plugged in, then that should disappear from the cnnected devices list.

Unless you see something missing in my approach I guess I’ll be out of luck when Grin
updates the CA firmware.

Click to expand...

You probably need to contact Grin Tech directly to have them help you troubleshoot. It's likley something simple that I just don't remember about MacOS.

Again, many, many thanks for your time and effort in trying to solve this problem. I have talked to Grin a few times. They basically said they didn't know why it didn't work and that i don't really need the connection anyway and to try a PC, as they work better with the software. As you can imagine i don't have a PC sitting around. I think as a last resort i will send for a replacement cable (Grin cable purchased from Amazon Prime) to see if that is the issue.

I'll let you know if a new cable works, if not i guess I'll just give up -sigh-

amosthedog said:

I think as a last resort i will send for a replacement cable (Grin cable purchased from Amazon Prime) to see if that is the issue.

I'll let you know if a new cable works, if not i guess I'll just give up -sigh-

Click to expand...

It could be the cable (though I have two and neither has had any issues yet, even when used for other projects with an adapter I made for the phono jack to db-9).

One other thing you could try is to unplug and replug the phono plug of the cable into the CA's jack several times, just to be sure it's not a poor connection somehow. You can also use a good light and maybe a magnifying glass (or a phone with these options on it's camera, with good close-up function) to look inside the CA's jack for debris that could be shorting the terminals inside.

Oh, also, does it show the "PC Connection" message if the cable is plugged into the CA but not into the computer? (This is what I suspect, and indicates a definite problem in either the CA or the cable).

Or does it only do it if it's connected to the computer?

If the latter, does it only do it if the setup program is running? Or does it do it even without that running, just plugged into the powered-on computer?

If the latter, does it also do it if plugged into a USB hub that is *not* connected to the computer (assuming the USB hub has it's own power supply from the wall)?


I don't know exactly how the CA "knows" it has a PC Connection, if it just waits for a certain code to be received over the serial RX line, or if it waits for that to be grounded for a certain minimum period. But if it's the latter, then a short in the cable from the RX line to ground would cause what you see, and prevent the CA from "hearing" the setup program talking to it.


I don't know why Grin would give up trying to help you, since it appears that everything on the computer side of things is working ok, and it is probably a hardware issue with one of the two Grin products involved (CA or cable) that's causing the problem. What specific steps did they have you try? (Knowing those will help us help you try different things, and not waste time repeating tests already performed).




Grin is sort of correct in that you don't "need" the pc connection / setup program to use most of the features, but there *are* a few things you cannot correctly set in it without that (at least, there's no way to *see* that you set it correctly, as high values in some things are displayed wrong, some as zeros for instance), and you can't update the firmware if they ever come out with a new one with bug fixes or feature updates (been about a year-ish since 3.14 now, so I don't know when they'll come out with 3.15 for some bugfixes, etc. (per this post by Justin_LE https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1478762#p1478762).

A big advantage of the setup program that I like to use is to be able to experiment with multiple different setups of the CA, without tediously going thru all the onscreen menus to change everything each time. For instance, if you wanted to have presets for speed limits, but no other limits, you could try that out, and if it didn't do what you wanted quite right, then you could create a new setup based on that in the setup program, and then save that separately (so you can go back to what you started with easily), then upload to the CA and go test it out. Then if there's stuff that still doesn't do wha you want, you can agian tweak it in the seutp program, and so on.

And you can go back to any previous setup at any time, and you can also backup whatever setup you presently have on the CA to the computer, so you don't have to write it down by hand on paper, just in case you have a problem and have to start over for some reason.

You are the BEST! Below are answers to your very thoughtful comments/questions:




One other thing you could try is to unplug and replug the phono plug of the cable into the CA's jack several times, just to be sure it's not a poor connection somehow. You can also use a good light and maybe a magnifying glass (or a phone with these options on it's camera, with good close-up function) to look inside the CA's jack for debris that could be shorting the terminals inside.

--I sent the cable back via Prime for a replacement so I can't ck a few of your suggestions untill i receive the new one.

Oh, also, does it show the "PC Connection" message if the cable is plugged into the CA but not into the computer? (This is what I suspect, and indicates a definite problem in either the CA or the cable).

--It does not show PC Connection when the cable is plugged in only to the CA.

If the latter, does it only do it if the setup program is running? Or does it do it even without that running, just plugged into the powered-on computer?

--Only happens after i ask the program to READ CA. Then, once i reset everything, i.e. turn battery off then on, i get the normal CA screen.

If the latter, does it also do it if plugged into a USB hub that is *not* connected to the computer (assuming the USB hub has it's own power supply from the wall)?
--nope

I don't know exactly how the CA "knows" it has a PC Connection, if it just waits for a certain code to be received over the serial RX line, or if it waits for that to be grounded for a certain minimum period. But if it's the latter, then a short in the cable from the RX line to ground would cause what you see, and prevent the CA from "hearing" the setup program talking to it.


I don't know why Grin would give up trying to help you, since it appears that everything on the computer side of things is working ok, and it is probably a hardware issue with one of the two Grin products involved (CA or cable) that's causing the problem. What specific steps did they have you try? (Knowing those will help us help you try different things, and not waste time repeating tests already performed).

--Grin asked be to be sure the cable was correct, it is. Then they said to be sure to download firmware from their website, unzip files and move to my applications folder. I did. Then plug in usb to mac, make sure com ports say usb serial, they do, then plug in TTL to CA. Finally, open the CA setup utility, make sure CA not it set up and press READ CA. It is not in setup mode.

I did these steps in every which way. Justin did write to be sure to download the FTDI drive which i did, repeated the steps above and suggested using a Windows computer. I don't have one. Once I get the new cord I will try on a fiends laptop if my MacBook doesn't work.

And yes, all the things you mentioned that I can do with the CA to PC connection is exactly why I want the set up to work!

Again, thank you so very much. When the new cord arrives i will be back with an update.

Cheers! Andrea

amosthedog said:

--It does not show PC Connection when the cable is plugged in only to the CA.

--Only happens after i ask the program to READ CA. Then, once i reset everything, i.e. turn battery off then on, i get the normal CA screen.

Click to expand...

Ok, then that means that the computer *is* actually talking to the CA (to tell it to wait for commands over the serial port), but isn't able to get a response from it. That's still probably the cable itself, but could still be something in the CA jack/wiring.

Once I get the new cord I will try on a fiends laptop if my MacBook doesn't work.

Click to expand...

If it doesn't work with the new cord, and it doesnt work on a windows machine, then the problem is probably in the CA wiring, which may be a simple fix depending on your available tools and skill.

If you like, you can open the back of the CA to check this, and potentially be able to fix it. If not, you'd have to send the CA to Grin to have them fix it (probably under warranty).

Hello!

I received the new cord and borrowed a pc. The CA connected and download my data to the PC. I painstakingly adjusted the applicable data fields and thought I saved the settings into a file in case there was a problem. When I clicked to send data TO my CA the following error message was received.

I asked Grin about it and they said asked what firmware showed on boot up. It is CA3-14. They then told me the firmware needed updating to CA3-14 firmware file and sent the file.

I attempted to download the new? file they sent which seemed to be exactly what I had. Also, the file I thought I saved is no where to be found on the PC.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

I don't remember for sure, but that sounds like the message you get when you create a setup file for a different firmware version than you have on the CA.

So if the CA already had 3.14 on it, but the file you created was for 3.1b22, you'd get a warning message because the parameters are not all in the same place/etc or all applicable to all versions, and if you actually write the wrong settings version over, you can end up having to reset the CA and redo all the settings again.


Where your file went, I don't know. It should be in the folder the setup utility is stored in, for Windows. For Apple I don't know for sure. Mine, for instance, are stored in C:\Downloads\Ebike stuff\CA3.1 Firmware and Software Release_files\CA_Setup_Utility_v1.54_Windows\setups , where the "setups" folder is the specific folder where the files I create are stored.

They are ".hex" files, so you could do a search of your computer for that file type, in the date range from around when you saved it.


Then, when you find it, you can open it, and then *also* open a new file with the 3.14 template. Then manually copy the settings from your file to the new one, and save that, and put "3.14" as part of the filename so you know which one is which.


Before you upload it to the CA, though, first try downloading the existing settings from the CA, and saving those to a separate file.

After much trial and error I have succeeded in getting the CA Software Utility to work on my MacBook Pro. Any one out there with Mac issues should contact me as I've looked every which way and experimented a lot to find a fix.

Thank you Amerwolf for all your help. It was great, useful and spurred me on to persevere for a resolution. I hope the tiny donation I gave helps a little. Again, thank you!!

I appreciate it.

But I would recommend posting the entire details of the fix here on ES, step by step, so that anyone searching for the fix can use it without having to get hold of you (which might not be possible at some time in the future for whatever reason).

Hey, I’m having the same exact problem connecting my CA to my MacBook Pro. Exactly the same as Amos the dogs problem. What is the solution?

Sorry you are having the issue. I posted a detailed fix on the site and will look to see where it is to send it to you. my main problem was that the program from Grin did not have the current update and it was not placed in the Mac Applications folder correctly. I had to manually add the program.

Is this the first time you have used the CA program on you Mac?

Jimmy, This is the fix I posted.


This is how I fixed my Cycle Analyst (CA) connection with my Macbook.

Be sure the downloaded file from Grin, (located in the bottom part of this document:https://tinyurl.com/y89ndn4g) is in the Mac Applications folder, not wherever the unzipped file resides.

The trick here is making sure the file is in the application folder. Most Mac developers add a graphical screen instructing the user to drag a file into the app. folder. Grin does not do that.

So, when you unzip the file it stays in the location you designated. For me, it was my desktop.

Don’t be fooled by the CA setup utility that opens when the file is clicked. The Setup Utility will open even if the files are not in the applications folder, but the program will not work!! That’s where you get the error messages when the CA is corded to your computer and you attempt to upload your CA activity.

Go to your application file and be sure that ca_Setup_Utilty_v1.54 is there. If not you will need to copy and/or drag the file into the Mac Application folder.

Be sure that Ca3-14 is in the data file or your changes will not transfer back to the CA. If you don’t have it you can load CA3-14 firmware file directly (just unzip the archive and move it to your installation folder in Applications) from here:
https://www.ebikes.ca/downloads/cafw/release/

I hope this helps. Feel free to let me know if you have questions or don’t understand any instructions above.

Follow-up question to what amosthedog posted in October:

I was having the same Mac OS problems as above and I moved my CASetupUtility to my app folder to see if the cycle analyst would connect. It did, momentarily, and then I tried to write some new settings onto it and the connection timed out.

Worse, my cycle analyst won't show anything but a blank green screen now, even after power cycling and disconnecting from the Phaserunner. Anybody have an idea how I just turned my CA into a potato?

Thanks!