Blaze/Vega EMS data logging

[dmagaw]

I attached a RS232 data logger to my Vega EMS1 (which works great BTW), and it is reading and recording text data files (i.e. sequential files named xxxx.txt) which appear to be recording the output of the RS232 at 9600 baud. But the txt files are totally gibberish when viewed with a text reader or MS Word. I suspect there may be some kind of translator required, or I am doing something wrong. Can anyone help?
Dave
Groppo Trail
Italy

[Franz]

Hi Dave,

Are you using the Log-1 datalogger? If not then your datalogger will record binary data as described in the serial communication protocol doc on our website.

Regards,
Franz

[dmagaw]

No, I am using a RS232 data logger. The data in the txt files it produces is completely unreadable, some type of symbols, and nothing is obviously decipherable.

[jamez1970]

The data coming out is in binary. I have a Vega EMS-1, and I attached a serial recorder to it as well to record all of my engine data. I wrote some programs to convert the data to .CSV then graph them using another utility.

Maybe if possible you could send me one of the files and I could possibly take a look to see what it would take to convert them.

Jim

[cheeselion]

I also wrote a program to parse this data after doing the same thing (connecting a RSLogger module to the ouput of my EMS-2). Using this would likely require you to make some changes and you'd need to be familiar with Python etc, but if you want it, it's here:

https://github.com/timeggleston/parse-ems2

Note: this was the first real Python program I ever wrote, apologies in advance to anyone who looks at the source PRs encouraged!

[charosenz@msn.com]

I attached a RS232 data logger to my Vega EMS1 (which works great BTW), and it is reading and recording text data files (i.e. sequential files named xxxx.txt) which appear to be recording the output of the RS232 at 9600 baud. But the txt files are totally gibberish when viewed with a text reader or MS Word. I suspect there may be some kind of translator required, or I am doing something wrong. Can anyone help?
Dave
Groppo Trail
Italy

Did you ever resolve this. I just purchased a Blaze TC-6 and I would like to export the serial data using a standard SD card Data logger. Then using an emulator like Coolterm to view it in graph form. Or at the least save it in a CSV format to graph in excel. While Log-1 would surely work, I just cant see why it would be necessary. But then I am very limited in my knowledge of serial protocol.

Charlie

[dmagaw]

I could not find a translator for the data logger that would work and give me the data in a readable format. So, I ended up buying a Logger from MGL which works fine, once you set the baud rate correctly on the output of the EMS (57,000). The app which MGL provides to read the data from the memory card from the Logger is reasonably useful also, though sometime you need to edit the data points in a file to make the graphs that it shows more useful.

[charosenz@msn.com]

Thank you for the quick reply. I can understand your decision. One last question. Are you using an RDAC?

Unlike the EM series instruments, the TC-6, as I understand it does not need to use an RDAC. I got the TC-6 today and hope to do testing this afternoon. I hope someone who has a deeper understanding can add to this discussion.

I am also looking at emulator/terminal programs like Flight Data Viewer, Coolterm, and RSlogger.

It just seems to me there should be a way to use a standard serial data logger to capture the raw data out of the TC-6 to build a simple line chart.

[dmagaw]

Yes, I am using an RDAC. And I agree that it should be relatively easy to translate the data, I just haven't had the time to try to figure it out. The program that cheeselion wrote should be a good starting point, but I would have to learn a lot more about it (and take the time to do it) to figure it out.

Dave

[charosenz@msn.com]

I've been talking with Michael Jackson the creator of Flight Data Viewer and he tested this and got it to work. I am waiting for my data logger to arrive. I will do some testing and post here what I found out. But it will be several days.

I do not plan on using an RDAC since the TC-6 does not need one.