Firmware:
The firmware communicates with the PC at 115,200 baud (8,n,1) using a two byte command line interpreter. Commands are:
RX = read and transmit current scale reading
S0 = Poll mode - use RX to read scale
S1 = Scale is read at normal speed (300mS) and transmitted automatically
S2 = Scale is switched to fast mode (20mS) and transmitted automatically
ZX = Zeros the scale display
V0 = sets PIC ready to read 24 bit binary devices
V1 = sets PIC ready to read 7 digit BCD devices
Output formats:
The firmware converts the various formats depending on the scale type:
Data from binary scales is transmitted as a Visual Basic compatible hex string
e.g &H000000X
Data from the 7 digit BCD types is transmitted as a decimal string
e.g. +00.0000X (inch) or +000.00mX (mm)
The trailing X is used to identify the axis in use from a multi-axis reader (not shown here).