Build a JP1.x/JP2 cable using an FTDI Serial Converter Cable

shameer · Post by **shameer** » Fri May 08, 2015 10:10 pm

3FG wrote:It's much better to have RTS, especially for JP1.4 and newer remotes. However, for JP2 remotes-- which use the MAXQ microprocessors--it seems that a FTDI chipset is necessary. The 7960 is a JP1.4, so just about any RS-232 adapter will work if it can send RTS.

Thanks for the reply. I ordered the red coloured PCB. It seems to have an RTS pin. I will post after I make the interface.Hope it will work.

shameer · Post by **shameer** » Sat May 16, 2015 5:27 am

It is working! Now I will try to learn the RMIR software

Zhuk · Post by **Zhuk** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 12:26 pm

Hi there!

I've just tested my 7140 with CP2104 USB-UART module. It works with RMIR!

ddp_JP1 · Post by **ddp_JP1** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:24 pm

Is there any way to use the FTDI cable to communicate with a JP1.1 remote? (Like hooking up the connectors differently?) I recently obtained a Comcast 1057BG0 and would like to program it. I have cables for JP1 and JP1.3/4 (FTDI) but not JP1.1. Thanks.

clemon79 · Post by **clemon79** » Tue Jun 15, 2021 12:52 pm

Resurrecting a way old thread.....

I have a modded URC-6131 that back in the day I used to program with a serial JP1 cable. However, said cable didn't make it in my last move, and I have found the need to pick JP1 back up again. So time to modernize!

I order a couple of these:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T8YHBH1/

...which look like they will work, and I'm using Tommy Tyler's document here:

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=10864

to figure out how the wire colors translate. So I need someone to check my math here.

The cables I ordered have the following pinout:

Red wire： 5V
Black wire： GND
White wire： RXD
Green wire： TXD
Yellow wire： RTS
Blue wire： CTS

The style of cable in Tommy's doc appears to have this one, from what I can see finding similar ones on Amazon:

Black wire：GND (pin 3 on 2x3 connector)
Brown wire： CTS
Red wire： 5V
Orange wire： TXD (pin 4)
Yellow wire： RXD (pin 6)
Green wire： RTS (pin 2)

So extrapolating from that I get, for the cables I ordered:

Pin 2: RTS (Yellow on my cables)
Pin 3: GND (Black)
Pin 4: TXD (Green)
Pin 6: RXD (White)

Do I have it right?

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Tue Jun 15, 2021 1:43 pm

I don't think so. If I recall correctly a modded 6131 is a JP1 EEPROM remote that use the old parallel cable. For it to work with the JP1.3 cable you bought, you also have to buy a JP1 EEPROM adapter like this:
https://www.diygadget.com/remote-contro ... p1-adapter

Next time around, a cable with individual connectors like this is much easier to work with:
https://smile.amazon.com/DIYmall-Adapte ... 31-3284121

It's better to ask us BEFORE you buy the wrong thing.

clemon79 · Post by **clemon79** » Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:28 pm

mdavej wrote: It's better to ask us BEFORE you buy the wrong thing.

Well, I wasn't overly worried about having them since they are used with Arduinos as well, but I was able to cancel, so no harm no foul.

Is there a USB cable I *can* mod into a JP1, then?

(Or would I honestly be better off dropping $70 (or less, checking Ebay?) on a XSight, as a JP1 platform?)

EDIT: Yeesh, not even $70, ordered a used XSight Color on eBay for $22. That will serve my purposes (as a platform for programming codes in via RMIR by hand and then teaching other devices) nicely.

Post by **The Robman** » Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:59 pm

To use JP1 with an old JP1 remote, like the URC-6131, you need an FTDI cable, like the one you had ordered on Amazon or like this one which is $8.69 on eBay, and a JP1 adapter which is currently $17.99 (they were $9.99 last time I ordered one).

clemon79 · Post by **clemon79** » Tue Jun 15, 2021 8:24 pm

The Robman wrote:To use JP1 with an old JP1 remote, like the URC-6131, you need an FTDI cable, like the one you had ordered on Amazon or like this one which is $8.69 on eBay, and a JP1 adapter which is currently $17.99 (they were $9.99 last time I ordered one).

So you do need one of those adapters, gotcha. Sounds like I'm in a much better spot with the XSight I ordered then; it's not about resurrecting the 6131 so much as having something I can program codes in from "source", as it were, and filling in the blanks Logitech/Harmony can't/won't fix.

clemon79 · Post by **clemon79** » Thu Jun 17, 2021 11:15 am

Okay, so dig this: turns out the cable DID make the move! It is in fact a DB25 cable (male connector, so yeah, likely parallel), and pins 6 and 7 are clipped off. (And for the life of me I don't remember why, if I simply bent them and they're not in use or if there was a reason, or what.)

So. If I DID want to try to resurrect this for funsies, would something like this:

https://smile.amazon.com/Sabrent-IEEE-1 ... 00R654J18/

...be functional with RMIR?

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Jun 17, 2021 12:24 pm

Yeah, not sure about that USB to Parallel cable, my recollection is that they don't work, but if you have a spare PCI slot, I think you can add a parallel port that way. The thing is that RMIR uses a process called "bit banging" to talk to the remote through the parallel port.

clemon79 · Post by **clemon79** » Thu Jun 17, 2021 12:54 pm

Got it. So I'd need to find a cable with a chipset known to support bit-banging (the FT245RL looks like it might?) and even then it's a crapshoot, it's not as easy as "emulate a parallel port through USB."

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Thu Jun 17, 2021 2:00 pm

I sent you a PM with more details. But for me, the Xsight is not ideal for your purposes. Frankly, learning with it is a major PITA because it's a multi-step process including the requirement to type in a name for each function on the remote as you go.

And Rob is correct about the USB to parallel adapters. They're designed for printers and simply don't work with RMIR.

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Jun 17, 2021 4:11 pm

There's no such thing as a single cable that supports JP1 remotes any more, anyone that used to make them stopped a long while back. If you want to use your old JP1 remotes with RMIR, I explained what you need a few posts back.

If you're using a desktop computer and you have a spare PCI slot, you can add a DB25 port by adding a card, like this $13 card on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S7SQ24R/

or this $7 card on ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/121327923910

clemon79 · Post by **clemon79** » Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:51 pm

Yep, I did follow, but I'm not interested in sticking another card in my case, so it's not a major deal. I was more curious to see if I could end-around on the adapter having found the original cable while still using USB. Sounds like the answer is no, and that's perfectly ok.