OT: How to determine a serial protocol

Sure: stuck a computer in the loop, and log what's coming in the serial port. If you don't know the baud rate, then just try different rates until you start getting reliable data.

There are actually two variations on this: (1) use the computer just to eavesdrop on the communication, in one or both directions; (2) make the computer a man-in-the-middle, listening on one port and repeating whatever it hears out the other port. You might start with (1) and then switch to (2) when you think you have the right baud rate, as that'll confirm it. Then you can start decoding what it hears, and use the computer for experiments (having it inject your own commands into the system) to check your understanding.

Best,

- Joe

You might look at making a "Sound card Oscilloscope" something like below. You could record the input to the sound card as a wav file, then open it with a decent .wav file editor to see if there is a recognizable pattern.

This is a good idea. You might use your scope to figure out the baud rate. While you have the scope hooked up, check the voltage levels, they are likely not RS232 levels. RS485 is a common signalling standard and proprietary current loops are also common. You may need to make a level shifter to get the computer to accept the signaling.

Something to think about is the ESD issues with security systems. I have built a few and the ESD stuff is a pain, and the highest priority for a security system to me is reliability. A flakey security system is worse than none. A possibility would be keeping the Moose panel and programming it to signal your computer through relay or optoisolators. Maybe sniffing the signaling to the front panel would work too.

Good Luck, Bob

With your scope, you might be able to identify:

- voltage levels

- base frequencies (pulse widths and spacings)

- larger patterns (do pulses come in groups of e.g. 8 or 16?)

If you're lucky, these will correspond with a well-known protocol (e.g. RS232 or I2C). Then you could hook in a computer or microcontroller and capture test data until you identify the patterns.

Good luck, Daniel

Actually, there is, and the cross-posts to other groups have produced an answer to the original poster's question.

There are even companies who sell gear to upgrade Moose systems. The Moose line disappeared after two mergers, and there's a sizable installed base of orphaned gear. There's a support forum for the things at

John Nagle

You can do exactly this with a freeware serial terminal program called RealTerm

It will not only allow you to forward data between COM ports and a telnet server, it also displays ANSI, ASCII, HEX and INT and handles I2C ( I haven't played with the I2C yet).

-Robotguy

Thanks everyone for the advice. Thanks John for the link to the DIY alarm forum. It's looks like a great source of support. But I was not able to find any discussion about the serial protocol. You mentioned cross-posts to other groups had yielded an answer. Which group? I only posted to this one.

BRW