I think many of us are DIY’ers because we like to:
“Tinker” with things
Save money
Be in control
With that in mind, I have always wondered if there would be a way to make our own firmware update cable. As you are aware, the 2GIG branded cable comes at a steep price. If you are in the business and/or have multiple panels to update then you probably don’t mind spending the $20 to $30 for a single 2GIG branded cable.
A less expensive option would be attractive to people like me who only need to update one panel on one occasion.
It appears to me that the 2GIG update cable is nothing more than a male usb to a 4 pin female connector.
Have any of you tried making your own?
Or have you tried going with a less expensive generic cable?
To be honest, I’ve not had a reason to try this (nor do I think anyone else here has either) but as stated above, I have not heard any positive results.
The 2GIG Cable is made so it can only connect to the panel pins in one direction. Instructions specify direction for TS1. Using a generic cable allows for error, and if you look at the 2GIG Cable, it also only uses three of the pins.
You can’t just use a USB to 4 pin header cable. The J4 connector on the board is not USB, it is a serial header (like the USB to TTL cable with integrated chip Jrlivin2 suggested). You might also just be able to use a straight up old serial cable (tons of these laying around) and cut one end if you still have a machine that has an old serial port.