Why can't I use a standard 9-pin serial I/O cable when programming Whedco servo drives from my laptop? I can only get the genuine Whedco serial cable ($$$$) to work, and not give errors.

 

What makes you think it is a "standard" cable?

I am not aware there even is such a thing.

I would bet the manuals would tell you what the pinout is, or even if it is not RS-232. It is not unheard of for manufacturers to supply a cable that has some kind of built in converter.

 

The pinout of the custom cable you are looking for is found at:

http://application.gefanuc.com/infolink/manuals/Whedco/pub367.pdf

Good Luck.

 

To be more specific, the pin assignments are

1 SHLD
2 TxD
3 RxD
4 DTR
5 SG
7 DSR

tom. tran @ industran. com