Connect Tech BlueStorm Multi-port Serial Adapter User Manual

BlueStorm/LP

Low Profile PCI
Multi-port Serial Adapter

Contact Information:

Connect Tech Inc.
42 Arrow Road
Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1K 1S6

Tel: [phone] (International)

800-426-8979 (Canada & USA)

Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

[e-mail]

URL: www.connecttech.com

CTIM-00015 Revisio n 0.05 April, 2005

Limited Lifetime Warranty

Connect Tech Inc. provides a Lifetime Warranty for all Connect Tech Inc. products. Should this
product, in Connect Tech Inc.'s opinion, fail to be in good working order during the warranty
period, Connect Tech Inc. will, at its option, repair or replace this product at no charge, provided
that the product has not been subjected to abuse, misuse, accident, disaster or non Connect Tech
Inc. authorized modification or repair.

You may obtain warranty service by delivering this product to an authorized Connect Tech Inc.
business partner or to Connect Tech Inc. along with proof of purchase. Product returned to
Connect Tech Inc. must be pre-authorized by Connect Tech Inc. with an RMA (Return Material
Authorization) number marked on the outside of the package and sent prepaid, insured and
packaged for safe shipment. Connect Tech Inc. will return this product by prepaid ground
shipment service.

The Connect Tech Inc. Lifetime Warranty is defined as the serviceable life of the product. This
is defined as the period during which all components are available. Should the product prove to
be irreparable, Connect Tech Inc. reserves the right to substitute an equivalent product if
available or to retract Life Time Warranty if no replacement is available.

The above warranty is the only warranty authorized by Connect Tech Inc. Under no
circumstances will Connect Tech Inc. be liable in any way for any damages, including any lost
profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of, or
inability to use, such product.

BlueStorm/LP Installation Guide, Connect Tech Inc.

Copyright Notice

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Connect Tech
Inc. shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental consequential damages in
connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material. This document contains
proprietary information that is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this
document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated to another language without the prior
written consent of Connect Tech, Inc.

Copyright © 1997 - 2005 by Connect Tech, Inc.

Trademark Acknowledgment

Connect Tech, Inc. acknowledges all trademarks, registered trademarks and/or copyrights
referred to in this document as the property of their respective owners.

Not listing all possible trademarks or copyright acknowledgments does not constitute a lack of
acknowledgment to the rightful owners of the trademarks and copyrights mentioned in this
document.

2 Revision 0.05

BlueStorm/LP Installation Guide, Connect Tech Inc.

Table of Contents

Limited Lifetime Warranty ..............................................................................................................................2

Copyright Notice..............................................................................................................................................2

Trademark Acknowledgment...........................................................................................................................2

Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................................3

List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 3

List of Tables.......................................................................................................................3

Customer Support Overview............................................................................................................................4

Contact Information.........................................................................................................................................4

Introduction......................................................................................................................................................5

Features............................................................................................................................................................5

Hardware Installation.......................................................................................................................................6

Installing the BlueStorm/LP into your system..................................................................... 6

Hardware Configuration ..................................................................................................................................6

Interrupts and Memory Address Selection .......................................................................... 6

Electrical Interfaces ......................................................................................................................................... 6

RS-422/485 Electrical Interface ..........................................................................................6

Full Duplex Mode...................................................................................................... 6

Half Duplex Mode .....................................................................................................6

Multi-drop Slave Mode..............................................................................................7

Line Bias/Termination ...............................................................................................7

Jumper Block Settings .....................................................................................................................................7

Jumper Configuration ......................................................................................................................................9

TxD Control ........................................................................................................................ 9

RxD control.........................................................................................................................9

RxD ± Termination/Bias ..................................................................................................... 9

TxD ± Termination..............................................................................................................9

Auto 485..............................................................................................................................9

Connectors/Pinouts........................................................................................................................................10

Software Installation...................................................................................................................................... 14

Windows XP Installation ...............................................................................................................................14

Specifications.................................................................................................................................................15

Operating Environment .....................................................................................................15

PC Bus Interface................................................................................................................15

Dimensions........................................................................................................................15

Communications................................................................................................................15

Baud Rates...............................................................................................................15

Connectors.........................................................................................................................15

Surge Suppression.............................................................................................................15

Regulatory Approvals........................................................................................................15

Software Compatibility ..................................................................................................... 15

List of Figures

Figure 1: BlueStorm/LP jumper block locations 2 port models....................................................................7

Figure 2: BlueStorm/LP jumper block locations 4 port models...................................................................8

Figure 3: BlueStorm/LP jumper block locations, 8 port models....................................................................8

Figure 4: Jumper configuration example for 4 port RS-232/422/485 models................................................ 9

Figure 5: RS-422/485 Wiring Diagrams..................................................................................................... 14

List of Tables

Table 1: DB-25 Female Pinouts (2 port connector)..................................................................................... 10

Table 2: HDB-44 Pinouts (4 port connector)............................................................................................... 11

Table 3: VHDCI-68 Female (8 port connector)........................................................................................... 12

Table 4: Pinouts and Control Signals for DB-9 and DB-25 Male connectors............................................ 13

Revision 0.05 3

Customer Support Overview

If you experience difficulties after reading the manual and/or using the product, contact the
Connect Tech reseller from which you purchased the product. In most cases the reseller can help
you with product installation and difficulties.

In the event that the reseller is unable to resolve your problem, our highly qualified support staff
can assist you. Our support section is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on our website at:

www.connecttech.com/sub/support/support.asp

more information on how to contact us directly. Our technical support is always free.

Contact Information

We offer three ways for you to contact us:

Mail/Courier

You may contact us by letter at:
Connect Tech Inc.
Technical Support
42 Arrow Road
Guelph, Ontario
Canada N1K 1S6

BlueStorm/LP Installation Guide, Connect Tech Inc.

. See the contact information section below for

Email/Internet

You may contact us through the Internet. Our email and URL addresses on the Internet are:

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
www.connecttech.com

Note:

Please go to the Download Zone or the Knowledge Database in
the Support Center on the Connect Tech website for product

manuals, installation guides, device driver software and
technical tips.
Submit your technical support questions to our customer

support engineers via the Support Center on the Connect Tech

website.

Telephone/Facsimile

Technical Support representatives are ready to answer your call Monday through Friday, from
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Our numbers for calls are:

Telephone: [phone] (North America only)

Telephone: [phone] (Live assistance available 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday to

Friday)

Facsimile: 519-836-4878 (on-line 24 hours)

4 Revision 0.05

BlueStorm/LP Installation Guide, Connect Tech Inc.

Introduction

Connect Tech Inc. proudly presents the BlueStorm/LP, a high-speed multi-port communication
adapter for Low Profile PCI compatible computers. The BlueStorm/LP provides you with up to
eight high performance serial ports with baud rates up to 1.8432 Mbps that are compatible with
any standard serial communications application.

BlueStorm/LP is fully PCI 2.2 compliant (2 and 8 port models are 2.3 compliant). You simply
install it into an available PCI slot in your computer and with Plug and Play installation - the
hardware setup is complete.

The BlueStorm/LP is an ideal solution for multi-port serial communications in applications such
as Point of Sale; Industrial Process Control, Office Automation and Data/Telecommunications.
It allows easy attachment of peripherals such as barcode scanners, receipt printers, card readers,
testing and monitoring equipment, modems, printers and any other device requiring serial
communications.

Features

• Two, four or eight high performance asynchronous serial ports in various RS-232 and/or

RS-422/485 electrical interface configurations.

• Baud rates up to 921.6 Kbps (RS-232) and 1.8432 Mbps (RS-422/485) using PCI UARTs

with 64 bytes of TxD/RxD FIFO buffers.

• Supports three RS-422/485 modes: Full Duplex, Half Duplex, Multi-drop Slave.

• Each port can be configured independently (baud rate, parity, data and stop bits).

• Full modem control on all ports.

• DB-9 male fan-out cable (custom cable solutions also offered).

• Optional multi-strike surge suppression, IEC 1000-4 compatible on all signals, all ports.

• Low profile chassis bracket installed on the board with an additional standard height chassis

bracket included.

• PCI 2.2 compliant - with Plug and Play installation.

• QNX 4.X/6.X, Windows XP/2000, Linux compatible (contact Connect Tech for most current

list).

Your BlueStorm/LP product consists of the following components:

• BlueStorm/LP adapter

• An additional low/standard height chassis bracket (optional for some part numbers)

• DB-9 fan-out cable, approximately 12 in./30.5 cm long

• BlueStorm/LP device drivers and documentation CD

Revision 0.05 5