Sokkia SDR33 support for Nikon DTM-430

Wow SDR33. I used one with a Sokkia Set-2 way back 1995-1998. Memory is very weak but I think the baud was 2400. Later on I connected an HP48GX w/TDS Survey card to that Set-2 using the same 2400 and SET in the 48. Then I got a Nikon DTM-A20 and connected my 48 using the same 2400 and Nikon in the 48. What I'm saying is try various settings, some odd combination might work.

We used to use the SDR33 way back in the 90s.  Mostly with Sokkia total stations, but we did have a few Nikons.  As I recall the Nikons used a different cable, or should I say cable adapter, for a null modem connection, which the Sokkias didn't.

Never used SDR33 with Nikon Instrument. So i can not comment if it is possible to connect to DTM-430.

Just used with Wild Heerbrugg/Leica Total Station.

Maybe Nikon settings in Apendix B (page 7 in pdf) can help you to make connection.

Also Symbol PDT-3300 might be the same data collector, maybe for building your own cable...

If the OP is still reading this post, a long time ago I wrote up the attached instructions for connecting a Trimble data collector to a Nikon DTM-A-series instrument.

If the OP's Nikon DTM-430 still has the option of emulating a Sokkia (formerly Lietz) SET-series instrument that may enable working with the Sokkia SDR33.

GB

First off.... I want to apologize for not responding to any of you that were gracious enough to have provided your thoughts... Shortly after I posted my question, my account was 'banned' and locked.  I was baffled by this but thought that I must have unknowingly broken some rule. I never saw any of your responses because the notification was similarly turned off.  When I ran across my question in a good search and saw your messages, I decided to research further.  I didn't see anything in the terms that should have caused me to be banned, so I contacted the webmaster.  Apparently the issue was an overly aggressive spam filter and the lock was removed.

So... before I say anything else, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to respond to me!  I really appreciate it!  I will be formulating more pointed results and addressing specific suggestions later today because I do have additional information.   Thank you all!

OK, here is goes....

@landbutcher464mhz -

I actually used an RS232 tool and found that communications were set to 4800 baud when i selected "DTM-A series" on the SDR33.  I can actually see bidirectional communications, which clearly show good COMS.  The SDR first sends out a "DNX" command, for which the Nikon gives an ack.  The SDR then sends a "MSR" command, for which the Nikon sends an ack, performs a shot, and then sends the results.  However, the SDR doesn't seem to do anything with that response and eventually times out.  The fact that the cmd/ack/cmd/ack/measure sequence works, however, seems to be pretty good confirmation that there is, in fact, successful communications (baud, stop, etc) between the two devices.  (please be aware that I'm simplifying the commands in my message here.  They are, in fact, an envelope that contains non-ASCII characters and the envelope is much larger than simply MSR).

The Nikon supports SET commands, as does the SDR33.  The SDR33, however, has several different types of SET (SET2, SET 2-way, etc) and I am not sure which of those correlates with the Nikon SET.  I have tried these and, eventually, found one that would cause the Nikon to send back what was currently on the display (meaning, it didn't command a shot, but there was a successful request from the SDR and the Nikon responded.  Unfortunately, this also resulted in a timeout on the SDR....  I do not recall the baud rate which I found that seemed to work.

@bobwesterman

Yes! You are correct. The Hirose connector on the Nikon uses different pins than the Sokkia....  I have tried a few ways to deal with this... I have a Nikon Hirose to DB9 connector that I connected to DB9 to RJ45 (the guy that looks like a network cable) adapter.  This then goes to an RJ45 breakout box and then to the SDR33.  The point here is that I can jumper things around to my heart's delight.... I definitely have the RX/TX lines in the correct locations.  You have hit the head of the nail on my thoughts on the "other" pins.... The problem here, however, is that the RJ45 on the SDR33 is not specified in any manual.  In fact, without a board that has some RS232 drivers, the RJ45 on the SDR33 isn't connected to anything internally.... If one were to route the signals (which I did), you'll see that they just go to a daughterboard connector and that is it.  So the driver board is mandatory.  I've determine what is an input/output on that board (and where those signals go on the RJ45), and I've tried everything I can think of, but the SDR33 still doesn't acknowledge the shot result.

Logically, part of this also is a little iffy.... The SDR is definitely sending data and receiving data.  It is possible there could be a buffer overrun on the SDR when the Nikon sends the shot results, but if that is the case, I can't see how any of this would ever work, even with a different cable).  The Nikon doesn't have any hardware RS232 protocol pins at all, and I don't think the Sokkia does either (can't find a manual that shows the pinouts on a Sokkia Hirose, but I did map the cable I got with my SDR33).  That means they'd have to use software protocol (Xon/Xoff), which would make sense... But there is no place to configure that on either the SDR33 or the Nikon that I've been able to find....

@mike1202

Yes, you are on the right track... The 3300 is the same base unit, but the SDR33 has an additional daughter board, as mentioned above.  The DB9 on the SDR33 is completely useless, as best as I can tell, because its pins are dedicated to usage with a laser barcode reader.  Beyond those pins, there is no information on the RJ45 which is what one uses to connect the SDR33 to a total station.  Thank you for the manual links... I have actually looked at those before.  I was hoping there would be additional configuration information in the Appendix that explicitly covered the Nikon (and wiring), but unfortunately I think I've pretty much covered most of those...

@glenn-borkenhagen

I need to try this out.... It sounds like an interesting idea and variation on what I've been trying with the SET interface approach (but thus far unsuccessful).

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I think that is about it for now.  My "feeling" is that I'm missing some obscure setup screen somewhere in the SDR33, but I've pretty much dug through the whole darned thing multiple times.... If any of you have any Nikon DTR-A series command set information, I would love to get that! I really want to confirm that the command set for the DTR-A series is the same as for the DTM-4xx series.  Frankly, I can't see why it would be very different, and clearly the setup and measure commands definitely work.  Why the shot response would be a different format seems sketchy to me as a result. Yet, the name of the game here is to not leave any stone unturned, so if you have a manual for the communications specifications for the DTM-A series *please* let me know!  It is not in the generic operations manual (have that now).

Once again, thank you all for your thoughts.  I appreciate it!