ARES OSM6 DH to Sport In The Box 2

To connect ARES to Sport In The Box 2 you will need a special serial cable and a RS422 USB serial port.

One end of the special serial cable is connected to the GP port at the back of the ARES system. The connector in that end of the cable should be a 9 pin D SUB male connector. The other end of the cable should be a 9 pin D SUB female connector, and this end should be connected to a RS422 serial port in the Sport In The Box 2 computer.

Normal pin configuration for RS422 USB serial ports is to have RX+ at pin 3 and RX- at pin 4. The ARES GP port is using TX+ at pin 3 and TX- at pin 7. The cable connection should look like something like this:

The above pinning configuration should work for VS COM RS422 serial ports and for MOXA RS422 serial ports. Other brands of USB serial ports may have different pinning configuration, see the manual and/or documentation for the USB serial port to find out which pins are RX+ and RS-.

ARES Settings

In ARES you must enable OSM6 DH protocol on the GP port. To do this you must follow these steps:

1.       Open menu Configuration->DH.

2.       In the new window you must make sure to enable “OSM6 With presence message”.

3.       Click on OK to close the DH Options window.

4.       Make sure to turn on the DH output by opening the DH menu and select On.

ARES should now be setup to send data to Sport In The Box 2.

Now you must also do some settings in Sport In The Box 2.

Sport In The Box 2 settings

Start Sport In The Box 2 and then do the following steps:

1.       Click the “Swimming Settings” button in the top right of the Sport In The Box 2 main window.

2.       Make sure you select Timekeeping control: ARES OSM6 DH

3.       In the Timekeeping settings tab you must select the RS422 serial port in your computer that is connected to the ARES GP port.

4.       Then click on OK to save the settings.

You should now be connected to ARES.

Load the events and heats from Splash or Hy-tek (whatever system you are using) and make sure to select a heat/start list and then click on the button “Load heat to timekeeping” to copy the selected heat in the bottom of the window into the top part of the window where the timekeeping is.

If you now start a race in ARES you should receive times when swimmers in the pool do a split time or finish time.