Bulletin

BULLETIN NO.: 00242 DATED AT: Tomball, Texas

April 20, 2011

SUBJECT: Serial Convertors for the Dell Latitude E6510 Laptop

APPROVALS
MANAGER: A J Leblanc INITIATED BY: Jim Allan

Key Words: Falcon, Microplex, USB, RS232, Converter, Serial, Communications

MANDATORY X INFORMATIONAL

Problems were reported with serial communications when using the Dell Latitude E6510 with
the Quatech PCMCIA and several USB serial adapters. The job data from a Falcon or Microplex
may start to skip. The missing or incomplete data strings cause the readings to be misaligned
with the header in JobMaster. One common symptom is resetting of chart time.

A temporary fix was to set the device I/O to Generic CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) instead of
using Falcon or Generic modes in JobMaster. CRC mode will disregard bad data strings but we
may miss important job data.

Instrumentation Engineering and Software Applications have tested multiple USB to RS232
serial adapters with the Dell latitude E6510 without finding them to be completely satisfactory
for serial data to JobMaster or programming of controllers, third party transmitters or RAM
reader.

ExpressCards have been tested and work without problems. JDE Part Number 893796 was
created for the StarTech 2 port native ExpressCard/34 RS232 adapter. One drawback is that it
protrudes out of the laptop and can be dislodged easily. Care must be taken when using this card.

Consider this card for the supervisors and ET’s using Dell Latitude E6510 laptops.

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It fits into the ExpressCard slot on the left side of the Dell Latitude E6510 after the plastic insert
is removed. The card ships with a driver CD, and also comes with a 34 to 54mm slot adapter for
laptops with Expresscard/54 slots. Have the driver CD ready when it is first installed.

Below are a StarTech ExpressCard/34 This shows how the ExpressCard

and a Quatech PCMCIA card. protrudes out of the Laptop

The ports can be configured for any available open com ports, through the Device Manager

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