MiX 4000 Serial Upgrader

Application Note
 Table of Contents

1 Overview......................................................................................................................................2
2 Tools and Cables Required..........................................................................................................2
3 Using the Serial Upgrader............................................................................................................3
3.1 Step1 – Connect Cable..........................................................................................................3
3.2 Step 2 – Power unit and put it in trip....................................................................................3
3.3 Step 3 – Start the application................................................................................................4
3.4 Step 4 – Upgrade the unit......................................................................................................4
4 Serial port and cable pin outs.......................................................................................................4
4.1 The micro fit connector on MiX4000...................................................................................4
4.2 Male DB9 connector on serial harness..................................................................................5

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 1 Overview
The purpose of this document is to provide a detailed and technical description of how to upgrade
the firmware on a MIX 4000 via the serial port. The document also describes all the cables and
converters required to perform the upgrade.

Note that this is not a user manual for the serial upgrader, but merely provides information on how
to use it and what to do if you run into any issues or problems.

Under normal conditions it is not required to upgrade the firmware via the serial upgrader and it
only required for versions older than V1.5.11. (Version 1.2.6 and earlier sometimes take a long
time to connect to the server or experience problems upgrading over-the-air.)

Any firmware version from V1.5.11 or later can be installed and commissioned as-is and the
firmware can be upgraded OTA at a later stage.

The firmware is approximately 920 Kbyte in size and depending on the network connection it will
take between 10 minutes and 20 minutes to download over-the-air (OTA). When using the serial
upgrader it should take less than 5 minutes.

2 Tools and Cables Required

Item
Windows PC or Laptop
440FT0931 Serial Harness SR1
Description
Only Windows OS (8 or Later) is supported and the device
must have a spare RS-232 or USB port.
Note this is the standard serial harness for MiX4000 and
MiX6000 and has the following serial port wires; (RX, TX,
CTS, RTS, GND, DSR-DTR looped, RS-232 with a Male
DB9 Connector)

USB to Serial Converter This is only required if you do not have a serial port on the
PC that terminates in a DB9 connector.

This is a commercial off-the-shelve product that can be

purchased from any electronic shop.

Note that this cable usually also terminates in a Male DB9

connector, so it cannot plug directly into the serial harness
and an additional “Gender-bender” or Female-to-Female
DB9 converter is required.

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 DB9 Female-to-Female Null This is a commercial off-the-shelve product that can be
Modem cable purchased from any electronic shop.
eBay Link

Note that inside this connector the following wires are

usually swapped according to the picture below:

3 Using the Serial Upgrader

Note that the serial upgrader executable also contains the firmware file and the version of the
firmware is usually indicated in the name of the executable e.g. for V1.6.7 firmware, the serial
upgrader is named:
 MiX4000SerialUpgraderV1_6_7.exe

3.1 Step1 – Connect Cable

Connect the cable to the PC and to S1 (left Serial Port)

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 3.2 Step 2 – Power unit and put it in trip
Note that the MiX4000 can be put in trip via 3 different ways:
1) Ensure that the supply Voltage is higher than 13.7 Volt (this can be achieved by powering it
with a variable voltage power supply or to start the engine of the vehicle)
2) Shake the unit – the movement sensed by accelerometer will put the unit in trip
3) Connect the ignition input to the supply voltage – note that this will only work if the unit
already has a configuration that specifies “Wired Ignition”

3.3 Step 3 – Start the application

Start the application and select the correct serial port in the MiX4000Serial Upgrader Menu bar
(Port).
If it is the first time that you use this application, it is recommended that you close the application
after you have selected the port. This action will save the serial port connection for the next time
usage.
If you have used this application before, then you can continue with the upgrade.

3.4 Step 4 – Upgrade the unit

Click on the Upgrade button and wait for the process to complete.
After the upgrade has completed it is recommended that you close the application before you
connect the next unit.

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 4 Serial port and cable pin outs
The following tables and pictures shows the definition of the pins on the MiX 4000 serial connector
and on the serial harness DB9 connector.

4.1 The micro fit connector on MiX4000

4.2 Male DB9 connector on serial harness

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