Is it possible to have 2 Axe 027 cables running on one PC

DStewert

New Member
Hello . I was wondering if i can use a 2nd Axe 027 cable on the same computer. I'am using Robot Basic on my PC to send and receive data
to a picaxe 40x2. I would like to add a 2nd picaxe to my project. Would another com port be assigned to the 2nd Axe 027 cable or could a conflict arise?


Thanks Dennis
 

westaust55

Moderator
Hello . I was wondering if i can use a 2nd Axe 027 cable on the same computer. I'am using Robot Basic on my PC to send and receive data
to a picaxe 40x2. I would like to add a 2nd picaxe to my project. Would another com port be assigned to the 2nd Axe 027 cable or could a conflict arise?
Two cables can be connected as Andrew indicates.

But since you are then programming two PICAXE chips and can only have one instance of the PE running at a time you will need to flip to the other program window and maybe include a #PICAXE xxx directive if they are different.
Since you would also need to change the comm. Port, rather than purchase a second AXE027 cable you could use a DPDT switch after the on-board stereo socket to select which PICAXE you program. So just flip the switch instead of selecting the right comm. Port on the PC.
In fact if labelled, there would be less likelihood of downloading program to the wrong PICAXE than if the cables were crossed or the wrong Comm port selected.
You would need the two programming circuit resistors in place for both PICAXE chips.

Then for RobotBASIC control and data collection you could channel all comms through one of the two PICAXE chips.
 

Haku

Senior Member
I have two AXE027's and yes it can be very useful to have two plugged in to the same PC to program two separate Picaxes that talk to each other through wireless/wired means.

Once you've identified which AXE027 cable shows up as which com port on your PC; easily done by going into the Options menu of the Programming Editor and selecting a "Read for use" AXE027 com port and using Check Firmware Version with only one of the AXE027 cables plugged into a powered up Picaxe.

You can put "#com 7" in the start of the first program in the Programming Editor and "#com 8" in the start of the second program (7 & 8 were just com port examples, yours will most likely differ).

Once you have the #com directive in the beginning of each program it means you can't accidentally put the wrong code in the wrong Picaxe. unless you accidentally mix the cables up :)
 

inglewoodpete

Senior Member
...and they don't all have to be AXE027s either. I have used 1 x AXE027 and 2 x Prolific cables at once. Just use the #com n directive near the top of each code window.
 
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