Russell Weaver
EXTENDING THE LIFE OF LEGACY STAEFA TOOLS
By Russell Weaver, Control Engineer, Atkinson Electronics, Inc.
Staefa Service tools are no longer available for sale. These tools allowed connection to Smart 2 and SMVU controllers. The connection could be made locally at the controller by RJ11, or in the case of zone controllers by a RJ11 connection at the thermostat, or by use of alligator clips directly onto the communication trunk.
Staefa PCtool is a software program which allows the same functionality as a service tool by a connection to the 9 pin COM port on a computer. Most laptops sold today do not have a 9 pin com port. So even if PCtool could run on a new laptop there is a hardware connection problem. The last version of this software was PCtool 5.0 it was developed to run on Windows 95 and will not run on later versions of windows platform XP, Vista, 2007 etc. The Later versions of windows come with a Windows 95 emulator, the PCtool software will not run on these systems even with the windows emulator.
Staefa Service Tool
The solution is to use the previous version of this software PCtool 4.0, this version runs on MS DOS. A free program, "Dos Box" allows a DOS shell to open up in newer versions of Windows but still allows windows to handle the physical communications to com ports etc. Here is a URL for this free program download http:// www.dosbox.com/. For laptop computer without a com port, I suggest a USB to com port converter. Install the converter and let windows do the work, Windows will not usually address this converter as either COM1 or COM2. PCtool only allows options for COM1 or COM2, this problem is easily solved by using the configuration options of the Dos Box software to virtually assign the COM port assigned by windows to either COM1 or COM2.
Screen shot of DOS BOX COM Port configuration
PCtool running in DOS BOX in windows XP environment
A PCtool cable will need to be obtained which will be 9 pin COM port to phone jack part number PCTOOL-CBL. This cable will allow connection to the Smart 2 card at the communication Jack on the card and thermostat. For trunk level communications connections an AETI-232 and a null modem cable is a method of being able to connect on the trunk level with PCtool.
PCtool is a great substitute for a Staefa service tool. The service tool only shows 1 parameter at a time however PCtool will show up to 40 parameters. PCtool has many expanded functions not available with the service tool, such as being able to keep a file for every controller as a backup, graphical tuning etc. We have successfully had PCtool running in DOS BOX in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 2007.
- RW
