irda and S720 question...



Thanks for the followup; I really appreciate it. I didn't hear back from Polar, so I went ahead and ordered the Polar USB IR link. It was $35 delivered from heartratemonitorsusa.com. Nice people to deal with by the way.

Oddly enough, I can sit the Polar monitor near my generic USB IrDA adapter and occasionally get an IR tray icon to pop up and say "Polar 720i is nearby." Like you said, frustrating.

Dave
 
I have the same problem that Filhor had.

I can get the polar 720i to connect to the generic IR interface that exist on my docking station for my laptop.

But when my laptop is not connected to the docking station, I have to use my generic USB - irDA device. With this device, I can communicate with my palm pilot BUT i cannot connect to the Polar 720i.

The device rarely is ever establishes a "wireless" link on my Windows 2000 laptop. Same problem exists on my Windows 98 desktop but I am able to get a little bit farther on that windows 98 machine using the same USB - irDA interface.

Very frustrating.

Scott
 
I also have the same problem that Filhor had. I am running a non-polar IRDA adapter from USB port under XP Pro. If I select IRDA as my monitor attachment the monitor flashes COM repeatedly and eventually reverts to watch mode while the computer spends its time trying to establish a connection. If I select USB in preferences I also get the same reply that the port cannot be found ( I will try and re-install the software again tonight) I flatly refuse to buy a polar IR interface due to both the cost and the redundancy of having a separate IR adapter for every IRDA "compatible" piece of hardware I have.

I contacted Polar US, and received a fairly useless response that hardly enncourages me to go out and buy another adapter that will only work part of the time.
 
I gave up and bought the Polar interface, works great with the watch, doesn't work with anything else, which is really stupid. Anyway, the watch seems to work great with notebooks, maybe you should get a notebook? I would just get the Polar interface and get some use out of your watch instead of wasting too much time fighting.

Filhor

Originally posted by dmcall
I also have the same problem that Filhor had. I am running a non-polar IRDA adapter from USB port under XP Pro. If I select IRDA as my monitor attachment the monitor flashes COM repeatedly and eventually reverts to watch mode while the computer spends its time trying to establish a connection. If I select USB in preferences I also get the same reply that the port cannot be found ( I will try and re-install the software again tonight) I flatly refuse to buy a polar IR interface due to both the cost and the redundancy of having a separate IR adapter for every IRDA "compatible" piece of hardware I have.

I contacted Polar US, and received a fairly useless response that hardly enncourages me to go out and buy another adapter that will only work part of the time.
 
I had the same problem

If you have XP, you must verify this:
Start>Programs>Accesories>System Tools>System Information

There type USB in "Find What" + push Find next

A line is marked...if you see "...USB Open Host Controler"...you lose

Bring the IR back to the store and change it for a RS232.

IR USB seems not compatible with XP. Microsoft has changed the protocol usb with XP...you can see the result.


Polar will sell a new one compatible but When?

I have since yesterday the IR RS232...work well but a little slower than usb.

Bye
Hug

PS: This information comes from polar Helpdesk Belgium
 
I am using the Polar IR interface USB with XP with no problems, no special settings required.

Originally posted by Nimrod
I had the same problem

If you have XP, you must verify this:
Start>Programs>Accesories>System Tools>System Information

There type USB in "Find What" + push Find next

A line is marked...if you see "...USB Open Host Controler"...you lose

Bring the IR back to the store and change it for a RS232.

IR USB seems not compatible with XP. Microsoft has changed the protocol usb with XP...you can see the result.


Polar will sell a new one compatible but When?

I have since yesterday the IR RS232...work well but a little slower than usb.

Bye
Hug

PS: This information comes from polar Helpdesk Belgium
 
Originally posted by Filhor
I am using the Polar IR interface USB with XP with no problems, no special settings required.
Have you verify "... usb open host controler" ?
 
I didn't see that anywhere when I searched, just VIA USB Controller, so maybe that's why mine works.

Originally posted by Nimrod
Have you verify "... usb open host controler" ?
 
Originally posted by Filhor
I didn't see that anywhere when I searched, just VIA USB Controller, so maybe that's why mine works.

It seems that some Hardware (Motherboard) + XP => Open Host controler => not compatible.

A guy from helpdesk Polar Belgium has explained that to me !
 
Originally posted by Nimrod
It seems that some Hardware (Motherboard) + XP => Open Host controler => not compatible.

A guy from helpdesk Polar Belgium has explained that to me !

Well if you noticed the time that I am posting this message you can get an idea of how frustrating it had been to try to get the Polar USB irda device to work and how long it took me to get it going :(

It looks like indeed the presence of the messageline "Standard Open USB Controller" in the device info is apparantly the culprit. (See above messages for details)

After working for hours trying to get it to work using all the techniques listed in this thread... I went across the room and tried it on my wife's computer (which listed "VIA USB Hub Controller" as the result of the "usb" find in the System Info and not the dreaded "Standard Open USB Host Controller) and it worked first try like a charm! Should have tried it much sooner and would have saved a ton of aggravation and expletives!

The motherboard that it does NOT work on is an ASUS a7n8x deluxe (AMD) with the NVIDIA Nforce2 chipset... and the one that it DOES work on is an ASUS A7V333 (AMD) with the VIA chipset... Both systems are running WindowsXP Home with full updates and Norton Anti virus running (for those that suspected the AV software was causing some trouble)

Just a little more info to try to help the people who are still having trouble... I feel your pain! and if you do see the "Open Host controller" in your system info, don't bother to try and make it work, you're probably killing yourself for nothing... and it might make more sense to return the USB version and get the Serial version...

Good Luck,

Feanor
 
Hi,

If you use a BAFO USB IrDA Adapter (BAFO-120) You should try the following settings.

In the PPP software use the IrDA as the Communication port.
Also use the following IrDA settings for your BAFO
speed 9600 baud.
Turnaround time 10ms
Set the transiver type (if possible) to SigmaTel 4000

/Jesper


Filhor,

I am having the exact same problem as you, only my USB IrDA adapter is made by BAFO. It is encouraging that you got it to work with a notebook. What setting did you use on the notebook for "IR Communications Port?"
 
so, after all that... has anyone actually got it going with the non-polar usb ir interface? & what operating system are you using?
 
Originally posted by Jesper
Hi,

If you use a BAFO USB IrDA Adapter (BAFO-120) You should try the following settings.

In the PPP software use the IrDA as the Communication port.
Also use the following IrDA settings for your BAFO
speed 9600 baud.
Turnaround time 10ms
Set the transiver type (if possible) to SigmaTel 4000

/Jesper


Filhor,

I am having the exact same problem as you, only my USB IrDA adapter is made by BAFO. It is encouraging that you got it to work with a notebook. What setting did you use on the notebook for "IR Communications Port?"

I have an S710i and SigmaTel USB IrDA adapter. I can't get it to work. I've tried changing baud 9600/115200/4000000 and turnaround time 1ms/10ms and changing the transceiver type.

I have Windows XP Home, and the driver installed itself fine when I plugged it in, and it appears fine 'working properly' in Device Manager.

In the PPP software, setting the com port to USB doesn't work - you get the error message mentioned earlier in this thread. If you set to IrDA it just seems to wait for connection forever. If you try COM1, you just get a 'no reply from HRM' message. Other COM ports give 'unable to open port' errors.

Jesper - do I understand that you have a 'non-polar' USB IrDA adapter and have got it to work with the settings you posted above? If so I think you're the first... Did it take a lot of trying to get it to communicate, or does it connect up virtually straight away?

Pete
 
Originally posted by ReP0
I have a Polar S720i and have an IRDA connected to my PC via USB. How do you get this to work?. I changed it to run at 9600 baud based on the one Polar sells but still no go. If anyone has any experience getting this going please let me know.

Thanks!

I have a couple of "no name" IrDA devices, serial and USB and have had all manner of frustration with them - one works with my palm pilot, the other doesn't, neither works with my Polar S710. I know several people who have had difficulty with the USB polar interface, so I just went with the serial version and it's fine. I'm told by computer geeks i know and trust that IrDA is not based on a universal standard or convention or protocols the way something like USB or TCP/IP are - there are MANY different IrDA protocols out there and it's almost a case of pot luck as to which IrDA works with which device.
 
Hey guys, I just bought the Polar 720i and I cant get the Ir interface to work wit USB or Serial, do yall have any suggestions on how I can get one of them to work, I have a laptop with XP, I have loaded and unloaded completely and I just cant seem to get it, I can use either IR so if you have tips for both it would be much appreciated. Thanks guys


Originally posted by Nimrod
I had the same problem

If you have XP, you must verify this:
Start>Programs>Accesories>System Tools>System Information

There type USB in "Find What" + push Find next

A line is marked...if you see "...USB Open Host Controler"...you lose

Bring the IR back to the store and change it for a RS232.

IR USB seems not compatible with XP. Microsoft has changed the protocol usb with XP...you can see the result.


Polar will sell a new one compatible but When?

I have since yesterday the IR RS232...work well but a little slower than usb.

Bye
Hug

PS: This information comes from polar Helpdesk Belgium
 
OMG! THis thing is a pain in the ass. NOW, I'm having problems getting the data dowloaded from Polar Heart Rate Monitor into the computer. The IRDA infrared thing is drriving me nuts. I'm on XP and it should work. I was surprised to see so many other users having the same problems. Someone needs to call Polar and tell them their drivers suck or whatever the hell it is that makes downloadint HRM data via IRDA so damn difficult.
 
I have the 710i, with polars interface. Never had any problems. What a great functional watch by the way.... Only one downside... boy is it ever so ugly!
 
I have been having the EXACT same problem witht e s720i, running on Wk2000 with a usb third party IR device....any resolution to the probelms????
 
STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!

I've been working on this damn thing for nearly 10 hours. I'm losing my insanity. Oh, I can't wait to call Polar on Monday!!!
 
"The IRda adapter works fine with my Palm V, but when I try to connect my 720i in CONNECT mode, it flashes "infrared COM" for a while on the watch, then goes to the default CONNECT screen, then eventually goes to regular Watch mode. The whole time the IRda adapter is blinking, and the icon in my tray says it can see the 720i in range."

This a quote from a Polar CSR...
"If the data transfer does not work after editing the settings, apparently these devices are not compatible with each other. We have discovered, that in most of the cases, when there has been trouble with non-Polar IrDA device, there has been a SigmaTel chipset inside the device. Our engineers are currently working
to solve this problem."

...USBGear IR uses SigmaTel chipsets...

Time to solution...unkown. With Sigmatel being a member of IrDA, you would think that Polar would have some interest in getting this working.

You can also check your setting in the Device Manager for your IR device. Under Advanced Properties, the min turn around time = 10ms and the speed should be set to 9600 baud. Polar IR data transfer is based on 1.4 IrPHY and is SIR.

Even with all this infor mine still doesn't work either.