TDC4 Port Number Change

Posted by gamry on July 7, 2016

Step-by-step Instructions for Changing Your TDC4 COM port Number.  Applies to Framework software version 4.35 to 5.XX

  1. Click Start, Control Panel
  2. Select "System" (switch to classic view if System is not listed)
  3. Click the Hardware Tab
  4. Click the Device Manager button
  5. Plug in your USB-to-Serial adapater
  6. Look under Ports (COM & LPT)
  7. Locate the device "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM#)"
  8. Write down the COM #, you'll need it for the next step.
  9. Click Start, All Programs, Gamry, Framework, Gamry.ini
  10. Locate this section, if it is not present add it at the end:

    [TDC_1]
    LABEL=TDC4
    PORT=4
    MODE=COM4:2400,O,7,1
    SerialNo=12345
    TYPE=4

  11. Change the value for PORT=# to the COM number you wrote down
  12. Change the entry for MODE=COM#:2400,O,7,1 to the COM number you wrote down
  13. Save, exit, restart Framework
  14. Click Experiment, Named Script, and enter the script "TDC4 Initialize Settings.exp"

A Note about USB to Serial Converters. Always use the same physical USB port for your TDC4:

Windows initializes the USB converter device and automatically assigns the next available COM port. This is a problem if the converter is plugged into a different physical USB port, as windows will see it as a brand new device and will initialize it with a new COM port number. The TDC4 is not plug and play, and thus the software has no knowledge of the settings change. This will not be a problem if the same physical USB port is always used.