Well done, John!
Does the NNTN5405 cable fit and lock perfectly to the DTR without modification?
That is correct. The connector on NNTN5405 is exactly the same as the one comes with DTR. Also, since NNTN5405 has a charging housing on the cable, I believe you could hide your DC-DC converter inside to make cable look prettier. NNTN5405 has 3 black wires (1 to shield, 1 connects pin 17 to USB ground, another 1 connects pin 17 to shield black wire), 2 extra wires for charging housing (1 to pin 17 ground, 1 to pin 3 for 5v external power). In another word, if you ground pin 17 and put 5v on pin 3, radio is in charging mode. This setting is consistent with OEM charging cable. OEM charging cable (that is hooked to charging cradle) has only two pins at pin 3 & 17. So I really am puzzled by why you set ground at pin 1 and 3, but not 17.
One thing I have to point out is that if USB does not show up on the flash software window, disconnecting DTR and reconnecting DTR to the cable will bring up USB to the flash window.
Andy, from the photo, how come i have the feeling that you grounded at pin 2, not pin 1 or 3? I start to feel that pin 2 & pin 17 are both for ground since pin 2 & 17 are connected for ground in NNTN5405 charging house.
All the answers you seek are in this thread, including a very nice schematic that an enthusiast was very kind to post here.
Hi, Andy, what I am saying is that schematic is not working in my case. I use cable NNTN5405. Initially I followed the schematic (pin 1&3 to ground, pin 15 to 12v), but it did not work. Then I kept the original wire layout in NNTN5405 (pin 17 to ground, pin 1 & 3 unused) and just added 12 V on pin 15 and it works.
Huh! That’s strange. Several have been made with the pinout as per this thread with no connection on pin 17 and work fine. Can’t say why your experience was different.
An additional thanks for all the good info in this thread.
Well done gentlemen
I will try and make my own cable, just picked up 8 DTR650’s.
I’m guessing that I’m lucky but I managed to flash two DTR550’s and one DTR650 before the USB cable “melted”. I followed the instructions to hooked up 12 volts with positive to pin 15 and negative to both pins 1 and 3. I could smell something burning but wasn’t sure WTH was going on. The radios were all left OFF when I went to flash them and the batteries were in the radios too. Any guess to what is going on here? Thankfully I have another USB to iDEN cable. It got really hot by pins 1 and 3… you can see the bulge in the photo.
Well, there’s videos and schematics on here, with really good instructions… Make sure you download all the PDF’s and watch all the videos.
Maybe a couple of pins got shorted? Have a look with a magnifying glass. Maybe your 12v supply wasn’t actually 12v?
Okay I think I know whats going on. I found the posts on how you installed an in-line DC-DC converter and “cut off” the 5V supplied from the USB side. I bet I was causing some sort of short with both 12V and 5V going into this thing; so basically I should have isolated the USB +5V by either installing a switch OR just a male/female connector so I can disconnect it. Makes more sense now.
Edit: after further review of the schematic, I’m not sure. I measured my 12V power supply and it is outputting 15V; that isn’t rare for these unregulated wall warts. I’m not sure but I have another USB cable and I will try again but install a DC-DC converter.
Are you sure pin 15 isn’t shorting to the shield or clips on the cable? If so, when you plug it into the radio you’ll create a short between the clips and pins 1&3 (ground). Make sure there is no conductivity between pin 15 and the metal clips that hold the connector into the radio.
I just built this cable, but it is not working for me. When I plug the cable into the radio (with radio turned off), it installs a driver for “Flash P2K Patriot” and then shows “Motorola iDen Interface” when it is done. I installed the driver that comes with the Flash software, so I guess that is right. I never get the “USB” connection in the Flash software. It only shows “COM1.” If I disconnect the 12V supply and plug the cable in, Device Manager shows it as an iDen Modem. What am I doing wrong? I’m thinking that my old aftermarket Nextel cable just isn’t going to work. It appears to be a straight through cable as it Ohms out properly. There are no shorts or opens on the pins and everything is wired per the schematic. Any ideas? Thank you, Scott
Did you follow the instructions exactly? Which cable did you use?
Watch the video if you haven’t already…
Yes. I followed the directions. This is an old cable that I used to program my old Nextel phones when we had that service. It is an aftermarket cable, but for “Ohming” everything out, it matches the schematic listed in this post. It is not the same cable that is shown in this post, because it does not have a PCB in the connector. The wires go directly to the pins, so could that be my problem? The color of the wires does not match, but they are pin for pin wired exactly like the schematic.
I also tried wiring the 12V ground together with the USB ground on 1 & 3, but got the same results as Johnw. I’m going to try again with his suggestion of ground to 17 and leaving 1 & 3 unconnected and see if that works.
Ok. No idea if a different cable will work. The one in the video is/was dirt cheap so might not be worth it to go to all that effort to try and get the one you have working?
I think I know what is causing my problem. The pins are not lining up perfectly on all of the needed pins. It is off, not by much, but just enough. Pin 15 is lining up halfway between 14 & 15 on the radio. It also explains why the radio will lock up and I’ll have to remove the battery before it will even turn on. This one was a cheap aftermarket cable that I’ve had, so I’ll just get a the same cable that everyone else is using. Thank you for this wonderful resource.
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Can anyone recommend a place where I can get the NKN6559A? I have bought it from two different vendors and each time, they refunded the money. The items never even got the opportunity to be shipped. The two vendors that I used were:
https://www.rpstore.com/nextel-data-cable.html
&
RP Store seemed legit, but a couple of days after I ordered, I got a refund with no explanation.
cellcorner.com however, sent me an email stating that my return was accepted. I never returned the cables, nor did the cables get the opportunity to be shipped. I ordered on 10/28 and got the return accepted on 10/31. Checking on my order status, I saw that the order was labeled “returned.” I got the cables for $8.49 and $8.90 (I bought two different models). So when I clicked on the links in my order, I was taken to the products pages where the price is now $15.90 a piece. Blatant Bait-&-Switch, so I would avoid using this “business” for sure. Not sure where it will go, but I sent them an email with the facts and screen shots for proof and will report them to the FTC.
Thanks,
Scott