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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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Looking for data formate for Rate Proms for pitney bowes postal scale
"Dave" wrote in message ... | I bought a Pitney Bowes A510 digital scale on Ebay originally just to | use it for weighing shipments to calculate by hand what the postage | should be (goes up to 10 pounds in 0.1oz increments). | | However this scale has a built in price calculator - it'll show what | the $$ should be to ship something. Problem is the rates are not | updated ( for example first class 1 oz is $0.33 instead of $0.37). It | would be nice to use this function. | | Rates are stored on a pluggable card containing a 27c64 ROM chip. | I've dumped the code, looked at it in a hex editor but don't know what | bytes to change, where the checksum is stored, etc. | | Anyone have a current hexdump of the rate prom from a Pitney Bowes | A510 or similar scale? Or know how the data is arranged so I know | what bytes to change to update to the current postage rate? You can't buy the upgrade chip? If I had to do this, I would substitute an sram chip configured to look like the eprom, then try changing bytes and see what affects what. Pain to do, but unless you can analyse the rest of the system I see no other way to do it. N |
#2
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On 13 Jan 2005 23:10:48 -0600, Dave
put finger to keyboard and composed: I bought a Pitney Bowes A510 digital scale on Ebay originally just to use it for weighing shipments to calculate by hand what the postage should be (goes up to 10 pounds in 0.1oz increments). However this scale has a built in price calculator - it'll show what the $$ should be to ship something. Problem is the rates are not updated ( for example first class 1 oz is $0.33 instead of $0.37). It would be nice to use this function. Rates are stored on a pluggable card containing a 27c64 ROM chip. I've dumped the code, looked at it in a hex editor but don't know what bytes to change, where the checksum is stored, etc. Anyone have a current hexdump of the rate prom from a Pitney Bowes A510 or similar scale? Or know how the data is arranged so I know what bytes to change to update to the current postage rate? TIA Dave I'd be interesting in looking at the hex dump. You would need to provide a list of the scale's rate data, though. - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email. |
#3
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On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 07:02:11 GMT, "NSM" put finger to
keyboard and composed: "Dave" wrote in message .. . | I bought a Pitney Bowes A510 digital scale on Ebay originally just to | use it for weighing shipments to calculate by hand what the postage | should be (goes up to 10 pounds in 0.1oz increments). | | However this scale has a built in price calculator - it'll show what | the $$ should be to ship something. Problem is the rates are not | updated ( for example first class 1 oz is $0.33 instead of $0.37). It | would be nice to use this function. | | Rates are stored on a pluggable card containing a 27c64 ROM chip. | I've dumped the code, looked at it in a hex editor but don't know what | bytes to change, where the checksum is stored, etc. | | Anyone have a current hexdump of the rate prom from a Pitney Bowes | A510 or similar scale? Or know how the data is arranged so I know | what bytes to change to update to the current postage rate? You can't buy the upgrade chip? If I had to do this, I would substitute an sram chip configured to look like the eprom, then try changing bytes and see what affects what. How would you modify the contents of an SRAM while it is in circuit? I'd use a flash memory device instead. - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email. |
#4
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"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message ... | How would you modify the contents of an SRAM while it is in circuit? | | I'd use a flash memory device instead. That'd work, but you can buy or make an adaptor with an SRAM which lets you download updates from a computer without unplugging. Some models have the SRAM off board and just connect via a cable. You need to tweak one byte at a time to see what it changes, or note a particular 'weight/price' and find out which bytes affect it. N |
#5
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On 14 Jan 2005 16:31:04 -0600, Dave
put finger to keyboard and composed: Rate chips are ~$200, at least that's what I've been able to determine regarding their pricing for other countries. In the US they just say that "rate prom upgrades are free when you have an active pitney bowes service contract". I changed 2 bytes of data, burned another Eprom and plugged it in but upon powerup I got an error message. There must be a checksum burned in there. What was the error? I once hacked a 386 Award BIOS that had a simple zero checksum. If yours is of this type, then locate an innocuous text string (eg the copyright notice) and change one of those bytes to return the checksum to zero, or whatever it was. On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 07:02:11 GMT, "NSM" wrote: "Dave" wrote in message . .. | I bought a Pitney Bowes A510 digital scale on Ebay originally just to | use it for weighing shipments to calculate by hand what the postage | should be (goes up to 10 pounds in 0.1oz increments). | | However this scale has a built in price calculator - it'll show what | the $$ should be to ship something. Problem is the rates are not | updated ( for example first class 1 oz is $0.33 instead of $0.37). It | would be nice to use this function. | | Rates are stored on a pluggable card containing a 27c64 ROM chip. | I've dumped the code, looked at it in a hex editor but don't know what | bytes to change, where the checksum is stored, etc. | | Anyone have a current hexdump of the rate prom from a Pitney Bowes | A510 or similar scale? Or know how the data is arranged so I know | what bytes to change to update to the current postage rate? You can't buy the upgrade chip? If I had to do this, I would substitute an sram chip configured to look like the eprom, then try changing bytes and see what affects what. Pain to do, but unless you can analyse the rest of the system I see no other way to do it. N - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email. |
#6
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"Dave" wrote in message ... | Rate chips are ~$200, at least that's what I've been able to determine | regarding their pricing for other countries. In the US they just say | that "rate prom upgrades are free when you have an active pitney bowes | service contract". | | I changed 2 bytes of data, burned another Eprom and plugged it in but | upon powerup I got an error message. There must be a checksum burned | in there. I assume the idea of analysing the rest of the circuit is unprofitable? Can you post a hex dump of the ROM somewhere? Some of us are good at guessing. N |
#7
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"Dave" wrote in message news | Sure, once I figure out where. I didn't see a binaries newsgroup | related to this one to post it in. Try to find a really quiet one if you can and post a pointer to it or post it on a website. I've looked at a lot of hex dumps myself and may be able to give you some pointers if they haven't been to clever. Also, post as much info as you can, i.e. what weights vs. what $$ the scale currently computes. N |
#8
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"Dave" wrote in message ... I bought a Pitney Bowes A510 digital scale on Ebay originally just to use it for weighing shipments to calculate by hand what the postage should be (goes up to 10 pounds in 0.1oz increments). However this scale has a built in price calculator - it'll show what the $$ should be to ship something. Problem is the rates are not updated ( for example first class 1 oz is $0.33 instead of $0.37). It would be nice to use this function. Rates are stored on a pluggable card containing a 27c64 ROM chip. I've dumped the code, looked at it in a hex editor but don't know what bytes to change, where the checksum is stored, etc. Anyone have a current hexdump of the rate prom from a Pitney Bowes A510 or similar scale? Or know how the data is arranged so I know what bytes to change to update to the current postage rate? TIA Dave Hi Dave: Don't know if it would help you, I have a scale rate module p/n N582000-x. Firmware 06130211 Effective 30JUN02 Model N500. This one has a flash chip on it...Paul |
#9
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"PJ" wrote in message ... | | Hi Dave: Don't know if it would help you, I have a scale rate module p/n N582000-x. | Firmware 06130211 Effective 30JUN02 Model N500. This one has a flash chip on it...Paul Comparing the two hex dumps (if different) would give a lot of pointers as to what is where. N |
#10
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"Dave" wrote in message ... | Sorry guys, posting Pitney Bowes rate PROM firmware on the net gave me | cold feet. I'm betting they have some rules against that. Use an anonymizer then. N |
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