# Benchtop Programming of a T2 controller
**URL:** https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509
**Category:** GEM Forum
**Created:** [February 13, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509 "2022-02-13T22:25:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 2:42am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/41 "2022-02-16T02:42:02Z")
Does there NEED to be a definition file specifically for each controller? I only saw one ‘mdb’ file and its filename is 353T4.mdb and since everything software-wise about the kit I got says T4/T5 it seemed to me that 353T4.mdb was for a T4 and/or T5 controller.
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### Author:  [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/42 "2022-02-16T03:22:24Z")
According to the s/w manual I have, yes you need the specific controller model definition MDBs.
YMMV
–BEGIN
Before you can make any adjustments or read information from your control, you must insure that correct control type information for your control has been imported into GE Sentry. The database for the control type information is supplied to the vehicle OEM by the GE application support team. Incorrect control type information or missing control type information will disable some of the GE Sentry program functions.
–END
_from: GE Consumer and Industrial / GE Sentry for Windows SOFTWARE / VERSION 4.0 – January 2007 - page 8_
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 3:37am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/43 "2022-02-16T03:37:33Z")
hmm, unfortunately this is all I got and there’s only one mdb file:
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/data1.hdr
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/autorun.inf
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/setup.ini
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/data1.cab
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/engine32.cab
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/setup.ibt
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/setup.inx
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/setup.exe
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/AutoRun.ini
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/layout.bin
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/Redist
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/Redist/DAO360Exe
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/Redist/DAO360Exe/dao36.exe
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Sentry-v4.07.00e/data2.cab
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Copyright\_SN.txt
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Msvbvm50.exe
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/GE\_Sentry\_4.0UserManual.pdf
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/jet-fix.exe
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/GE\_SX\_353T4.pdf
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Problems-COMM\_Port\_Settings.pdf
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/353T4.mdb
Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/Gem\_T4-T5\_Programming\_Instructions.pdf
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### Author:  [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/44 "2022-02-16T03:39:01Z")
Check your PMs
gibberishtoget20characermimium
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### Author:  [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/45 "2022-02-16T03:43:15Z")
> [@dougl](#):
>
> Software/GEM\_T4-T5\_Kit/GE\_Sentry\_4.0UserManual.pdf
That’s the manual I quoted in post 41. It has like 3 different names…
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 3:57am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/46 "2022-02-16T03:57:25Z")
Ya, there really should have been more than this file in my programming kit:
Gem\_T4-T5\_Programming\_Instructions.pdf
Maybe one named Gem\_T1-T2\_Programming\_Instructions.pdf which specified the 353T2.mdb file instead of the 353T4.mdb file… The “Programming Instructions” said in big red letters:
Import 353T4.mdb Control Type
This file is used for T4 and T5 controllers
Since I don’t have a T4 and T5 controller I didn’t try to install it and there were no T1 and T2 control type files on my CDROM…
All street signs are pointing to the problems coming down to the missing Control Type definition file.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Gem\_e2](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Gem_e2)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/47 "2022-02-16T16:33:34Z")
hi
i also need 353T4.mdb
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### Author:  [@Inwo](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Inwo)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/48 "2022-02-16T16:39:29Z")
> **[353T4.mdb](https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=323E905B6100A476%213484&authkey=%21AN-HtFqesD0bfZg&e=2lWhIe)**
>
> Microsoft Access Database
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/49 "2022-02-16T19:04:50Z")
Oddity: On the recently blown T2(drive cap blew its lid) I got 5V and 12V on the 23p and 12p so I think the control board is functional. Here’s what odd:
I’m getting -9V across gnd and Tx on the 23p connector(23p-16 and 23p-23)
On the 12pin connector there’s not -9V across gnd and Tx(12p-4 and 12p-12).
I can’t imagine the FTDI board likes seeing -9V and it seems there comms are different between 23p vs 12p connectors. _seems_
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2022, 4:05am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/50 "2022-03-02T04:05:34Z")
For an idea of what a capacitor blowing up can do and looks like. Besides blowing the lid off a T2 controller that is:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WUxgmMDts4)
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### Author:  [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/51 "2022-03-02T04:28:02Z")
Schweet.
It’s the “Bouncing microfarad landmine”
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### Author:  [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/52 "2022-04-09T15:50:02Z")
> [@Erniea15](#):
>
> If we think it’s a potential hardware / cable issue… @DelThink is 15 min up the road from PB and has my cable for the T2.
Do you still have the 12-pin programming cable around?
It’s just pins 4, 11 & 12, correct?
I don’t have my T2 cable from forklift electronics anymore, and now I need to talk to a T2 again. I have the 12-pin from the wiring harness in the '02. Figure I’d just move the pins around and use the other USB-serial adapter I already have,
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/53 "2022-04-09T16:29:11Z")
Yes and no. I believe you have the 3 connections correct( 4, 11, 12 ) and I do have my cable but there is some difference between a T1 and T2 controller on the serial connections side which makes the USB-UART “cable” different and I had originally purchased a kit for a T1. Was confusing as all hell when the CDROM had all kinds of stuff for a T4 and nothing about a T1 but eventually this was figured out. In brief, the software is the same for all of the GE controllers we see here but there are database label files which give you correct text labels for data pulled from the controllers. Besides the physical connector differences between the T1 and T2(8pin vs 12pin) there is some electrical difference which requires a different USB-UART interface(or mod).
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### Author:  [@Inwo](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Inwo)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/54 "2022-04-09T16:44:27Z")
Yes, all have rs-232 except T1. Ti needs a different dongle that will not work on T2-T5 controllers.
Serial port will not work on T1.
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/55 "2022-04-09T17:35:32Z")
That explains the 9V I saw on the Tx or Rx pin. I’ll add max232 and see what happens.
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### Author:  [@Erniea15](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Erniea15)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/56 "2022-04-09T19:02:40Z")
> [@JarJarJava](#):
>
> Do you still have the 12-pin programming cable around?
@DelThink still has my cable. He got delayed on his build when his truck and 1/2 of his GEM got impounded in Mexico. Apparently you’re supposed to declare that stuff and pay an import tax. Yikes! Happy to mail it up to you when I get it back… think the guys might get you squared away faster
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/57 "2022-04-09T21:36:13Z")
With an max232 adapter the software seems to be happy and looks like it’s reading data from the T2 which blew its Capacitor on first use. I don’t see any data when I hit the read button but it sure seems to think it’s happy.
On the bench with 32VDC on the 23pin connector and only Tx,Rx and GND otherwise connected. The software is running through WINE on Ubuntu 18.04.
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### Author:  [@dougl](https://community.electricforum.com/u/dougl)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/58 "2022-04-09T23:08:09Z")
So that was fun. NOT. Byron told me he’d seen it mentioned that it will show you nothing being read even though it said it was successful but if you save the data and set a type then it will show the data.
I saw this mentioned on page 14 of the Sentry Users Manual too. Seems quite odd and a PIA considering I loaded the 353T2.mdb file before doing the Read and it was that controller type name I selected for the Save dialog…
So there’s been further success even though the whole process has impaled a dozen hatchets into my skull getting to this point.
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### Author:  [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/59 "2022-04-10T00:01:58Z")
> [@dougl](#):
>
> On the bench with 32VDC on the 23pin connector and only Tx,Rx and GND otherwise connected.
I didn’t realize the controller would operate at that low a voltage. That makes things simpler.
> [@Erniea15](#):
>
> …cable… Happy to mail it up to you when I get it back… think the guys might get you squared away faster
No worries Ernie. Trying to look into a performance issue with one of the guys who got a lot of parts from my 02. We traded controllers, but he’s not seeing much gains from the tune on my T2, although that could be because he’s still on stock voltage (I’m running behind on getting the lfp booster rebuilt). I might reprogram his T2 with more aggressive settings and send it back so he can keep whichever one he prefers.
I think once the booster pack gets down there and is connected, the issues should clear up, but he might have a different model motor than what I had, so I dunno…
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### Author:  [@DelThink](https://community.electricforum.com/u/DelThink)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/benchtop-programming-of-a-t2-controller/23509/60 "2022-04-10T14:39:36Z")
Yes I do, I replied yesterday but the response was kicked back because it was not long enough.
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