The final plan is to connect the RS232 to the hand grip. However, I was simply testing the RS232 board (just received) by connecting it to the Uno to see if the connections worked (without anything connected to the DB9). My understanding is that the example program provided on this website (that I posted a link to earlier) was to test that same scenario. I apologize if I misunderstood this.
raschemmel:
The plan was to connect your device to the DB9 and connect the TTL out from the converter to the Software Serial pins 2 & 3
and use the arduino serial (0 & 1) to echo the data received from black box using serial print statements.
My plan is to forget the black box altogether. Other than that, you have it correct. Hand grip to RS232. RS232 to the Uno. Uno to the Computer where it obtains the data received from the hand grip.
I'll play around with that tomorrow.
Again, I apologize for any confusion.