serial sensor comunication with arduino

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Hello everybody,

i´m doing my first project now using arduino and i´m not quite sure how to comunicate with my sensor via RS485. i used the max489 to make a serial to ttl-converter and wanted now to communicate via pin0 and pin1 to the arduino.
therefore i need to send a string of 6 char to my sensor to then get an answer of 20 signs carrying the data. but how to use these first to pins? can i just tell them Serial.print or this one just talking to the usb? and if i can use the Serial.print, can´t i specify where my signal goes?(Like just sending it to pin1 and not to the pc connection...)

thx
timm

2

using sth C or java like it would look like:

unsigned char sendCmd[6];

sendCmd[0]=255;
sendCmd[1]=0;
...
sendCmd[2]=0;

then sending this and getting back sth like:
getSerial(string, 20);

hm... should be sth similar with the arduino, i´m just not sure if serial.print can be used like this...at least till now it´s not working:)
i also found sth in a forum now, saying that one can´t use both serials(pin0,pin1 AND usb) at the same time...is this still valid for the new Diecimila series?