Sunto Solution Alpha - not working on import

[Andy Straw]

I have a Solution Alpha from Sunto and the PC interface and have connected it to my Mac using a serial to USB - I can see it is working is I can use cool term to send commands to the Solution and it responds. However, when I try to import from dive computer using Subsurface I get some attempts at communication (the blue bar builds from left to right over 30 seconds or so but then I get an error message 'Dive data import error' pop up.

I suspect it may be the serial port speed is not being set correctly by Subsurface (this computer needs 1200 baud with two stop bits). but it coudl be something else. I can't seem to find a way to set serial port parameters from within Subsurface.

Any ideas from anyone??

Andy

[Jef Driesen]

On 11/5/25 19:25, Andy Straw wrote:
> I have a Solution Alpha from Sunto and the PC interface and have connected it to
> my Mac using a serial to USB - I can see it is working is I can use cool term to
> send commands to the Solution and it responds. However, when I try to import
> from dive computer using Subsurface I get some attempts at communication (the
> blue bar builds from left to right over 30 seconds or so but then I get an error
> message 'Dive data import error' pop up.

Can you enable the "Save libdivecomputer logfile" checkbox and send the
generated debug log? Without this information, it's difficult to tell what went
wrong.

> I suspect it may be the serial port speed is not being set correctly by
> Subsurface (this computer needs 1200 baud with two stop bits). but it coudl be
> something else. I can't seem to find a way to set serial port parameters from
> within Subsurface.

There is no need to configure any serial port settings manually, because the
correct settings are automatically applied for your dive computer:

https://github.com/libdivecomputer/libdivecomputer/blob/master/src/suunto_solution.c#L82

Jef

[Andy Straw]

Jef,

thanks so much for the fast response - file attached.

Andy

[Jef Driesen]

On 11/6/25 14:17, Andy Straw wrote:
> thanks so much for the fast response - file attached.

The communication works, but the download failed at the end due to a checksum
error. Does your Solution Alpha have a low battery? With the older Suunto's
that's often the reason for such problems. (The PC interface appears to require
more power than for diving. So even if there may still be enough power left for
diving, there might not be enough for successfully downloading the dives anymore.)

Can you do two more attempts and send me the log of each attempt? That will help
to see how bad the problem is.

Jef

[Andy Straw]

Hey Jef,

I got it working. After your feedback I checked the battery (its fine) and then figured it coudl only be a poor connection on the cradle so I cleaned all the contacts up and made sure they were properly connecting and I got an upload that looks good.

Many thanks for your help.

Andy