Solution for USB to Serial Adapter

Join Date
Mar 2016
Location
Raleigh
Posts
88
Does anyone have a solution for connecting a modern PC to a serial device. Ive been using a USB to Serial Adapter then to the RS 232 cable. Its unreliable, the driver for the USB doesnt always update and I loose communication. Its a pain.
 
Highly recommend anything with an FTDI chip - have never had an issue with them. I have several - USB/RS232, USB/RS422 and USB/RS485.
 
I have had good success with IOgear

https://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/

used the same one with Windows XP, Windows 7 and now with Windows 10 not problems
others I have tried some work some don't
I have 3 of these always keep a backup

+1 Have used this w/o issue.

Highly recommend anything with an FTDI chip - have never had an issue with them. I have several - USB/RS232, USB/RS422 and USB/RS485.

+++1 Had a vendor giving these things out like candy for some training. Looks cheap (clear cable is sooo 10 years ago) but seems to just work w/o issue.

I also have this one labeled as "Gigaware". Works great, however don't lose the driver CD, or make many backups it's a hassle to try to find the drivers. This one is a bit bulky so it is now simply a backup.
 
Highly recommend anything with an FTDI chip - have never had an issue with them. I have several - USB/RS232, USB/RS422 and USB/RS485.

+1 to this.

It's kind of a joke at work but you can buy cheap USB/RS232/RS485 adapters on eBay (Chinese). They tell you the chipset and most all of them are chipsets that Windows already has a driver for. I bought a 10-pack of USB/RS485 adapters from China for 20 bucks. They work fine.
 
Thank you Mickey and dmroeder

Saturn_Europa1, see this link http://www.plccable.com/usb-to-rs232-plc-programming-cable-special-plctalk-net/

Its a special price cable for PLCTalk.net members... you can't beat it, $19.95 ea, free shipping, works with any Windows OS (32 or 64 Bit) lifetime replacement and works with ANY PLC on the market (that I have found) its a great reliable chip set, its also plug and play with Windows 10
 
I second the FTDI nomination. I look for FTDI chipset products.

FTDI is registered with Microsoft. There usually is not an installation requirement, somehow Windows knows what to do with an FTDI chipset.

FTDI has such a reputation for quality and working well that it has been pirated and counterfeited by the Chinese and since late 2014 there has been a flurry of commentary when FTDI's drivers revealed that a counterfeit device is detected.
 
Another vote for a *legitimate* FTDI adapter. If it's less than $15, chances are it's a copy with hacked drivers and I depending on the product, I can assure they will give you issues.

I've been using an IO Gear FTDI ("smoked" grey DB9 connector) cable for a few years now with great success, having switched to that cable after a half dozen others on a really picky controller.

I picked up a Automation Direct EA-MG-PGM-CBL about a year ago and pretty much use it exclusively now (I prefer the "inline" configuration and it's a smaller package with a RJ12 connector to go straight to my PLC's, which is nice to not have 15' of cable on my desk when prototyping). It's a Profilic chipset, but it's been very reliable.
 
I would not stick to one chip set and say the FTDI is the answer to all, some work better for different applications, we use FTDI for some 485 applications, our IDEC Micro3 cables are made with it and our new USB to 485 with dual 4 wire and 2 wire is being made with it. The CH340/341 is very good for USB to RS232, the manual install works great with W7 and Windows 10, also its very stable driver for VM's most of my customers are going to be using VM's for everything some day so a stable software/driver is more important then hardware
 
I've had good luck with the USConverters ultimate converter.

I've also tried the Triplite converter, which is hi-speed (900k baud) and has a monitor that allows you to see the communication going back and forth between the devices as well.
 

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