Smart USB to Serial Cable

Finally, a USB to Serial cable which has been created for engineers not hobbyist. This UCAB232 cable allows the USB and Serial communications to be controlled by the user. This makes it a more flexible solution for engineers than the standard, off the shelf cables generally available.

The typical USB to serial cable available are fine for simple applications as they act as a Virtual Com Port and replace a standard serial port. However, if you need more control of the communications then they have limitations. Standard cables are not supplied with any technical information and finding any on the Internet is very difficult. This makes customizing it for your job a challenge. The UCAB232 cable is a great answer.

The UCAB232 cable uses an FTDI USB chip, instead of the Chinese USB devices used in cheap cables This gives you a lot of benefits. USB Drivers are supplied for more operating systems, including all PC Windows and MAC platforms. Additionally, drivers can be downloaded for Linux releases and CE.NET running on ARM, x86 and other devices.

As well as more OS support, FTDI have an excellent FAQ section, code examples and technical support on their web site (www.ftdichip.com). If you have had trouble finding information about cables, this is a wecome relief.

You can also add your own VID and PID numbers plus an ID string for the cable. This means that Windows will display your message and company name, instead of the generic USB identifier or the unhelpful "Unknown Device" description.

The UCAB232 cable also gives more control over USB communications and allows Serial messages to be customised if required. It supports changes to all the control lines (RTS/CTS, DTR/DSR/DCD, RI) for full hardware handshaking if required and includes hardware support for XON/XOFF data transfer method. The 384 byte input buffer and 128 byte output buffer gives much smoother communications and avoids buffer overruns especially when trying to communicate with slower serial devices.

This cable does everything a low cost USB serial adapter will do, such as data transfer rates up to 500 Kbaud and USB 2.0 compatibility. It is self-powered from the USB bus but it also has more customization available, a perfect solution for engineering problems.

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