A quick note for anybody out there trying to use a USB to serial bridge on their laptop.
I bought a new bridge from the unmentionable site...just something generic. It didn't work.
I bought a second hand Belkin F5U103 Serial Adapter from the same place (but for much less money - about £11 including P&P) and that one DOES work.
Same laptop. Same setup. Different bridge.
If you're having trouble. Try a Belkin.
USB to Serial Bridge
Moderators: JeffC, rdoherty, stieg, brentp
Cheapest is the best, because if it don't work, you can toss
I went on eBay and typed "Usb to serial" and bought the most cheapest and generic adapter I could find. The one I got has Prolific chipset in it, and it works excellent. Before you go brand shopping, know this, most of them are the same thing, made in china or Taiwan, using same chipset but different packaging.
This is the one I have, look at CD, that butterfly indicates Prolific.
<a target=_blank href="http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... ry0="><img src="http://www.scantool.net/images/products ... al_big.jpg" width="349" height="600"></a>
^^^ $2 ^^^
Whether yours will work depends on chipsets inside your computer and which OS you're using, as much as it depends whether you got Belkin or something else.
Yet another seemingly "unrelated" thing I could stick in here are IO users. IO = 'Inexperienced' Operator. Once you stick the USB in, it will initialize, and it might initialize to Serial port other than COM1, for example it could become COM3, COM4, COM5, or anything else it wants to be. Tuning software for megajolt usually defaults to COM1, so an IO user goes in and tries to connect on COM1, but it don't work, because your USB-2-Serial is not COM1. The above driver defaults to COM4 on my laptop, so my software came out with default COM4 sometime ago in the previous version. Watch out!!!
Alex
This is the one I have, look at CD, that butterfly indicates Prolific.
<a target=_blank href="http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... ry0="><img src="http://www.scantool.net/images/products ... al_big.jpg" width="349" height="600"></a>
^^^ $2 ^^^
Whether yours will work depends on chipsets inside your computer and which OS you're using, as much as it depends whether you got Belkin or something else.
Yet another seemingly "unrelated" thing I could stick in here are IO users. IO = 'Inexperienced' Operator. Once you stick the USB in, it will initialize, and it might initialize to Serial port other than COM1, for example it could become COM3, COM4, COM5, or anything else it wants to be. Tuning software for megajolt usually defaults to COM1, so an IO user goes in and tries to connect on COM1, but it don't work, because your USB-2-Serial is not COM1. The above driver defaults to COM4 on my laptop, so my software came out with default COM4 sometime ago in the previous version. Watch out!!!
Alex
Fighting my corner
Alex,
First, what I bought first was the cheapest, generic product that I could find.
Second, I am an IT professional and quite capable of determining what COM ports I think I'm using.
I posted the Belkin comment because from looking at the forum I see that a LOT of other people have had, or are having, problems with USB to serial bridges. I wanted them to know that it can be done. I would also point out that the branded item I bought second hand was cheaper than the new generic anyway.
Cheers.
Robert.
First, what I bought first was the cheapest, generic product that I could find.
Second, I am an IT professional and quite capable of determining what COM ports I think I'm using.
I posted the Belkin comment because from looking at the forum I see that a LOT of other people have had, or are having, problems with USB to serial bridges. I wanted them to know that it can be done. I would also point out that the branded item I bought second hand was cheaper than the new generic anyway.
Cheers.
Robert.
Prolific
And now we know that prolific works too. $2 gets you started.
Whatever you have, try not to overlook basic things, such as which serial port I will connect to. I don't care if you're IT professional or rocket scientiest, people do make mistakes, I've seen it as a daily occurence on my last job (supporting IT professionals). None of this is personal now.
Whatever you have, try not to overlook basic things, such as which serial port I will connect to. I don't care if you're IT professional or rocket scientiest, people do make mistakes, I've seen it as a daily occurence on my last job (supporting IT professionals). None of this is personal now.