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I love the fact thay put in the VCCIO jumper. I am interfacing to a 1.8 volt system and use this functionality. Unfortunately the LEDs are also both pulled up through VCCIO and both remain constantly lit when operated with VCCIO at 1.8v. They should have pulled up the LEDs through the dedicated 3.3 volt regulator.

Fast & reliable! I let winXP download and install the drivers automatically, then the board shows up as a COM port, doesn’t get any easier than this. I’ve been using an ATmega8(running AVRbasic @ 16MHz) UART with hyperterminal at 115kbps, without any problems. Also my older version of powerBASIC for DOS can open the COM port without any trouble, so now I have a avrBASIC to pcBASIC bridge via USB…..the FT232R IC is a one stop USB solution…….if only the package wasn’t so small, perhaps they’ll introduce an SOIC-28 or DIP-28 for the PCB DIY'er.

I’ve successfully awoken an Eee 701 (running Ubuntu-Eee) from standby using the ring pin (“RI”) on this board. Easy way to conserve a lot of power – the 701 drops from 13 watts active to 2 watts standby, for instance – while allowing lower-power hardware to monitor for wakeup conditions, i.e. certain XBee commands.
The other USB boards don’t breakout the RI pin.

Nice product, but…the board does not include 0.1" header pins for breadboarding, and the 3.3V jumper is not labeled on the board.
It also does not come with any documentation, except what’s on the website.

Product Request!!!! There should be 3v3 and 5v selectable with a jumper!!!! please sparkfun i’ll definitely buy it if you make that product.

This board rocks! The EEPROM is robust and loaded with options. The breakout board makes it super easy to setup (thanks for putting in the solder jumper for VCCIO). I used this with a 232 device that used RXD, TXD, CTS, RTS, DTR, and DCR pins and the unit worked flawless.

This board is very useful, even when working on rs485, :)

so i’m looking at this and i see the solder jumper, but how would you get it to be 5v? clear the solder jumper and then jump vcc and the 3.3V holes? or is it more complicated?

I’m pretty much a total n00b when it comes to low-level electronics stuff, but I am already knee-deep in TTL thanks to this board. True plug-and-play in both Ubuntu 8.10 and Windows XP, no driver load needed. Comes right up as a COM or ttyUSB0. Will definitely order more FTDI products and other stuff from SFE!

AAAAHHH!
I messed up my EEPROM with MProg, and I uploaded the default file. What can I do to make it work again like it did?

hey can somebody help me out i bought this board instead of the FTDI Basic Breakout – 3.3V and now i dont know what pins to solder and what way to connect it to my ardupilot can anyone point me in the right direction thanks

Okay, what changed? Originally this was the breakout board for the FT232R part.
While I can see the differences, namely lower power consumption and (theoretically) easier programming, I can not see why the firm didn’t simply create a new board number to accommodate this part number.
I have here both the board for the FT232R and now the one for the FT232RL and the differences are apparent.
Even the comments, including mine seem to be strangely wrapped around it. Although the threading seems to be broken.

Has anyone tried successfully with multiple boards working on the same PC?

Hello,
I am new to this little board and I was wondering if you can connect this board directly to any usb com on my computer without any extra devices?
When you interface this board with your Atmega chip do you only connect RX,TX and ground?
Thank you,
Abraham

Hello, I’m a programmer trying to develop a ‘toy’ as a hobby. I’m noob when it comes to electronics, but trying to learn.
I basically want to route the information received by an rf module (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8948) to a PC via USB. Is this the board/chip I need?
Thanks in advance

I have to echo.. This board rocks!
I am using it to programm funnel I/O remixed, and it operates flawlessly.
I was even able to configure Arduino Alpha 0017 to recognize FIO remixed via this board… Too cool.

I noticed this “red PCB” version has some differences from the previous “green PCB.” The improvements should be mentioned in product description.
– two LEDs for Tx and Rx added,
– pin layout and pin description on back were changed,
Nice changes, I will add the new batch next my purchase.

So I’m confused, is there a power out pin, like powered from the USB?

is there a 5V version?

Big fan of this improved board. I like all the new features but I do have two slight issues:
I would have rather this had a new part number, and been specified as the improved replacement of the old part number (but that’s just personal preference, so not biggie).
More importantly, the mounting holes in the corners have disappeared. Understandable since that space is now taken up by LEDs, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to mount this puppy?

Got mine through a reseller along with a seeedstudio rfid reader and cards/fobs. Somewhere along the line, the RX led resistor popped off in the heat sealed bag, so spent ~15 minutes with a cheap soldering iron to fix it (poor fine motor skills combined with too large/low quality iron tip). Spent another hour or so trying to figure out why it would not create a tty device.
Turns out that I had too many memory hogging programs open, like firefox with 60+ tabs on a 5 year old computer, causing error of “allocation failed: out of vmalloc space – use vmalloc= to increase size.” in output of “dmesg | tail”.
Other than that it has been a useful tool and hope it will continue to be.

Why does this board use resettable fuse instead or not in addition to a ferrite bead per the ft232rl datasheet?

Great product, I have these all over a robot w/ a linux brain. Nothing simpler than plugging these in and interfacing with python.
I wish there was a way to have a general purpose pin or two on this board, I need to do some half-duplex TTL (Dynamixel servos!) and I don’t want to use a separate microcontroller just for one 5V pin.

Like most here I truely like this little board. I’m having one issue. I have ir conected to a ATMega168 running a simple character repeating program. The MCU is running on the internal oscillator at 8mHz. all works fine at 5V but there is no indication of character transmission at 3.3V.
Any thoughts. I plan to run the project using a 3.7 LiPo battery, so 3.3V operation is required. Or is there an equivalent form factor 9 V battery?

I ordered this board, but it’s probably at 30,000 feet high right now, so, can someone tell me the distance between those 9 pin headers? I want to solder the whole board into a single sided PCB.

I’m lookin to interface this with a MSP430 that only uses the RX and TX lines. In the datasheet it shows an example of a UART interface with a microcontroller, but it has the RTS and CTS lines going to the microcontroller as well. Can these signals be left disconnected and still work? Should they be tied together? Pulled high or low?
Thanks for the help.

Awesome !
I think that is the right word for this board !
Top 5 products from Sparkfun !
Greez from Germany

Im getting a USB Device not recognized error, any suggestions?

To clarify, VCC is tied directly to 5V from the USB port, correct?
And please add a 5V jumper/switch!

I use these a lot. Instead of buying uC boards with the big serial port plug on them, I can buy a board with just headers and re-use this. Also, my laptop has no serial port.

I accidentally erase the eeprom memory of my ft232rl module. What is the procedure to set the memory the way it was? where can I find the original hex file?

Can anyone please help me with this issue. I connect it to a my Win7 laptop but no connection seem to be made? Only RX and TX leds keep twinklin and nothing happens. What’s up ? Do i have to connect something before it makes virtual com port?

Help. I’m trying to talk to a device that expects RS232 io via a MAX232 chip. Do I have to invert the signals so TXD is TXD# and RXD is RXD#?
I’m testing connectivity to a Scott Edwards Serial LCD backpack and keep getting garbage.
Is this a TTL signal inversion issue?

Newbie question: Every picture I see of these has it on a breadboard but this has no pins on it. Are people soldering pins to the board to plug it in to the breadboard?

Am I correct that I don’t need a MAX232 between this and an ATTiny2313? I’m able to send data to the microcontroller from my terminal program, but I just get back garbage. Should I use the FT232’s clock to drive the AVR? Thanks!

.

If someone can clarify this device for me I’ll really appreciate it. The comments sound as it this can do all kinds of great things, but I have one specific need.
I would like to burn an Arduino sketch to an Atmega328 on a breadboard. I will buy a 328 with the bootloader already on it, so all I need to do is burn the sketch.
Is this the device that I need? I’ve seen all kinds of “FTDI” gizmos and AVR programmers and am confused by all the options!

I need to use the Rx on the UART for another device and only use the FTDI to grab the Tx of the UART.
When I have both the Rx and Tx connected FTDI UART (reversed of course), it works fine. If I remove the wire to the FTDI Tx coming from the Rx from the UART, it is jibberish.
I have the solder blob removed and supply 5V to the VCCIO pin of the FTDI.
Does the Tx pin of the FTDI need to be pulled up or grounded or something?
Thanks for any help.

Is this the board I need to program my XBee 900?

dose this on is suitable for

GPS-09436  

50 Channel GS407 Helical GPS Receiver
or can this act as
BOB-09945
GS407 Breakout Board
please i need the answer as fast as you can

I’ve tried to use this at 1.8V but there is a voltage always on the VCCIO which pulls up the voltage I try to use there. I remove the jumper to 3.3V (and I’ve checked, they are no longer connected) but there is still 3.3V on the VCCIO pin. I’ve done different ways of supplying the 1.8V to VCCIO with a 1.8V regulator with VCC tied to the regulator’s input voltage (as the datasheet suggests) or to the 1.8V of the system I’m using these with. Neither one works as the voltage is pulled up to around 3V by the 3.3V already on the pin. I can get the voltage down to about 1.8V by loading the pin down with a 1.2k resistor as a workaround. I’m wondering what I am missing that the VCCIO isn’t acting as it is supposed to. I’ve used many of these boards and they’re all the same. However, tying VCCIO to VCC does work as expected.

I’m using ft232r breakout to send a msg from/to a mobile using microcontroller,, pic16f877a> ft232r breakout> mobile .
do I have to use something in between, is there is some drivers should be installed on the mobile “I’m using AT commands to send the msg”,, actually I don’t know if the output is serial or what from ft232r . Can you help please ?!!

how do you pick a resettable fuse for this thing? I don’t understand these fuses. Do you want 500mA as the hold current or trip current?

I love this product. With just a couple headers this thing is so useful. Not only can this be used to program AVR microcontrollers but by modifying the code, it can program a PICAXE without buying a $25 cable.

I have one query here.
I have seen the datasheet of FT232RL IC.
In section 8.1, usb to rs232 converter configuration, it is shown that after the FT232RL IC, a RS232 level converter should be attached like MAX213.
The above board states its USB to serial.
so what to do then?
I need to connect the following pins: RTS,CTS,TD,DTR,Gnd.
How to operate my board with the board stated above?

Is this board self powered from the USB port directly?

One more thing.
I have a serial output but i need to operate it on my laptop which has no serial port.
So will this board solve my problem of connecting a serial based output to a usb slot?
I’m stuck at the moment, so please do guide me.
thankyou

Obviously, I’m a complete noob here. This is my first serial project. Can anyone enlighten me on a couple of hopefully easy questions? There seems to be multiple “TX” and “RX” pins. Just wondering what the difference between “TX-0”, “TXDEN”, and “TXLED”, “TXD”. Also, there are two “V3.3” pins, are they different?. My goal here is to connect this to the Bluesmirf product, then usb to my Mac, BTW…

Hi,
What is the voltage at pins RX and TX?
I ask that because I want to connect this board to a 3.3-volts microcontroller. Can I do that, even though the USB is 5-volts?
Thanks in advance

If this is SPI… then does that mean we can bit bang ICSP over this?!?!?!?

The schematic and layout do not match the board that I received. The board I received has three solder bumps for, I assume, connection VCCIO to either 3.3V of 5V. The silkscreen indicates this but the schematic and layout do not show this. Also, there is no ‘solder jumper’ among these bumps. The schematic and layout I downloaded from the site only show 2 solder bumps. Additionally, the back of the board has ‘4-16-2010’ date code in the copper. How can I get the correct layout and schematic for this board?

Please include this board in the SparkFun’s Fritzing parts bin! I’ve made over 10 projects with this board and it would be of great help. Thanks!
PD: How could I get the part/updated part bin after you added this breakout board?

I altso noticed the same thing as Member243237. That there is a new verson of this board I got just now that have 3 solderpads where there before were 2 (as shown in the schematic.)
The schematic is not up to date with the product, in other words.
The leftmost pad says 3.3 the rightmost pad says 5.
Am I right to assume I should solder together the middle pad and the “5”-pad to have the board poerate at 5 volt ?
I don’t want to fry my board : |

I really Like this board except for two things:
(1) The serial TX/RX pins opposite of the USB only does 3.3V and not the selected VCCIO. This very annoying in application.
(2) Also I would prefer a real VCCIO jumper opposed to the solder one; even if it made the card bigger. (I change this alot between work & personal stuff.)
Other than those two minor things, this card is amazing.

Love this board, but… Is it possible to use it to program the arduino Pro Mini? Do you have to reprogram the FTDI chip somehow or install another driver (As far as I can see it is the same as the FTDI basic but with a different breakout board) Obviously you would have to connect the DTR signal to the arduino… Thanks in advance

Has any one else run into this issue. I breadboarded a ATMega328 and tried using this FT232RL, but I keep getting a “out of sync” error. I know the breadboard is working because I used the FTDI on my uno to upload to it and it works fine. We determined it has something to do with the reset pin.

Using the UNO, the board is sending about 5V to the reset pin, and we think that it is dropping the voltage for just a fraction of a second, although we can’t see it on our meter, so we are assuming it is happening very quickly.

When we use this board, it is sending about 3v to the reset pin, but when the voltage drops, it just stays down at 0, and then we get the error.

Just wanted to know if anyone else has come across this, or has found a work around for it.