FTDI US232R-10 User manual

Future Technology Devices International Limited (FTDI)
Unit1, 2 Seaward Place, Centurion Business Park, Glasgow G41 1HH United Kingdom
Tel. [phone] Fax + 44 (0) 141 429 2758
E-Mail (Support): support @ftdichip.com Web: http://www.ftdichip.com
Neither the whole nor any part of the information contained in, or the product described in this manual, may be adapted or reproduced
in any material or electronic form without the prior written consent of the copyright holder. This product and its documentation are
supplied on an as-is basis and no warranty as to their suitability for any particular purpose is either made or implied. Future Technology
Devices International Ltd will not accept any claim for damages howsoever arising as a result of use or failure of this product. Your
statutory rights are not affected. This product or any variant of it is not intended for use in any medical appliance, device or system in
which the failure of the product might reasonably be expected to result in personal injury. This document provides preliminary
information that may be subject to change without notice. No freedom to use patents or other intellectual property rights is implied by
the publication of this document. . Future Technology Devices International Ltd, Unit1, 2 Seaward Place, Centurion Business Park,
Glasgow, G41 1HH, United Kingdom. Scotland Registered Number SC136640
Copyright © 2009 Future Technology Devices International Limited
The USB-RS232 adaptor cables are a family of communication devices from FTDI Ltd. This model,
US232R, provides a simple method of adapting legacy serial devices with RS232 interfaces to modern
USB ports by incorporating the FTDI FT232R bridge chip.
The US232R cable is available in two lengths 0cm (US232R- 0) and 00cm (US232R-
00). Indicator LEDs provide status of Transmit (TX) and Receive (Rx)
FTDI Ltd
DS_US232R- 0(R- 00)
USB to RS232 Adapter cable
Data Sheet
Document Reference No.: FT_000 5
Version .0
Issue Date: 04-08-2009

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Introduction ................................................................................... 4
. Functional Description .................................................................................. 4
.2 Typical Applications ...................................................................................... 5
.3 Driver Support .............................................................................................. 6
.4 Block Diagram ............................................................................................... 7
1.4.1 Block description ....................................................................................... 7
.5 Cable Features .............................................................................................. 8
.6 Performance Figures ..................................................................................... 9
.7 Ordering Information .................................................................................... 9
2 FT232R Key features .................................................................... 0
2.1.1 Integrated EEPROM ...................................................................................10
2.1.2 Pre-programmed EEPROM ..........................................................................10
2.1.3 Lower Operating and Suspend Current .........................................................10
2.1.4 Low USB Bandwidth Consumption ..............................................................10
2.1.5 UART Pin Signal Inversion .........................................................................10
2.1.6 FTDIChip-ID™ ..........................................................................................11
2.1.7 Improved EMI Performance .......................................................................11
2.1.8 Programmable Receive Buffer Timeout .........................................................11
2.1.9 Baud Rates ..............................................................................................11
3 Installation ................................................................................... 2
3. RS232 Connection Pin Out .......................................................................... 2
3.2 Device Driver Installation ........................................................................... 3
3.2.1 Microsoft Windows ....................................................................................13
3.2.2 Mac OS X, Linux, Windows CE ....................................................................16
Connections ....................................................................................... 7
3.3 External Connectors .................................................................................... 7
3.3.1 USB ........................................................................................................17
3.3.2 RS232 .....................................................................................................17
4 Electrical details ........................................................................... 8
4. USB ............................................................................................................. 8
4.2 RS232 ......................................................................................................... 8
5 Mechanical Details ........................................................................ 9
5. Module Mechanical Dimensions ................................................................... 9
6 Physical Environment Details ....................................................... 24
6. Operating .................................................................................................... 24

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7 Environmental Approvals & Declarations ...................................... 25
7. EMI Compatibility ........................................................................................ 25
7.2 Safety ......................................................................................................... 25
7.3 Environmental ............................................................................................. 25
7.4 Reliability .................................................................................................... 25
8 Troubleshooting ........................................................................... 26
8. Hardware .................................................................................................... 26
8.2 Device Driver .............................................................................................. 26
9 Contact Information ..................................................................... 27
Appendix A - List of Figures and Tables ............................................. 28
Appendix B - Revision History ............................................................ 29

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Introduction
. Functional Description
The USB-RS232 adaptor cables are a family of communication devices. This model, US232R, provides a
simple method of adapting legacy serial devices with RS232 interfaces to modern USB ports.
Each US232R adapter contains a small internal electronic circuit board which utilises the FTDI FT232R,
mounted inside a rugged plastic enclosure capable of withstanding industrial temperature ranges. The
integrated electronics also include RS232 level shifters and TXD/RXD LEDs to provide a visual indication
of data traffic through the adapter.
The Cable incorporates a standard USB-A device connector for connection to an upstream host or hub
port. RS232-level signals, including modem handshake signals, are available on an industry-standard
DE-9P connector. The maximum RS232-level data rate is 1MBaud.
The US232R adapter cable requires USB device drivers, available free from FTDI, which are used to make
the US232R appear as a Virtual COM Port (VCP). This allows existing serial communications software,
such as HyperTerminal, to exchange data through the US232R to a legacy RS232 peripheral device.

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.2 Typical Applications
• USB to RS232 Converter
• Upgrading Legacy Peripherals to USB
• USB Audio and Low Bandwidth Video data transfer
• PDA to USB data transfer
• USB Smart Card Readers
• USB Instrumentation
• USB Industrial Control
• USB MP3 Player Interface
• USB FLASH Card Reader / Writers
• Set Top Box PC - USB interface
• USB Digital Camera Interface
• USB Hardware Modems
• USB Wireless Modems
• USB Bar Code Readers
• USB Software / Hardware Encryption Dongles

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.3 Driver Support
• Windows Vista x64
• Windows XP x64
• Windows Server 2003 x64
• Windows Vista
• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows 2000
• Windows ME
• Windows 98
• Linux
• Mac OS X
• Mac OS 9
• Mac OS 8
• Windows CE.NET (Version 4.2 and greater)
The drivers listed above are all available to download for free from the FTDI website. Various 3rd Party
Drivers are also available for various other operating systems - see the FTDI website for details.

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.4 Block Diagram
Figure - Block diagram
.4. Block description
USB A Connector
This connector provides the interface for connection to a USB Host or Hub port
Cable
The US232R cable is available in two lengths 10cm – Part number US232R-10
and 100cm - Part number US232R-100.
FTDI FT232R
The FTDI FT232R provides the USB-to-Serial conversion. Operating system device drivers are
required in order to work with the FT232R to provide the Virtual COM Port serial functionality.
RS232 Level Shifter
The RS232 level shifter converts the signals provided by the FT232R into the voltage levels
required by RS232 devices.
DE-9P Connector (Male)
The DE-9P connector is configured in an industry standard (TIA/EIA-574) pin-out to provide
connection to RS232 peripherals through standard cables. See section 3.3.2

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.5 Cable Features
• Adds one RS-232 serial port by connecting to USB
• Special high gloss white finish enclosure design
• Side-lit blue RXD and TXD traffic indicators
• Enhanced RS232 transceiver gives serial port speed of up to 1MBaud.
• Gold plated USB and DB9 connectors for enhanced connection reliability
• Integral 10cm (US232R-10) or 100cm (US232R-100) USB cable with moulded strain relief
• Quality 4-layer PCB design
• Easy plug & play installation and RS-232 device connection
• Works with USB 1.1 & 2.0 Host and Hub ports
• Industry Standard FTDI chip set & device drivers for maximum compatibility
• Microsoft Windows
®
WHQL-certified, Mac OS X, Linux and Windows CE device drivers
• Installs as a standard Windows COM port
• COM port number can be changed to any available COM port number, including COM1 to COM4,
to support HyperTerminal, or any other serial communications software application running in
Windows
• FIFO 128 byte transmit buffer, 256 byte receive buffer
• RS-232 data signals TxD, RxD, RTS, CTS, DSR, DTR, DCD, RI, GND
• Powered by USB port. No external power adapter required.
• Serial Communication Parameters
o Parity None, Even, Odd
o Data bits 7, 8
o Flow control RTS/CTS , DSR/DTR, X-ON/X-OFF, None
o Stop bits 1,2
• Operating temperature of -20°C to +80°C

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.6 Performance Figures
Parameter Performance
USB Interface 12Mbps USB 2.0 Full-Speed
RS232 Interface
Standard Windows baud rates (300bps to 921.6Kbps)
Custom baud rates (300bps to 1Mbps) through baud rate aliasing. See
FTDI Application Note Configuring FT232R, FT2232 and FT232BM Baud
Rates
Table . Performance Figures
.7 Ordering Information
Part Number Description
US232R-10 USB-RS232 Adapter Cable – 10cm cable length
US232R-100 USB-RS232 Adapter Cable – 100cm cable length
Table .2 Ordering Information

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2 FT232R Key features
This section summarises the key features and enhancements of the FT232R IC device which
is used on the US232R USB to RS232 converter cable. For further details, consult the
FT232R datasheet, which is available from the FTDI website.
2. . Integrated EEPROM
Previous generations of FTDI’s USB UART devices required an external EEPROM if the
device were to use USB Vendor ID (VID), Product ID (PID), serial number and product
description strings other than the default values in the device itself. This external EEPROM
has now been integrated onto the FT232R chip meaning that all designs have the option to
change the product description strings. A user area of the internal EEPROM is available for
storing additional data. The internal EEPROM is programmable in circuit, over USB without
any additional voltage requirement.
2. .2 Pre-programmed EEPROM
The FT232R is supplied with its internal EEPROM pre-programmed with a serial number
which is unique to each individual device. This, in most cases, will remove the need to
program the device EEPROM.
2. .3 Lower Operating and Suspend Current
The device operating supply current has been further reduced to 15mA,
and the suspend current has been reduced to around 70µA. This allows greater margin for
peripheral designs to meet the USB suspend current limit of 500µA.
2. .4 Low USB Bandwidth Consumption
The operation of the USB interface to the FT232R has been designed to use as little as
possible of the total USB bandwidth available from the USB host controller.
2. .5 UART Pin Signal Inversion
The sense of each of the eight UART signals can be individually inverted by setting
options in the internal EEPROM. Thus, CTS# (active low) can be changed to CTS (active
high), or TXD can be changed to TXD#.

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2. .6 FTDIChip-ID™
Each FT232R is assigned a unique number which is burnt into the device at manufacture. This ID
number cannot be reprogrammed by product manufacturers or end-users. This allows the
possibility of using FT232R based dongles for software licensing. Further to this, a renewable
license scheme can be implemented based on the FTDIChip-ID™ number when encrypted
with other information. This encrypted number can be stored in the user area of the FT232R
internal EEPROM, and can be decrypted, then compared with the protected FTDIChip-ID™ to
verify that a license is valid. Web based applications can be used to maintain product
licensing this way. An application note describing this feature is available separately from the
FTDI website.
2. .7 Improved EMI Performance
The reduced operating current and improved on-chip VCC decoupling significantly
improves the ease of PCB design requirements in order to meet FCC, CE and other EMI
related specifications.
2. .8 Programmable Receive Buffer Timeout
The receive buffer timeout is used to flush remaining data from the
receive buffer. This time defaults to 16ms, but is programmable over USB in 1ms increments
from 1ms to 255ms, thus allowing the device to be optimised for protocols that require fast
response times from short data packets.
2. .9 Baud Rates
The FT232R supports all standard baud rates and non-standard baud rates from 300
Baud up to 3 Mbaud. Achievable non-standard baud rates are calculated as follows -
Baud Rate = 3000000 / (n + x)
where n can be any integer between 2 and 16,384 ( = 2
14
) and x can be a sub-integer of the value
0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.375, 0.5, 0.625, 0.75, or 0.875. When n = 1, x = 0, i.e. baud rate divisors with
values between 1 and 2 are not possible.
This gives achievable baud rates in the range 183.1 baud to 3,000,000 baud. When a non-
standard baud rate is required simply pass the required baud rate value to the driver as
normal, and the FTDI driver will calculate the required divisor, and set the baud rate. See
FTDI application note AN232B-05 for more details
The US232R cable is limited to a maximum of 1 Mbaud because of the line driver within
the circuit.

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3 Installation
3. RS232 Connection Pin Out
Figure 3- RS232 DB9 Pin Out
DB9 Pin No. Name Type Description
1 DCD Input Data Carrier Detect control input
2 RXDATA Input Receive Asynchronous Data input.
3 TXDATA Output Transmit Asynchronous Data output.
4 DTR Output Data Terminal Ready control output / Handshake signal
5 GND Gnd Device groud supply pin.
6 DSR Input Data Set Ready control input / Handshake signal
7 RTS Output Request To Send Control Output / Handshake signal
8 CTS Input Clear to Send Control input / Handshake signal.
9 RI Input
Ring Indicator control input. When remote wakeup is
enabled in the FT232RL’s internal EEPROM taking RI#
low can be used to resume the PC USB host controller
from suspend.

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3.2 Device Driver Installation
The US232R adaptor drivers are available for download from
www.ftdichip.com
3.2. Microsoft Windows
With the device drivers being Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certified, they are also available
through download directly from the Microsoft
®
Windows
®
Update service. This is the best choice when
connecting the US232R to a computer running Windows Vista. Additional installation options are noted
below
Installation Executable on Windows XP
1) Login to your system as Administrator, or a user with Administrator rights.
2) Prior to connecting the US232R to the USB Host or Hub port, download the latest device driver
version from the FTDI web site.
3) Run this executable to install the device drivers.
4) Connect the US232R to your computer. A notification will appear near the task bar indicating
that new hardware has been installed and is ready for use. It is normal if this notice appears
twice.
Figure 3-2 Hardware Ready
Windows Update shown on Windows XP
You must have an active Internet connection and the Windows Update Service enabled.
1) Connect the US232R to your USB Host or Hub.
2) The “Found New Hardware” Wizard will appear. The first dialog should ask whether it is
acceptable to use the Windows Update Service to find the device driver.
Figure 3-3 Found New Hardware Wizard
3) Select one of the “Yes” choices and click “Next”.
4) The following screen appears

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Figure 3-4 Automatic Install
5) Wait while the driver is found, downloaded, and installed. This step may take a couple minutes
depending on the Internet speed.
6) After the files are found and installed, click “Finish” to complete the installation.
Figure 3-5 Complete Hardware Installation
7) Steps 2 through 6 will repeat. The first time installs the basic USB Serial Converter in the USB
device tree. The second time installs the Virtual COM Port layer in the Ports tree and assigns the
COM port number.
8) When both portions of the device driver have been installed successfully, the following message
will appear, indicating that the device is ready.
Figure 3-6 Hardware Ready

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COM Port Assignment
Next, to determine which COM port has been assigned, open the Windows Device Manager from the
System Control Panel.
Figure 3-7 Device Manager
Click on the Plus “+” sign next to the Ports tree to list the available COM port. You will see “FTDI USB
COM Port”, followed by a COMn assignment. In the figure below, the US232R is assigned to COM3.
Figure 3-8 COM Port Assignment
Use this COM port number with your application software in order to access the US232R.
If an application requires use of a different COM port number, the assignment may be changed through
the Advanced Driver Options settings.
From the Device Manager listing above, right-click on the FTDI USB COM Port and select Properties.
Figure 3-9 Access COM Port Properties
Next, click on the “Port Settings” tab.

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Figure 3- 0 Settings Tab
Then click on the “Advanced…” button.
Figure 3- Advanced Options
This will display the various advanced settings. Note the COM port assignment in the upper left. Clicking
on the drop-down list will display the available port numbers. Select one that is not in use and click OK
on each dialog box to activate the selection. Windows will remember this COM port number.
3.2.2 Mac OS X, Linux, Windows CE
Device drivers and FTDI installation guides for Mac OS X, Linux and Windows CE are available for
download on the FTDI web site. Follow the respective FTDI installation guides for the chosen operating
system.

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Connections
3.3 External Connectors
3.3. USB
The USB-F-1001 is a downstream USB 2.0 Device. A standard USB Series “A” connector is mounted
inside the USB-F-1001 to facilitate connection to an upstream USB Host or Hub.
Pin Number Pin Type Description
1 Power VBUS – USB Power provided from upstream USB Host or Hub
2 Bidirectional D– = USB data signal, negative polarity
3 Bidirectional D+ = USB data signal, positive polarity
4 Ground GND = USB signal ground
Shield Case Ground Drain = typically connected to the host PC case
Table 3. USB "A" Connector Pin-Out
3.3.2 RS232
The RS232 port is configured as Data Terminal Equipment (DTE), with a 9-contact D-Sub Pin connector.
Pin assignments are according to TIA/EIA-574 which formally defines the assignments for a COM port
found on many personal computers.
Pin Number Pin Type Description
1 Input DCD = Data Carrier Detect
2 Input RXD = Receive Data
3 Output TXD = Transmit Data
4 Output DTR = Data Terminal Ready
5 Ground GND = RS232 signal ground
6 Input DSR = Data Set Ready
7 Output RTS = Request To Send
8 Input CTS = Clear To Send
9 Input / Power RI = Ring Indicator
Shield Case Ground Drain = typically connected to the host PC case
Table 3.2 DE-9P RS232 Pin-Out

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4 Electrical details
4. USB
Parameter Description Minimum Typical Maximum Units Conditions
USB_VCC Input Power Voltage* 4.25 5.0* 5.25 V
*Present when USB
cable is attached and
USB Host or Hub
powered.
I
cc
USB current 30 50 mA
Table 4. USB Electrical Details
4.2 RS232
Parameter Description Minimum Typical Maximum Units Conditions
V
trans
Transmitter output
voltage swing ± 5 V RL = 3KΩ
V
rec
Receiver input voltage
range ±2.4 ±25 V Input resistance = 3KΩ
to 7KΩ
ESD HBM ±15 KV RS-232 Inputs and
Outputs
Table 4.2 RS232 Electrical Details

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5 Mechanical Details
5. Module Mechanical Dimensions
Figure 5- Cable Dimensions

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Figure 5-2 Case top Dimensions