USB to Serial Converters

Everywhere but don't try the grocery shop or gas station.

Any PC shop - It essentially looks like a cable with two connectors. The electronics may be hidden in the connector.

or even cheaper: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.24512

Nowadays, I wouldn't even completely write off a grocery store. Our local one has flash drives, printer cartridges, recordable CDs, etc. Every Radio Shack has USB - RS232 adapters, too.

Your best bet for getting it the cheapest is online like NewEgg, TigerDirect, Amazon or eBay.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=USB+serial+DB9+adapter%27&x=0&y=0

http://www.amazon.com/USB-Serial-RS-232-Adapter-Cable/dp/B000K069AK

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=USB+to+serial+DB9&searchbtn.x=0&searchbtn.y=0

Thanks Kaplin and Hendrik - Cheers

Radio Shack

Many USB>serial adapters claim to support all the RS-232C protocols, but in fact do not. If your RS-232C device requires hardware handshake, the Keyspan 19-USA thingie and the SIIG both work properly under Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Under Windows Vista, the SIIG and the IOGear thingies work properly with hardware handshake.

If you're not calling up hardware handshake, just about any brand and model will work.

Mark

Belklin makes a good one. Make certain you use the latest drivers.

hi,

In any PC shop you can find easily no. of different makes USB to serial converters.

Is's minimum cost in india upto 120 rupees.

Try B&B Electronics - www.bb-elec.com - if you haven't found one yet

SeaLevel makes great products that can fit your bill.

http://www.sealevel.com/

They make fully configurable serial adapters that range from a single port USB-DB9M RS232 data for about $79 (Sealevel 2105) to four, six, eight, and sixteen port adapters that do RS232, RS422, RS485. These port adapters are rugged and I use them all the time in maritime environments.

If you are on the East Coast, get in touch with Tony Roessler. He'll take good care of you with excellent customer service. tony.roessler@sealevel.com

Disclaimer: I do not work for SeaLevel nor do I receive any compenstation for my endorsement of their products. I'm simply a systems integrator that appreciates quality service and equipment.

While most of them work, you will see a reduction of transfer speed. My program download went from 46s to 75 seconds (at a fix 96000bps) when I was forced to upgrade my computer and use a converter.

Otherwise the Belkin works OK.

GoTo:

Geeks.com

I tried several different converters before I bit the bullet and bought this one: 232USB9M from http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?familyid=397 It was $70 and worth it! I had spent so much time fooling with three others I bought in various places time was critical.

I needed one that would work with a controller that communicated using modbus RTU at 19200 Baud. For some reason, none of the converters I bought on ebay or at Fry's worked with this system even though they would loop back.

Have FUN!
TT3

This may be worth a look, very neat and I;ve used successfully in the 485 version.

http://apple.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/ftdichip?op=catalogue-products-null&prodCategoryID=4&title=USB+RS232+cables

This is the exact same problem me (exhibits-everything under the sun) and my wife (validation-data loggers, etc) have been having, is that many of the USB/RS-232 converters do not work.

Although it does seem to be that the loggers and other devices that me and my wife have to connect to are 'legacy' devices and probably do require handshaking. I would have to go with Relativity PL's, Old Submarine Sailor, and Turbotroll3's advice :)