The cable is not FTDI based. It’s a PL-2303.

@pc486 Exactly.

This is a neat bit of information but, newark sells an ftdi ttl to usb for $15 http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=34M8872&CMP=AFC-GB100000001 . I’m all for saving money but I think I would need a greater margin to go this route, like if I already had the nokia cable then yes.

@osgeld, that’s cool. Good to know.

@pc486,
I wrote this article. I synthesized a few HOWTOs for adding a serial port to your router. Nowhere in the article do I say anything dumb like USB-to-FTDI. The poster came up with that title. I may call it USB to TTL, but that’s not strictly correct. It is a USB to Serial with 3.3V levels but works with 5V signaling. It doesn’t do everything an FTDI cable can , but if all you need is RxD and TxD (and DTR if you work for it) then this cable is good enough.

@fdsa, Maybe you don’t mind paying $20 for an FTDI cable, but I’m sure others would like to save a few bucks.

@Pete, That’s a good price. A BUB board from Modern Device is even cheaper. But I think you’ll agree if you want to leave the cable permanently attached to your project $3 is better.

its nice looking

You wrote: “use a Nokia USB cable *AT* a USB to FTDI cable….”

You want to say “use a Nokia USB cable *AS* a USB to FTDI cable…”

Genuine nokia cables cost a LOT more than $3, but the nokia ‘compatible’ ones (often even branded nokia…..) are the $3-10 ones.

@jthomson

I was not referring to your article but to this blog post. I’m quite familiar with FTDI’s chips, which is why I immediately read your article to confirm that it wasn’t an FTDI part (the voltage divider gave it away). Bad hackaday!

For those less knowledgeable, the 3.3v FTDI TTL asynchronous serial and multi-mode chips are 5v input tolerant (at least for every chip that I used). 3.3v is also above the “1″ level for 5v TTL logic, so using a 3.3v TTL FTDI chip to talk to a 5v part is OK! I abuse a FTDI 3.3v breakout cable like this at least once a week on random parts and have never had a problem. jthomson’s hack by adding a voltage divider to 5v intolerant parts is a classic technique, and one that works quite well.

I’m a big fan of FTDI chips because of the functionality and reliability. That said, simple USB based serial connections are best with a PL-2303. They’re quite effective, well supported, and dirt cheap.

Sony Ericsson cables also use PL2303. I cracked one open and used it for other purposes. Really a basic hack… is it worth a post? I thought this was common knowledge.

Also note that “FTDI” may not necessarily refer to the controller; it can reasonably refer to the particular “FTDI pinout” used by FTDI’s USB-TTL232 cables. It’s becoming something of a de-facto standard among devices with TTL-level serial ports.

^ duh (they’re)… damn noreaster storm knocked out my power and now I have no coffee or shower. Eco friendly wind power was blown off the mast, and it’s not sunny enough for solar. Guess I’ll increase my carbon footprint and burn some good ol oil.

@Agent420, the problem is cost, including USB connectivity natively in a microcontroller would drive up the cost notably and needlessly when external cables from places like FTDI convert TTL-USB reliably – not all microcontrollers will ever need to be regularly or constantly in connection with a PC’s USB, so an optional cable is to the manufacturers the wiser (cheaper) solution.

And devices that do use microcontrollers that need to be connected to a PC’s USB port regularly or constantly will have usually have the necessary USB capable chips onboard for highspeed connectivity, such as mp3 players.

^ No, I get all that.

I guess I’m just thinking how rs232 has been deemed kind of ‘antiquated’, having been removed as a std feature on modern pc’s, when the reality is we have simply given the emperor new clothes.

And while I understand that not all of the low end micros have hardware usb, more and more of them do; and many of the devices using these kinds of cables are ARM level or greater, where usb could be implemented. Yet I sense that rs232 is not going away any time soon.

Thanks!
I was getting ready to toss my Nokia cable!

@Pete: For $3 vs $15, I’ll take the $3 one :)

Wow, is this like the oldest thing ever or what? Ever since people have been hacking the wrt54gs this has been wide spread knowledge. Lame.

@pc486
I knew you were being helpful. I was trying to address the inaccuracies of the summary which I didn’t write. The RxD pin of certain versions of the PL2303 is 5V tolerant, so the voltage divider isn’t always necessary.

@strider_mt2k
Everything pc486 has said is clearly stated in the article. If you mean the summary, I have no argument with you.

@michu
Your article was one of the sources I synthesized into my article. You’re in the links sections. Thank you!

@ all those who say this old news
It is old news for router hackers, that doesn’t mean it can’t be new to an electronics hobbyist playing with a micrcontroller. I wrote this article because I myself had a hard time finding a cheap USB to TTL cable for Arduino. I wanted to do Arduino as cheaply as possible. I only lucked on to the router articles after a lot of searching. Sometimes information gets trapped in small circles. Hack a Day will broaden that circle. A couple of bits that aren’t in the router articles are adding DTR and USB_VCC.

Why not, you elitist paraquad? One persons microcosm is a pretty small sample – Common might not be the correct nomenclature. Let’s try hard to be friendly and inviting. Just because our nerd-genes has wired us to behave like anti-social ass-burgers doesn’t mean we really have to.

On topic, I just ordered a couple of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13638

It ain’t 3 bucks, but it isn’t far off. The USB-end easily cracks open, to reveal which lead has what function.

> Sooo… Are we supposed to repeatedly keep reposting common knowledge every few years or so, just to make sure noobs keep informed? Just asking…

…

There are so many people here that can’t grasp the simple concept that stuff is only common knowledge if you’ve been told it first.

Once you didn’t know this obvious stuff. You weren’t born with the knowledge…

If I ran this site I’d switch the comments to moderated mode to cut out the elitist rubbish, it’s just so unhelpful and makes us all look like selfish idiots. It’s verging on YouTube quality at times (which is almost as bad as Slashdot)…

Surely we should encourage the ‘noobs’ so that there are more people who want to take stuff apart and void their warranties, etc. The new engineers of the future have got to come from somewhere…

This seems to be the oldest news posted here since hackaday started. I mean literally, not even the oldest posts at hackaday are older than the well known fact that mobile cables are nothing more (or less) than serial converters.
Bad job at editing, seriously.

damn,i did this 3 years ago ( a 2,50 dollars nokia cable,shipping included),i just lost my chance to write a tutorial…

maybe hackaday should start a new section “things you should know” or “common knowledge”

@whatnot: your charged $23 because you don’t have the risk associated with paypal’s ula. how much is not dealing with paypal worth?