Convert Your USB Port in to Many Serial Ports

Nowadays almost all the laptops are not having any serial ports on them. This, in fact, creates a lot of problems for all Automation and electronics engineers as daily we guys have to communicate with external devices over serial communication. Many options are available in the market through which we can convert USB Port on our PC/Laptop to Serial/RS485 port. But we should take utmost care while buying as these converters are not so reliable and can let failure at the site.

Convert Your USB Port in to Many Serial RS232/RS422/RS485 Ports

Today in this post we will discuss about the different type of options available to convert existing USB port in to Serial / RS485 port. Many companies have started manufacturing these converters as these are easy to made and are in much demand due to lack of serial port on new laptops. There are devices available in the market for RS232 to RS485 converter. In fact in this world driven by electronic and automation technologies, we can find out everything to convert the signal and protocol format as per our application demand.


One USb, get up to 16 Serial Ports:-

There is one company "ByteRunner" whose USB to RS485 converters are very popular in the market. The company claims to have even 16 serial ports converter. Yes, that is you can have 16 different comms on your laptop just with their device. All the 16 different comms are individually configurable and separate/different settings can be assigned to them.This USB to Serial Adapter is suitable for remote access, retail and industrial applications, data collection and other applications requiring high-speed RS-232 communication ports.

Moreover, these devices are capable of Speed of Serial port speed up to 230,400 bps or 921,600 bps depending on the model and provide you with features like Full modem control signals & data signals support. So these devices prove to be boon for every automation engineer where we have to daily deal with serial commiunication devices.

One more company named "Logica" also manufactures USB to RS422/Rs485 converter and it allows to convert an output signal RS232 from a PC or another device into an RS485 or RS422 electrical standard. These devices also have the feature of Automation Transmission and Hardware Transmission which makes these devices a versatile equipment for all your communication needs.

Later in coming articles, we will also discuss about the circuit of this Converter and procedure to make it at home. Till then you can subscribe to Automation-Talk by Email to get all latest updates.

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Create Virtual Serial Ports for Automation Applications

If you are having issue with any application which requires serial ports for communication, then Virtual Serial Port Driver can be the answer for it. It creates virtual serial ports and connects them in pairs via virtual null modem cable. Data written in first port will appear exactly as it is in second port and applications on both ends of the pair will be able to exchange data through it. This is the simplest way to create and configure virtual serial ports directly from your application. Subscribe to Automation-Talk by Email.

Virtual serial ports appear to an operating system or any Windows application as "standard" hardware serial ports, supporting all serial port settings, strict baud rate emulation, Hand Flow control and signal lines. Once virtual ports pair is created, virtual serial ports appear in Device manager, moreover, they are available at each system to start up, even prior to user login.

Registration of Virtual Serial Port Driver

The registration process of the Virtual serial port driver is very simple and you just have to enter you Registration Name and Registration code which has been provided to you at the time of purchase. You can even directly order if you are using a demo version of this software.

If you haven't tried this software, then you can download its DEMO version here. This software can play a very important role in your automation projects which require serial communication and can save some serial ports. :)

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Understanding Serial and Parallel Communication in PLC

Every day we deal with the serial and parallel communication, but many of us still have some doubts regarding the serial and parallel communication. Today in this post we will try to understand the basics of serial and parallel communication.The main difference in both the communication is the number of distinct wires used for communication or we can say that the number of strands at the physical layer for the simultaneous transmission of data.

Basics of Serial and Parallel Communication :-

In parallel communication the transmission of bits is simultaneously or parallely and in serial it is one by one. For example a 8 bit parallel channel transmits the 8 bits (1 byte) parallely whereas in serial communication the transmission of bit is one by one i.e only 1 bit transmitted over channel at a time. The transmission speed will depend on the CLOCK SPEED , if both the serial and parallel channel have the same clock speed then the parallel channel would be eight times faster.

A parallel communication has also more wires for handshaking and parity etc. Parallel and serial communication communication were introduced in computer technology that were used earlier but now have been replaced by new cutting edge networks.

We must think that if parallel channel can transmit many bits at a time then why serial is used more ? The reason is that in serial communication higher clock rate can be achieved, so overall communication is faster. Also parallel communication is generally used when similar data is to be transmitted again and again over the channel and receiver has to find out the correct data out of them. Parallel communications also have the problem of cross-talk which is eliminated in serial communication.

You must have get a idea about the Serial and Parallel communication from this post , in future we will also study about these in detail , till then you can subscribe to get all latest updates. Subscribe to Automation-Talk by Email for more updates on Serial and parallel communication.

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What is Difference Between RS232 & Rs422/RS485

RS232 and RS485 Port are available on every PLC for communication with external devices. RS stands for Recommended Standard. There are many differences between Rs232 and RS485/Rs422. Here in this post we will see the major differences between them and also see what DTE and DCE means .


What is the Difference Between RS232 and Rs422/RS485 :-
As we all know RS232 and RS485 both are used for serial communication but still many us have the confusion in understanding the exact difference between them , the major differences are as below.

<1> RS232 is single ended communication i.e in RS232 there is one transmitter and one receiver whereas RS485 is differential communication i.e it can have up to 32 transmitters and 32 receivers. Accordingly single ended cabling in Rs232 and Multi-drop Cabling in RS485.

<2> RS232 is used for small distances up to 50 ft with maximum speed up tp 19.2 Kbps whereas in RS485 speed up 100Kbps can be achieved for distances up to 4000ft.

<3> RS232 has Unbalanced Signaling Mode whereas RS485 has Balanced Signaling Mode.

<4> In RS232 Communication Mode is Full Duplex whereas in RS485 both Half Duplex and Full Duplex Communication can be achieved.

<5> In RS232 the output current is 500mA whereas in RS485 the output current is 250mA.

<6> Maximum Driver Output Voltage in RS232 is +/- 25V compared to -7V to +12V in RS485.

<7> Driver Load Impedance (Ohms) is 3k to 7k in RS232 whereas in RS485 Driver Load Impedance is 54k.

What is Unbalanced and Balanced Signaling Mode :-

RS232 has Unbalanced Signaling Mode i.e Unbalanced signal is represented by single signal wire where the voltage level is with respect to some system common/ground to transmit/receive binary 0 and 1. It can be considered as push signal driver.

RS485 has Balanced Signaling Mode i.e balanced signal is represented by paired wires so that the voltage difference between these two is used to transmit/receive binary values.It can be considered as push-pull signal driver.

Important Note :- An unbalanced voltage signal travels slower and shorter than a balanced voltage difference signal. So this is the main reason for faster speed inn RS485.

If still have any doubts regarding RS232 and RS485 , you can write in comment section.
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RS232 Serial Communication Basics

RS 232 stands for recommended standard . It is used for serial communication between two devices supporting serial communication .
Generally two type of connector are used for achieving serial communication through Rs232 . First through 9 pin D type connector and secondly through 25 pin D type connector .
In both the above ways a particular format of data is transferred through serial cable . It is very popular due to full duplex communication availability.

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