Waveshare Industrial USB to RS232/485 Converter FT232RNL Chip Multi-OS

Specifications

• Main Chipset: Original FT232RNL (FTDI)
• Host Interface: USB 2.0 (Type-A)
• Target Interfaces: RS232 (DB9 Male) and RS485 (Screw Terminal)
• Baud Rate: 300 bps to 921,600 bps
• Operating Voltage: 5V DC (USB bus powered)
• RS485 Communication Distance: Up to 1200 meters (at lower baud rates)
• RS232 Communication Distance: Up to 15 meters
• Circuit Protection: Onboard TVS (Transient Voltage Suppressor) diodes, surge suppression, and ESD protection
• Direction Control: Automatic hardware data flow control for RS485
• Operating Temperature: -40°C to +85°C
  Supported Operating Systems: Windows 11 / 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7, Linux, macOS, Android

Minimum hardware 

• USB Host Device (PC, Laptop, or Raspberry Pi: required to provide power over the USB port and process serial communication via OS drivers.
  RS232 or RS485 Slave Device (e.g.,
• Modbus sensor, PLC, or serial instrument) : necessary to receive commands and send response data over the serial interface.
• Serial Cabling (DB9 male/female cable or twisted-pair wire) : required to bridge physical electrical signals reliably between the converter and target device; twisted-pair is critical for RS485 noise cancellation.

Safety Warnings

• Signal Voltage Difference: RS232 levels range between ±3V to ±15V. Connecting RS232 signal lines directly to standard 3.3V or 5V logic microcontrollers without a level converter will permanently destroy the microcontroller's GPIO pins.
• Common Ground Requirement: When using RS485 over long distances, ensure system ground potentials do not exceed isolation limits. A differential ground voltage over 7V can damage transceiver ICs.
• Termination Resistors: For long-distance RS485 differential runs (exceeding 100m), ensure a 120Ω termination resistor is enabled across the A and B lines at both extreme physical ends of the bus to prevent signal reflection and data corruption.

Accessories Included in the Box

• 1× USB to RS232/RS485 Serial Converter Module (Onboard FT232RNL Chip)
• 1× USB Type-A Extension Cable/screwdriver 

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is this converter compatible with Windows 11?
  Yes, the onboard FT232RNL chip has native Virtual COM Port (VCP) driver support for Windows 11 as well as older versions like Windows 10, 8, and 7.
  
• Can I use this converter module with a Raspberry Pi?
  Yes, standard Linux kernels automatically detect the FT232RNL chip and create a /dev/ttyUSB0 device node without requiring custom driver compilation.
  
• Does this module support macOS systems?
  Yes, macOS includes built-in FTDI VCP drivers, allowing instant recognition as a serial port upon plugging into a USB port.
  
• Can I connect both RS232 and RS485 devices at the exact same time?
  While both physical interfaces are available, the underlying FT232RNL IC shares a single UART transceiver stream, so simultaneous independent dual-bus data traffic is not supported.
• Does this converter require an external power supply?
  No, the converter operates entirely on 5V DC power drawn directly from the host computer's USB port.
  
• What is the typical current consumption of this module?
  The module typically consumes around 15mA to 30mA during standard idle and data transmission states.
  
• Are the RS232 signals operating at standard RS232 voltage levels?
  Yes, internal driver circuitry steps up the 5V USB power to provide standard ±9V RS232 signal levels compliant with EIA/TIA-232 specifications.
• Which terminals do I connect for RS485 differential communication?
  You connect the A+ terminal to the target device's A+/D+ line and the B- terminal to the B-/D- line, along with a shared ground reference cable.
  
• Does the DB9 male connector follow standard RS232 pinouts?
  Yes, it uses standard DB9 pinout configurations where Pin 2 is RXD, Pin 3 is TXD, and Pin 5 is Signal Ground.
  
• Do I need an external level shifter when connecting to standard industrial RS485 sensors?
  No, the onboard RS485 transceiver natively handles the differential voltage levels required by industrial RS485/Modbus equipment.
• What software can I use on PC to test serial data flow?
  You can use standard terminal software such as RealTerm, PuTTY, Tera Term, or specialized tools like Modbus Poll.
  
• Which Python library is recommended for communicating with this adapter? The standard pyserial library (pip install pyserial) is recommended for cross-platform Python scripts.
  
• Is special code required to toggle the RS485 transmit enable line?
  No, the module features automatic hardware direction control, managing the RS485 driver enable state automatically during data transmission.
• Why is my computer not assigning a COM port when I plug in the device? This usually indicates a missing FTDI driver; manually download and install the official FTDI VCP driver package for your operating system.