This is an improved version of the PL2303HX based USB to Serial cable. This cable comes with light blue USB body and now Windows 7/8/10 compatible!
Many devices such as Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black, modems and routers has serial pins that you can use for low-level data sending. This way of connection is useful for debugging, troubleshooting and device-to-device communication.
With this console cable, you can connect your device easily to a PC via USB port for quick communication. Not only does it allow you to view pre-boot and post-shutdown/reboot messages, but it also acts as a fully interactive Linux console once the OS has started. You do not need to connect keyboard, display or network cable to the device.
The cable has USB connector on one end and 4-wire plug on the other. The USB connector has PL2303TA chip embedded to convert USB to serial TTL signal. The 4-wire plug is to be connected to the pins on your board. The good thing about this cable is, the wires are separated for easy connection regardless the pin arrangement on the board.
The red wire provides 5V pin output to power your Raspberry Pi. If your Pi is powered by the micro USB port, leave this red wire unconnected. Becareful, not to connect two power sources to your Pi at the same time. Also, do not connect this red wire to pins that are not 5V tolerent. Accidentally connecting the higher voltage pin to a lower powered device would most likely damage it. So be careful and double-check all wiring before connecting the USB cable. Failure to pay attention on this might fry your Pi instantly!
The white wire receives (RX) data in to the USB and to be connected to transmit (TX) pin of the device while the green wire transmit (TX) data from the USB and to be connected to receive (RX) pin of the device.
The RX/TX wires uses 3.3V logic level which makes it suitable for Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black and other 3.3V logic level board.
If you are using Windows, you can use program like Putty to make a serial connection to your Pi. Check which COM port the cable is connected to in Device Manager and open a new Serial connection in Putty and change the speed (baud rate) to 115200. Open the connection and a new window will appear. Hit 'Enter' and you will be connected to the Pi.
Wire Pin-out:
Red - Power - 5V from the USB port
Black - Ground
White - RX - 3.3V level - to be connected to TX pin of the device
Green - TX - 3.3V level - to be connected to RX pin of the device
Features:
Connector Type: USB (PL2303TA chip) and 4 wires
USB body colour: Light blue
Jacket colour: Black
Length: approximately 1m
4 seperate wires with 1 pin each - can be used easily on many different devices.
Works with Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 and MacOS X
