UT-61E RS232-USB chipset that worked and chipset that failed

[Rick Law]

From my other posts, fellow readers of this forum might have read I was having a bit of problem with the UT61E with USB-RS232 adapters.  I finally found one that works – I suppose others may want to know which one worked and which to avoid.

Works:
Sabrent USB-RS232 adapter Model# SBT-FTDI

This one works without excitement.  You may have to change the COM port number, but otherwise very easy.  This adapter costs $17 and change.  That is more expensive than the UT’s USB cable for UTE (UT-D04 compatible) from cheap outlets at around $12.  I went with USB-RS232 because I want to be able to use homemade and third party programs.   I already wrote the program to read the 61E via the COM port, reformat the data and write it to disk.  It won’t work with UT-D04 since it doesn’t create COM port.  (My planned use requires logging for multi-days.  The built in program won’t do.) 


Doesn’t work:

Belkin F5U109
While Belkin now has a model with a different look (don’t know the chipset), the one I have (F5U109) uses the MCT Philips chipset.  It doesn’t work with the UT61E.  The adapter’s RX light blinks but the UT’s DMM program just act as if nothing is coming in.

Targus PA088
The one I have also uses the MCT Philips chipset.  No joy.

Palm USB to Serial converter
Unlikely you will find one since Palm is defunct, but if you find a cheap used one on eBay, (or someone gives you one and all you need is to hunt down the driver…) don’t bother, it doesn’t work with the UT61E.

Possible:

W.CH chipset (From a "no name" manufacturer)
This one worked a little bit in-between boots. This could have been an adapter problem or driver problem – can’t tell since the adapter died within hours (or less) of receiving.  This is one of those cheap ones.
 
In a nut shell, it doesn’t work after I loaded the driver.  I tried a different driver (from the supplied CD), the system requested a reboot as sometime it does after loading new drivers.  UT’s DMM program was running in the background and it started communicating with the UT61E.  I explored the program and it appears to be working fine and getting good info from the 61E.  I proceeded to do the reboot but after reboot it stopped working.  This was repeatable (even with a clean OS and on three different machines) – load WCH driver fine but does not work; replace WCH driver by loading PL2302 driver (wrong one, hardware not found), it works until you do the requested reboot.  I tried a clean OS to track down the issue.  But after repeating the work-till-reboot once, the adapter went totally kaput before I can track anything.
 
The adapter died within an hour (or less).  So, it could be just the adapter hardware dying, or there could be some issue with the driver that some file replacement and/or RegEdit could fix.

[mariush]

I've bought the serial to usb adapter I use with my UT61E from eBay, from a UK seller I often buy stuff from (cheap pci sata controllers, adapters etc).

The model I have is called  Pluscom USB to Serial RS-232 DB-9 Adapter Cable

SKU : U2RSP

The adapter came in a blister type packaging (but easy to open) along with a mini-cd that has the drivers, but Windows 7 automatically installed the Prolific drivers (the adapter has a Prolific clone chip inside)

The ebay store is this one :  http://stores.ebay.com/SAFEKOM/Converters-Adapters-/_i.html?_fcid=167&_fsub=1730404017&_localstpos=&_sid=647198087&_stpos=&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322&gbr=1

The link above goes directly to the Converters/Adapters category.

The store has several serial to usb adapters, I honestly don't know if they have this exact model I have anymore as I bought this one a few months ago, but most of the products have a SKU code listed under them.

The one that matches the SKU I have is this one, the cheapest they have: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-Male-RS232-Serial-DB9-9-Pin-Adapter-Cable-PC-/310227587778?pt=UK_Computing_Parallel_Serial_PS_2&hash=item483b0152c2

But mine is not black, it's the transparent blue style adapter they have bundled with a 9pin to 25pin converter, like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2M-USB-2-0-Serial-GPS-DB-9-Pin-RS232-25-Parallel-Adapter-Printer-Modem-/280758426040?pt=UK_Computing_Parallel_Serial_PS_2&hash=item415e8199b8

PS. I talked about it and posted a couple of pictures of the insides in this eevblog thread:  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/note-how-to-not-get-scammed-with-prolific-%28pl2303%29-usb-serial-adapters/

[lgbeno]

Funny there are two threads going about this same topic.  I would ONLY use ftdi based cables unless you want to spend your day dinking with drivers.

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cables.htm

[AnalysIR]

W.CH chipset (From a "no name" manufacturer)

Couldnt get this going on WIN7.

I think the issues is that it is using 5V logic instead of the 12V required by the IR circuit in the adapter (?)
...off to find another one.

[Rick Law]

W.CH chipset (From a "no name" manufacturer)

Couldnt get this going on WIN7.

I think the issues is that it is using 5V logic instead of the 12V required by the IR circuit in the adapter (?)
...off to find another one.

Perhaps...  I think it likely parity.  I have no problem getting other chipset (Philips, Targus & Belkin) to work with the DMM when I can control the parity setting using something as simple as RS232/ASCII terminal or a Java program.

The stock UT61E software however opens with parity so it works only when the chipset can do parity.  Perhaps Win7 has a mode where it ignores parity when the source doesn't support it.