UGREEN 20201 USB to RS-232 DB9 Serial Adapter Cable, Prolific Chipset, 1.5 m

Overview

The UGREEN 20201 connects a computer’s USB-A port to RS-232 serial equipment such as point-of-sale (POS) devices, barcode scanners, GPS units and lab instruments. Unlike most serial adapters it ends in a DB9 female connector, so it mates with equipment or serial cables that have a DB9 male plug. The 1.5 m lead gives room between the computer and the device.

Is it right for you?

• Suits equipment that uses RS-232 signalling with a male DB9 connector, or a correctly wired serial cable ending in a male DB9.
• Not for RS-422, RS-485, TTL UART, CAN bus, VGA video or a proprietary 9-pin interface, even though those can share the D-sub shape.
• If your equipment has a female DB9 port, a DB9 male adapter is the straightforward choice; a gender changer must not alter the required pinout.

Key features

• Prolific PL2303-family bridge chipset creating a COM or serial port through the installed driver.
• USB 2.0, with transfer up to 1 Mbps when the device and settings allow.
• Automatic handshake, remote wake-up and power management.
• Nickel-plated connectors; 1.5 m fixed cable.
• Operating systems listed: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1, macOS 10.6 and later, and Linux, subject to a compatible driver.

What else you need

A compatible PL2303 driver for the detected hardware revision, from a trusted source, and a serial application that can select the COM port and speaks the equipment’s command protocol. You also need the equipment’s serial settings: baud rate, data bits, parity, stop bits and flow control.

Installation

Install the driver if required, plug in, connect the DB9 and set the port parameters from the equipment manual. Test with terminal software before troubleshooting an application-specific integration.

Before you buy

• Confirm the equipment uses RS-232 signalling; the DB9 shape alone does not establish compatibility.
• Read the equipment manual for straight-through versus null-modem wiring, its DTE or DCE role and the pins it uses. The exact wiring of this cable is not published, so straight-through or null-modem behaviour is not guaranteed.
• Driverless operation is not guaranteed on any system, and compatibility with every current Windows, macOS or Linux release or every PL2303 driver revision is not promised.
• No driver disc, printed manual, gender changer or null-modem adapter is listed as included.