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Tech help

rwarre

Well Known Member
My computer uses usb ports but I need to interface with a db9 serial connector. I have the usb-db9 adapter but my interface divice needs 12 volts according to the firmware instructions. Can I do a data transfer with less voltage?
 
Depends

Sometimes you can, depending on the device. But, if voltage is too low, and depending on the write mechanism, you could flaky writes. This used to happen on old hard disks where there wasn't enough power to really "set" the write in the medium and spin the disk etc. and you would get flaky data writes.

The designer of the device, and modern tech or whatever, probably (hopefully?) designed the device to work at different voltages, especially if that's how they expect you to program it from a USB->DB9 adapter.

If you are building the connector or whatever, I would just get a 12v power supply and pin in the power from that to the device separate from the computer power to give it what it wants.
 
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