RS232 cable & USB

[ailsaran]

Hi I am pretty new to this so if this is a daft question forgive me. I want to update my HEQ5 mount controller but have no com ports left on my computer. Can I buy a USB adaptor to fit the RS232 cable and plug it into a free USB port in my compuer? Will that work and do I have to do anything else?

Ian

[Becky]

This from Maplin might do the trick.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=224904

Good Luck with it. If the software or mount doesn't like the adaptor, you could always try switching it with something on a genuine com port.

Peace and Clear Skies.

Becky.

[RichieJarvis]

It works fine - however, watch out for the cheap USB-RS232 converters - i had one that the slightest movement on the cable caused the USB to disconnect - it was a pain!

I forked out for 2 Meade ones in the end, which work perfectly.

[ailsaran]

thanks guys, thanks for the link and advice, point noted on cheapies. The Maplin adaptor is on sale! yipee.

Thanks again Ian

[blackgerby]

Make sure you get a decent one. Speaking from experience, a cheap one can cause all sorts of issues. I'd recommend one with a Prolific chip. I bought mine from astronomiser, not cheap but it has saved me so much time compared to the cheapy I bought off ebay.

[Starjumper]

Hi Ian,

I got mine from Andy here www.astronomiser.co.uk/converters.

John

[nathkrul]

Or you could get this one for £4 works great..did my meade handset and my heq5 handset and operates my heq5 no problems using EQMOD.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=350147019525

Colin

[Reggie]

I've got 2 adapters, 1xSitecom that works well and a double usb to serial adapter (generic make) from ebay, both work really well on most applications so far, I use the double for PHD to mount and PHD to modded webcam, the only time I had an issue was trying to upgrade my handset, after 5mins of messing around I decided to be lazy and instead of finding out whty it didn't work properly I used my real com port on my PC.