Gearmo RS485 to USB Adapter with LED Indicators, FTDI Chipset, Terminal Board, ESD Protection, Supports Windows 11, Linux, MacOS X, RS422 to USB Compatible, 5ft Cable

Great usb serial device, easy to use and has been trouble free for the past 5+ years I’ve had it. Great for plugging into rs485 type networks.

I bought this to connect to a CO2 controller I purchased so I could adjust the settings and read the CO2 levels with my computer. It totally worked exactly like it was supposed to. The db9 to terminal bus adapter is well labeled and I had no problem wiring it to the controller correctly. I don't know why these RS-485 to usb are so pricey, perhaps it's the FTDI chip. I don't know much about the FTDI chip, but from what I've read it is the most reliable for processing rs-485 to usb. I would recommend this to a friend, however if you can find a cheaper one with the FTDI chip, I would assume it is just as reliable. I liked this one because it came with the nice terminal bus. Thanks!

I had another USB-RS485 converter that I've been using for a little over a year.That one cost a little over $100, but I could never get that one to function properly on my Win7 laptop at work, so I wound up always having to pull out my personal laptop (an old WinXP box) just to program certain devices. The GearMo installed without a hitch and connected instantly to my devices on the first attempt. My only gripe is that I wish the terminal block header was incorporated directly into the cable rather than on a PCB. Not a big deal, but it would be a bit more compact and cleaner. I don't really see any compelling need for the DB9 connection. I may try the GearMo model USA-482422 instead. I plan on purchasing one or two more to keep as backup units.

I have been using this converter on two different Win 7, 64 bit machines and on a Mac Mini running 32 bit Win 7 in Boot camp. The device works flawlessly on all machines. The port assignment can be changed in Window's device manager and the assignment is retained by the OS. I am using the device in a RS-422 set up with only one receiver. The device arrived pinned as; 1=T+, 2=T-, 3=Rx+, 4=Rx-, 5=Gnd, and 6=Vcc. It has a supplied terminal block so, if needed, you can cut the end off of a serial cable and connect that to the terminal block as needed. I have two different devices with different pin outs, so I used some RJ45 to DB9 modular adapters, one for each device and one to connect to this RS-422 adapter. The connection can then be made with a RJ45 cable. You will probably need an Ohm Meter to figure out the pin assignments for the RJ45/DB9 adapters. I would have given 5 stars but the price seemed a little high for what it is. If you do need a USB to RS-422 adapter, this one works well.

I used this little gadget to develop firmware for several building automation sensors based on PIC16 microcontrollers. The sensors would be deployed on a multidrop bus that provided both RS485-based communications with the master controller and power. With just a little wiring, this device allowed me to talk to all the sensors on the bus from a Windows laptop using a little application I wrote in C under Cygwin. RS485 is an electrical specification for a shared bus, and this little device handled the electrical signals and my bus protocol flawlessly. I'm to the point now where I won't use any kind of USB-to-serial adapter that isn't based on an FTDI chip, because their stuff just flat out works, and everything else is crap. Can't speak to using this in an RS422 environment, but it worked great for me!

Excellent product

I needed it for a 2-wire RS-485 system. For that, you must follow the wiring notes where two of the four wires are not used. The cable length is generous. It comes with an output adapter so that you can easily adapt to existing system wiring. It also comes with a CD containing the drivers.

4-wire RS485 works great. 2-wire RS485 does NOT work. Good if you only need 4-wire, but this device does not work for 2-wire.