VSCOM USB-COM PRO, USB-2COM PRO, USB-4COM PRO, USB-8COM PRO User Manual

www.vscom.de

User Manual USB-COM

USB-COM PRO

Edition: June 2009

Tel: +49 40 528 401 0 Fax: +49 40 528 401 99 Web: www.visionsystems.de Support: service@visionsystems.de

The software described in this manual is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of that agreement.

Trademarks

VScom is a trademark of Vision Systems GmbH. All other trademarks and brands are property of their rightful owners.

Disclaimer

Vision Systems reserves the right to make changes and improvements to its product without providing notice.

Vision Systems provides this document “as is”, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, its particular purpose. Vision Systems reserves the right to make improvements and/or changes to this manual, or to the products and/or the programs described in this manual, at any time.

Information provided in this manual is intended to be accurate and reliable. However, Vision Systems assumes no responsibility for its use, or for any infringements on the rights of third parties that may result from its use.

This product might include unintentional technical or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein to correct such errors, and these changes are incorporated into new editions of the publication.

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 2

Contents

1 Overview 5

2 Introduction 5

2.1 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2.2 Product Speciﬁcations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.2.1 VScom USB-COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2.2 VScom USB-2COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.2.3 VScom USB-4COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.2.4 VScom USB-8COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.3 Packing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.4 About this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 The Drivers for Windows 10

3.1 Install Drivers by Pre-Installation Executable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3.1.1 Check Installation of the Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.1.2 Uninstall Drivers from Pre-Installation Executable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.2 Install Drivers the Classical Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.2.1 Check Installation of the Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.2.2 Uninstall Drivers from Classical Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.3 Conﬁgure the Serial Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.3.1 Rename the Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.3.2 Miscellaneous Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.3.2.1 Enable faster Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.3.2.2 Serial Enumerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.3.2.3 Serial Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.3.2.4 Cancel if Power Oﬀ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.3.2.5 Event On Surprise Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.3.2.6 Set RTS On Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.3.2.7 Disable Modem Ctrl At Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.4 Optimizing Data Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

4 Hardware Conﬁguration 19

4.1 Conﬁguration via Windows Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4.2 Conﬁguration via Terminal Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

4.2.1 Exit the Conﬁguration (0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

4.2.2 Show Port Conﬁgurations (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4.2.3 Change Port Conﬁguration (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4.2.4 Default Port Conﬁguration (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.2.5 Save Port Conﬁgurations (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.2.6 Show Conﬁguration File (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.2.7 Upload Conﬁguration File (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5 Technical Background on RS485 27

5.1 Transmission Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

5.2 Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

5.3 Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

5.4 2-Wire Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 3

List of Tables

5.5 4-Wire Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

6 Connector Deﬁnitions 30

6.1 DB9 male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

6.2 DB25 male RS 232 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

6.3 Terminal Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

List of Figures

1 Serial Port Hardware Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 VScom USB-COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3 VScom USB-2COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4 VScom USB-4COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5 VScom USB-8COM PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

6 Starting Pre-Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

7 Uninstall Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

8 Wizard found new hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

9 Help the Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

10 Select appropriate driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

11 Driver installed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

12 USB Serial Port Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

13 Advanced port options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

14 UsbComCfg started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

15 UsbComCfg Multi-Port Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

16 UsbComCfg Multi-Device Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

17 Open Terminal Conﬁguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

18 Terminal Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

19 Exit Terminal Conﬁguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

20 Show all port conﬁgurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

21 Change port conﬁgurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

22 Conﬁgure a serial port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

23 Saving Conﬁguration ﬁle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

24 2-wire cabling scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

25 4-wire cabling scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

26 DB9 male Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

27 DB25 male RS232 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

List of Tables

1 Features of VScom USB-COM PRO Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2 Serial Port Operation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 Features of VScom USB-COM PRO Single Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4 Features of VScom USB-2COM PRO Dual Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5 Features of VScom USB-4COM PRO Quad Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

6 Features of VScom USB-8COM PRO Octal Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

7 DB9 male Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

8 DB25 male RS232 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

9 Terminal Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 4

2 Introduction

1 Overview

The VScom USB-COM are serial port adapters, which are connected to the USB port. The VScom USB-COM PRO series are industrial strength devices, providing ﬂexible serial ports. The ports may operate in RS232, RS422 or RS485 mode. This is completely conﬁgured by software, no jumpers or DIP switches are required. Further the USB-COM PRO come in a metal case of IP30, and provide the option for DIN Rail mounting.

The supplied drivers for Windows operating system install the ports into the Windows API, so they appear as the usual Com ports. All applications capable to handle a serial port control the connected hardware the same way as they control the built-in ports Com1 and Com2. Similar drivers exist for other operating systems.

The driver allows to conﬁgure the serial ports for a bitrate of up to 3 Mbps. Of course RS232 can not reliably transport very high bitrates, even under best conditions 1 Mbit/s is the limit. As the result of the very high maximum speed, the USB-COM will generate many diﬀerent bitrates in lower ranges. In fact every single bitrate from 185 bps up to 480000 bps is a possible transmission speed. And above this range most bitrates up to 1Mbit/s are also possible, e.g. 500000bps.

The interface to the host PC is USB 2.0, Full Speed or High Speed where required.

2 Introduction

This manual describes the hardware of VScom USB-COM PRO serial port adapters. Also the Windows driver for the USB-COM is described in detail.

2.1 Features

• USB 2.0

• Jumperless conﬁguration

• Serial port interface RS232, RS422 or RS485, by software

• Termination and BIAS resistors for RS422 or RS485, by software

• Huge FIFO buﬀers 128 Byte

• Max 3.0 Mbit/s

• Drivers for Windows™ operating system

• Supported by Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows CE on several platforms.

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 5

2 Introduction

2.2 Product Speciﬁcations

The VScom USB-COM PRO all have similar properties. Most important diﬀerence is the number of serial ports. The maximum speed is 3 Mbit/s, which may be used in RS422 or RS485 mode, RS232 is limited.

Host interface USB 2.0 Full Speed or High Speed

Connector Type B Serial Ports 1, 2, 4, 8 RS232 / RS422 / RS485 Signals RS232 RxD, TxD, RTS,CTS, DTR, DSR, DCD, RI, GND

RS422 / RS485 Tx±, Rx±, GND

RS485 Data± Max. Bitrates 3.0 Mbit/s RS422 and RS485

500 kbit/s RS232 Serial conﬁgurations Data bits 7, 8

Parity None, Odd, Even, Mark, Space

Stop bits 1, 2 FIFO size 128 Bytes At least, for Transmit and Receive each LED Data Transmit and Receive

Mode 3-Color LED

Power Red LED

Table 1: Features of VScom USB-COM PRO Series

Each of the serial ports may be used in 8 diﬀerent operation modes as listed below. The Mode LED related to each port is light in a certain color to indicate the mode used.

Mode Comment LED RS485 “4w”

RTS

Full-Duplex, Transmitter controlled by RTS signal Orange

RS485 “2w” RTS no Echo

Half-Duplex, Transmitter controlled by RTS signal, sent data is suppressed

Orange

RS485 “2w” RTS Echo

Half-Duplex, Transmitter controlled by RTS signal, sent data is received

Orange

RS485 “4w” auto

Full-Duplex, Transmitter activates automatic Orange

RS485 “2w” auto no Echo

Half-Duplex, Transmitter activates automatic, sent data is suppressed

Orange

RS485 “2w” auto Echo

Half-Duplex, Transmitter activates automatic, sent data is received

Orange

RS422 Green RS232 Red

Table 2: Serial Port Operation Modes

RS422 is a Full-Duplex mode by deﬁnition, RS485 may be used in Half- or Full-Duplex. HalfDuplex is also known as “2 wire” and denoted as “2w” here, while “4w” speciﬁes the “4 wire” Full-Duplex mode. Since in Half-Duplex the wires to transmit and receive data are the same, it is

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 6

2 Introduction

possible to receive the data while they are sent out of the port. This option is named Echo, and it can be deselected.

The transmitter for Tx lines in RS485 mode may be controlled by the application via RTS signal, as well as by an internal automatic hardware circuitry.

Option Result BIAS Polarize Tx+/Rx+ to +5V, Tx−/Rx− to GND

TxTerm 120Ω resistor from Tx+ to Tx− RxTerm 120Ω resistor from Rx+ to Rx−

Figure 1: Serial Port Hardware Options

The modes of RS422 and RS485 allow to conﬁgure BIASing of the data lines, as well as connecting 120Ω termination resistors between the positive and negative wire. These three options can be selected per port, they are disabled if the port is in RS232 mode.

2.2.1 VScom USB-COM PRO

Figure 2: VScom USB-COM PRO

Serial Ports 1 Connectors 1×DB9 male RS232, RS422, RS485 (6.1)

1×Terminal block RS422, RS485 (6.3) Power Bus powered FIFO size 128 Bytes Transmit

256 Bytes Receive LED Power On Top: Red LED

2×Data On Top: Transmit Green, Receive Yellow

1×Mode On Top: 3-Color

Table 3: Features of VScom USB-COM PRO Single Port

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 7

2 Introduction

2.2.2 VScom USB-2COM PRO

Figure 3: VScom USB-2COM PRO

Serial Ports 2 Connectors 2×DB9 male RS232, RS422, RS485 (6.1)

2×Terminal block RS422, RS485 (6.3) Power Bus powered FIFO size 128 Bytes Transmit

384 Bytes Receive LED Power On Top: Red LED

4×Data On Top: Transmit Green, Receive Yellow per port

2×Mode On Top: 3-Color

Table 4: Features of VScom USB-2COM PRO Dual Port

2.2.3 VScom USB-4COM PRO

Figure 4: VScom USB-4COM PRO

Serial Ports 4 Connectors 4×DB9 male RS232, RS422, RS485 (6.1) Power Self powered Shipped with 5V DC adapter FIFO size 128 Bytes Transmit

384 Bytes Receive

LED Power On Front: Red LED

8×Data In Block on Front: Transmit Green, Receive Yellow 4×Mode Near Port: 3-Color

Table 5: Features of VScom USB-4COM PRO Quad Port

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 8

2 Introduction

2.2.4 VScom USB-8COM PRO

Figure 5: VScom USB-8COM PRO

Serial Ports 8 Connectors 8×DB9 male RS232, RS422, RS485 (6.1) Power Self powered 110V - 240V AC, 48 - 67 Hz FIFO size 128 Bytes Transmit

384 Bytes Receive

LED Power On Front: Red LED

16×Data In Block on Front: Transmit Green, Receive Yellow 8×Mode Near Port: 3-Color

Table 6: Features of VScom USB-8COM PRO Octal Port

2.3 Packing List

All models are shipped with a driver CD-ROM, which includes the documentation and the driver software.

• USB 2.0 High Speed cable

• CD-ROM with drivers, conﬁguration software and manuals

• Metal plates for Wall mounting or DIN Rail clips

• Power supply hardware if required

2.4 About this Manual

This manual describes the hardware of VScom USB-COM PROs, as well as signal assignments of the serial connectors. The screen shots in here are made on an English language version of Windows XP. It is not diﬃcult to ﬁnd the appropriate part in any other language version of Windows. The current version of the driver is 2.04.16, the version of the ﬁrmware in VScom USB-COM PRO is 1.0.0.

Usually any hardware conﬁguration is described before the software, including drivers. However the conﬁguration of VScom USB-COM PRO requires the serial port drivers installed, so these are covered ﬁrst.

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 9

3 The Drivers for Windows

This chapter of the manual documents the drivers for Windows Operating Systems. The driver is the same for all USB-COM available, independent of the model. As one consequence there is only one driver for download, linked to from all the products. It does not matter which link you use. The USB-COM appear in Windows as several components, depending on the speciﬁc model. This can be seen in the Device Manager, while or after installation of the drivers.

• Single port models appear as a “USB FAST SERIAL ADAPTER”, which ﬁnally installs as a “USB Serial Converter” plus a “USB Serial Port”.

• Dual port models appear as a “USB Composite Device” ﬁrst, which installs USB Serial Converter A and B. These then install the serial ports.

• Some quad port models also appear as a “USB Composite Device” ﬁrst, which installs USB Serial Converter A to D. These four converters then install the serial ports.

• Multiport models with 4 to 16 serial ports ﬁrst appear as one or two “Generic USB Hub”, plus some USB Composite Devices. These install USB Serial Converter A and B or A to D each. The converters then install all the serial ports.

Windows already has a driver for a USB Hub, and it also handles USB Composite Devices without conﬁguration and help by the user. The speciﬁc drivers are for the USB Serial Adapters, and the USB Serial Ports installed by them.

The manual ﬁrst describes the process of installing the driver software, followed by instructions for removing the drivers in the unlikely case you wish to do this. After this the conﬁguration of the serial ports is described. There is no option to conﬁgure the other drivers installed for the USB-COM, so the options are the same for all diﬀerent models.

Many USB-COM may be installed simultaneously. In fact the driver does not limit the number of USB-COM installed, Windows does. In Windows the maximum number of serial ports installed is 256, no matter which driver installed and controls them. The current version of the driver is

2.04.16.

With the current driver version there are two methods of installation. There is the classical variant, where Windows detects the new hardware as soon as it is connected to the PC. Then Windows requests the driver from the user, and installs them. The modern way of installation uses a PreInstallation Executable to put the drivers onto the system, when the hardware is not yet connected to the PC. When it is connected later, Windows already knows about the drivers, and installs them without further interaction by the user.

3.1 Install Drivers by Pre-Installation Executable

Do not connect the USB-COM to your PC. The driver installation program is usually named as USBCom-CDM_20416.exe, depending on the version number. This ﬁle is found on the driver CD-ROM, in the top folder. Just log on to Windows with Administrator privileges, and start the program. It is a self-extracting archive, which in turn executes the included installation software. The installation is a text-mode Console Application, which pretty much looks like a DOS box (see ﬁgure 6).

June 2009 USB-COM PRO User Manual 10

+ 21 hidden pages

VSCOM USB-COM PRO, USB-2COM PRO, USB-4COM PRO, USB-8COM PRO User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual