I recently purchased an FT232-based USB-to-serial converter on Ebay, only to discover something interesting about its construction. Typically, I see the circuitry built into the D-Sub connector, but on this cable, the converter was built into the USB plug instead. I’m curious if anybody has seen these USB plugs anywhere else and might know who makes them, and where to purchase them. I have quite a few USB projects built around the PIC16F1455 that would go perfectly with one of these plugs, but I can’t find them anywhere (searching is difficult, as the relative search terms all seem to turn up much more generic results, such as USB cables, USB->SATA HDD enclosures, etc.). In the photos, you can see the green PCB that contains the USB contacts. That PCB is what also contains the converter chips. I didn’t feel like further disassembling it, because it’s glued permanently together, and I didn’t feel like ruining the cable just to get more photos.
I don’t remember who makes them but I’ve seen converters without the DE9 connector, leaving just bare wire that you can directly connect. Also comes in TTL or RS232 signal levels.
Most of the enclosure vendors make USB dongle enclosures. You would need to drill a hole for the wire. Digikey has BUD USB-7201. Mouser has both the BUD ones and ones from New Age. Search for “usb box”. P3A-201005U has an opening on the far end for an SMA; that may work for the cable without modification.
I’m sorry, but neither of those suggestions is even close to what I’m asking about. I’m looking for something like the photos I posted. I’ve been searching for it for about 3 months now and have come across plenty of examples like what you posted, but I don’t want a box, I want a plug with the PCB inside. As you said, just about every enclosure manufacturer has USB cases, none that I’ve found have what I’m looking for, but the fact that I have product in the photos means they must exist. It’s entirely possible that they’re custom made by that manufacturer and not available for end-customer purchase, but considering it’s just an FTDI cable by a no-name Ebay vendor, I figured that was unlikely.
I’m not trying to sound demanding or anything, I just figured after 3 months of fruitless searching I’d try asking here in the hope that maybe somebody might recognize it and point me in the right direction. If not, it’s no big deal to me, I knew it was a long shot. But I really am looking for specifically what’s in the photos, I’m not interested in a box.
qwertymodo:
I’m looking for something like the photos I posted.
My guess is that those are all custom molded shells, not a hard thing to do for a cable company.
Could you do similar thing as a hobbyist ? Sure. But you’d have to learn a bit about molding. I’ve never done it but I read articles on it. If you’re old enough you might recall Creepy Crawlers. A process that’s not all that different from embedding your circuit in a molded shell.
Those definitely are custom molded ends. They are not separate items that are purchased and placed over the PCB and connector. They are not two pieces glued together; the seam around the edge is the parting line from the edge between the two halves of the mold.
Here are two videos showing the process. They are the first two that show up when I search for “molded cable ends”
Thanks for the replies. Not the answer I was hoping for, but exactly what I was looking for, so at least now I can stop looking for something that doesn’t exist. I’ll have to try one of those Adafruit connectors and see if I can fit a board into it.
