SparkFun Forums

[marcelser3]

Hi,

I'm trying my first arduino project and needed a second usb to serial port (as first one is blocked for programming) where I want to connect a ble board which also uses a usb port with serial communication therefore I ordered a “SparkFun USB to Serial Breakout - FT232RL“ board. Unfortunately looking at the schematic I'm completely lost on which pins I have to connect to the Redboard I ordered to get a second usb port. I know this is a really newbie question but I really can't read the schematic (although I understand it partly) and don't know how to get the information on how to connect this thing as it has so many pins and multiple tx/rx connectors. Thanks for any help on this.

[Valen]

The Redboard/Arduino Uno only has 1 hardware serial port known in the code as "Serial". If you want it to connect with more serial devices then you must implement software based serial ports which are then named differently. With the Redboard/Arduino Uno you can use virtually any unused pair of i/o pins available, as long as you specify them in the code.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/SoftwareSerial
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/TwoPortReceive

As for the Sparkfun USB to Serial port FT232RL, there is only one serial port pair TXD and RXD on it. The pin holes on the short side is connected to the TXD and RXD pin on the longer side. If you are confused then please show which pins you think are also serial port pins. They must have a different use than you think.