_SKU_TEL0185_RainbowLink-DFRobot

Introduction

RainbowLink is a USB protocol converter with four independent channels. It can convert USB into an independent RS485 channel, an RS232 channel, and two TTL channels. Additionally, it can simultaneously output three types of power supplies: 12V, 5V, and 3.3V. This greatly facilitates your testing work.

In the past, when you needed to monitor multiple serial ports simultaneously, you had to painstakingly find multiple USB protocol converters and connect a mess of wires. Or when testing products with different interfaces, you had to search for various protocol converters. RainbowLink has four channels: 1×RS485, 1×RS232, and 2×TTL. The four channels are completely independent. One RainbowLink is equivalent to four converters.

When testing an industrial or agricultural sensor, you usually need to power the sensor. The voltage of industrial and agricultural sensors is typically between 9V and 24V. You need to prepare a large experimental power supply to power the sensor, which is extremely inconvenient. Moreover, when there is no power socket around, such as when testing a soil sensor outdoors, how can you power the sensor? This is a very troublesome problem. RainbowLink can output three types of power supplies: 12V/800mA, 5V/2A, and 3.3V/200mA without the need for an additional power supply.

The USB protocol converters on the market are either screw-terminal wiring terminals or pin header interfaces. Finding connecting wires and doing wiring can be extremely frustrating. RainbowLink adopts a lever-type quick wiring terminal. Wiring and unwiring have become extremely easy and simple: just plug in and press, and the wiring is completed easily with a very good feel. Moreover, this lever-type wiring terminal has a service life of more than 2000 times. At the same time, the TTL and RS232 interfaces use both pin headers and pin sockets. Whether your connecting wire is a pin header or a pin socket, it can be directly used, avoiding the trouble of looking for connecting wires everywhere. Perhaps you will worry that a multi-channel protocol converter will make it difficult for you to know the corresponding relationship of the COM port on the computer, which is very troublesome to find. We have also considered this issue. First of all, RainbowLink is driver-free on most computers, so you don't need to install a driver. At this time, you can distinguish which specific port the serial port number corresponds to through the four data indicator lights. If you install the RainbowLink driver, the ABCD sequence numbers on the port number and the ABCD sequence numbers on the product are in one-to-one correspondence. You just need to select the corresponding port number.

Features

Function indication diagram

Specification

Question and Answer

Question: Are lever-type terminal blocks prone to damage?

Answer: The service life of lever-type terminal blocks reaches several thousand presses and is not prone to damage. But the wire should not exceed 12AWG. Excessively thick wires may cause the compression spring inside the terminal block to deform or be damaged.

Question: Is it convenient for lever-type terminal blocks to connect flexible wires?

Answer: It can reliably connect various wires or wire ends such as hard wires, flexible wires, and pin headers.

Question: Can the power output end be short-circuited?

Answer: Although RainbowLink has built-in short-circuit protection and overcurrent protection, to avoid damage, try not to short-circuit it.

Question: What is the total power of the power output?

Answer: The total power of the power output depends on the power input through the TYPEC interface. Usually, the TYPEC interface of a computer can provide an output of 5V 2A, and the USB A port of a computer can provide an output of 5V 0.5A.

Question: Are the 4 data channels independent of each other and can they communicate with each other?

Answer: The 4 data channels are independent of each other and can communicate independently with USB, but cannot communicate with each other internally. For example, RS485 and TTL1 cannot communicate.

Question: The computer cannot distinguish which actual port each of the 4 COMs corresponds to. What should I do?

Answer: There are two methods:

  1. Select a COM port randomly on the computer, and then send characters randomly. You will see the corresponding indicator light on the right side light up. At this time, you will know which port it is.
  2. Install the RainbowLink driver. There will be four ports, A, B, C, and D, in the COM list, corresponding to the A, B, C, and D ports on the panel respectively.

Driver download

RainbowLink Driver（WINDOWS）.zip

RainbowLink Driver（MAC）.ZIP

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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