Serial Ports and USB Adapters

Question: My new laptop computer does not have a serial port. Your readouts and data loggers have serial ports. How can I connect?

Answer: You need a USB-to-serial adapter or a PCMCIA card that provides a serial port.

The USB-to-serial adapter is generally less expensive. We currently stock a USB serial adapter from Keyspan. Our part number is 50310959. It uses Com 12 by default. If the software you use does not support Com 12, check to see if you have the latest version of the software. If there is no support, then read the instructions that come with the Keyspan adapter to learn how to assign a different Com port.

There are many other brands available. For example, one user reported success with a Tripplite U209-000R. No matter what brand you buy, it might be necessary to download the latest driver from the manufacturer's website. There are usually instructions on the package telling you how to do this.

If you have a PCM-CIA slot, you can use a PCM-CIA serial interface card. These are typically a little more expensive than the adapters above, but the standard is fairly mature, so it is more likely to work the first time. One user reported success with a card from socketcom.com.