PropPlug, Assumptions, and the Adafruit FTDI Friend

[Materdaddy]

I finally got around to assembling my RPM E1.31->DMX dongle I purchased last year (and the BOM earlier this year). Since I had it built, of course I wanted to test it. I kept putting off buying a PropPlug, and now I'm kinda glad I did. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to use something else I have from my various tinkering escapades, and I was able to figure something out. I'm posting this in case somebody else is in a similar dilemma.

From my initial reading on a PropPlug it showed that the PropPlug operates at 3.3V and there is a potential for damage if you use 5V. I only have a 5V ftdi cable so I couldn't use that. I grabbed my FTDI Friend and flipped it over. Much to my delight, look what I saw!

I was able to cut the trace for the 5V default, and it was already setup for 3.3V logic.

I was able to take 4 jumper wires as shown (I used different colors so I could match up the pictures for future reference):

 

[mschell]

I've used my PropPlug on the E680, E681, and RPM's DMX board as well without a problem.

 

[budude]

Yeah - I'm a bit confused... The prop plug is made for USB to Propeller operation... I've used mine on all my Prop stuff with no issues.

 

[dlovely]

I think he is saying he had that on hand and used it and it worked. If you didn't have that already or require it for another project the prop plug is about the same price...

 

[budude]

Ah - yep - never mind... onward!

 

[Materdaddy]

Ha, yeah. I guess I didn't explain that clearly enough.

I don't own a PropPlug. I found an alternative with something I had in the tinker drawer and wanted to share. This way, if somebody has an FTDI friend laying around like I did you don't play the guessing game I did, you know for sure you can use it successfully on parallax propeller projects!