variable frequency drives, usb-to-rs232

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Thread Starter

yazooka

Hi,

We have these Vacon NXS-series VFDs and want to monitor and control them using a PC. The drives come with rs-232c ports and I'm wondering if I can expect things to work out with some kind of a multiport usb-to-RS232 adapter (for example https://www.serialgear.com/4-Port-Serial-USB-USBG-4X232P1-10.html).

I understood that RS-232 can be used only to communicate between two devices. This USB-adapter then would create virtual COM ports. Are there any obvious reasons why this might not be a good solution?

The option is to buy some extension cards which there are available for various different buses. But they seem a bit costly and possibly difficult to acquire.
 
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Robert Scott

In the bad old days, PC software was written which talked directly to the registers on the legacy COM1 and COM2 ports. As Windows matured, modern software is written to use the Windows device drivers and talk through the higher-level Windows API functions. These functions access Virtual Com Ports the same as Legacy Com Ports. So it makes no difference. The real question is, are you stuck using PC software from the bad old days, or are you using more modern software to talk to the Vacon drives? The Vacon drive doesn't care. Only the program running on the PC might care.

Robert Scott
Real-Time Specialties
Hopkins, MN
 
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