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Translucent USB cable with LED head and 6-pin socket, 914mm long

Adafruit

Adafruit FTDI Serial TTL-232 USB Cable 3.3V 914mm

SKU CH-3AQT-97TMP

USB-to-TTL serial cable with FT232RL chip, 3.3V logic and 5V power on a 914mm lead

  • Product typeEngineering Development Tools
  • FTDI chip enables reliable USB-to-serial communication
  • 3 V logic levels suit low-voltage microcontrollers
  • 5 V power line powers target boards directly
  • Red and green LEDs show RX and TX activity
  • 914 mm cable length gives flexible bench placement

USB-to-TTL cable for microcontroller debugging

This FTDI cable converts a USB port to a 3.3 V serial interface with RTS and CTS flow control. It targets developers and hobbyists who need to flash firmware, monitor debug output or communicate with TTL-level devices such as XBee modules or Arduino-compatible boards. The six-pin connector supplies 5 V power while keeping all data lines at 3 V logic.

914 mm length and 3 V signalling constrain placement

The fixed cable length of 914 mm limits how far the host computer can sit from the target board. Because the RX, TX, RTS and CTS pins operate at 3 V, direct connection to 5 V-only UART peripherals is not reliable without external level shifting, despite the 5 V supply line being present on the connector.

FT232RL chipset determines driver compatibility

The embedded FT232RL usb-to-serial bridge requires FTDI VCP or D2XX drivers on the host operating system. If the target environment cannot load these drivers — such as some locked-down embedded Linux builds or bare-metal hosts without USB CDC/ACM support — the cable will not enumerate and cannot be used.

How it compares

Measured against everything we stock in Engineering Workstations & Dev Kits, at today’s prices. Recalculated every night.

Price $16.99
Pricier than about 70% of the 170 comparable items (median $11.49).

Specifications

Product
Product typeEngineering Development Tools

Questions about this item

What cable length should I pick for my bench setup?

The cable is 914 mm long, giving roughly a metre of reach between the USB port and the target board.

What does the 3.3 V rating mean when I plug this into my board?

Data lines operate at 3.3 V logic while the power pin supplies 5 V, so the cable talks safely to 3.3 V devices and can still feed 5 V power.

Which USB-to-serial interface does this cable use and what does it limit?

An FTDI FT232RL chip handles the USB-to-TTL conversion, capping the link to standard UART signalling at 3.3 V logic levels.

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