Splitting a Serial Port

flcusat

There is any way to split a serial port for 2 rs232 identical components? This would be just one way communication to two Panasonic Plasma just to turn them On and Off at certain time of the day.

Hedberg

Yes, this sort of thing can be done. See, for example:

http://www.compuphase.com/electronics/rs232split.htm

The gender of the DB9s needs to be adjusted for the application. For your situation, probably J3 needs to be male and the connection should be to terminal 3 instead of 2.

champ

If the devices are not ID addressable you should only split pin 3 (Tx) and not use pin 2 (Rx) because when you send data to 2 devices simultaneously they will both respond simultaneously which will cause problems

Other than that it is quick and dirty and it works

TurnipTruck

The "Correct" way to do it would be to use an active RS-232 port expander. Take a look at the Kramer Electronics VP-14. As stated in another thread, you may not want to connect the TXDs from you controlled devices if you cannot make them respond independantly.