Serial Cable

[Andrew Rudolph]

Not trying to throw off the other thread but, does anyone know the maximum distance you can make a serial cable that will work?

[MattK]

Hmmmm, I'm not sure. I know USB is 50ft. If you can tell me what you are going to do with it, I might be able to help

[Andrew Rudolph]

For plugging a computer into a basic stamp 2 board of education

[sanddrag]

They are not too common in many stores but they do make 50ft cables so you could go at least that long before it doesn't work. I'm guessing that it is not quite the same if you plug a bunch together because of increased # of connections and resistance. Hope this helps.

[MattK]

I agree with Sanddrag

[Jnadke]

I think the maximum length for an RS232 connection is 100 feet... let me double check that...

[Ian W.]

the maxiumum recommended length from InovationFIRST is 25 ft. beyond that, if the robot goes crazy, it's not their problem. i've been content with using a 6 ft cable, for many uses. from diving the robot down the street (we were too lazy to carry it, and we had one battery that still had a somewhat usable charge :p) to testing out the different systems on the bot. sure, i'd go for a longer one, but is it needed, not really. also, when you do connect cables together, the maximum length will go down, a lot.

[Joe Ross]

330 has used a 50 foot tether/programming cable since '98

How long of a serial cable you can use is mostly limited by the quality of the rs232 drivers and receivers, and even more heavily on the data rate. Because of this, it's hard to find "the answer" for the maximum length of a serial cable.

[Andrew Rudolph]

So is there a way to boost a serial signal??

[Jack]

i think that there might be, but i dought you could make it, and to buy it you need lots of $$$$$.