Can you use the FTDI cable with the Serial IrDa board?

[Cosmoneer]

We are going to explore the possibility of using the included serial IrDa board with the FTDI programming board to communicate with the Cosmoneer.

http://cosmospioneering.com/portfolio/serial-irda-breakout__trashed/serialirda-specs/

We need 4 pins to make a successful connection (+5v, GND, TX & RX) and two other pins (Enable and Reset) tied to the appropriate power or ground circuit.  Reset would be tied to the microcontroller's Reset line to insure the IrDa chip resets when the microcontroller does.  The enable pin is held high to activate the IrDa chip, so it should be connected to the +5V line via a small resistor.

[Cosmoneer]

Yes, the Serial IrDa *CAN* be connected to an FTDI cable!

We tested it out and used the Arduino Serial Monitor interface to send/receive data to a Cosmoneer.  We've since updated the IrDa spec sheet to include simple wiring instructions (shown below).


FTDI          to            IrDa
GND  - - - - - - - - - - >  GND
VCC  - - - - - - - - - - >  +5v
TXD  - - - - - - - - - - >  TX
RXD  < - - - - - - - - - -  RX

Note: Jumper from ENABLE to +5v (suggest using a 3.3k, 4.7k or 10k resistor)