Hello,
Is there a reason I am missing for not having the ability to choose (via jumper or switch) whether the VCC out pin of an FTDI adapter actually supplies a voltage? It seems to me like because of this one has to remove a Moteino that is in operation, and powered by a separate source, to be able to program it with an FTDI adapter. If one cannot stop supplying a voltage on the VCC pin of the FTDI adapter then there would be a voltage conflict if one leaves the Moteino in-service when the FTDI adapter is connected to the Moteino.
Am I missing something?
Cheers!
Eloy Paris.-
You're not missing anything.
I could not put a jumper for every possible scenario in the world on the FTDI Adapter :), sorry
You can pick between 5V(passthrough) or 3.3V (50mA provided by FTDI chip - enough for programming).
If you want to stop VCC then I guess you'd have to bend that pin or remove it from the Moteino, or create a little adapter - solder two 1x6 headers where the VCC pin is left out.
Thanks Felix. It's not a big deal and there are many possible solutions, as you mention. I just wanted to make sure I was not missing anything and there wasn't a technical reason. Creating a simple adapter seems like a good solution.
Another use case (besides programming) that I forgot to mention is leaving the FTDI connected while the Moteino is in-service with the goal of talking to the Moteino via serial port for debugging purposes. I've done this many times with homegrown RS-232 to 3.3V serial adapters.
Wireless programming and wireless debugging are other possible alternatives although nothing beats a real serial port ;-)
Cheers,
Eloy Paris.-
Yes serial port is still the best and fastest, but when not available wireless programming is a good alternative.