Can the one with six wires be used in place of one with four wires, just leaving two disconnected?

I bought one like this and I needed one with four separate wires. I was hoping I could just use a few male-to-female Dupont cables to adapt it to a different pin order.

Thank!

 

When going USB to RS 232 I use one of these. A USB is two wire communication with Common and +5 Volts, this is a USB pin out. What exactly are you trying to do? This is a RS 232 DB 9 pin out.

Ron

 

Generally, you need only the four, gnd vcc rx and tx. The rts and cts are additional signals that you will know when you need them, but probably not right now.

 

Probably, but you'll need to figure out which two wires you need to use for data and make sure the power wires are an appropriate size. In the USB cables that I've hacked, the power wires are usually a larger gauge than the ones used for data.

You can probably slip the pins out of the housing by lifting the black plastic tabs to rearrange pinout. I use a metal strip out of the security tags on many products.

 

"RS232 TTL" is basically a misnomer. They really don't exist, but they call it that.

"RS232 TTL" is usually inverted serial at TTL levels. These adapters are usually used to program microcontrollers. The serial port only uses Tx, Rx and GND.

USB to RS232 is an entirely different animal. Usually outputs of +-12 v and up to 25 V. With rx, tx, gnd, and some modem control signals such as CTS/RTS, DTR/DSR.

 

Hi everyone; thanks for all the quick responses. It's for programming an Adafruit Huzzah ESP2866 microcontroller thing. Sorry for not being clearer at the beginning. I have no idea what I'm doing! I'm going to try DL324's suggestion to rearrange the connector. I'm sure I can find a suitable implement.

 

I have no idea what I'm doing

Generalky it is a good idea to figure what you are doing before doing it.

Going back to your question, you typically need ground, tx and Rx for a minimalist connection. Vcc is often provided for convenience.

So the number of wires doesn't matter. What does matter is the signal the wires carry.

 

As KISS said, RS-232 is not the correct label.
None of those cables are RS-232 compatible. Even TTL is misused terminology.
We know what they mean when they say RS-232 or TTL.
They should be described as 0-5V serial communications adapter.

Very few computers come with RS-232 comm ports any more.

So the question is, what are you really trying to do? What are you connecting to what?
All you really need is TX, RX and GND.

 

OK, if you take a look at this ESP8266 Datasheet it covers the pin out. Note thew Ground, Transmit and Receive pins. Again, this assumes you have that break out board. This link will get you going with how to directly program the EPS8266. It looks like they are using a USB TO TTL UART Module Serial Converter much like what you seem to have. I have never worked with one so beyond this I don't have a clue.

Ron

 

Note, there are a whole bunch of them: http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/DataSheets/Cables/DS_TTL-232R_CABLES.pdf

3.3V 5V with and without handshake.