Hello everyone, I'm not sure if this belongs in the embedded section but here we go. So I'm having trouble with this FTDI cable. At first, I was sure the first cable I received was defective so I got another...same issue. Basically, when I transmit to any device I get nothing but garbage data. I've tested this on PIC and Arduino. As an extra sanity check, I've used the Arduino as the go between my PC and PIC dev board and all the software works just as it should. For some reason, I cannot seem to get these cables to work. One thing that seems incredibly strange to me is the Tx sits at about - 3.4V until transmitting. Its positive peak is roughly 3.4V. I'm at a loss here, any tips at all? Thanks everyone.

My connection setup is as follows
Cable Tx -> Uc Rx
Cable Rx -> Uc Tx (Excluding ardunio here as it is 5V)
Cable GND -> Uc GND

 

Loop Back
Cable Tx -> Uc Rx to Cable Rx -> Uc Tx

See it your terminal echos back what you type

 

I'll try that. Actually, now that I think of it...can't I short Tx and Rx together to exclude the micro from troubleshooting?

 

Loop Back
Cable Tx -> Uc Rx to Cable Rx -> Uc Tx

See it your terminal echos back what you type

I actually just tied a 100Ohm resistor between Tx and Rx and confirmed everything there. Thanks for the idea.