I am getting tired of reflashing my Nextion display via uSD card, so thought I would try attaching it to the host computer USB port via a USB/ttl adapter as shown here
This write up makes it look like it “just works.”
However when I tried it, the Nextion editor did not recognise it. I am not very savvy about WinDoze (am actually running in a Parallels environment under OSX) so I don’t know, maybe there is only one flavour of USB/TTL adapter that is acceptable to WinDoze USB drivers?
If anyone has a favourite USB/TTL adapter that can connect an ordinary Serial device to a USB port on a WinDoze host, I’d be very interested in your recommendation. For now, I am going back to the SD card method.
The reason I ask this question here is that Robotshop has quite a selection of these adapters and I’m hoping one of them will work! but which one?
I really never use any OSX supported computers anymore (or run a windows/linux distro on them), so I’m unsure how well Parallels deals with the USB VCP (Virtual COM Port) drivers. That may be one reason why you are having issues with your current USB/UART TTL adapter.
Hi Scharette, thanks for the part recommendation and even more for the magic words “Parallels deals with the USB VCP”. This was the search term I needed, to discover that indeed, multiple users have had issues with proper connection of USB UART adapter devices… there is a support topic open for this problem at Parallels main site, there are recommended diagnostics and workarounds, etc.
So now I know where to start.
In answer to your question about the failure mode, the Nextion Editor (a strange app in its own right) has an Upload button. When you press this, a dialogue box pops up. It offers some options (select port vs auto scan) and I pick auto-scan. It finds a port COM3 all right, which I am pretty sure is the UART adapter. It then tries talking to the Nextion on COM3 at various baud rates starting with 2400 and working up to 115200 (oddly reminiscent of the old acoustic coupler days!). It never achieves the handshake it expects, and fails eventually with “No connection.” So it looks like Win10 sees the USB device, assigns it to COM3, but then is unable to send/receive on it.
I will study the recommended fixes from the Parallels community because I feel pretty sure this is the problem.
I’d recommend just a quick check to confirm it is the right port…
You can do so by opening Control Panel > Device Manager with your USB/UART converter connected by USB. From there, extend the Ports (COM & LPT) and look for devices there. It should be named something along the lines of USB Serial Port (COM???), ??? represents the port number. If you have more than one serial devices showing up, note down each port number.
Then, disconnect the adapter from the USB port and see which one disappears!
I didn’t really know about Parallels specifically, but I had a strong suspicion that would be a possibility. Indeed, in many of my projects where virtualization is key issues with drivers is typically a problem for at least one component.
Let us know if you find a way to make it work!
As another point of interest, what adapter are you using? More importantly, which chipset does it use?
