Introduction

Please take a moment to check that you have this arrangement correct for your combination. We’re talking about four pins and colors, you can do this!

For TTL-level communications, we use 4-pin latching interconnect cables.  Because of the variety of devices which can be connected, and because we don’t control all of the different as well as legacy production lines and designs, the pinouts vary from one arrangement to another. While this is a complicated mess, it’s not ALL our fault. 🙂

This page details most conceivable arrangements and specifies the correct pinouts for each. In many cases, one end is different from another, so it is important to determine what is being connected to which end of the connection. In other words, when you do not have a straight-through cable, it matters which end gets plugged in to which device.

The cables come in 3 different lengths: 6″, 12″, and 48″. The 48″ units are shielded with the black-colored lead, the other two are not (they are short). Thus, it is IMPORTANT to be sure that the black wire is connected to the ground line at both ends when using the 48″ cable. If you instead connect a RX or TX line to the shield (black) line of the 48″ cable, you can have trouble. The other lengths can be more forgiving.

Six different pin arrangements exist currently and we designate them as A-F. The cable for a given combination.can have two ends different or the same depending on the combination, but luckily, there are only so many combos which are realistic.  If you have questions about what you need, contact us.

The Cabling Conspiracy, Documented

The following spreadsheet documents the pinouts of various devices.  If you have a cable made for one device and you’d like to use it on another, you’ll need to move pins around to match the configuration of the new device.  Failure to do so properly has been known to cause premature failure of devices.  Be warned.