Powered Serial Ports?

Does anyone know where I can buy an addon card or converter to get some powered serial ports?

99.99% of serial ports on home computers are not powered; well they put out 5v but that doesn't really count..what I need are some serial ports which can output 24V :) This was the standard years and years ago, but most serial devices don't need that much power hence why most home PCs just don't connect those pins/provide the power.

I have some equipment though that needs to be driven from powered serial ports, and they don't work from standard ones :(

So does anyone know of an addon card that can do this for me (PCI/ISA or otherwise)? Or possible some kind of converter plug where you can add a DC transformer or something to power things?

Any suggestions appreciated :)

Spud/Pete

Won't a powered USB hub be able to handle this?

Possibly, I don't know enought about the USB specification to tell how much power they can put out, but I wouldn't have thought that most commerical ones could do it I would also need a USB->Serial converter then, which is fine as I have one - but the problem then is that these converters are also not fully wired (ie, they are designed as standard serial ports) so couldn't pass through the power if they wanted to :( Thanks for the suggestion tho :)

what do you need to run via 24v?

you seem to be able to get ones that do up to 12v

POS Printers, few other devices..they may run on less but quote 24v on the back ;/ Either way standard serial ports don't work - have you got any links to the 12v ones? might be worth a shot :)

http://www.lavalink.com/index.php?id=715 <<< cant find anywhere in uk that sells them used to have pci to serial card but think it got removed in the last house move :(

12V+5V from a molex and a soldering iron :mrgreen:

PoweredUSB to Serial Convertor Cable:
http://www.cyberdata.net/products/po...rialcable.html
http://www.cyberdata.net/products/im...rs232cable.jpg

The CyberData PoweredUSB-to-RS232 Adapter is a low-cost device which allows connection of a legacy serial device to a
PoweredUSB host.

Existing legacy serial port applications running under most newer operating systems can now attach an RS-232 peripheral using USB connectivity.

Fully compliant with the PoweredUSB Retail Specification, this device also provides +12V or +24V to the attached peripheral
eliminating the need for cumbersome power bricks..

?

MadduckUK - that looks perfect lol :)

Just need to find a supplier now..but now I know what to ask for I can ring around - thanks

no worries