How to Connect a Serial Device to a Computer

The serial port used to be a standard connector for mouse, keyboards and miscellaneous computer hardware such as digital cameras and personal data assistants. Faster USB ports have mostly replaced serial connectors, but serial ports are sometimes used for simple devices which do not require a fast connection.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Find the serial port on your computer. Look at the back of your computer for a trapezoid-shaped port with either 9 pins or 25 pins. Your computer may have one or two serial ports.

2. Determine if you need an adapter. If your computer's serial port and your device use a different number of pins, you must purchase an adapter from a electronics hobby store. If you do not have a serial port on your computer, you can also get a USB adapter which allows you to connect a serial device to a USB port.

3. Turn off your computer. Before you connect a serial device, you must shut down the computer.

4. Connect the female end of the serial cable to the male port on the computer. If the computer has two serial ports, look for labels which indicate which ports are COM1 and COM2. The first serial device you connect to the computer should be plugged into COM1.

5. Plug the cable into the device. There is no standard connector used to connect the cable to the device. However, it likely only fits in one place on the device.

6. Turn on the device. After you turn on the device, it is safe to boot up your computer.

7. Insert the disc which came with your serial device and install its drivers and software.

Tips & Warnings

• If at any time the serial device becomes disconnected, shut down your computer, connect it again and reboot your computer.