USB-TTL converter extension

[smande00]

Hey everyone - I finished reading a thread from last January (2013) about whether or not you could extend the USB-TTL cable and use that as a wifi module replacement.

I had a couple related questions, but I didn't want to revive such an old thread so I figured I'd start a new one.

At any rate here goes

1) I know usb has a length limit on the cable - I'm assuming since this cable is converting USB to TTL that I can just splice in an arbitrary length of cat-5 between the two terminal connections, or are there some practical length limitations that I should be aware of?

2) I saw that the ultimate response on whether or not the usb-ttl cable could serve as a replacement for the wifi module was no, since you could not set change any relay states or the like via the Client-Suite PC application. Is that a limitation of Reef Angel itself or just the application? I'm not afraid to dig into putting something together to handle two way communication, but I'd rather not invest a whole lot of time reading through the forum posts to figure out how if the answer is it can't be done.

Thanks much! Looking forward to getting this all up and running!

[rimai]

The best way to extend is to use a USB active extender:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=1 ... 1&format=2

You can set the relays using the Client software though.
You just can't use the smartphone apps, unless you create a proxy software to convert TCP to serial data.

[smande00]

Awesome - I appreciate the quick response!

Smartphone apps are no biggie for me personally - I prefer to expose this kind of stuff as web applications that run on my server at home. Leaves a consistent interface across the non-homogeneous pool of devices we collect at our house