Wouldn't it be cool to drive a tiny OLED display, read a color sensor, or even just flash some LEDs directly from your computer?  Sure you can program an Arduino or Trinket to talk to these devices and your computer, but why can't your computer just talk to those devices and sensors itself?  Well, now your computer can talk to devices using the Adafruit FT232H breakout board!

NEW: As of Feb 12, 2020 we have given this venerable board a makeover! We now have a modern USB C connector on the board (instead of micro USB), a I2C switch to connect D1 and D2 for easy I2C interfacing, 3V power output pin up to 500mA, and a Stemma QT connector that lets you plug & play any Stemma QT or Qwiic devices, sensors and displays. This revision is completely back-compatible for board size, mounting holes and pinouts (the additional 3V/GND pins are where previously there were none and do not change the pinout, they can be left disconnected).

What can the FT232H chip do?  This chip from FTDI is similar to their USB to serial converter chips but adds a 'multi-protocol synchronous serial engine' which allows it to speak many common protocols like SPI, I2C, serial UART, JTAG, and more!  There's even a handful of digital GPIO pins that you can read and write to do things like flash LEDs, read switches or buttons, and more.  The FT232H breakout is like adding a little swiss army knife for serial protocols to your computer!

The FT232H can be in one of two modes: UART mode, or "MPSSE" mode, which supports I2C, SPI, etc. You cannot do UART and I2C or SPI simultaneously.

Interested in learning more about the FT232H and its capabilities?  Continue on to read about how to assemble, configure, and access the capabilities of the FT232H breakout.  Also be sure to skim and read the FT232H datasheet for more information about the chip.

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Original version!

This guide was first published on Nov 12, 2014. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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