Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are the differences between the original FT232H and the FT232HP?
A.

The FT232HP offers the same functionality as the FT232H. It can be used for UART, bit bang, I2C/SPI via MPSSE, etc. The FT232HP offers additional power delivery functionality. This allows for control of power direction which can be either supplied from the USB Host or the device. The same applies to all ‘HP’ variants. The original FT232H only had the ability to get power from the USB Host.

Q. The FT233HP is only available in QFN package, will an LQFP package be available?
A.

FTDI are planning on releasing LQFP packages for FT233HP, FT2233HP and FT4233HP in the future.

Q. Does the FT260 provide a Virtual COM Port over HID class?
A.

The FT260 does not present a Virtual Com Port on the host PC. The device is a HID class device rather than an FTDI Vendor Class device and therefore does not require the FTDI drivers to be loaded. The LibFT260 library provided by FTDI can be used by an application to control the UART, GPIO and I2C Master functions of the device. The FT260 can also be interfaced using HID requests directly from the application.

Q. Is there a recommended crystal to use with FT4222H?
A.

The UMFT4222EV uses an X32F-G18QA-12.000 crystal.

This is a 12.000 MHz from CN-ELectronics  X32F series

http://www.cnelectronic.com/PDF/crystal/X32F.pdf

With the parameters:

Package = 3.2 x 2.5
Frequency = 12.000000 MHz
Frequency Tolerance @ 25°C =   ±30 ppm
Frequency stability Tolerance over Operating Temperature Range = ±20 ppm
Operating Temperature Range  = -40°C to +85°C
Drive Level = 10µW to 100µW
Max Equivalent series Resistance (ESR)  < 80 Ohms
Max Shunt Capacitance (C0) < 7pF
Load Capacitance (CL) = 18pF

Q. FT_PROG cannot find my FT4222H IC when using UMFT4222PROG-IC. What can I do?
A.

FT_Prog sends a Vendor Command over the USB to turn on the programming voltage. This will happen when you click on scan for devices. Now the programming voltage is on, when scan for devices is clicked, the FT4222H IC will be found. Also, SW1 can be used to switch from one IC to another.

Q. When running my FT4222H application program, I see the error “LibFT4222.dll is missing from your computer”. How can this be resolved?
A.

This can happen if the LibFT4222.dll is not found by the program.

Simply copy the LibFT4222.dll into the same directory as the .exe, or copy the LibFT4222.dll into the C:\Windows\System32 directory.

Now it should run.

You can modify the projects or create your own project. These are only examples which we provide.

Note: This also applies to other projects that use a DLL, not just LibFT4222.dll.

Q. What is the maximum SPI clock rate when using FT4222H?
A.

The maximum SPI interface operating clock can be set up to 40MHz in master mode and 20MHz in slave mode. The SPI clock rate is subject to system clock and the SPI clock_div.

Q. What is the temperature range of the new FT4232HAQ IC?
A.

FT4232HA is a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (480Mb/s) to multi-purpose UART/MPSSE IC that is automotive qualified for AEC temperature grade 2: -40°C to +105°C.

Q. When should I choose FT4233HPQ?
A.

Does your design require USB Type-C connectors to be more compatible with the newest laptops and PCs?

Are you currently using FT4232H-56Q / FT4232HQ / FT4232HL original H Series ICs and require increased power higher than the standard 5V/500mA?

Would you like to be able to charge the host PC while accessing the USB data bridges and communication like UART / RS232 / RS485 / RS422, I2C Master, SPI Master and JTAG?

Do you want to eliminate the need for separate power and USB data communication wires or are limited by the number of USB ports?

If the answer to any of the questions above is YES then the FT4233HPQ could be suitable for your next application!


Type-C connectors are now becoming more standard on the latest laptops, PCs, tablets and handhelds.

Note that to exploit all USB Power Delivery features, a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable is required, otherwise only default 5V/500mA can be sinked from the connected USB Host hardware.

The USB Power Delivery FT4233HPQ IC has two Type-C / PD ports:

    • PD1 port supports both power sink and source roles.

This means that it’s capable of getting power from the USB Host hardware or providing the power to charge it! This same port is used for all the data communication through the four unique ports on the device via FTDI’s royalty free drivers.

    • PD2 port only supports a power sink role.

A typical use case for this is to get power from a USB PD charger or wall plug, which you can use to power your system and even pass through to charge the USB Host hardware like a laptop or Android tablet.

Both PD ports support 5V3A (15W), 9V3A (27W), 12V3A (36W), 15V3A (45W), 20V3A (60W) PDO profiles, and these profiles are configurable through the external EEPROM at power-up or reset. This is an incredible amount of power compared to the original 5V/500mA (2.5W) offered by products which don’t support USB Power Delivery.

If your application requires even more power, then 20V/5A (100W) is also supported by configuring PD2 as sink only to power your application when attached to a PD charger with 100W type C cable. Please note that this is a special cable with additional electronics inside (not supplied by FTDI). Currently 20V/5A source mode when HP is providing power to support 5A is not currently possible but will be implemented in the future. Please contact us if you require more information on this incredibly powerful option.

Additionally, these two features are available as standard:

    • Dual Role Power (DRP)

This is when our device wants to request the role from sink to source to charge laptop for example. This is a seamless feature and one example could be when a USB PD wall charger is plugged in to PD2 which is used to power the USB Host hardware via PD1.

    • Power Role Swap (PRS)

This is when laptop (for example) is sourcing power via our device attached to a charger and detects lost power (charger is switched off) and so it sends request to switch from source to sink so that Vbus will be uninterruptible ensuring no power or communication glitches.

The same real world applications are possible with FT4233HP as with the original FT4232H IC with added power options to help future proof your design. However, do note that the connected USB Host hardware (eg laptop, tablet, handheld) must support USB Power Delivery otherwise default USB 2.0 power as sink is only allowed.

These are some example applications but with the addition of USB Power Delivery the application coverage is endless when increased power is required.

    • Upgrading Legacy Designs to USB Power Delivery and Type-C
    • Field Upgradable USB Products
    • USB data transfer modules and interfaces
    • Interfacing MCU / PLD / FPGA based designs to USB
    • Handheld USB data transfer
    • Set Top Boxes
    • Data acquisition via USB
    • USB Bar Code Readers
    • USB Debug interface
    • USB Digital Camera Interface
    • USB FLASH Card Reader / Writers
    • USB Industrial Control
    • USB Instrumentation
    • USB Smart Card Readers

Here’s an example of FT4233HP being used to charge a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold which supports USB Type-C Dual Role Power (DRP) and Power Role Swap (PRS) while providing a data bridge to 4 unique ports!

The UMFT4233HPEV used here is available directly from FTDI or our authorised distributers which will enable you to test and evaluate our product for your application.

PD2 is connected to a USB Power Delivery charger (plugged into the wall) and FT4233HPQ is configured to pass through this power to PD1 which in turn charges the mobile device.

This is extremely useful as the mobile device only has one Type-C USB Port so without the technology inside FT4233HPQ, it would be impossible to charge the mobile and provide a USB data bridge. This data bridge could be any system or sensor that requires UART / RS232 / RS485 / RS422, I2C Master, SPI Master or JTAG to talk to it. The FTDI UART Terminal application that is available on Google Play Store is able to help this mobile phone which runs on Android OS.

Here is another ‘FT4233HP USB Type C Charge-through Demonstration’ video that was shown at Embedded World 2022. The demosheet for this video can be found here This shows various sensors being connected to the FT4233HPQ ports:

    • an ambient light sensor
    • a distance sensor with buzzer
    • a BT/BLE module for wireless communication via phone/tablet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc6ugK4gKlw

 

Full details can be found on the FT4233HPQ Product page and in the Power Delivery brochure which lists all our USB Power Delivery capable ICs.

Q. How can you configure USB to UART chip to allow this to work in a special baud rate?
A.

FTDI provide both D2XX and VCP drivers in Windows OS. With the D2XX driver, the user is only required to fill in the baud rate in the second parameter when they call FT_SetBaudRate API. With the VCP driver however, the user will be required to modify the ftdiport.inf file for the special baud rate. Application Note 120 – Aliasing VCP Baud Rates describes how to calculate the divisor for a non-standard baud rate.

Q. What should I do when I cannot program EEPROM using the FT_Prog utility?
A.

Please ensure that our SPI EEPROM chip is 93C46B/56B/66B, and that the EEPROM is configured in 16-bit data mode. Pull the ORG pin to VCC to put the EEPROM into 16-bit data mode. Please not however that 94C46 is not supported. This applies to FT232H, FT2232H, FT4232H and FT23xHP, FT223xHP, FT423xHP which all use an external EEPROM for configuration.

Q. With the new VNC2 Toolchain, what USB Peripheral (Slave) functions are available?
A.

VNC2 Toolchain now contains USB Peripheral drivers for: FT232 – emulates the operation of the FTDI FT232R, CDC ACM* – CDC AT command set modem, HID* – Human Interface Device (These functions are new in v2.0.2)

Q. How do I add a custom PID to the ftdi_sio Linux COM port driver?
A.

On your  Linux system,  open a terminal window and login as root (or use sudo). Enter the following:modprobe ftdi_sio  <ret> / echo VVVV PPPP > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/ftdi_sio/new_id <ret> / …where VVVV is the USB Vendor ID (0403 for FTDI) and PPPP is the custom Product ID. Plug in the FTDI  device programmed with the desired PID,  and enter: dmesg | grep FTDI <ret> You should see confirmation that the device is recognized and assigned a COM port.This PID assignment will remain until the Linux system is rebooted.

Q. If USB VBUS is used to power the chip, what voltages can be present when the USB cable is unplugged?
A.

When the USB cable is unplugged, any voltage present on the I/O pins will back-feed the FTDI chip through its protection diodes and partially power it.  This is an unknown state.  Damage will not occur; however, the RESET# input will need driven with a low pulse in order to recover.  To avoid this scenario, ensure that the I/O voltages are kept at zero while the USB cable is not connected, or use external buffers that allow signals without power present.

Q. When designing one of the FTDI USB bridge chips into my product, can I power the VCCIO power rail from an external power supply and run VCC off of the USB VBUS?
A.

FTDI recommends that the entire chip be powered from voltages derived from the same source.  If the USB VBUS is intended to power VCC, then the on-chip generated 3V3OUT or another voltage power converter with USB VBUS as the source should be used.  Powering only one “side” of the IC will result in the chip being in an unknown state.

Q. When routing USB signals, what are the best practices for protection and PCB routing?
A.

USB signals need to be as short as practical with matched length and routed as a 90-ohm differential pair between the USB connector and the FTDI chip. The USB interfaces on all of our FTDI products are rated up to 2KV range for ESD sensitivity. External ESD protection is recommended. Ensure that the ESD devices are specified for USB use. Some ESD devices have a high capacitance which will adversely affect the USB signal integrity.

Q. Is there an evaluation module available for the Power delivery Products?
A.

FTDI is planning on releasing an evaluation module  (UMFT4233HPEV and UMFT233HPEV )in the near future to accompany its latest generation of USB Power Delivery ICs.

 

Q. Should I select the new Power Delivery version of the IC for my new project?
A.

The PD versions of the FT232H/FT2232H/FT4232H offer all the same data features whilst having much more flexibility in the power supply. Therefore, if your device requires more than 5V at 500mA to be supplied over USB, or if your device currently has its own power supply of up to 20V at 3A which you want to eliminate, you could consider the PD version.

 

Q. Can I just load the D2XX drivers and run a D2XX application on a newly installed Linux system?
A.

No, the VCP driver is likely enabled by default on most distributions.  Before running a Linux D2XX application, the VCP driver must be unloaded as follows:sudo rmmod ftdi_sio / sudo rmmod usbserial. Do not use the -f  (force remove) option.

Q. When using VDAP/V2DAP or VDPS/V2DPS, What is the correct format for the WRF arguments and following data?
A.

It’s recommended to specify the data type prior to writing data to a file with WRF.  If ASCII (IPA) is selected, then each character is changed to its ASCII value and sent to the file – RED text is sent to the VNC1L or VNC2 monitor: IPA<CR>  D:\> OPW TEST.TXT<CR>  D:\>  WRF 4<CR> TESTD:\> CLF TEST.TXT<CR> D:\>. When HEX (IPH) input values are used, then hex values are sent, usually with the short command set (SCS).  Note that the number of bytes specified with WRF (0x08) is a double-word (4-bytes): IPH<CR> D:\> SCS<CR> D:\> 09 20 54 45 53 54 2E 54 53 53 0D     3E     08 20 00 00 00 04 0D      54 45 53 54 3E     0A 20 54 45 53 54 2E 54 53 53 0D     3E. When testing command sequences with a terminal program, select one that can send hex values directly, such as CoolTerm (http://freeware.the-meiers.org/#CoolTerm).

Q. How to detect when enumeration has completed via hardware?
A.

Most FTDI devices use a PWREN# signal. It will be high (power = off) under the following conditions: -The device is in reset OR -The device is not yet configured by USB enumeration, or the USB enumeration sequence has failed OR -The host PC system is in the USB suspend state

Q. With the latest drivers two sets are supplied for i386 and AMD64. For Win 64 and Intel processor should we be using the i386 drivers?
A.

Drivers should be installed automatically (by Windows). If you choose to do this manually, if you specify the higher level folder and choose to search sub-directories it should be chosen automatically.

So you shouldn’t need to specify the exact driver files.

The architecture is named after AMD because AMD invented it, with the Athlon 64. Similarly, the 32-bit i386 architecture is named after Intel’s 386 processor, because it was the first of its kind, but i386 will also work on AMD processors.

Even if you have an intel CPU, AMD64 is what you’d use to install 64-bit on your computer (it uses the same instruction sets).

Q. How can I submit my driver for certification?
A.

Microsoft® instituted a device driver certification process to ensure the drivers are functional with their products. Many FTDI customers are interested in changing the FTDI drivers to reflect their corporate identity. This can be done via editing FTDI’s INF files, however, once an INF file has been edited, its original digital signature is no longer valid and needs to be certified. Please see AN_101: Submitting Modified FTDI Drivers for Windows Hardware Certification for a guide on the certification. Please note that Microsoft may update their process and should be supported by Microsoft.

Q. What external EEPROM is recommended for use with the FTDI USB Hi-Speed ICs?
A.

For the FT2232H and FT4232H, a 93C46, 93C56 or 93C66 is recommended. The FT232H requires the 93C56 or 93C66. All of these serial EEPROMs need to be specified or configured for 16-bit word and 3.3V I/O operation. There are many manufacturers of this type of device, and FTDI does not have a preference.