Working with EmonTX5 USB UART on MacOS

[davidski (David Severski)]

I’m trying to connect my new EmonTX5 to my MacOS 15.1 system via UART to inspect the firmware settings. However, when I use a regular USB-C to USB-C cable, no devices are detected.

My older UART-to-USB-A adapters work fine with other devices.

I’ve checked the FTDI website but I’m not sure if I need a specific driver or if there’s a particular chipset involved. Does anyone know if the EmonTX5 chipset requires a special driver for UART communication?

[Robert.Wall]

As far as I’m aware, the emonTx5 uses the same USB chipset as the emonTx4 (CP2102), and again as far as I’m aware, the USB connector is no longer orientation-sensitive. But this might help:

Can’t get the Serial Config Tool to work with computer equipped with USB-C

Hurray - I have solved by problem. I had installed the latest driver for Mac from Prolific, and it seemed to have installed OK, but I couldn’t see any sign of it I still can’t. I had tried an Apple cable and an Anker cable, switching the plugs through 180 degrees in all combinations - no luck. Then I tried a cable from GoPro - it was a USB-A to USB-C. So I added an adapter to make it USB-C to USB-C and bingo - the Mac reported a new device. The connection from the Serial Config Tool then co…

[awjlogan (Angus Logan)]

Hi @davidski - the forum post Rob linked is actually related to the thread on the SiLabs support forum. This was also “solved” by inserting a hub or adaptor between the Mac and the device. Couple of things to check, with the emonTx5 connected, could you please post the outputs of:

• ls /dev/cu*
• system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType SPHardwareDataType

[davidski (David Severski)]

Thanks for the info! I’ve been toiling away at getting my new kit set up and will give the USB another try tomorrow after I dig up a hub and/or USB-A converter. Universal serial bus… liars!

[borpin (Brian Orpin)]

@davidski

Universal serial bus… liars!

But Apple has it’s own implementation

[davidski (David Severski)]

That did it. I threw a basic USB-A to USB-C adapter on a USB-C cable, plugged the host end into a USB-C to USB-A adapter, and got a valid tty.usbserial device created. This worked fine for connecting to the TX and for uploading new firmware.

FYI, I’m using avrdude 8.0 via homebrew. This version does not work with the suggested custom avrdude.conf. I was able to flash firmware without using that option (just dropping the -C option).