Serial Port to Ethernet Products Selection Guide

Date：2010-04-10 Author：Shanghai ZLAN Views：3258

This document will guide users to choose the appropriate serial port to Ethernet solution, and introduce the difference of each product model.

The user first needs to consider whether to choose the serial device server or the serial port to Ethernet module.the left side is the serial port to Ethernet module, the right side is the serial device server. The differences are as follows:
1).In appearance, a serial device server is a serial port to Ethernet module with a shell, the shell has the ability of resistance to electromagnetic radiation, but if the user wants to make the serial port to Ethernet products into their own case, the serial device server shell did not make any sense. The volume of the module is about 4*4*1cm, and the serial device server is about 10*8*2cm.
2).In terms of price, the demand of serial port to Ethernet module will be a large amount once the user use it, and the module price is about half of the price of serial device server. Suitable for user with large dosage.
3).The function of serial device server and serial port to Ethernet module is exactly the same.

Summarize the above differences:
1).If your serial port device is a ready-made device, and the device shell cannot be opened and put into the module, you can choose the serial device server, which can be used externally. But the price is relatively high.
2).If you are the serial port equipment manufacturers, have the ability to reassemble the device design, and the dosage is bigger, need to reduce costs, can consider to use a serial port to Ethernet module, and the module can be built-in to your device, and the RJ45 of the module is left outside of the casing.

Next, select different types of serial port to Ethernet modules. As shown in figure 2, pictures of ZLSN2000, ZLSN3000, ZLSN4000, ZLSN5102.

The main differences of all kinds of serial port to Ethernet modules are the serial interface level, ZLSN2000 and ZLSN3000 are TTL level serial ports, ZLSN4000 is RS232 level serial ports, ZLSN5102 and ZLSN5103 are RS232/485/422 level serial port.

ZLSN2000 is also known as the chip type serial port device networking module or basic networking module. It is the core module of ZLSN series module. ZLSN other series modules are equipped with ZLSN2000 modules and can be extracted and used. ZLSN2000 plugs into a user's circuit board using a double-row pin (similar to a DIP chip). The user inserts ZLSN2000 on the device that needs serial port to Ethernet, otherwise it is not necessary to plug ZLSN2000 and flexible configuration. We can provide the periphery PCB circuit diagram of the ZLSN2000, user easy to design, basically ZLSN2000 only need 4 Ethernet cable, 2 power line (5V), 2 TTL level serial port wire, serial port wire connected directly to the serial port of user MCU. Users with dosage can choose ZLSN2000 to reduce costs.

ZLSN3000 is called TTL level wiring type serial device networking module, which is composed of ZLSN2000 plus ZLSN3000 base board. With a RJ45 interface on the base board, for the Ethernet port part the user no need to design. The ZLSN3000 can be fixed to the user circuit board by using four screw holes, left the Ethernet port outside shell is ok. The Ethernet port can be with status indicator. For the serial port part, at least 4 FPC are used to connect with user circuit, respectively VCC (5V), GND, TXD, and RXD. TXD and RXD can be directly connected to 5V or 3.3V 51 SCM, AVR SCM, PIC, ARM, etc. ZLSN3000 saves the trouble of user designing baseboard, can be used in batch, and can also be used as sample test.

ZLSN4000 is also known as RS232 level wiring type serial port device networking module. Compared with ZLSN3000, the main difference is that ZLSN4000 is RS232 level serial port, as the user MCU convert the TTL Level serial port to RS232 Level port through chips such as MAX232, and then connect with ZLSN4000 (the MAX232 chip in ZLSN4000 base board again convert it to TTL Level port to connect with its core module ZLSN2000). Compared with ZLSN3000, using ZLSN4000 is equivalent to adding two RS232 conversion chips, and there is no advantage in price. However, its RS232 serial port can easily connect the computer COM port, which makes it convenient to test through the computer, and also convenient to connect the equipment with RS232 serial port.

ZLSN5102/5103 is also known as an experimental suite of embedded networking modules, has RS232 level, but ZLSN5102 has more RS485 serial port, and ZLSN5103 has more RS485/422 serial port. The main difference between ZLSN4000 is that ZLSN5102/5103 are specially designed to verify the performance and design of ZLSN products, with the attached function dial key and indicator light, and the DB9 is male (ZLSN4000 is female). ZLSN5102/5103 has 9~24V terminal or power adapter. It can be used to verify the ZLSN function in PC serial port, also can take place of ZLSN4000 in the same time.