PL2303 mod

PL2303HXD USB-TTL adapter for PGT Controller - Power wiring modification

The PL2303HXD is a USB to TTL UART converter module available on ebay and AliExpress for about $3. I bought one of these adapters to connect my PicGoto V4 2018 Telescope Controller to the laptop PC for direct USB-TTL serial communication. I wanted to make this converter module entirely embedded in the PGT box to become part of the Controller effectively but this was not possible due to the relative small dimensions of the plastic container I chose for the Controller. So to still having the USB-TTL module completely dependent on the PGT eletronics, I decided to make a mod to the module wiring so that it becomes active only if powered by the PGT Controller (it is operative only when the Controller is powered on). The mod is fairly simple and only requires to cut and extract the module power pin (USB side) and connect the corresponding board's pin to the 5Vin wire coming from the PGT Controller box, by soldering a short wire as shown in the following pictures.

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IMPORTANT!

NOTE:

If you don't like to deal with this mod, you can still use the unmodified PL2303HXD adapter for use with the PGT V4 2018 Controller but in this case you have to cut a small copper trace in the PGT Controller PCB. It's the one label CUT on the bottom of the board.

Please, be careful ...