Guide to Wiring

RS232 Serial Connectors

and Cabling

Memex Automation Inc.

Suite 200 – 3425 Harvester Road,
Burlington, Ontario
Canada
L7N 3N1

Phone: 905-635-1540
Fax: 905-631-9640

Sales:
Phone: 905-635-3043
RS-232C Standard Serial Pinout

RS-232 (EIA-232-A) Function DB-25 pin # DB-9 pin #

Shield 1

Transmit Data (TD) from DTE to DCE 2 3

Receive Data (RD) from DCE to DTE 3 2

Request to Send (RTS) 4 7

Clear to Send (CTS) 5 8

DCE Ready (DSR) 6 6

Signal Ground (SG) 7 5

Received Line Signal Detector (DCD) 8 1

DTE Ready (DTR) 20 4

Ring Indicator 22 9

Below are pictures of DB-9 Female (or Plug) which is typically needed to connect to our Mx1100, and a
DB-25-Male (or Pin) used to connect to a Fanuc CNC machine tool. Note that serial ports on a PC are
usually DB-9 Male these days and the DB-25 is a parallel printer port. Also make sure that if you use
Frame Ground (Pin 1) that it is only connected on one end (usually the machine tool end) as it prevents a
"ground loop" from occurring. If you get an "86 Alarm" on and Fanuc control, it means that you need to
jumper Pins 6, 8 & 20 together on the the DB-25. Fanuc controls have a DB-25 Female (Plug) connector,
so a DB-25 Male (Pin) is needed on the serial cable. Note that on a Fanuc control Pin 25 is high voltage
(+24VDC) - watch out for this...

DTE - Data Terminal Equipment (computers, terminals, PLC's, ...)

DCE - Data Communication Equipment (modems, scanners, ...)
Memex Automation Inc., 777 Walkers Line, Burlington, Ontario Canada L7N 2G1
Phone: 905-635-3043 Fax: 905-631-9640
Internet: http://www.memex.ca
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Recommended Maximum RS-232 Cable Lengths
If you use low capacitance (11pF/ft) shielded, 3 twisted pair cabling you may be able to exceed these
cable lengths by about 50%. When connecting

Data Rate (bps) Maximum Length (meters) Maximum Length (feet)

2400 120 400

4800 60 200

9600 30 100

19200 15 50

38400 7.5 25

57600 5 16

115200 2.5 8

Common interrupt numbers and port addresses

Device Interrupt Port number

COM1 IRQ 4 3F8h

COM2 IRQ 3 2F8h

COM3 IRQ 4 3E8h

COM4 IRQ 3 2E8h

LPT1 IRQ 7 378h

Memex Automation Inc., 777 Walkers Line, Burlington, Ontario Canada L7N 2G1
Phone: 905-635-3043 Fax: 905-631-9640
Internet: http://www.memex.ca
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