SparkFun FT231X Breakout

The SparkFun FT231X Breakout board is a versatile, feature-rich addition to any electronics project. It comes equipped with a full UART hardware handshake feature and its pin-out is designed to match the FTDI cable, making it compatible with both official and cloned Arduino boards. This board can also be utilized for a wide range of general serial applications.

The FT231X Breakout board boasts a DTR pin, which is a significant upgrade from the RTS pin of the FTDI cable. This pin enables an Arduino target to auto-reset whenever a new Sketch is downloaded, eliminating the need for manual reset. This is an especially handy feature that facilitates the download of a sketch without the need to press the reset button. Any Arduino board with the reset pin connected to a 6-pin connector can be auto-reset by this board.

One of the standout features of the FT231X Breakout board is its hackability. SparkFun has broken out all the pins for your convenience, which significantly expands the potential uses of this board. Plus, it employs a commonly used microUSB jack for easy connectivity.

The board also comes with a configurable VCC output, which can be set to either 3.3V or 5V. This is made possible by a jumper on the back of the board. Although the board is shipped with a default 5V setting, you can easily modify this by cutting the default trace and adding a solder jumper for a switch to 3.3V. It's important to note that the maximum input of the FT231X is only 3.3V, but it can function down to 1.8V with external pull-ups and is also 5V tolerant.

Documents:

• Schematic
• Eagle Files
• Datasheet (FT231XS-U)
• FTDI Drivers
• GitHub