While browsing Bilibili recently, I discovered the SoloLinker-A development board. It uses the RV1106 controller, starts at 39 RMB, and supports RGB screens. The demo showed incredibly smooth scrolling, making it seem like a great value, so I decided to buy it.
While waiting for delivery, I noticed in the official schematic that the board uses a 24-pin Type-C port that simultaneously receives USB and serial signals. Using a single data cable only connects to the USB signal, requiring a USB-to-serial adapter to receive the serial signal. Therefore, an adapter board is needed to separate these two signals.
The official serial adapter board does exist, but it requires three data cables to receive both USB and serial signals simultaneously, which is inefficient. This led me to this project.
My ideal adapter board has two key features: 1. Small size; 2. Simple wiring.
The hardware solution used in this project is: CH334P (USB HUB chip) + CH343P (USB to serial port chip). Both chips have very compact packages. The CH334 is a USB HUB chip that supports MTT, and compared to the older STT, it doesn't slow down when multiple devices are connected simultaneously. The CH334 is a high-performance USB to serial port chip with baud rates reaching the M level.
Precautions during replication:
1. Tantalum capacitors are used to prevent the power supply voltage from being pulled down when external devices are plugged in, causing the HUB chip to restart. Be careful not to reverse the polarity, otherwise the consequences will be severe.
2. Choose a board thickness of 1.0mm for board fabrication because the TYPEC male connector on the board is a clamp-type design, and 1.0mm is its limit. 0.8mm is not chosen because a 0.8mm four-layer board cannot be fabricated for free.
3. When soldering the Type-C male connector, the pins may tilt upwards after insertion. Use a hard object to press the pins down; otherwise, solder bridging will occur.
4. It is recommended to use solder paste and a hot air gun for soldering. This board is designed to be compact to minimize space, so be careful to avoid cold solder joints.
Finally, please give it a like to let me know you've been here; it's the greatest affirmation for me.
(Images of the adapter board,
its connection to the development board, and its
actual effect are included.)