Electronics is all about making things as small as possible. So I rebuild the level convertor with the previous one on the breadboard as a working example.
I used quite a bit of hot glue to make those wires stop breaking off.
I added the drawing I made to map the soldering. Enjoy!
So I have MAX232CPE+ instead of MAX3232, will this one work the same? I checked the data sheet and it looks like the pins are the same. Just wanted to double check. Thanks!
I found an answer to my own question. The MAX232 requires 5V and the router is only 3.3V, so it wont work.
Thanks for the great diagram!
Sorry for the late reply.
The MAX232 version is indeed the industry standard 5V version. However this 5V is only needed for the chip’s power supply, so it is possible to get this 5V elsewhere. For example from a PC power supply, a USB connector, or maybe even from the router’s power supply. The 3.3V signal levels on the router RS232 interface are enough to have clear data transmission.
I have seen some schematics on other sites that do just this.
It is possible that your chip will just work on 3.3V as well, although I can’t guarantee this.