RF Explorer connects to Computers and Tablets using a Mini-USB connector. For the USB connection to work, you need to a Silicon Labs CP210x driver installed on your system. The driver is available for all Windows, Mac and Linux computers, and can be downloaded from this page.
The Silicon Labs (or Silabs) drivers are high speed, high quality software produced and certified by Silicon Labs, and can be download and installed on MacOS X from this link (note it is in www.silabs.com official site and outside our servers)
You may experience problems in some cases, such as the driver being not properly installed, or not being able to connect to the device even though the RF Explorer is physically connected and everything is apparently installed correctly.
In order to troubleshoot a connectivity problem, we suggest the following general steps:
- After installation of the driver or any other software, make sure to allow the software to run in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General if you are using MacOS Sierra or newer.
- Use a high quality USB cable. Some cables are not capable of sustain high current or have a low quality connector that may not give all the required power RF Explorer needs, particularly when charging the unit. Before you try anything else, make sure you test 2 or 3 different cables. This is the most common problems experienced and reported by users.
- If you are using the included USB cable in RF Explorer PLUS models, please make sure to push the USB cable connector all the way thru with some extra force the first time, normally you will hear a click when the connector is in place. Otherwise connection will be unreliable and will not charge or be recognized by the computer correctly.
- Some USB cables designed for cell phones include incompatible, internal resistors design to identify them as proprietary and will not work fine with RF Explorer or other USB devices. If you need a standard USB cable, please get one from our distributors or from any local or online shop. Just any normal, non proprietary Mini-USB connector cable will work with your RF Explorer device (some proprietary cell-phone brands create non-compatible USB cables).
- Check the internal device CONFIG MENU has the USB Bauds to 500Kbps (not 2400bps)
- To check if it is correctly installed and the device being recognized, connect the device to USB port (no need to be in bootloader mode, any mode is ok for that). Then open a terminal window in your Mac, and run the following command:
ls /dev/tty.SLAB*
if the device connected is being recognized by the Mac OS, then you should get a response in the terminal with a
/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART
If you do not get this but a “no such file or directory” then try with a different USB cable and try reinstalling the drivers again.
- For more details please visit official troubleshooting page from Silabs (link)
For additional troubleshooting in your macOS setup please check this article