Downloads
FT_Prog
FTDI Drivers for Mac OSX
Brainboxes FTDI Driver (Build 3)

With the High Sierra update of the Mac OSX operating system, Apple introduced a security policy which required vendors to digitally sign their device drivers, as outlined under their new signing policy. Currently Brainboxes does not have a digitally signed driver available for the Mac OSX operating system, for either our US or VX range of products.

Both the Brainboxes US and VX range of products use an FTDI chipset and can therefore be installed using the FTDI default driver. In order to do this, you’ll need to reprogram the device with the FTDI Default Plug & Play ID’s, rather than those of Brainboxes.

This FAQ is a step by step guide to reprogramming your US or VX.

Important Notice

Please ensure you have completely read the instructions provided below carefully prior to beginning the programming process. Failure to do so could result in your device becoming inaccessible or undetectable and would require you to return your US or VX product to Brainboxes for repair.

Should you have any questions on the process or any issues, please contact our support team for assistance: [email protected]

RS485 Half-Duplex Functionality

The Brainboxes Windows driver allows our RS485 devices to be configured between Full-Duplex and Half-Duplex directly through the Windows Device Manager. However, once programmed with the FTDI Plug & Play ID’s, this is no longer possible.

Furthermore, after testing Brainboxes are also unable to provide a solution for Mac OS users to change their US or VX devices from Full-Duplex to Half-Duplex. Therefore, once reprogrammed and installed on either a Windows or Mac OS system, the device will only operate in Full-Duplex.

As this is the case, if you’d like to use the US or VX device on a Windows based system, in a Half-Duplex configuration, it will once again need to be configured with the Brainboxes Plug & Play ID’s for your respective device. If you require this, please contact our support team and we’ll be happy to assist you: [email protected]

Requirements

As mentioned above, this guide will outline how to reprogram your US or VX device. Before beginning the programming process, you’ll need the following:

• Windows Based System
• FT_Prog – Download Available Above
• Brainboxes US or VX Device

Note: FT_Prog is a utility provided by FTDI which is only available for Windows. As such, a Windows based machine is required to complete the reprogramming process.

For users who have multiple devices they’d like to reprogram, we would strongly recommend only reprogramming a single device at a time. All other Brainboxes devices should be disconnected at the time of programming to avoid any issues.

Reprogramming Your USB Device

Installing Your USB Device

In order for the FT_Prog utility to detect your US or VX device on your Windows machine, you’ll firstly need to install an FTDI based driver. Our latest Windows drivers are not FTDI based and won’t work correctly for this process.

You’ll need to install our alternate FTDI based driver, Build 3, available in the Downloads section above.

When installing Build 3, it is recommended to completely uninstall your device through Device Manager, under the Universal Serial Bus Controllers tab. Leave your USB device connected to the machine during the uninstallation process and run the setup.exe for Build 3 directly afterwards. This should allow the driver to install correctly.

Note: Should you find that Windows Update is automatically installing our latest driver, you can disconnect your machine from the internet briefly while running the uninstall / installation procedure. If you continue having issues installing Build 3, please contact: [email protected]

Once Build 3 has been installed, your device should again be visible in Device Manager. Under the Driver tab, you should now see that the Driver Provider is FTDI, the Driver Date will be 28/08/16 and the Driver Version should be 2.12.24.0:
If the details above are shown for your device, you can proceed with the guide.

Finding Your USB Device

Now that you have Build 3 installed for your device, you can now use the FT_Prog utility to begin the programming process. Open the FT_Prog utility and you’ll be presented with the following interface:

Please make sure your USB device is connected to the machine before proceeding. At the top of the interface, click on the Devices button and choose Scan and Parse from the drop down list:

You should now be presented with an interface of details for your USB device. Verify that the Manufacturer Desc value is listed as Brainboxes, as highlighted below:

This ensures you’re reprogramming the correct device.

Reprogramming the USB Device

Having identified your US or VX device, you can now proceed with reprogramming the PnP ID’s.

On the left side of the interface, highlight the USB Device Descriptor tab. The right side of the interface should populate with details of your device, including the Plug & Play ID’s. The ID’s for each device are comprised of the following values:

• VID: Vendor ID – This is a unique value given to each product manufacturer. Brainboxes devices will always be 05D1.
• PID: Product ID – This is a unique value assigned to each individual model of device from a vendor. As an example, the screenshot below shows the PID value for a Brainboxes US-324: 1013

To utilise your US or VX device on Mac OSX, the PnP ID’s need to be reprogrammed with the FTDI PnP ID’s. As shown in the screenshot above, the Custom VID/PID property is will be set with a value of Custom VID/PID, to set the FTDI PnP ID’s, click on the dropdown list and select FTDI Default.

Once selected, the Vendor ID & Product ID values (VID:0403 & PID:6001) will automatically update and become greyed out as shown below:

You now need to program these values onto your Brainboxes US or VX device. As before, at the top of the interface press the Devices button and choose Program. A second interface will open as shown below:

Note: The programming process is a quick operation; once the Program button is pressed, in the bottom left corner of the interface window, you’ll see Finishing Programming briefly appear and if the programming has been successful, Ready will appear and remain in the same corner:

You’ve now successfully reprogrammed your US or VX device!