D-sub 9 Connector Pinout

Pinout and diagram of DE9 connector (DB9 connector), commonly used for
serial ports (RS-232).
Pin
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

SIG.
DCD
RXD
TXD
DTR
GND
DSR
RTS
CTS
RI

Signal Name
Data Carrier Detect
Receive Data
Transmit Data
Data Terminal Ready
Signal Ground
Data Set Ready
Request to Send
Clear to Send
Ring Indicator

DTE (PC)
in
in
out
out
in
out
in
in

The DTE (PC) has the male connector (shown below), and the DCE
(peripheral) has the female.

RS-232 Maximum Cable Length

The maximum cable length for RS-232 is 50ft, but in practise depends on baud
rate, cable specific capacitance and ambient noise. The table below contains
some rules-of-thumb from experiments done by Texas Instruments years ago.
Baud rate
19200
9600
4800
2400

Maximum range / cable length

50ft
500ft
1000ft
3000ft

1.

RS232 Pinout
Below is the pinout of a typical standard male 9-pin RS232 connector, this
connector type is also referred to as a DB9 connector. A computer's serial COM
port (DTE) is usually a male port as shown below, and any peripheral devices
you connect to this port usually has a female connector (DCE).

This table shows the pin numbers with signal names and the signal direction.
Pin Signal Signal Name
DTE Signal direction
1 DCD Data Carrier Detect In
2 RXD Receive Data
In
3 TXD Transmit Data
Out
4 DTR Data Terminal Ready Out
5 GND Ground
6 DSR Data Set Ready
In
7 RTS Request to Send
Out
8 CTS Clear to Send
In
9 RI
Ring Indicator
In

Nullmodem (9-9) Cable

Use this cable between two DTE devices (for instance two computers).

(To Computer 1).

(To Computer 2).

9 PIN D-SUB FEMALE to Computer 1. 9 PIN D-SUB FEMALE to Computer

2.

Recieve Data
Transmit Data

D-Sub
1
2
3

Data Terminal Ready

D-Sub
2
3
Transmit Data
2
Recieve Data
Data Set Ready + Carrier
6+1
Detect
5
System Ground

System Ground
5
Data Set Ready + Carrier
6+1
4
Data Terminal Ready
Detect
Request to Send
7
8
Clear to Send
Clear to Send
8
7
Request to Send
Note: DSR & CD are jumpered to fool the programs to think that their online.