Converters
The connective tissue between domains: ADCs and DACs bridge analog signals, CP2102 and CH9102F boards bridge USB to UART, and a whole sub-family exists just to fix I2C — extenders, isolators, muxes and address shifters.
ADS1115/MCP3421 ADCs, MCP4725 and GP8413 DACs, CP2102 USB-UART boards, and I2C plumbing like the LTC4316 address shifter — matched to bus, resolution and signal range.
- ADC resolution spans 10 to 24 bits: Pimoroni's ADS1015 breakout reads ±24V, DFRobot's Gravity ADS1115 gives 16-bit I2C, and Adafruit's MCP3421, ADS122C04 and NAU7802 cover 18–24-bit precision including load cells.
- On the DAC side the MCP4725 (12-bit I2C) is the cheap default; DFRobot's GP8413 and GP8600 Gravity modules output industrial 0–10V and 4–20mA, which no 3.3V-rail DAC breakout can do directly.
- I2C plumbing is its own sub-family: LTC4311 extender, TCA4307 hot-swap buffer, ISO1540 isolator, LTC4316 address shifter and the Gravity 1-to-8 multiplexer fix bus problems, not data conversion.
- USB-to-serial means CP2102 boards (USB-C, micro and type A), Adafruit's WCH CH9102F Friend or Waveshare's industrial FT232RNL converters; industrial USB isolators handle cases where ground loops matter.
