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I have 4n35 optocouplers, I am using these to isolate a motor driver circuit and the Arduino controlling it. I put one on the slave select pin and one on the tx line to the motor controller (there is no rx), however it is not working. I am using a 220ohm resistor between pin 1 of the 4n35 and the tx line from the Arduino and using no other resistors or capacitors. I am following this circuit I have been doing a lot of research on optocouplers and the 4n35. I have seen blogs and forums where people have achieved 9600 baud with it, but I don't understand how they did it.

What can I add to this circuit to make it work? Do I need to use a higher speed optocoupler such as the 6N137A?

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You need a pull-up resistor on the output side of the opto, like this:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

If the output transistor's emitter is grounded, it can only pull the collector towards ground, or let it float. To ensure the motor driver receives a "High" when the transistor is off, you need to add the pull-up resistor.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Don't forget that using an NPN opto-coupler will invert the serial signal, so it needs to be inverted again, (or the input needs to be inverted ahead of the opto-coupler). \$\endgroup\$ – Nedd Jan 19 '15 at 21:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you, I tested this with the slave select pin and it switches between 0 and 5v but it is inverted as Nedd said so could I daisy chain a second optocoupler to avoid this? \$\endgroup\$ – Joel Jan 19 '15 at 21:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ You can reverse the positions of the resistor and the transistor.. \$\endgroup\$ – Spehro Pefhany Jan 19 '15 at 21:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ You could add an NPN transistor - no need for a second opto-coupler. Or you could change the software. \$\endgroup\$ – Peter Bennett Jan 19 '15 at 21:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ I just flipped the positions of the resistor and the transistor and that solved the issue. Thank you all so much for your help. \$\endgroup\$ – Joel Jan 19 '15 at 21:46

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