0x1A86

0x1A86 is a USB vendor ID assigned by the USB Implementers Forum to Shenzhen QinHeng Electronics Co., Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer known for USB-to-serial bridge chips. The ID is used by devices that implement USB-to-UART and related interfaces, most notably the CH340/CH341 family, as well as other peripheral controllers. As a result, a wide range of inexpensive USB-to-serial cables and breakout boards identify themselves with 0x1A86.

These devices present themselves to a host as USB devices with a corresponding product ID, with multiple IDs indicating different revisions or chip families. CH340/CH341-based components are common in hobbyist and embedded projects, powering serial connections for microcontrollers, development boards, and Arduino clones that require USB connectivity.

Driver support varies by operating system. Linux includes the ch341/usbserial driver, which binds to 0x1A86 devices and exposes a serial interface such as /dev/ttyUSB0. Windows provides vendor-supplied CH34x drivers to create virtual COM ports for these devices. macOS support has existed through QinHeng’s drivers or third-party sources; most modern versions can recognize 0x1A86 devices as USB serial adapters, though installation steps may differ.

Security and usage notes: 0x1A86 is a widely used vendor ID, which means many inexpensive devices use it. Counterfeit or clone hardware with different product IDs can appear, so users should obtain drivers from reputable sources and verify device functionality. In practice, 0x1A86 devices are common in hobbyist, educational, and light industrial USB-to-serial applications.