# Some strange characters in the serial port

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/some-strange-characters-in-the-serial-port/19337>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [August 21, 2018, 8:59am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/some-strange-characters-in-the-serial-port/19337 "2018-08-21T08:59:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/some-strange-characters-in-the-serial-port/19337/7 "2018-08-22T13:37:45Z")

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With the pace you are suggesting, you probably need a background task, not a timer event. Something like this:

> [@How to listen serial data without interruption](http://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-to-listen-serial-data-without-interruption/15709/2):
>
> This is actually a rather challenging task, requiring a background thread constantly listening to the serial port. You might find inspiration in this example: [clientserial.py](https://www.automation-pros.com/ignition/clientserial.py).

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