Uno R3 - SoftwareSerial won't transmit unless USB plugged into computer

Apologies if this is addressed somewhere - the search is a little overwhelming!

I'm working on a project where I'm using softwareSerial to send data down the line to another arduino's hardware serial port. Sort of a cascade thing going on. What I'm finding is that as long as an arduino is plugged into a computer via USB, and the usb->serial port is enumerated (doesn't even have to be open), it works fine. No problems at all.

But, if I power the arduino off a AC adapter or run the USB into a standalone power supply, the SoftwareSerial doesn't transmit. For example, even the very simple sketch below fails to transmit until I plug in the usb, then it immediately starts working. I'm at a bit of a loss, none of the examples seem to mention anything about this. I'm still something of a noob so I might have missed something simple.

`

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

SoftwareSerial mySerial(6, 7); // RX, TX

void setup() 
{
  mySerial.begin(9600); 
}

void loop()
{
  mySerial.println ("1,1,8");
  delay(250);
}

Did you connect the grounds between the two Arduinos? USB might be the only common ground between the two so as long as you connect the USB to both of them you have a common ground, when you disconnect one you loose the common ground.

Beautiful! Worked great. I have a decent programming background so the coding hasn't been too hard, but all the nuances of electronics is a whole new world. Pullup resistors, common grounds, signal attenuation, etc etc is all new.

Thanks for the help! Hopefully this helps someone else searching around.