Industrial Control & Instrumentation

ISO485:
RS232 / RS485 Isolating Interface
Description
The ISO485 is a RS485/RS232 physical protocol converter that additionally makes galvanical
isolation of theRS232 communications port from the RS485 bus.
Protects equipment from surges and spikes.

Operation overview
The RS232 protocol is ground voltage referenced. In the connector is a ground pin on where
voltages are compared (pin 7 in the DB25 connector). Any pin with a voltage between –5V and –
12V is considered in the logic 1 state, and with 5V to 12V is logic 0 state. RS232 is full duplex,
which means that can simultaneously transmit and receive because there are both different lines.
(TX pin 2 and RX pin 3 on the DB25)

By the other side RS485 is a differential pair with no ground, there are 2 lines A and B, both carry
voltages in the order of 3 to 5 volts referred to an internal ground.
The RS485 is considered to be in the logic 1 state if voltages on line A is greater than on line B
(A > B) and logic 0 if the opposite (A<B).
Since both lines are similar and have the same impedance any external interference will make
both lines change the same way maintaining its differential voltage, making no change in its
logic state. For this noise immunity is why RS485 is used for industrial environments.

RS485 is a half duplex (only one device can transmit at a time) multipoint protocol expected to be
useful up to 4000 feet . There can be several instruments connected to the bus.
RS232 is only point-to-point and works only up to 45 feet.

The bus arbiter (PC) is the one who designates who will transmit. This is done by the RTS line
(pin 4) of the RS232 port. When RTS is active indicates the ISO485 converter that the arbiter will
transmit to some slave so it must load the RS485 bus with the data.

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 ISOLATIONS IN THE RS485 BUS
ISO485 Interface

PC RS232 B

RS485 BUS

A B A B A B

RS485 Card RS485 Card RS485 Card

Instrument Instrument Instrument

Slave N Slave 1 Slave 0

ISO485 Isolating Interface

PC computer ISO485
RS232 conector Rs232 conector
1 1 Protection Gnd
2 TX 2 TX

3 RX 3 RX
7 GND 7 GND

4 RTS 4
Transmit direction
5 CTS 5
8 DCD 8 Power sense, logic 1

6 DSR 6
Cable contected sense
20 DTR 20

RS485
A B Gnd Gnd
1 2 3 4
POWER

85...265 VAC

STATUS
POWER

TXD
RXD

RTS

25 Pin RS232 Connector

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Technical specifications

Electrical:
Power supply, RS232 and RS485 Isolation (3 way).
7500VAC (60Hz) min break down voltage for 1 second at 25C.

Construction:
Aluminum and Polycarbonate; IP65
Total Dimension: DIN 1/8; 96 x 48 x 135 mm.
Panel cut: 92 x 45 mm.
Weight: 300 grams.
Operation temperature: 0 ... 50 °C.

Part codes:

Part number must be done selecting the following alternatives.

ISO485

-AC : 85...260 Vac, 6 W, power supply.

-DC : 18....60 Vdc, 6 W power supply.

For more information:

ARIAN S. A.
Teniente Montt 1932, Ñuñoa
Santiago, Chile
Fono/Fax 56-2-4249363
arian@arian.cl
www.arian.cl

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