RS422 / RS485 Shield with a galvanic separation

The RS485 interface is used in many applications in industrial and home automation (e.g. MODBUS), lighting control (DMX), video surveillance (Pelco D) and many more. Also for the Arduino there are already some RS485 extensions. Unfortunately these are mostly not suitable for professional use, because a galvanic isolation between the Arduino and the RS485 bus is missing. This can lead to malfunctions or damage of the Arduino.

Our shield does not have these disadvantages and comes with the following features:

• RS485 mode (half duplex)
• RS422 mode (full duplex)
• galvanic isolation between Arduino and connected RS485 bus
• TX pin can be freely selected from pins 0-5 via jumper
• RX pin can be freely selected from pins 0-5 via jumper
• adjustable automatic transmitter switching on in RS485 mode
• adjustable control of transmitter activation via pin 6 or 7
• switchable pull-up, pull-down and terminating resistors
• RX and TX LEDs to indicate the activity of the UART
• connection of the bus via plug-in screw terminal
• various setting options via DIP switches
• stackable header