&Mike Fahrion, BB Electronics, and Vance VanDoren, Control Engineering

Troubleshoot RS-485 networks

In spite of the proliferation of more modern alternatives, RS-485 technology remains the mainstay of myriad communication networks. Here's an eight-step recipe for checking common failures and making troublesome RS-485 networks work. 1.RS-485 uses an unbalanced differential pair, which means that every device on the network must be connected to ground through a signal return to minimize noise...