RS-232-RS485 Converter

The AlertEagle®400 and the SignPrinter® interface output alerts in a standard RS-232 standard ASCii text serial port format at (9600, 8,N,1).

The RS-232 standard calls for one ‘data receiving unit’ (like a LED signboard) located at no more than 50 feet from the data sending unit.

Many applications will require multiple ‘receiving’ units spread out over great distances and connected by ‘hardwire’ (usually existing telephone wire), or long runs between a SignPrinter® Interface and the LED signboard.

Thunder Eagle, Inc. has a RS-232/RS485 interface that will permit up to 32 ‘data receiving units’ to be wired together and spread out over up to 5000 feet.

One unit is required at the sending location and another unit is required at the receiving location.

The units are connected by three parallel wires (ground, data+ and data-) that can be telephone type wire.

Status LED’s on the interface unit tell if the unit has power and whether it is receiving or transmitting data. This is a very useful diagnostic for the data system.

The connection to the LED signboard is a straight standard RJ-12 (6 pin) connector supplied by Thunder Eagle, Inc.

Jumpers for the bias resistors and the terminating resistor are standard in each interface, so no external resistors are required.

Thunder Eagle