This breakout board implements the MAX485 IC from Maxim. It’s a transceiver that allows you to convert UART serial stream into RS485 protocol. It is a very low-power component, and can operate with a power supply up to 5V (3.3V is allowed). With this board you can go as fast as 2.5Mbps on the RS485 lines.

The board has the MAX485 DE/RE (Driver/Receiver Enabled) on one of its pins, and it is connected to an on-board indication led. There is also a solder-option pad to optionally enable the terminating load resistor (220 ohm).

The pins of the board are 0.1″ (2.54mm), so you can solder a header strip and plug it to any standard breadboard.

The board comes fully assembled and tested.

Features

• 5V power supply.
• Half-duplex.
• Very low power consumption.
• On-board indicator led.
• On-board 220 ohm terminating load (through solder option pad).
• Breadboard friendly.
• Driver/Receiver Enabled connected to the RTS pin.
• Max. 32 receivers on the bus.

Applications

• Low-Power RS-485 Transceivers
• Low-Power RS-422 Transceivers
• Level Translators
• Transceivers for EMI-Sensitive Applications
• Industrial-Control Local Area Networks

Documents

• Maxim MAX485 datasheet

Hardware

• Schematics
• Gerber files