Signal Levels and Bus Loading
Drivers that conform to the 485 standard must be capable of producing a differential voltage with
a magnitude of at least 1.5 V into a load of 54 Ω. Receivers that conform to the 485 standard
must be capable of detecting a differential voltage with a magnitude as low as 200 mV. These
two criteria give a considerable margin for reliably communicating between nodes, even when
significant degradation of the signal occurs across the cable and connectors. For this reason,
1 IEC 61036 Alternating Current Static Watt-Hour Meters for Active Energy (Classes 1 and 2) ), International
Electrotechnical Commission
R T R T
Up to 32
Unit Loads
SLAVE NODE N
SLAVE NODE
N-1
SLAVE NODE 1
MASTER NODE
SN75LBC182
SLLA112A
4 RS-485 for E-Meter Applications
RS-485 is well suited to applications requiring long cables between nodes, such as networking
meters located around an industrial site or a residential community.
The actual differential output from a driver depends on the current it must supply into the load.
Because each receiving node requires some bus current, the total current that an active driver
must supply increases as nodes are added to a bus. The 485 standard defines a unit load (UL)
which can be approximated by a 12-kΩ resistance over the full range of bus voltage (-7 V to
12 V) specified for 485 communication. Standard-compliant drivers can generate the required
output signal with 32 of these unit loads on the bus plus a 120-Ω termination resistor on each
end of the bus. These considerations are reflected in industry standards such as DL/T 645 2 ,
which specifies an interface capable of handling at least 32 loads.
Transceivers such as the SN65HVD12 and the SN65HVD3082E are available with reduced unit
loading, meaning they require less current from the bus. Therefore, a network using these 1/8
unit load transceivers can connect up to 256 nodes without overloading any 485-compliant
driver.