Brainboxes, a leader in Serial and Bluetooth connectivity,
today releases its first Opto Isolated PCI Express RS422/485 products.
These 1 & 2 port, low profile and standard height, high speed cards
are the latest releases into this rapidly growing range. Since
launching the PCI Express range last year 10 RS232 products have now
been released with 5 recent additions in the RS422/485 versions. This
range has continued to receive excellent feedback from end users in
various industries in a wide range of applications.
The latest products to be released in to this range are:

• PX-376 – PCIe Low Profile 1xRS422/485 1MBaud Opto Isolated
• PX-387 – PCIe 1xRS422/485 1MBaud Opto Isolated
• PX-310 – PCIe 2xRS422/485 1MBaud Opto Isolated

RS422/485 signals can have data runs of up to 4000 feet, when computers
and peripherals are interconnected across such distances the different
devices may well be supplied by mains power that has differing ground
voltage causing currents to flow in the ground connections etc. Opto
isolation will prevent this causing problems by each side of the
circuit have signals and grounds that are isolated from the PC or
devices power ground, helping signal integrity, cutting electrical
noise and improving safety. Opto isolation also acts as a barrier to
power surges and spikes. An all round winning solution when data
integrity and equipment long levity is required

The RS422/485 boards have 1 MegaBoard data transfer speeds and have 128
byte FIFOs with on board Hardware and Software flow control. RS422 and
RS485 are bus systems and up to 32 standard load or 128 low load
devices per port can be connected. RS422 is supported with dedicated
pairs for TxD, RxD, RTS and CTS signals. RS485 systems are supported in
both Full Duplex mode using 2 pairs of wires and in Half Duplex mode
using 1 pair of wires. The Half Duplex mode uses Brainboxes proven 485
Autogating circuitry for automatically turning the line

around from receive to transmit and back again whenever the PC needs to
send data to devices, a necessity in today’s multi-tasking operating
systems like Windows and Linux. They also come with Brainboxes’
acclaimed customer support package, including Lifetime Warranty &
Support, that makes Brainboxes stand out above other manufacturers and
makes us the serial card supplier of choice for companies around the
world.

Eamonn Walsh, Brainboxes Managing Director stated “These products have
been designed to meet the continual demand for high reliability 422/485
serial connections in the Industrial Sectors. For example:

An industrial PC solutions provider uses Brainboxes’ RS422/485 opto
isolated cards in an application for a gas and oil company. They are
used in a custom PC build for the monitoring and control of onshore and
offshore oil and gas drilling and production platforms. The PC is
located at the platform and monitor the performance of the drill head.
In many cases the location of such installations provides harsh
environmental conditions such as extreme high and low temperatures,
dirt, dust, and constant vibration.

The full range will consist of 1, 2 and 4 port RS422/485 cards with
opto isolation options available, and
are supplied with an installation CD including manual, Microsoft signed
drivers & utilities. Brainboxes is a Microsoft Certified Gold
Partner and these cards are compatible with 32 bit and 64 bit editions
of Windows Server 2008, Vista, XP, Server 2003 and 2000. It also comes
with Brainboxes’ acclaimed Serial Solutions software, which is
installed in hundreds of thousands of systems worldwide and is
recognised to provide industry leading stability and reliability.