Backplanes, ribbon cables and
terminators
The MonCon485 range is designed to be very flexible. The modules have
been designed to be plugged into a backplane and also to be used with
ribbon cable. This ability can be useful if your application does
not suit the use of a backplane, or if most of the boards can be fitted
to a backplane but 1 or 2 need to be panel mounted for external access
to connections, e.g. for keyboard, USB etc ports.
Also when using ribbon cable it may not be necessary to use 12 way
cable and connectors as many of the modules only require RS485 and a 5V
power supply, so a 4 way ribbon cable and 4 pin connectors may be used
which will reduce costs.
There are currently 4 backplanes in the range-
- 10 module
- 8 module
- 6 module
- 4 module
All include connectors for power supplies, connectors at each end for
expansion or connection to ribbon cable and also jumpers for RS485 bus
terminators.
On the right is a 4 module backplane, the backplanes include 2 metal
bars drilled to suit the mounting brackets of the modules so when a
module is screwed into position using its mounting brackets and M2.5
screws the module is very securely fixed to the backplane. The modules
also include additional mounting holes that are normally used for
mounting on panels or directly in an enclosure but these can also be
used to provide a mechanically very strong assembly; the spacing of the
modules on the backplane has been designed to enable standard 20mm
spacers to be used for this purpose.
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On
the left is an example ribbon cable and connector asembly. Low cost
Molex KK IDT connectors are used and Molex IDT ribbon cable, the
connectors and cable are readily available and also we are able to
supply connectors, cable and ready made assemblies.
All
RS485 applications require terminators at each end of the bus, so we
supply 2 different types.