Protecting RS-485 Interfaces Against Lethal Electrical Transients

Industrial networks must operate reliably in harsh environments. Electrical over-stress transients caused by electrostatic discharge, switching of inductive loads, or lightning strikes, will corrupt data transmission and damage bus transceivers unless effective measures are taken to diminish transient impact. This paper gives an overview of the three most commonly applied transient immunity tests, and provides recommendations on how to protect network nodes against real world transients.