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MAX13487 Drive Behavior on RS-485 Bus

Category: Hardware
Product Number: MAX131487, MAX1314

Hello to all,

I am currently using the MAX13487 transceiver in an RS-485 application and have observed unexpected behavior on the bus during device response. When the MAX13487 is driving the line to reply to a request, the voltage swing of the signal does not match the symmetry or characteristics of the original request. More specifically, while the request signal swings clearly in both positive and negative directions with respect to ground, the response signal appears to swing in only one direction, or significantly less in the opposite polarity.

I have attached an oscilloscope capture that illustrates this issue. The first burst is the request from the master, and the second burst is the response driven by the MAX13487. As you can see, the request exhibits full differential signaling, but the response does not.

Could you please help explain this behavior? Is this expected from the MAX13487 under certain conditions? Could it be related to fail-safe features, internal biasing, or improper bus loading?

I am also attatching the circuit snapshot.

Any guidance or clarification would be greatly appreciated.

  • Thank you for your inquiry.  Mentioning  and  for assistance. 

  • Hi ChiesG,

    The MAX13487E is an RS485-compatible transceiver with AutoDirection control. The differential output waveform VOD depends on the resistive and capacitive load on the bus (and you are not using the recommended biasing resistor values) so the differential swing from your waveform on the bus is expected. The value of the biasing resistors set the idle voltage. Please check out the MAX13487E EV kit datasheet for recommended biasing resistor values(220Ω/120Ω/220Ω). For auto direct part, it is common to see VOD waveform have an offset below 0V since the receiver positive threshold can be shifted below 0V to make the output stay high even the differential voltage on the bus equals to zero.

    Best,

    Jane

  • Hi Jane,

    Thanks for your input.

    I’ll go ahead and replace both biasing resistors with the recommended values and run some tests.

    What bothers me is that the response behavior of the MAX13487 seems quite susceptible to noise. The transceiver is assembled on a PCB I've been using reliably for some time, and communication works as expected under normal conditions.

    However, issues start to appear when I place the device in a noisy environment, that´s when the device wont respond and sometimes "kill" the communication with the rest of the devices wich are using other IC´s for 485.

    I’ll retest after updating the resistor values and let you know if this issue improves.

    Best regards,