Can a BeagleBone communicate with a RS-485 bus?
The BeagleBone isn’t capable of generating the differential signals required by RS-485, but there are many RS-485 transceiver ICs available that can convert between RS-485 and TTL serial levels, enabling the BeagleBone to communicate over an RS-485 bus using its built-in UARTs.
What kind of bus does BeagleBone Black use?
Here is detailed Logic Supply tutorial on how to enable the BeagleBone Black to communicate over an RS-485 bus. The RS-485 standard defines a serial communication protocol that uses differential signalling over a twisted pair of wires as a shared bus to create local networks of up to 32 devices.
What kind of driver chip do I need for BeagleBone Black?
I can only help with the hardware aspect: You need an RS485 driver chip, or a cape with such a chip. Several manufacturers make suitable chips. One example is the SN65HVD72. For half duplex operation, it is important to connect both pins RE and DE to P9.27, because the driver chip needs to know whether to receive or drive.
What are pins for half duplex on BeagleBone?
For half duplex operation, it is important to connect both pins RE and DE to P9.27, because the driver chip needs to know whether to receive or drive. The pins named A and B connect to the Modbus, and pins R and D connect to UART4.
What kind of USB dongle do I need for BeagleBone?
Low-cost USB dongles work well with PCs, but with microcontrollers, such as the BeagleBone, you need something that better handles the bus specifications. I found out that some simple and low-cost TTL RS232 to RS485 boards work perfectly without any special configuration on the BeagleBone side since they automatically manage flow control.
How can I debug Python on a BeagleBone?
To easily debug your code, you can connect the USB dongle on a PC and the adapter on the BeagleBone through the RS485 wires and open two serial terminals. Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow!