Dear friend & subscriber,
You know, there are some people out there who think the
Midwest is a pretty un-happening place. After all, how sexy
is Ottawa, Illinois, population 18,307? Next to fashionable
locations like New York and San Diego and Tampa, small town
Illinois seems a bit... well, dowdy.
Right?
But any Ottawa inferiority complex I may have had suddenly
changed after I saw the movie, "The Day After Tomorrow."
This movie is very scary. It's rated PG-13 for "Intense
situations of peril." According to this movie, it gets
warmer and warmer until suddenly the entire planet snaps
into a brand new ice age.
I dunno about the ice age part, but one thing's for sure:
When the polar ice caps melt, New York will be under water,
and San Diego and Tampa will be 140 degrees F in the summer.
The place people are going to want to live is right here
in Northern Illinois. Them snowbirds will be coming north
and settling in the NEW Sun Belt, right here with us.
Yes, Global Warming is about to increase the resale value
of my house (let's keep that between us or I'll be looking
at another increase in my property taxes).
Now the good news for B&B customers is all the High-Temp
industrial grade hardware you buy from us is still going
to be working - Yes, even if you stay in San Diego where
it's 140 degrees. Like I learned in the Boy Scouts, it always
pays to be prepared.
Speaking of preparation, let's talk about some serious
stuff you need to be paying attention to.
There's one single thing you can do to increase the reliability
of your data connections. Using this single tool can make
you a master of connectivity. It's not like I've been keeping
it a secret, so I'll share it with you again.
Isolation.
Ground faults, dirty power, poor quality grounds, lightning
strikes - all those things are a serious pain in the rumpus.
And they always wreak their havoc when you're least prepared
to deal with them. Like when Roger, who's normally in charge
of maintenance, is on vacation. So today I've got some isolation
advice for ya.
- Isolation for Serial Connections: A lot of serial connections
are, unfortunately, carelessly strung through all kinds
of electrically hazardous areas. Not only are replacements
a huge hassle, legacy equipment may be hard to obtain.
4000 Volts of Protection for RS-232, and powered by the
port itself making it a simple drop-in install for existing
RS-232 connections.
http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=232SPHI4&s=e081904
And I recommend that *every* RS-422 and RS-485 system be
isolated. This convenient DIN rail mount isolator slips
easily into any system.
http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=485OPDR&s=e081904
-Isolation Protection for USB: Lately I've seen a lot of
USB migrating off of the desktop and into industrial applications.
Convenient, but not necessarily robust without a little
help.
Industry's First Isolated USB Hub for Harsh Environments
Put this device between your PC's USB port and up to four
USB peripherals when you're in less than ideal environments:
http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=UISOHUB4&s=e081904
Connecting Serial to USB? USB is a great way to connect
RS-232 devices to a desktop, laptop or industrial PC, but
don't do it without 2000 Volts of isolation:
http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=USO9ML2&s=e081904
-Protect your Ethernet! Fortunately, Ethernet has some
basic isolation built-in and that works just fine for most
office installations. But out on the shop floor not only
is the environment noisier, but the cost of downtime is
much higher. Two solutions. Segment your LAN with Industrial
Switches and install an Ethernet Surge Protector in front
of critical equipment.
Segment with this DIN Rail Switch to provide additional
isolation
http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=IASW5P&s=e081904
And, add DIN rail mount Ethernet Surge Protection in front
of any important nodes:
http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=IASP1P&s=e081904
Just a reminder - we're here to help YOU. That's why we've
got a special email for your tech support and questions
- mailto:support@bb-elec.com.
And yes, we do answer our phones. Just call 815-433-5100
and our friendly folks here in Ottawa, Illinois (population
18,307, at least for now) will be ready to help you.
Happy Connections,
Mike Fahrion
B&B Electronics
support@bb-elec.com
