Long distance Arduino sensor network - 1Wire protocol or RS422?

Question

I have some sensors from each of which I need to - read a voltage - be able to switch them on. (They are powered by AC 220V power supply).

Distance to be covered is some 40 meters.

I don't want to use to many wires in order to achieve this.

Solutions I have been considering are as follows: - 1-wire protocol - it's quite simple but some people have reported quite a few problems;

• rs422, works well over long distances, but it might be a pricy solution.

In case I chose 1-wire protocol, how would I get my sensors connected to a 1-wire interface?

If rs422 is not too complicated and expansive I would go with this option as I might consider extending the network over some 200-250 metres in the future.

How would I connect my sensors to an rs422 interface? How would I get my Arduino talking with RS22?Have you tested any RS422 chips? I have seen quite a few of them online, but I am not sure which to choose.

Would it be too complicated to make an RS22 cable myself? I have looked on ebay and found only wires not long enough and too expansive.

Answer 1

Personally I wouldn't go for either RS422 or 1-wire.

RS422 is really a point-to-point connection, like RS232 (and is usually used to extend RS232), and 1-wire is really only for local connections within a PCB.

Instead you should use RS485.

RS485 is like RS422 (RS232 with differential signalling), except it's designed to be point-to-multipoint, or fully peer-to-peer.

Communication is usually half duplex (though not always, but it's simplest to keep it half duplex), and you'd usually use a MAX485 (or similar) chip to convert a microcontroller's UART connection to RS485. A single GPIO pin is used to switch into transmit mode when you want to send data on the network, and otherwise it's in constant receive mode waiting for data to arrive.

You would need a small microcontroller with each sensor to connect it to the bus - something simple, like an ATTiny, or a PIC16 - something with a hardware UART preferably, and of course whatever facilities you need to communicate with your sensor.

You'd then write a protocol (or use an existing one) whereby the Arduino sends a message with an "address" identifier in it onto the bus, along with a command, and the sensor programmed with the corresponding address reacts to that command, possibly then sending back data to the Arduino (a typical "call-response" protocol).

As for cabling, you don't need anything special. Simple two-core shielded serial cable is fine, though that can be considered overkill - if it's not too noisy an environment then any two-core wire would do. The best, though of course is twisted pair, and absolute top quality best is shielded twisted pair. A good choice is CAT5 Ethernet cable. It's cheap, comes in 305m rolls, and has 4 twisted pairs. You only need 1 of those pairs of course, so the other three could be used for other things - carrying power for instance.