RS232 optical isolation ... and compliance with IEC 601

[josborne]

Hi.

We are installing a system for performing RS232 data acquisition between PCs and a certain medical instrument (an Agilent CMS).

We would like to comply with the IEC 601-1/2 standards which require optical isolation for up to around 4000V.

We have found various optical isolator products but only ONE that is IEC 601 compliant:

http://www.telebyteusa.com/catalog/products/269.htm

But, this product only provides isolation on 3 of the serial lines (TD, RD and ground). Our instrument uses other lines for handshaking purposes.

Do you all know of any other RS232 isolation hardware that will provide IEC 601 compliance on ALL the serial lines?

I have found some isolators that provide for all seria
l lines, but only for up to around 2500V.. and none of them mention IEC601.

In fact, ANY advice on optical isolation or IEC601 would be appreciated.

-John Osborne
*************************
John Paul Osborne
CARDIAC
Vipeveien 51
3917 Porsgrunn, NORWAY
tel: +47 35 93 06 20
fax: +47 35 93 06 66
john.osborne@cardiac.no
http://www.cardiac.no
*************************

[Kim L]

All pins are isolated on National Instruments isolated serial cards (e.g., PCI-485I, PCI-232I, PXI-8421) . These boards provide for up to 2,000 volts of overvoltage protection. In addition, they provide up to 12,000 volts of electrostatic discharge protection.

Kim L.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[josborne]

I'm a bit confused about NI's serial cards, though.

In the catalog, all the serial cards that have isolation also say that their "Signal Compatibility" only covers the 5 lines: RXD, TXD, GND, RTS and CTS.

We need isolation on all 9 serial lines. We use the other lines for handshaking purposes.

Do these NI cards provide isolation on only those 5 lines? If so, do they even allow communication on the other 4? The catalog doesn't actually explain what "signal compatibility" specifically means (and I'm a layman).