The ADM1485 is a differential line transceiver suitable for high speed bidirectional data communication on multipoint bus transmission lines. It is designed for balanced data transmission and complies with both EIA Standards RS-485 and RS-422. The part contains a differential line driver and a differential line receiver. Both the driver and the receiver may be enabled independently. When disabled, the outputs are tristated.

The ADM1485 operates from a single +5 V power supply. Excessive power dissipation caused by bus contention or by output shorting is prevented by a thermal shutdown circuit. This feature forces the driver output into a high impedance state if during fault conditions a significant temperature increase is detected in the internal driver circuitry.