Dear Friend & Subscriber,
Man I tell ya, anything that's portable, or wireless, or runs longer on a tank of gas, or helps you win a stupid lawsuit is hot right now. Just read about a company in Israel that's got a squeezable fuel cell that recharges your iPod. And some guys at the U. of Minnesota have determined that 18kg of Boron and 45 liters of water make a fuel cell with almost as much horsepower as the same amount of gasoline.
Oh yeah, and a guy in Oregon is suing Michael Jordan and Nike for $416 million each, because... Michael Jordan looks like him. This unfortunate coincidence has caused him much "pain and suffering." (Did I mention this man regularly wears Air Jordans and plays a mean game of basketball?)
Here at B&B Electronics the pace is almost as feverish as the Federal Frivolous Lawsuit Department. The weather's HOT here in Northern Illinois, and you know what else is hot?
Serial Ports. Reviving old equipment, making the old new again. People just can't get enough of this. And it keeps getting new twists.
Modbus has been around for what, about 30 years now? It's so old you can hear its bones creak. But people use it for a reason: It's streamlined, it's got the right stuff for I/O and processing data, and it's uncomplicated. Now we stick it on top of TCP/IP at layer 7 with easy to configure Serial Servers and the data flows like water:
http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=275
We took our incredibly popular industrial line of RS-232/422/485 Serial Converters and raised the bar again. These new converters feature triple isolation. Not only are the data ports isolated from each other, but the power supply is fully isolated as well. And that same power supply has been enhanced to allow operation from 10V all the way up to 48V. It seems that more and more installations have a 48VDC rail, so now you can take advantage of that power rail and eliminate a power supply.
Here you can compare the existing industrial units and the new premium models (look for the little "New" icons):
RS-232 to RS-485 Converter
http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=302
RS-232 Isolated Repeater, RS-485 Isolated Repeater
http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=12
RS-232/422/485 to Fiber Optic Converter
http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=103
Sometimes Low-Tech is So Seductive....
Everybody knows about VOIP and Vonage and all that kind of stuff for making cheap phone calls. I admit that I'm a cheapskate and I was pretty enthusiastic the day I cut free of the phone company. But cheap always comes with hidden costs (and VOIP is no exception, at least at my house). But I do have a newfound appreciation for the rock-solid reliability of traditional landlines. They just plain work.
Programmable Relays fit the same philosophy as a good ol' fashioned landline. A programmable relay isn't exactly Wonderware, but it's awfully hard to screw up. And, kind of like a cordless telephone with two lines, it combines that trusty land line with some nifty tech features.
People who've never used a programmable logic relay (essentially the cheapest and simplest of PLC's) can download the programming software from the following page, which includes a simulator. If this is new territory for you, you'll get a real feel for what you can do with these things:
http://www.bb-elec.com/product_multi_family.asp?MultiFamilyId=39
The Dark Specter of Mailroom Theft
Every time we send out our new catalog, police reports get filed over missing issues. Somebody's always layin' their grimy hands on your stuff, you know? Not only does our phone ring off the hook with new customers and tech calls on new products. People call us asking for a replacement copy of their B&B Electronics catalog. One of these days we're just going to put the catalog on a milk carton and post a reward.
Meanwhile, our new catalog "Automation and Communications Solutions" has hit the streets. If you didn't get your catalog, request it here:
http://www.bb-elec.com/catalog_request.asp
Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll have you know that we at B&B Electronics take Mailroom Theft very, very seriously.
Mailroom Theft is punishable by fine and possible imprisonment. In fact we take this so seriously that I am going to recommend you call the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I suspect that if enough B&B Electronics catalogs get stolen we can raise the current YELLOW threat advisory to ORANGE.
So if your catalog has been stolen, you are instructed to call and report the incident to the Feds immediately. After you have notified the authorities, call our office at (815)433-5100 to request your replacement copy.
Dedicated To Mailroom Safety,
Mike Fahrion
support@bb-elec.com
(815)433-5100 |
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