ComNet recently introduced the RLFDX series of substation-related, fiber-optic RS-232, RS-422, RS-485 2/4 wire, and TTL Logic Data Link/Repeater. These introductions expand the company’s Reliance product line. The company said the products “are used in electric-utility substations and switchyards, manufacturing plants, roadside/trackside equipment installations and other severe-duty conditions.” The product series’ primary benefit is to extend transmission distances using optics; the products can transmit serial data up to 30 kilometers. A secondary benefit is their high level of electrical isolation, ComNet explained, as well as enhanced reliability and protection for peripheral equipment.
“There is still a very strong demand for serial data over optical fiber in the power-transmission and utility market,” said Andrew Acquarulo Jr., ComNet’s president and chief operating officer. “When we were researching the products we were going to develop for our Reliance line, we discovered that Garrettcom/Dymec was discontinuing their 5800 series in the face of still high demand.” The Reliance RLFDX can be used as a direct replacement of the Garrettcom/Dymec 5800 series of serial-data-over-fiber products, ComNet said.
Acquarulo continued, “As we chose what products to develop for our Reliance line, it made sense to develop a form, fit and functionally identical product to meet the demand Garrettcom/Dymec has abandoned. We have developed this drop-in-ready replacement, are building it here in our Danbury USA facility and, like all ComNet products, are backing it with a lifetime warranty.”
Skip Haight, the company’s vice president of marketing, added, “Our Reliance line is the result of the need for transmission products that stand up to the severe requirements that come from all industrial markets. ComNet believes that offering transmission products that can stand up to those demands and still being able to manufacture those products in the USA is a great benefit to all users.”