The Renesas Electronics IC transceiver present a 1/8 unit load to the RS-485 bus, which allows up to 256 transceivers on the network for large node count systems. Data for all meters is then read out from the concentrator via a single access port, or a wireless link. Data rates up to 250kbps are achievable with these devices.

Current limiting and thermal shutdown for driver overload protection
Half duplex pinouts
Specified for 10% tolerance supplies