Asoka Corporation, a pioneer in powerline communications (PLC) hardware and services, announced the PL7070-COM, an RS-485 serial PLC bridge adapter designed to minimize the networking challenges of connecting solar equipment throughout a building.

The PL7070-COM is the first of its kind to support solar installations that require passing RS-485 transmit and receive signals between remotely located solar equipment. With the PL7070-COM, installers simply plug the adapter into an AC outlet nearest to the RS-485 equipment and connect a short DB-9 cable between the equipment and adapter.

“One of the challenges facing solar installers today is the need to pull serial cable between photovoltaic panels and inverters, which can be a long, difficult process,” said Eric Grubel, president and CEO of Asoka. “In addition to reducing the time to complete a solar installation, we believe that the PL7070-COM results in simplified and overall lower cost installations. This will be a game changer for the solar industry.”

The PL7070-COM features wide temperature operation (-20° C - +60° C) and an adjustable baud rate (selectable between 1.2, 9.6 and 19.2 kb/s) to accommodate all major brands of inverters. The only configuration required is to ensure the baud rate of the PL7070-COM matches the RS-485 equipment, which can be completed by simply pressing the baud rate button located on the front panel of the adapter.

The adapter supports 128b AES encryption over powerline links to ensure that data and content are protected while in transit via the powerline.

The adapter has already been tested by major solar companies such as Fronius, Power-One and SMA and is available today. For more information, please visit //www.asokatech.com/residential-solar-page.