The SN75185 combines three drivers and five receivers from the TI SN75188 and SN75189 bipolar quadruple drivers and receivers, respectively. The pinout matches the flow-through design of the SN75C185 to decrease the part count, reduce the board space required, and allow easy interconnection of the UART and serial-port connector of IBM? PC/AT? and compatibles. The bipolar circuits and processing of the SN75185 provide a rugged low-cost solution for this function at the expense of quiescent power and external passive components relative to the SN75C185.

The SN75185 complies with the requirements of the TIA/EIA-232-F and ITU v.28 standards. These standards are for data interchange between a host computer and peripheral at signaling rates up to 20 kbit/s. The switching speeds of the SN75185 are fast enough to support rates up to 120 kbit/s with lower capacitive loads (shorter cables). Interoperability at the higher signaling rates cannot be assured unless the designer has design control of the cable and the interface circuits at both ends. For interoperability at signaling rates to 120 kbit/s, use of TIA/EIA-423-B (ITU v.10) and TIA/EIA-422-B (ITU v.11) standards is recommended.

The SN75185 is characterized for operation over the temperature range of 0°C to 70°C.