GEIC600BF942BFour-Channel Analog Output Module, Bipolar −10 V to +10 V DC, Series Six Rack Mount

Product Description

What this part is

A four-channel analogue output module for the GE Fanuc Series Six programmable controller family, providing a bipolar −10 V to +10 V DC voltage output on each of its four channels. It plugs into a Series Six I/O rack and converts register values from the CPU into real analogue voltages for field devices.

Correcting the source data — this is not a discrete output card:
Our previous title and description called this simply an “Output Module,” which in PLC language means a discrete on/off card switching AC or DC loads. That is the wrong tier and it is the kind of error that gets a module bought for the wrong slot. The IC600BF942 is catalogued as the Series Six −10 V DC to +10 V DC analogue output module, four channels. Its immediate sibling, the IC600BF943, is the 4–20 mA current-output version at the same four channels. If your machine’s parts list specifies BF943 and you fit a BF942, the drive will not see a signal it recognises, because one card sources voltage and the other sources loop current.

The brand field also read simply “GE.” IC600-prefix hardware is GE Fanuc Automation product — the GE–Fanuc automation joint venture whose line later became GE Intelligent Platforms and then Emerson. Both GE and GE Fanuc are legitimate search terms for it, and both are on this page, but GE Fanuc is the correct manufacturer of record.

Why bipolar ±10 V matters more than the channel count:
A unipolar 0–10 V output can only command magnitude. A bipolar −10 V to +10 V output can command magnitude and direction from a single wire pair, because the sign of the voltage carries the direction. That is exactly what a classic analogue-reference variable-speed drive or a servo velocity input expects: positive volts forward, negative volts reverse, zero volts stopped.

The consequence for a buyer: if the machine reverses under analogue command, you need the bipolar card, and no amount of scaling in the ladder will make a 0–10 V or 4–20 mA card do the job. Conversely, if all four of your loads are unidirectional 4–20 mA instruments, this card is not what you want and the BF943 is. Read the field device first, then pick the module.

Published data

Module type: analogue output, Series SixChannels: 4Output range: −10 V DC to +10 V DC (bipolar voltage)Platform: GE Fanuc Series Six / Series Six Plus programmable controllerApproximate module weight: 0.74 lb as published by one distributor for the base IC600BF942
We are stopping there deliberately. Resolution, accuracy, linearity, output load impedance, settling time, backplane unit-load figures, isolation, temperature range and the terminal designations are all specified in the GE Fanuc Series Six datasheets manual (GEK-25367) but are not published for this module in any source we could verify online. Rather than take a number from an adjacent module in the same manual and pass it off as this card’s rating, we have left those cells blank and named the document you need. Emerson still distributes Series Six documentation, and the GEK-25367 datasheets manual is the authority for the wiring diagram and terminal map.

Rack and revision notes

The B suffix is a revision level, not a functional variant — the base number IC600BF942 is what most dealers and plant systems list against, and revisions in this family are generally interchangeable within a slot. That is a market observation, not a documented statement from GE, so check the suffix against your parts list if the application is critical.

Series Six analogue modules are addressed through register references rather than discrete I/O points, so adding this card consumes register space and requires the rack configuration to be updated. It occupies a standard Series Six I/O slot. Supplied as board and faceplate: not included are the field wiring, any terminal board or harness, the I/O rack, the rack power supply and the CPU. Series Six racks and backplanes are sold separately and are themselves scarce.

Interchange and obsolescence guidance

Search forms include IC600BF942B, IC600BF942, IC600-BF-942-B, IC600 BF 942 B, IC600BF94 and IC600BF9. Related Series Six modules: IC600BF943 (4–20 mA analogue output, four channels — not a substitute), and the Series Six CMOS logic memory modules IC600CM542 (2K), IC600CM544 (4K) and IC600CM548 (8K) which sit in the same racks.

Series Six is fully obsolete with no factory replacement; it was retired long before the Emerson acquisition of GE Intelligent Platforms. Ownership trail: GE Fanuc Automation → GE Intelligent Platforms → Emerson. Reman modules and board-level repair remain commercially available, and for a plant still running Series Six that is normally cheaper than a migration to a modern platform — which is why single cards from this family still change hands at these prices.