GE-FanucIC600BF831KSeries Six 32-Point High-Density DC Input Module, User-Selectable 10-50 VDC or TTL, Optically Isolated, Status LEDs

Product Description

What this part is

This is a GE Fanuc Series Six high-density digital input module — a plug-in rack card that reads 32 discrete field inputs and presents them to the Series Six backplane I/O bus through optical isolation. It is an input card: it senses, it does not switch loads, and it is not a CPU, a communications module or an analog card. Get that tier right before ordering, because the Series Six IC600BF range covers input, output and analog cards under near-identical numbers.

Decoding the catalogue number

IC600 — the GE Fanuc Series Six family prefix.
BF — the plug-in I/O and functional-board class within Series Six.
831 — the specific module: 32-point high-density DC input. Its neighbours are genuinely different animals — for instance IC600BF942 is a bipolar ±10 V analog output card and IC600BF943 is 4–20 mA analog out — so the three digits are the whole functional identity.
K — hardware revision letter. Later letters supersede earlier ones within the 831 designation.
44A717559-G01, 44A717558-G01 and 44A719254-001 — the GE drawing and sub-assembly numbers found silkscreened on the board and its daughter assemblies. Series Six boards are frequently catalogued and searched under these 44A numbers rather than the IC600 catalogue number, so all of them are worth searching.

Published specifications

Input points: 32, optically isolated from the backplane
Two user-selectable operating modes: 10–50 VDC field inputs or TTL logic levels
Backplane power draw: 200 mA maximum at 5 VDC
Operating temperature: 0 to 60 °C
Humidity: 5 to 95 % relative, non-condensing
Point status indicator LEDs on the faceplate
Compatible with Model 60 and Series Six Plus CPU racks
Occupies one I/O slot; interfaces the Series Six backplane I/O bus to field digital circuitry

What these specs mean in practice

The dual-mode jumper is the detail that decides whether this card fits your job, and it is easy to get wrong. In 10–50 VDC mode it reads normal field wiring — 24 V proximity switches, limit switches, relay contacts. In TTL mode it reads 5 V logic from another board or an encoder-interface card, and the thresholds are completely different. A card left in the wrong mode will read every point as on, or every point as off, and look like a dead board. Note the mode selection on the card you are removing before you fit this one.

Sink or source polarity is decided by your field wiring, not by the module. A DC input card of this generation isolates each group optically and expects the common to be committed one way, so confirm the commons on your terminal block before landing wires.

The 200 mA at 5 V figure matters on a full rack. Series Six power supplies are finite, and 32 points of high-density input is a modest draw for the point count — which is exactly why high-density cards are the right answer when you are running out of both slots and rail current.

Quantity and configuration

One module ships. No rack or baseplate, no CPU, no power supply, no field terminal block or wiring arm, no ribbon cabling and no documentation are included. Series Six field wiring lands on rack-side terminal hardware, so if your slot is empty rather than holding a failed card you will need that hardware too.

Installation and setup notes

Power down and lock out the rack before inserting or removing the card — Series Six modules are not hot-swappable, and a live insertion can corrupt the CPU’s I/O tables as well as damage the board. Confirm the operating-mode selection matches your field wiring before power-up. Seat the card fully so the backplane edge connector engages squarely, and clean the gold fingers with isopropanol and a lint-free wipe if the board has been stored; on this generation of control, intermittent I/O faults are more often a dirty edge connector than a failed board. With the rack open, reseat neighbouring cards too. After power-up, walk each of the 32 points with a test signal and watch the faceplate LEDs against the CPU reference table before releasing the machine.

Interchange guidance

Searched as IC600BF831K, IC600BF831, IC600-BF831, IC600 BF831 K, IC600BF-831K, 44A717559-G01, 44A717558-G01 and 44A719254-001. Other revision letters of the same module — IC600BF831H, IC600BF831J, IC600BF831L — are the same 32-point card at different hardware revisions and are carried as cross-references, the revision letter being the only difference. Do not confuse this card with IC600BF832 or the analog boards IC600BF942 / IC600BF943, which are different functions in the same numbering block. Brand and support history for search reach: the platform ran as GE Series Six, then GE Fanuc Automation, then GE Intelligent Platforms, and is supported today under Emerson; Series Six is long obsolete with no factory replacement, and Emerson’s migration path is PACSystems RX3i, which is a project rather than a card swap. That is why known-good surplus cards and board-repair houses are the practical way to keep a Series Six line running. Note also that the record’s brand field carried “GE Fanuc” correctly — IC600 is a GE Fanuc prefix, not a Fanuc CNC prefix, and the title has been corrected to say so.