GE-FanucIC697ALG320Four-Channel Analog Output Module — Per-Channel Voltage or Current, 16-Bit, 2 ms Update, Isolated, Series 90-70 Single Slot

Product Description

What this part is

A GE Fanuc IC697ALG320 high-level analogue output module for the Series 90-70 PLC: a single-slot digital-to-analogue converter card that takes 16-bit values from the CPU over the 90-70 backplane and produces four independent analogue output signals for field devices.

One point of accuracy first, because it appears wrongly in circulation: this is a Series 90-70 module. It fits a 90-70 five-slot or ten-slot baseplate. It is not a Series 90-30 module, despite the occasional distributor page saying so, and the two platforms use different baseplates.

Decoding the order code

IC697 — GE Fanuc Series 90-70 hardware. (IC693 is Series 90-30; IC600 is Series Six.)ALG — analogue module.320 — the four-channel high-level analogue output variant. Compare IC697ALG230, which is the eight-channel analogue input module — adjacent numbers, opposite direction of signal flow.A trailing letter such as the C in IC697ALG320C is a hardware revision. Revisions in this family are traded interchangeably; match the base number first.

Why per-channel voltage-or-current selection is the reason to buy this card:
Most analogue output modules commit you to one signal type for the whole card. This one does not. Each of the four channels is configured independently, entirely in software — Logicmaster or Control — with no jumpers and no DIP switches to set.

In practice that means channel 1 can drive a 4–20 mA current loop to a positioning valve while channel 2 drives ±10 V DC to a drive speed reference, on the same card, in the same slot. Two consequences follow, and both are worth money. First, you stock one spare part instead of two. Second, when a field device is replaced by one expecting the other signal type, the change is a configuration edit rather than a module swap and a rewire — there is no jumper to find and no card to order.

Published specifications

Channels: 4, individually configurableOutput ranges — voltage: −10 V to +10 V (default), −5 V to +5 V, 0 V to +10 V, 0 V to +5 VOutput ranges — current: 0.0 mA to 22.5 mA, with 4–20 mA the defaultResolution: 16 bit with 14-bit monotonicity; 312.5 µV per LSB on voltage, 0.5 µA per LSB on 4–20 mA. No missing codes over 16 bits on voltage, over 15 bits on currentConversion rate: all four outputs updated sequentially, approximately every 2.0 ms maximumCurrent output load: up to 800 ohms resistiveIsolation: output circuitry isolated from the PLC backplane; operates within specification at up to ±60 V common mode from groundCalibration: factory set, stored in non-volatile EEPROM. Voltage full scale 10 V ±2.5 mV; current 4.0 mA ±5 µA and 20 mA ±5 µA at 24.0 V DC field side. Field calibration is not possibleLinearity: ±0.02 % of full scale across the whole negative-to-positive rangeTemperature coefficient: 25 ppm per °C typical on voltage, 50 ppm per °C typical on currentPower: 1.66 A (8.3 W) at 5 V DC from the backplane, plus approximately 150 mA from the user supply for current outputsUser field supply for current outputs: 10 V DC to 30 V DC (24 V DC typical)Configurable per channel: report faults enabled/disabled (default enabled), user scaling points, output default on fault Hold or Off (default Off), default valuePLC references: analogue outputs use %AQ references, one 16-bit word per channel, from a maximum of 8K words of %AQ memoryField connection: removable 40-terminal connector blockSlot width: 1 slotWeight: approximately 1.94 lb

The common-mode limit — read this before wiring

The outputs are isolated from the backplane and will tolerate ±60 V of common-mode voltage from ground. That is generous and genuinely useful when the field devices sit on a separately earthed skid or a floating supply. But there is a constraint in the same paragraph of the datasheet that gets missed: the entire output section, all four channels, operates at a single offset voltage from ground. The 60 V budget is shared, not per channel. You cannot reference channel 1 to one floating system and channel 2 to another 60 V away from it; the common-mode voltage between outputs has to stay inside specification too. If your four loads genuinely sit at different potentials, they need separate isolated modules.

Installation and setup notes

Power for the voltage outputs comes from the PLC backplane and needs nothing external. Power for the 4–20 mA current outputs must be supplied by the user, via a single PSPOS / PSNEG connection pair that serves all four channels — that supply is not included with the module and must be sized for the 800-ohm maximum load. Use twisted, shielded instrumentation cable and earth the shields at one point only; a shield earthed at both ends puts a ground loop straight into a 312 µV-per-bit signal path.

Note the factory-calibration point as a buying criterion, not just a footnote: calibration data lives in EEPROM on the card and cannot be adjusted in the field. That is excellent for a spare — a replacement card drops in and holds accuracy with no trim procedure — but it also means a card whose calibration has drifted or whose EEPROM is damaged is a repair job, not a screwdriver job.

Also worth planning: the two per-channel behaviours you set at configuration time, Report Faults and Output Default. Output Default decides whether a channel holds its last value or goes to a defined level when the PLC faults or stops. The default setting is Off. On a valve or a drive reference, “Off” and “Hold” are very different plant behaviours in a fault — decide it deliberately rather than accepting the default.

What is not included

Module only. Not included: the removable 40-terminal field connector block (verify whether one is present from the photographs on this listing before ordering), field wiring, the user 10–30 V DC supply for current outputs, the Series 90-70 baseplate, the rack power supply, the CPU, and Logicmaster or Control programming software. Two units are in stock, sold individually — a pair covers a live card plus a tested shelf spare on one machine.

Interchange and obsolescence guidance

Search forms include IC697ALG320, IC697ALG320C, IC697-ALG-320, IC697 ALG 320, IC697ALG32 and IC697ALG3. Related Series 90-70 analogue modules: IC697ALG230 (8-channel voltage/current analogue input), IC697ALG440 and the wider IC697ALG family. Do not cross-substitute an IC693ALG-prefix card — that is Series 90-30 hardware on a different baseplate.

Series 90-70 is obsolete. Ownership trail: GE Fanuc Automation → GE Intelligent Platforms → Emerson. Emerson’s PACSystems RX7i and RX3i are the documented migration path and will accept much of a 90-70 application, but the analogue module part numbers, terminal blocks and wiring all change — which is why an original ALG320 remains the cheap answer for a plant that is not ready to migrate.