Point IO Cable Length

Hi all,
I am planning on installing a AB 1794 point IO system using the ethernet 1794-AENT and 7 IO modules connected to a compactlogix L35E. The point IO will be up to 200m from the logix,will this work at this distance,and is there a recommended cable type(cat 5,5e,6)Thanks..

Typically shielded CAT 5e is recommended. I have in my notes (I'm sure I got it from an AB or standard ethernet recommendation as I didn't cite a source) that the maximum length is 100 meters.

If you need to run 200m then the recommended solution is to use fiber converters. Check out the 1783-ETAP1F or 1783-ETAP2F.

The distance you can run twisted-pair Ethernet is an ordinary limit of Ethernet technology; it's not vendor-specific to A-B. 200 meters of twisted-pair wire will not support an Ethernet link.

You need a switch or repeater in the middle of the run, or you need to run another type of media. Typically long runs are done with fiber optic media and a media converter. I like these units from N-Tron: http://www.n-tron.com/products_sub.php?type=MC

Thanks for the replies.Looks like fibre optic is the way to go. When you set these up in RSlogix 5000 do you still map the 1794-AENT to the ethernet port or the fibre converter?

The IP infrastructure is transparent to RSLogix 5000; all it knows about is the 1734-AENT adapter out there.

There could be Ethernet cable, fiber-optics, WiFi, cable modems, cell phones, or carrier pigeons in between. As long as the packets arrive in a timely fashion, the controller doesn't know what carries them.