Product Description:

The 5A1107.00-090 is an ARCNET communication expansion board produced by B & R Automation for installation in the 5A1 PLC Addon Boards series. Intended for process and machine-control platforms, the board plugs into an industrial PC backplane and equips the controller with deterministic token-passing access to a shared coaxial network. By adding this module, central PLC logic can exchange short, time-critical data sets with distributed I/O racks and motion modules across the machine without introducing proprietary fieldbus hardware. This arrangement helps the controller exchange updates with remote devices at consistent intervals.

During operation, the card draws a +5 V supply current of 200 mA and a −12 V rail current of 50 mA, figures essential for sizing the power budget of the host rack. It occupies the industry-standard XT/AT (ISA) bus and maps its registers on a 16-byte boundary, keeping system integration predictable. Packet timing is handled by the dedicated ARCNET controller type COM20020, which issues token passes and retries in hardware. Raw throughput reaches 2.5 Mbps, a rate suitable for relay status, encoder positions, and recipe parameters. Network station addresses are set with an external DIP switch, allowing node numbers to be reassigned without software tools.

The physical layout and cable characteristics follow classic ARCNET coax practice. The board footprint is 99 × 109 mm, so it fits behind low-profile slot covers while keeping clearance for adjacent modules. A single 93-Ω RG-62/u cable terminates on the rear-panel BNC connector and may span up to 305 m per segment when the minimum node spacing of 2 m is respected. Token passing remains reliable with a maximum of 8 active stations on each coax run, and the architecture supports 255 logical addresses across cascaded segments. The rear BNC connection keeps the media interface directly accessible at the chassis opening, and the coaxial bus topology keeps wiring simple without disturbing other branches on the network.