Description
Product Overview
The GE IS200PMCIH1ABA is a PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) built for the GE Speedtronic Mark VI turbine control system. It does not sit directly on the VME backplane. Instead, it plugs into a PMC site on the Mark VI controller board and works through a PCI Rev 2.2 interface.
Its job is easy to underestimate, because none of it appears on a wiring diagram. The card keeps an eye on power supply health, preserves critical data in flash-backed SRAM, and carries IONet Ethernet traffic for controller networking. It also snoops Ethernet packets to support precise time synchronization across distributed control nodes.
That combination makes it the quiet support layer beneath governing, sequencing and protection functions. When it fails, symptoms usually show up somewhere else entirely, which is why technicians often chase the wrong board first.
The ABA suffix identifies a specific revision within the H1 group, and later ACC variants share the same functional role.
Product Features
The feature set reads like a list of things a controller needs but rarely advertises.
- Power supply monitoring tracks rail health and reports abnormal conditions, so a degrading supply gets caught before it disturbs control scans.
- Flash-backed SRAM retains configuration and runtime data through power interruptions, sparing the rack a cold restart and a long revalidation.
- IONet Ethernet support connects the controller to the distributed I/O network, carrying the traffic that turbine I/O packs depend on.
- Ethernet physical-layer packet snooping enables precision time synchronization, which keeps event timestamps comparable across nodes.
- PCI Rev 2.2 compliance with both 3.3 V and 5 V signalling lets the card work in older and newer Mark VI carrier boards without an adapter.
- A compact 240 mm × 160 mm × 30 mm footprint fits standard PMC sites, so no rack modification is needed for a replacement.
- At roughly 0.3 kg and 1 A at 24 VDC, the card adds little load to an already tight power budget.
- Industrial-grade components and a wide operating temperature range suit turbine hall conditions where cabinet temperatures climb in summer.
IS200PMCIH1ABA
Technical Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Ordering model | IS200PMCIH1ABA |
| Series designator | PMCI, H1 group, ABA revision |
| Manufacturer | General Electric |
| Product type | PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) |
| System platform | GE Speedtronic Mark VI turbine control |
| Host interface | PCI Rev 2.2, 3.3 V and 5 V signalling |
| Input voltage | 24 VDC |
| Current draw | 1 A |
| Dimensions | 240 mm × 160 mm × 30 mm |
| Weight | 0.3 kg |
| Memory | Flash-backed SRAM |
| Networking | IONet Ethernet |
| Time synchronization | Ethernet packet snooping at the physical layer |
| Power monitoring | Supply rail status supervision |
| Mounting | PMC site on the Mark VI controller board |
| Operating temperature | -40°C to +70°C |
| Origin | United States |
Some catalogues list this card under Mark VIe and attach 28 VDC or 512 KB SRAM figures. The Mark VI designation, 24 VDC input and PMC host interface come from the more detailed product documentation, so treat those as your baseline and confirm against the unit label.
Product Details
Understanding how this card fits into the rack prevents a lot of wasted troubleshooting.
Where it lives. The board mounts on a PMC site of the Mark VI controller, not in a VME slot. Pulling the wrong card from the rack is a common first mistake when IONet communication drops.
Power supervision. The card watches supply rails and reports status to the processor. A power fault in the cabinet can therefore surface as a communication complaint, which is why the supply readings deserve a look before replacing network hardware.
Data retention. Flash-backed SRAM holds configuration and volatile runtime data across outages. That is the reason a brief power dip does not always force a full reload, and also the reason a dead backup battery produces puzzling configuration losses.
Network role. IONet traffic passes through this card between the controller and distributed I/O. If a rack shows intermittent I/O dropouts while serial diagnostics look clean, the PMC site and its seating are worth checking.
Time synchronization. Packet snooping at the physical layer gives the controller a timestamp reference without adding a separate timing module. Event sequence analysis depends on this working properly, so drift in logs often points here.
Interface signalling. The card accepts both 3.3 V and 5 V PCI signalling. Mixing it into a carrier board of the wrong generation is not a mechanical problem, but it can be a functional one.
Revision awareness. ABA and ACC variants share the role but differ in revision detail. Photograph the label and site before ordering a spare, since a mismatched revision may seat fine and still misbehave.
IS200PMCIH1ABA
Application Fields
This card matters wherever a Mark VI rack must stay synchronized and communicative.
Combined-cycle plants. Gas and steam turbine controllers rely on IONet for distributed I/O, and the time reference keeps event logs usable during trip analysis.
Plant-wide event reconstruction. Sequence-of-events studies across multiple control nodes depend on consistent timestamps, which is exactly what packet snooping supports.
Legacy Mark VI support. Plants extending the life of Mark VI racks buy PMCI cards as spares because a failed one can disable both data retention and network traffic at once.
Refinery and compressor packages. Remote I/O packs on long networks need a stable controller-side interface, and this card supplies it without extra rack hardware.
Service and test benches. Repair shops use these cards to reproduce plant network behaviour on a bench, which shortens diagnosis before a site visit.
Related Model Recommendations
- IS200PMCIH1AAA — earlier revision of the same PMC card. Functionally parallel, so availability usually decides between the two.
- IS200VCMIH2CAA — VME communications interface board, the backplane-side counterpart when a rack needs both network layers refreshed.
- IS215UCVEH2AE — Mark VIe control engine, useful when a plant is weighing controller replacement against card-level repair.
- IS220PPRFH1A — power supply pack for the Mark VIe generation, relevant when supply health is the actual fault behind a communication complaint.
