The ANC-124 Adapter

Field service technicians, system integrators, and plant engineers frequently encounter situations where a single automation platform uses entirely different physical serial interfaces across various generations.

One of the most common issues occurs when moving between the Allen-Bradley SLC 500 series and the MicroLogix controller family. While both platforms natively support RS-232 serial communication utilizing the DF1 protocol, their physical ports are entirely different. The SLC 500 family utilizes a standard 9-pin D-sub (DB9) connector, whereas the MicroLogix family employs a compact, proprietary round 8-pin Mini-DIN connection.

The Automation Networks ANC-124 is a hardware converter designed to address this physical mismatch. Formally classified as the ANC-124 Allen-Bradley Adapter 1761-CBL-PM02 for 1747-CP3 programming cable, this compact adapter converts a standard SLC 500 serial cable into a MicroLogix-compatible programming interface. Rather than requiring technicians to carry distinct, bulky programming cables for every individual PLC platform, the ANC-124 adapts existing DB9-based programming lines directly into an 8-pin Mini-DIN port