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Lighthouse PLCs, Inc. : Automation Forum

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Re: Furnas 96K

In January of 1996, Furnas Electric was purchased by Siemens Energy & Automation. As Siemens manufactured its own line of PLCs, and Furnas only "brand labeled", they elected not to carry the Furnas PLCs. The Furnas PLCs were actually Hitachi and Mitsubishi. There are cross reference list from Furnas to Hitachi, and Furnas to Mitsubishi on our website under "Support".
There, you will find, that the Furnas 96KM40AA is indeed, the Mitsubishi F2-40MR-UL.

The F2-40MR-UL has been discontinued by Mitsubishi. Fortunately, there are replacement options available. The main problem you face at this point, is how to get the program that is running in your Furnas PLC, into a newer model. The reason this is a problem, is that the F2 Mitsubishi's required an "Interface" unit. This Interface plugged into the F2, converted its signal to one useable by your laptop PC. There were 2 or 3 versions of this device. Unfortunately, they all have been discontinued.

This means your options are limited. Allow me to list them, (as I envision them).

  1. The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of your car wash system may have an upgrade option - meaning a new PLC already loaded with the necessary program.

  2. If you have documentation (like ladder diagrams) of the program, you - or an "integrator" (company specializing in PLCs) can probably take the old program, convert it into something useable by a currently available PLC.

  3. An Integrator can come into your facility, and "reverse engineer" the PLC system.


Option #2 would be the least expensive. Option #3 would take the longest to accomplish. Option #1 would probably be the simplest.

I would suggest also checking with other car wash owners/operators that have your same system. They may have already gone through this process and could make things much simpler for you.

One other option worth mentioning (Option #4), depends on if your current PLC is still running (meaning the program is undamaged). If so, you could send the PLC to someone who could extract the program, then modify it as necessary and upload it into a new plc. Then you (or your electrical contractor or systems integrator) would re-install the new unit. Most times, a small amount of re-wiring is necessary to accommodate the new unit. Again, this option is only valid IF your exiting PLC has its program in good condition.

I hope this information has helped.
Timothy Davis