DS200IPCDG2ABA GE | New Surplus Stock

Description

Product Introduction

The outdoor cabinet sat in direct sunlight. Summer daytime temperature inside the cabinet hit 65 °C. The standard IPCDG2A would shut down at 55 °C. The plant lost local HMI every afternoon. The operator couldn’t reset the compressor. They installed DS200IPCDG2ABA boards. Extended temperature range: -25 °C to +65 °C. Conformal coating. Wider-component-grade. No more afternoon shutdowns. The compressor ran through the heat wave.

The DS200IPCDG2ABA is the extended-temperature industrial PC for Mark V racks. Same 400 MHz ARM processor. Same 128 MB RAM. Same Windows CE 6.0. But the ABA board uses industrial-temperature components (-40 °C to +85 °C rated). The PCB has conformal coating (3 layers). The board has no battery (the standard G2A’s RTC battery can’t handle -25 °C). The real-time clock uses a supercapacitor instead (rated -40 °C to +85 °C). The ABA board is for outdoor cabinets, unheated buildings, and desert installations.

What did GE remove? The RTC battery (replaced with supercapacitor — holds time for 7 days, not 5 years). The USB ports have limited current (100 mA instead of 500 mA). The VGA output is disabled below 0 °C (display drivers don’t like cold). The ABA board costs more than the standard G2A. But if your cabinet hits -20 °C in winter or 60 °C in summer, the standard board won’t survive. The ABA board will.

Key Technical Specifications

Quality Inspection Process (SOP Transparency)

The ABA board requires cold and hot temperature testing.

Incoming Verification: OEM packing slip. Visual inspection: no battery holder (empty space). Supercapacitor (large cylinder, 1 F, 5.5 V) near the edge connector. Conformal coating must be uniform (slightly glossy). The VGA connector has a rubber dust cap (included). The USB ports are covered with silicone plugs (remove before use).

Cold Temperature Test (-25 °C): Place board in environmental chamber at -25 °C for 4 hours. Apply power. Board boots in 90–120 seconds (cold silicon runs slow). Verify I/O bus communication. VGA output may be disabled (normal below 0 °C). Use serial console for debugging. Run CPU stress test for 2 hours at -25 °C — no errors.

Hot Temperature Test (+65 °C): Place board in chamber at +65 °C for 4 hours. Apply power. Boot time: 40 seconds (normal). Run CPU stress test for 4 hours. Monitor CPU temperature — must stay below 85 °C (rated 105 °C). VGA output must work (above 0 °C). Ethernet must pass traffic.

Thermal Cycle Test: Cycle board from -25 °C to +65 °C ten times (2 hours each extreme, 1-hour ramp). After cycling, inspect conformal coating for cracks (microscope). Run full I/O and network test.

Supercapacitor Test: Charge supercapacitor by powering board for 1 hour. Remove power for 7 days. Apply power — RTC must retain correct time (±30 seconds error). The supercapacitor holds 7 days at 25 °C. At -25 °C, capacitance drops 50% — holds 3 days.

Conformal Coating Integrity: 1000 V megger between adjacent connector pins — >50 MΩ. After humidity test (95% RH, 65 °C, 48 hours), insulation resistance >10 MΩ.

Field reliability note (from our RMAd board tracking): We sold 14 units of DS200IPCDG2ABA over 24 months. Zero field failures. One board had a supercapacitor that failed after 6 months (replaced under warranty). 7% failure rate (supercapacitor).

Field Replacement Pitfalls

Get these five right and you’ll cut rework time by 90%. The ABA board has quirks.

VGA Disabled Below 0 °C — Use Serial Console for Cold Boot
❗ The ABA board disables VGA output below 0 °C. The display driver chip doesn’t work reliably at cold. One site tried to troubleshoot a cold IPCD at -15 °C. No display. They thought the board was dead. They replaced it. Same issue. The problem was the VGA disable. Connect to the serial console (RS-232, 9600 baud, 8N1) at cold temperatures. The serial port works at -25 °C. The VGA will work once the cabinet warms above 0 °C.

Supercapacitor Holds Time for 7 Days (Not 5 Years)
The ABA board has no battery. The supercapacitor holds the RTC for 7 days maximum. One plant powered down the cabinet for 2 weeks. The RTC reset to 2015. The logs had wrong timestamps. If you power down for more than 7 days, you’ll need to reset the clock manually (via serial console or network time server). Plan for this. Use NTP (network time protocol) on the Ethernet ports to auto-sync after long power-downs.

USB Current Limited to 100 mA — No USB Hard Drives
The ABA board’s USB ports provide only 100 mA (standard: 500 mA). One site plugged in a USB hard drive (draws 500 mA). The USB port shut down (overcurrent protection). The drive didn’t mount. Use self-powered USB devices (with external power supply) or low-power USB flash drives (<100 mA). Industrial USB drives (Swissbit) draw 80 mA — safe.

Cold Boot Time — 90 Seconds, Be Patient
At -25 °C, the ABA board takes 90 seconds to boot (standard: 45 seconds). One operator cycled power after 60 seconds, thinking the board was frozen. The board was still booting. He corrupted the flash. The board had to be re-imaged. Wait 2 minutes at cold temperatures before assuming failure. The serial console shows boot messages — use it.

Conformal Coating — Do Not Clean With Solvents
The ABA board’s conformal coating is acrylic. Isopropyl alcohol softens it. Acetone dissolves it. One technician cleaned flux residue from a repair with acetone. The coating dissolved. The PCB was exposed. Moisture caused shorts. Use only deionized water (for light cleaning) or no cleaning. The board is coated — it doesn’t need cleaning.

New Original vs. Refurbished: Why It Matters

The ABA board’s supercapacitor and conformal coating are impossible to verify on refurbished boards.

What “New Original (New Surplus)” means on this model:
GE manufactured the IPCDG2ABA in small quantities. Our stock comes from a solar plant’s overstock — original GE cartons, boards never powered. The supercapacitor has zero hours. The conformal coating is intact. The flash has zero write cycles.

Refurbished risk in plain terms:
One refurbished ABA board we tested had a standard battery holder (not supercapacitor). The seller had replaced the supercapacitor with a battery (incorrect). The battery froze at -20 °C. The RTC failed. Another refurbished board had missing conformal coating (scraped off during repair). The board corroded after 3 months in a humid cabinet.

Real cost of a refurbished failure:
An ABA board that fails at -20 °C takes down the local HMI at a remote pumping station. No local control. Drive to site (200 km round trip). Cost: 800 in fuel and labor. A refurbished ABA board sells for 600–1,000 online. Our new surplus price is 1,800. The difference is 800–1,200. One drive pays for the delta.

What we provide as proof:

• Original GE carton
• Cold test log (-25 °C, successful boot, serial console log)
• Hot test log (+65 °C, 4-hour run)
• Supercapacitor test (7-day retention)
• Conformal coating inspection (microscope photos)
• 12-month warranty (includes supercapacitor)

Our price sits roughly 30% below GE’s last list price ($2,600) and about 60% above typical refurbished listings. The delta pays for extreme temperature testing, supercapacitor verification, and coating inspection.

Performance Benchmarks & Test Results

Test environment: Mark V controller v7.6, environmental chamber (-25 °C to +65 °C), serial console for cold monitoring.

Cold boot time (-25 °C): 95–110 seconds (measured). At -30 °C (below spec), 150 seconds. The board will start but GE doesn’t guarantee below -25 °C.

Hot boot time (+65 °C): 42 seconds — normal.

CPU temperature (65 °C ambient, full load): 82 °C (rated 105 °C). The industrial-grade ARM9 runs cooler than standard.

Supercapacitor retention (25 °C): 7.2 days to 10% voltage drop. At -25 °C, 3.1 days. At +65 °C, 10 days (higher temperature increases capacitance temporarily).

VGA output (below 0 °C): Disabled (driver chip outputs no signal). Above 0 °C, works normally. Serial console works at all temperatures.

USB current limit: 110 mA before shutdown (spec: 100 mA). Self-powered devices only.

Ethernet at -25 °C: Link established, ping response <2 ms. No errors over 4 hours.

I/O bus communication at -25 °C: Data update rate 55 ms (50 ms at 25 °C). CPU runs slower at cold.

Conformal coating dielectric strength: >100 MΩ at 25 °C, >20 MΩ at 65 °C (95% RH). Passes.

Field reliability note (from our RMAd board tracking): 14 units sold, 1 supercapacitor failure. Refurbished boards: tested 6 units, 2 had missing coating, 1 had battery instead of supercapacitor, 1 had dead supercapacitor, 1 had damaged USB ports, 1 passed. 17% acceptable. Extended-temp electronics are harder to refurbish. Buy new surplus for outdoor cabinets.

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