Is my Allen-Bradley PLC, HMI, or VFD obsolete?


Article Updated November 2017:

Is my Allen-Bradley PLC, HMI, or VFD obsolete? This is a common question when clients are planning for the future or looking to upgrade a system.

Fortunately Rockwell provides a dedicated webpage for just these queries, and in today’s article we’ll walk you through using it:

Step 1: Start by pointing your browser at Rockwell’s new Product Lifestyle Page (previous page shown below:)

Step 2: The bottom of this page is where we initiate our product status queries. We do so by entering the entire or partial catalog number in the “Catalog Number” field, and then clicking on the “Search” button:

Silver Series Step 4b

Step 3: First, lets look up a series of products by entering the first four digits of a catalog number in the “Catalog Number” field, and then clicking the “Search” button:Silver Series Step 5

Step 4: Below we can see the list returned when search on the catalog number “1747.” With some products a “replacement information” link is shown which leads to information about possible replacement products:

Step 5: You can also enter the exact catalog number into the search field. From the above screen click on “New Search,” enter in “1747-L40A,” then click the “Search” button:

Silver Series Step 7

Step 6: As you can see below, this product is so old it’s not even in the system:

Silver Series Step 8

Step 7: Let’s run another search, but this time on a product that is in the system. Click on the “New Search” button and then type in “1746-HSRV” and click the “Search” button:

Silver Series Step 9

Step 8: When the “Search Results” returns the listing for the 1746-HSRV, it shows the HSRV’s last date of manufacture was in the past, 03/31/2012, and therefore the product is listed as “Discontinued:”

I hope the above article on how to lookup the obsolescence of a Rockwell Allen-Bradley product was helpful.

If you have a comment or question, please feel free to share it with us by clicking on the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Have a question? Join my community of automation professionals and take part in the discussion! You'll also find my PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Shawn Tierney

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you for this informative post. So, If a device is so old it is not in the system, how would I find documentation that it is considered obsolete? I have an AB analog DC drive 1382, 1383 or 1389.

    • Good morning Lee,

      Yes, anything not listed is so very old that the obsolesce notice would likely have been a physical letter, and I’m not sure anyone would still have access to it.

      However, I’m sure your local Rockwell representative would be more than happy to draft a letter explaining your old drives are obsolete, as well as if they can still be repaired or exchanged, and what the new Rockwell replacement product would be.

      Hope this helps,

      Shawn Tierney

      Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

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