Can the new ION7550/7650 communication card (supporting 100 megabit connections) be used with ION7500/7600 meters?

Issue

Confirm whether the new 10/100 Mb Ethernet communication card introduced for ION7550/ION7650 can be installed and used in legacy ION7500/ION7600 meters.

Product Line

ION7550 (Discontinued)

ION7650 (Discontinued)

ION7500 (Discontinued)

ION7600 (Discontinued)

Check the notes section bellow to find the suggested Schneider Electric replacemnts.

Environment

ION75xx meters with Ethernet communication card (10/100BASE‑T)

Cause

Customers upgrading network infrastructure to 100 Mb need to know if the newer ION7550/7650 comms card is backward‑compatible with older ION7500/7600 meters.

Resolution

Yes. The ION7550/7650 100 Mb Ethernet communication card is backward‑compatible with ION7500/ION7600 meters. It allows those legacy meters to negotiate a 100 Mb link with modern network equipment (bandwidth of meter services is unchanged; the card enables compatibility with networks that no longer support 10 Mb).

Notes & identification:

• The newer card (released Q1‑2008) can be recognized by a square outer label around the Ethernet port; the RS‑485 RX/TX LEDs are yellow instead of red.
• A commonly referenced part (e.g., P765CA0A) is backward‑compatible; its on‑board backup battery feature is utilized only by ION7550/7650 meters.

Notes:

Released for: Schneider Electric United Arab Emirates