Technical Specifications

Main Features and Advantages

Floating/isolated 4AO in the compact S5 form factor.​ The compact U family (S5-90U/95U/100U/ET100U/ET200U) is predominantly non-isolated I/O — cost-driven, skid-level, close-coupled to the PLC. The 6ES5470-8MD12​ is the exception that EPC contractors specify when the compact S5 node drives actuators on a skid with its own 24 V DC supply domain, or where the AO must push ±10 V into a servo drive whose internal ground is tied to a VFD DC bus midpoint. The floating architecture prevents the servo drive’s ground offset (which can be 5–15 V from cabinet ground during a regen event) from back-feeding through the AO common into the S5-90U backplane. Among 470-8M siblings, only the D-grade carries this isolation — the 8MA11/8MB11/8MC11 are non-isolated or group-isolated at best.Full-range DIP configurability across voltage and current.​ The 6ES5470-8MD12​ covers the five spans a compact S5 skid typically needs: ±10 V for bipolar servo/positioner drives, 0–10 V for recorder or voltage-input indicators, ±20 mA / 0–20 mA / 4–20 mA for valve positioners, drive-speed references, and analog-tree telemetry. DIP switches on-module select the range per channel group (consult the 470 product manual for exact DIP-per-channel vs DIP-per-pair — compact 470 modules typically DIP in pairs or quads). No range cards, no software parameter block — the S5-90U/95U/100U CPU writes the 12-bit output word to the PQ (process output image) and the 6ES5470-8MD12​ converts it. This “write-and-go” behaviour is critical on compact U nodes where the nearest PG may be behind a permit and the skid must run after a module swap with zero download.12-bit + sign resolution for actuator-grade analog out.​ At 12 bits, ±10 V span yields ~4.9 mV/LSB; 4–20 mA span over 16 mA yields ~3.9 µA/LSB. This is actuator-grade, not just indicator-grade: a 4–20 mA control valve positioner on a 6″ line with 0.1 % stroke spec will see clean PV tracking from the 6ES5470-8MD12​ without the quantisation dither that an 8-bit AO would introduce. For compact S5 nodes driving multiple positioners (e.g., a 4-AO module handling fuel-gas valve, air-intake vane, bypass-damper, and recirculation-damper on a small burner package), the 12-bit headroom keeps each loop’s steady-state CV stable.Sub-millisecond settling for compact-node PID duties.​ The 6ES5470-8MD12​ settles to 0.1 % FS in roughly 1 ms — fast enough that the S5-90U/95U/100U OB1 (typically 10–50 ms in compact duty) is the loop bottleneck, not the AO. For ET 200U decentral nodes on PROFIBUS, where the AO may serve a remote skid actuator and the PROFIBUS update is 5–10 ms, the AO settling is invisible in the chain. This matters on burner-management gas-valve ramps, where the AO steps 4→8 mA over 2 seconds and the valve expects smooth interpolation — the 6ES5470-8MD12​ updates cleanly at every S5 scan.Load drive capability matched to field norms.​ Voltage mode drives ≥ 5 kΩ — sufficient for servo amp inputs (typically 10 kΩ+), chart-recorder inputs, and isolation-amplifier fronts. Current mode drives ≤ 500 Ω — covers the vast majority of 4–20 mA valve positioners (250 Ω receive typical, plus loop wire resistance) and 4–20 mA telemetry into a remote 250 Ω shunt at the SCADA end. The 6ES5470-8MD12​ internally sources/sinks the current; for long 4–20 mA loops, confirm the 24 V DC instrument supply headroom accounts for the 500 Ω max plus wire drop.