GE 336A4940DNP516TX Industrial Ethernet Switch – GE Industrial Networking

GE 336A4940DNP516TX — 16-Port 10/100BASE-TX Unmanaged Switch in Industrial Control Loop Architecture

In deterministic industrial Ethernet segments, the physical-layer switch is not a passive conduit — it is an active participant in frame scheduling, collision domain isolation, and fault propagation control. The GE 336A4940DNP516TX is a 16-port 10/100BASE-TX unmanaged Fast Ethernet switch engineered for continuous deployment in automation environments where electrical noise, thermal cycling, and 24/7 uptime are baseline requirements, not edge cases.

Within GE’s industrial networking portfolio, the 336A4940DNP516TX occupies the high-density copper-port tier. Its 16 RJ45 ports operate at 10/100 Mbps with full-duplex auto-negotiation and auto-MDI/MDIX detection, eliminating crossover cable dependency in retrofit wiring scenarios. The store-and-forward switching architecture ensures each Ethernet frame is fully received and CRC-verified before forwarding — a critical behavior in environments where EMI-induced bit errors from variable-frequency drives (VFDs) and servo amplifiers are a persistent concern. Frames with detected CRC errors are silently discarded at the ingress port, preventing error propagation across the segment.

The switch’s internal MAC address table supports standard 1K-entry capacity, sufficient for dense star-topology deployments connecting PLCs, HMIs, remote I/O adapters, and Ethernet-enabled drives within a single control panel. The switching fabric operates at wire speed for 100 Mbps full-duplex ports, delivering a maximum theoretical throughput of 3.2 Gbps aggregate — adequate for polling-based EtherNet/IP and PROFINET RT Class 1 traffic profiles where cycle times are in the 10–100 ms range.

Mechanically, the 336A4940DNP516TX is designed for DIN-rail or panel-mount installation inside standard IEC 60439-compliant control enclosures. The compact form factor allows side-by-side installation with GE PACSystems RX3i backplane assemblies and Fanuc CNC Ethernet interface modules without requiring additional panel real estate. Power input is 24 VDC nominal, consistent with the standard control panel power bus used across GE PACSystems and third-party PLC installations.

The unit carries no managed-switch overhead — no SNMP agent, no VLAN configuration interface, no spanning tree protocol (STP) negotiation delay on port initialization. This zero-configuration characteristic means port link-up time after power cycle is deterministic and fast, a property valued in safety-instrumented system (SIS) architectures where post-fault restart sequences must complete within defined time windows.

Real-time Stock & RFQ: [email protected] | WhatsApp: +86 18359268345

Technical Parameters

Hardware Logical Analysis

The 336A4940DNP516TX’s store-and-forward engine provides a measurable EMC benefit beyond simple frame integrity checking. In industrial panels where VFDs generate conducted emissions in the 150 kHz–30 MHz range, common-mode noise can corrupt in-transit Ethernet frames at the physical layer. A cut-through switch would forward these corrupted frames immediately, propagating errors to downstream devices. The store-and-forward approach introduces a bounded latency — typically 10–50 µs at 100 Mbps for a 64-byte minimum frame — but eliminates error multiplication across the segment.

Auto-MDI/MDIX detection operates at the PHY layer via link pulse analysis during auto-negotiation. The PHY transmits Fast Link Pulses (FLPs) encoding speed and duplex capability, and simultaneously detects the polarity of received pairs to determine whether a crossover is required. This process completes within the standard 500 ms auto-negotiation window defined by IEEE 802.3u, after which the port transitions to the forwarding state. In unmanaged switches, there is no STP-induced 30-second listening/learning delay — ports enter forwarding immediately after link establishment, which is the correct behavior for point-to-point PLC-to-switch connections where loop topology is not present.

The 24 VDC power input is filtered internally to reject ripple and transient spikes common on shared control panel power buses. Industrial 24 VDC supplies typically exhibit 100–200 mV peak-to-peak ripple at 100 Hz (from rectification) and transient spikes up to 1 kV (from inductive load switching). The switch’s internal power conditioning circuit — typically a DC-DC converter with input filtering — provides isolation between the panel power bus and the switch’s internal logic supply, maintaining stable operation during load transients on the shared bus.

System Integration Benefits

• Zero STP Delay on Port Initialization: Unmanaged operation means ports enter forwarding state immediately after link-up, eliminating the 30-second STP convergence delay that would otherwise affect PLC communication startup sequences.
• CRC-Based Error Containment: Store-and-forward architecture discards corrupted frames at ingress, preventing EMI-induced bit errors from propagating to PLC CPU Ethernet ports and triggering unnecessary communication fault diagnostics.
• Auto-MDI/MDIX Simplifies Retrofit Wiring: Eliminates the need to stock crossover cables during panel wiring, reducing commissioning errors in retrofit projects where cable types are mixed.
• 16-Port Density Reduces Panel Footprint: Consolidating 16 device connections into a single DIN-rail unit eliminates the need for cascaded smaller switches, reducing inter-switch latency and simplifying cable management.
• 24 VDC Compatibility with Standard Control Bus: Direct connection to the panel’s existing 24 VDC power bus eliminates the need for a separate power supply, reducing BOM cost and panel wiring complexity.
• Full-Duplex Operation Eliminates Collision Domains: All 16 ports operate in full-duplex mode, removing CSMA/CD collision overhead and providing dedicated 100 Mbps bandwidth per device — critical for EtherNet/IP implicit messaging with tight RPI settings.
• Broad Device Compatibility: IEEE 802.3/802.3u compliance ensures interoperability with GE PACSystems RX3i/RX7i Ethernet modules, Fanuc CNC Ethernet interfaces, Rockwell Logix controllers, and any standard 10/100BASE-TX industrial device.
• Deterministic Frame Forwarding Latency: Store-and-forward latency at 100 Mbps is bounded and predictable — typically under 60 µs for minimum-size frames — supporting EtherNet/IP RPI values down to 10 ms without switch-induced jitter accumulation.

Quality Assurance & Global Logistics

Every GE 336A4940DNP516TX unit supplied by siemensplc.com is sourced through verified, traceable supply channels. Each unit undergoes physical inspection covering label authenticity, connector integrity, and housing condition before acceptance into inventory. Shipments are prepared with anti-static packaging and impact-protective foam inserts rated for international air freight handling.

Export documentation — including commercial invoice, packing list, and certificate of origin — is prepared for every international shipment to support customs clearance across all major import markets. Our logistics team in Xiamen, China coordinates daily with DHL Express, FedEx International Priority, and UPS Worldwide Express to provide next-flight-out options for urgent requirements. Standard transit times from Xiamen to major industrial hubs: Europe 3–5 business days, Southeast Asia 2–3 business days, Middle East 4–6 business days, North America 5–7 business days.

All units are covered by a 12-month warranty from the date of shipment. Warranty claims are processed through direct communication with our technical team, with replacement or credit resolution targeted within 5 business days of confirmed fault verification. Our engineering staff can provide application-level support for integration questions, including PACSystems network topology review and Fanuc CNC Ethernet configuration guidance.

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
WhatsApp: +86 18359268345
Web: siemensplc.com
Location: Xiamen, China
© 2026 siemensplc.com. All rights reserved.