The 6ES7194-2LH50-0AC0 is a 5-meter shielded PROFINET bus cable with one straight M8 plug and one open end. It uses the 2Y(ST)CY 1×4×0.5/1.0-100-GN dual-shielded construction—aluminum-clad foil plus tinned copper braid—inside a green PVC jacket. This is the shortest field-termination cable in the ET 200AL M8 family, built for installations where the PROFINET bus lands at a patch panel, switch, or terminal block inside the same enclosure as the last I/O module.

When should I choose the 5-meter field-termination cable over longer lengths?

The 5-meter (2LH50) is the within-cabinet field-termination cable. Use it when the last ET 200AL module and the patch panel or PROFINET switch sit inside the same enclosure—or at most one cabinet over. Five meters is enough to route neatly through wire duct, around the DIN rail, and into the patch panel without piling up excess cable. Step up to the 10-meter (2LN10-0AC0) for same-zone termination where the patch panel is in a separate cabinet within the lineup, or the 15-meter (2LN15-0AC0) for inter-cabinet backbone runs that end at a central patch field.

How do I terminate the open end for PROFINET?

The open end exposes four conductors from the 2Y(ST)CY cable: white/blue and orange/yellow for the two PROFINET pairs. Strip back the PVC jacket and dual shield layers, then land the pairs on your patch panel punch-downs, RJ45 field-installable plugs, or PROFINET switch terminals. The tinned copper braid must be terminated to functional earth at the patch panel end—use the integral drain wire for a clean PE connection. Siemens offers a dedicated stripping tool (6ES7194-2KA00-0AA0) that removes the jacket and foil in one operation without nicking the braid.

Why does the green jacket matter?

In the ET 200AL M8 ecosystem, jacket color is a safety-critical signal. Green identifies a shielded PROFINET bus cable; gray identifies an unshielded 24VDC power cable. The M8 connector is physically identical across both—4 pins, same pitch, same keying. Plugging a gray power cable into a bus port connects 24V to the PROFINET ASIC and destroys the interface. The green jacket is your visual lockout: if the cable in your hand is not green, do not plug it into a bus port. Every ET 200AL installation guide repeats this rule for a reason.