Looks like the one on mine is a MC68HC/711E9CFN2. Definitely 8 bit. And, made by what looks like Freescale Semiconductor rather than Motorola. A 68HC16 exists which is the 16 bit version which is probably what you’re talking about.
2MHZ chip, 38 I/O points, and a whopping 12kb of program memory size and you have an MS2/4 CPU…
Those Texas Instrument chips around there are worth looking at, I don’t remember what they did but it’s something IO related. I put the chip numbers and jazz thru ChatGPT which gave me a bunch of useful info at the time but I lost it.
I love this panel line, and I’m gonna miss it. It’s simplicity gets you too curious for the absolute nitty gritty of it’s workings. A panel with LEDs and dipswitches, yet CPU driven and lacking a display. I couldn’t have this much intrigue with any other panel.
Not to mention how indispensable of an asset these panels have been for us fire enthusiasts wanting something simple, moreso as an educational tool for us than it ever being useful for real fire alarm guys in the field. Think of how many of us bought this thing and rather than use it professionally, even SOME OF US at a young age learned basic electrical circuitry/work with these. I was one of them, and I can name more people.
My MS4 system got me my current fire alarm job. I work for a small company and if it wasn’t for showing my now boss this demo system setup on my walls at the last second (as he was paranoid of my skill), I probably wouldn’t have had this position.
Installers out in the field can call these things unreliable and junk all they want, but for a lot of us, again, It taught us a lot. Introduced many people to this trade or electric in general. My opinion, but I can somewhat confidently say this panel shaped the enthusiast community in a way. We all have or had one. A gateway into F/A for a lot of us… I hope Honeywell takes note of that, despite us not being their moneymaker. Hopefully the replacement panels are wacky and simple like these are.
So with all that being said, and as childish it may about to sound, in all seriousness;
Rest in peace, Fire Lite Microscan 2 & 4.
December 13th 2001 - September 24th 2025
(first listing of MS2/4 on wayback machine)