A device and a method are provided for determining a characteristic of an interchangeable component of a surgical instrument. An electrically conductive material (30) having a measurable strength measurable by a hall effect sensor (35) is coupled to the component. In another embodiment, a plurality of conductive materials are arranged to form a binary code representing a corresponding of the interchangeable component. The number and/or strength of the magnets (30) measurable by the sensors (35) may be dynamically altered such that the status of the surgical instrument is determinable.
