J
Jamie
Guest
Joerg wrote:
Another problem I have heard of but never experienced and
that is police microwave radar. I guess for some uC's there
are circuit paths that match the wave length and can cause
unwanted effects in the memory.
--
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5"
Jamie wrote:
Tim Wescott wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Tim Wescott wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Hello All,
After some problems a client saw I was treated to my own dose of
what is likely flash loss: The uC in our mailbox door has become
erratic. I installed it about three months ago and half of the day
it receives a good pelting from the sun. First it began not
recognizing some keys, then it started doing weird stuff like lock
cycling. Things it wasn't meant to ever do. Batteries, contacts
and such look ok, reset didn't help, so that's not it.
TI has an app note about the topic:
http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slaa392/slaa392.pdf
Figure 1 looks scary above the 80C range. Later they presented
another test with a different bake cycle which makes things look
better but who knows.
What is you experience with respect to flash errors on uC that are
exposed to elevated temperatures as most outdoors applications are?
One of my clients makes products that regularly go above 80C, and
that has never been an issue to my knowledge (all the service guys
I used to hang with have either left or been promoted, so I don't
have that immediate knowledge one gets by being service's life
line). Certainly the to-do if it were recognized would have
bubbled down to me.
Well, in my case it kind of has bubbled down to me now ;-)
OTOH, all the parts are very carefully selected to work over the
industrial temperature range; if your mailbox thingie is designed
with commercial temp range parts all bets are off (and it may be
something else that's happening, too).
It's not just this mailbox but also some MSP430 apps at a client.
They predate my involvement there and we are pretty much stuck with
that for a while. We are seeing a distinct pattern where those
inside smaller boxes fail more often than those in larger and more
airy enclosures. This stuff is used in the south where summers are
quite toasty.
Have you tried cooking them on purpose? Even if you don't have a
"real" environmental chamber, you can do a lot with an insulated box
and a heat gun (including catching the lab on fire (ask me how I
know!), but that usually entertains the technicians).
I'd toss some in an oven for an extended high-temperature test, to
see where they failed.
I'd also check the heat rise against ambient in both small and large
enclosures.
If they get any solar load, I'd throw up my hands and call a
mechanical engineer who's good with thermodynamics, but that's just
because I (usually) know where my competence ends.
Some of the flash parts that I have seen used to success have been
from TI, but they aren't TMS430s, and they _are_ industrial
temperature range parts.
I have found strong R.F. and EMF's in close proximity have caused the
flash to get corrupted in PIC's. I'm sure it effects others.
What do you mean by strong? VHF radio close by? Cell phone? If yes, do
you remember how close?
100 W VHF transmitter ~ 6 feet away.
Another problem I have heard of but never experienced and
that is police microwave radar. I guess for some uC's there
are circuit paths that match the wave length and can cause
unwanted effects in the memory.
--
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5"