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TCA6416: Data transmission between PCB board and hot-plugging

Part Number: TCA6416
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: TCA9539, , TCA4311A

Hi team,

My customer is planning to design a interface board to do the data transmission between difference PCB.

The TCA6416 is needed in the interface board.

So they wants to know if the TCA6416 supports the data transmission between PCB and hot-plugging.

Thanks a lot!

Lacey

  • Hello Lacey,
    Can you get a block level diagram of what they want to do? Are they hot plugging just the SDA, SCL, GROUND, and VCC? or are they hot plugging I/Os too? Do they need it to communicate, or do they just need it to be in high impedance state when hot plugging? Generally we recommend that they have a nRESET connected to ground through a pull down resistor then have the nRESET signal in the harness. The other option is doing a resistor divider with a cap on the nRESET pin which delays turning off the reset and makes it deactivate at a voltage just below the desired Vcc.

    Also, why are they using the TCA6416, we generally don't recommend that part for new designs. We generally recommend the TCA9539 which has most of the same packages and is only slightly different pin out. Just though you guys should consider it.
    -Francis Houde
  • Hello Lacey,
    We do have the TCA6416A that is pin for pin, which is what we recommend to replace the TCA6416. Sorry about the confusion with the TCA9539.
    -Francis Houde
  • Hi Francis,
    The TCA6416A is used in the BBU board in telecom. And the BBU board is inserted in the backboard with other board. So the BBU board will be hot plugged while data transmission is doing.
    We want to know whether the operation above will affect the TCA6416A.

    Lacey
  • Hello Lacey,
    Please answer my previous questions. I am worried that if they don't have a hot swap buffer on their powered board and that bus is shared with other devices that it could corrupt either the data packet or corrupt a bit when the BBU is plugged into the back plane. We have hot swap buffers specifically design for this application, the TCA4311A. Plugging in the BBU will unlikely affect the TCA6416 because it will have to have the correct address and not have had the packet corrupted and it will be in a high impedance state at startup, due to default configurations. It really depends a lot on the parasitics of the board being plugged in and also on the parasitic capacitances and inductances of the main powered board. There are a number of ways that you can hold the part in reset (high impedance state) for a prolonged period of time until the parasitic charge of elements stabilize.

    I need more application information to give a good recommendation. I also need to know what you mean by "operation will affect the TCA6416A". We can take this offline and have a call if you would like.
    -Francis Houde
  • Hi Francis,
    Thanks for your reply. I will update the application information after I communicate with customer this week. The project of the BBU will be established by the end of this year. Now they are looking for the part which can meet their requirement.
    And I want to know what the application information you needed for the recommendation.

    Thanks a lot!
    Lacey
  • Hello Lacey,
    I would like to know if their Master is designed such that a failed communication generates a retry?

    Do they have their system designed to such that it tries to recover from a stuck bus condition?

    They should be doing both of those things in their system. If so, then they can just be careful with parasitics for both the main power board and the BBU board, buffer placement, and take precautions for the unpowered device (BBU board) to not try to turn off right away (aka hold in reset for short time) then they should be fine with implementing the TCA6416A. This is not specific to the TCA6416 device, most I2C parts need to have these sorts of considerations.
    -Francis Houde