MAX232: date code deciphering / lot code

Lo2

Expert 1915 points

Part Number: MAX232

Hello,

we have a high failure rate on the MAX232.

Two batches are affected. I'd like to know it those are either old parts or if they are from a defective lot.

How do I decode the date?

Pictures attached.

Best regards,

Lo2

over 5 years ago

0 Max Robertson over 5 years ago

TI__Guru 62910 points

Hello,

The first character after the TI logo is the least-significant digit of the year of manufacture (e.g., "7" = 2017) and the second character represents the month (with 1 = January, 2 = February, ..., A = October, B= November, C = December).

Am I correct in understanding both types of units experienced similar issues? Can you tell us anything about the nature of the failures?

Regards,
Max

0 Max Robertson over 5 years ago in reply to Max Robertson

TI__Guru 62910 points

I wanted to add on to this that since only a single digit is used for the year, a given character could represent a number of different possible years (e.g., "7" could mean 2017 or 2007). We checked the lot trace codes from these images and found that they do not show up in our internal tracking system, so we can conclude that these were not manufactured by TI within the last 10 years.

Max

0 Lo2 over 5 years ago in reply to Max Robertson

Expert 1915 points

Hi Max,

thanks for looking up the lot codes!
I'm still waiting for exact numbers for the failure rate and production date. This will take a while due to Chinese new year.

The PCBs have recently been manufactured in China, so I guess they just used old parts.
They probably were not stocked properly for all the years.

We specify 'TI parts', maybe we should specify 'new TI parts'.

Thanks!
Lo2

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MAX232: date code deciphering / lot code