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TMDS243EVM: Board does not power up anymore

Part Number: TMDS243EVM
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: AM2434

Hello,

So some of TMDSAM243-boards are not powering on anymore.

I did seem to break mine yesterday, while the first two leds are always on. But as soon as I turned the switch, all leds went green and a second later only the two previous leds stayed on. I can trigger the switch but nothing changes. Seems my board is dead. This also happened to some other developers of us. We followed the manual with connecting everything one by one but still sometimes the board just stops working.

We have like 4 broken EVM boards now. How can we stop the EVM boards from breaking? I noticed yesterday I just hadn't the power connector completely plugged in but I cannot imagine how this could break the board. Also since the boards are not that cheap: is there a way to diagnose and repair them? We wanted to use the boards in our first test environments but since they are that unreliable it's not usefull for that purpose. Is there also a warranty? Since we did everything like described in the manual...

Best regards

Felix

  • Hello Felix,

    I am sorry that you are experiencing issues with multiple boards. I have a few questions that will help me to try and diagnose the issue:

    • Which revision of the TMDS243EVM is failing?  The latest version should be PROC101C. Are all failing units the same revision?
    • You mentioned that you have two LEDs powering still, are these LEDs LD6 and LD24?
    • Can you probe VMAIN and confirm that it is 12V?
    • When you turn SW1 into the ON position:
      • what is the voltage on pin 2 of SW1? (it should be ~12V)
      • What is the voltage for VIN_MON_PORz_3V3_PG? You can probe either side of R578 for the measurement (it should be ~3.3V)
    • What is the power output of the AC/DC converter that is being used?  Should not exceed 12V/5A
    • Is the same AC/DC converter being used for all failing boards? What is the part number?

    Regards,

    Erik

  • Felix,

    Also, can you confirm if on any of the broken boards if the 12V power was connected while the switch was in the ON position? 

    Regards,

    Erik

  • Hey Erik,

    • revision is PROC101C(005)
    • Those are LED6 and 24
    • if you mean the 12V in it gives me 12V on the thick wire on the back
    • pin 2 gives 12V when in ON and 0V when in OFF
    • R578 has 0V!
    • the AC/DC converter is a GlobTek 12V 5A
    • Yes it is used for all of them. it's GTM96600-6012-R3A

    All Switch positions were OFF as written in the manual.

    Best regards

    Felix

  • Felix, 

    Based on your observations, the LM5140QRWGTQ1 device has failed. There should be no further damage to the EVMs and so we can send you replacement devices if you are comfortable swapping out the LM5140QRWGTQ1 device. I have reached out to the local field team. Please contact the local field team so that we can send the replacements as soon as possible. 

    Please note: this failure is almost always due to the large inrush current that occurs when connecting the 12V AC/DC converter while the power switch is in the ON position. It is critical to have the switch in the OFF position until the 12V AC/DC converter has been connected. 

    Regards,

    Erik

  • Hey Erik,

    In the future we will make our colleagues aware of never touch the power-connector when the board is powered, because I guess after your explanation that was the reason at least for me, since the power-connector was a bit loose and thus when I tried to tighten it, the inrush happened and thus the LM got broken.

    Best regards

    Felix

  • Hello Erik Friedel,

    we have the same problem here with an AM2434 EVM. 12V still there, TP18 and TP44 are 0V. AC Power to the 12Vpower supply might have failed when the switch was on. We consider the board defective. What can we do? Replacement of the LM5140 is not a possibility (QFN).

    What can be done to limit inrush current in the future?

    rgds

  • Hi Friedrich,

    Please contact customer support and we will move forward with addressing your board failure. 

    Regards,

    Erik

  • Hello Erik, TI Customer Support rejected the case because it was purchased via Mouser.

  • Hi Friedrich, 

    In that case, please reach out to Mouser to process the return. This E2E thread can be used as evidence for the return.

    Regards,

    Erik