Product Knowledge

Donny,
I know that sometimes a face-to-face call is the best way. But the decision to your requirement is probably not that much complex that couldn't be serviced by other users via E2E forum...
If you care to share some guidelines as to your requirements, goals, constraints or anything else, the fellows here will certainly be able to help.

What will you be doing? Communications? Data logging? Some sort of interface? Automated controlling? Real time controlling?

Is it extremely price sensitive? What sort of power will be available? Batteries? AC/DC converter? Ether?

Other comments?

Regards

Bruno

I suggest a TI FAE (field application engineer) or sales representative near you.

A public forum might not be a place to exchange sensitive information. It is basically open to everybody.

f. m. said:

A public forum might not be a place to exchange sensitive information.

True!

But the right information can be obtained if the correct questions - non sensitive information - are asked...

Essentially, there is no NDA involved on the first conversation with a Field Application Engineer... And while this might be happiest employee of America, he also might have a resourceful university friend who he will meet for a beer later, and a bit of informal sensitive knowledge might flow back and forth with the fourth pint...

I do believe that the mere fact of a poster to organize his basic questions on a forum like this will help him see the requirements more clearly. And of course, he can always PM the proper person later on after the first doubts get cleared.

(By the way, I just found this solution for the perpetual-motion energy harvester, and I'm looking for an MCU to control it... - No, not the case...)

Bruno Saraiva said:

I just found this solution for the perpetual-motion energy harvester

Oh Bruno - did you not know that this forum (already) has its own, "card carrying, fuse/FET Blowing, "Void proclaiming/infested" {free-energy} proponent/member?

You (likely) are, "too late!"   (poster Robert (perhaps under an "alias") - best suited to detail...)

cb1_mobile said:

Oh Bruno - did you not know that this forum (already) has its own, "card carrying, fuse/FET Blowing, "Void proclaiming/infested" {free-energy} proponent/member?

Ahhh, something I seem to have missed.

But let me guess - is this forum member known for long-winded threads (100+ posts) with double-statement titles ?

Let's see - "long-winded, 100+ posts" (check) but (whew!) not guilty w/"double statement titles." (at least not yet - at least not yet...)

Think I had someone else in mind - and still might be mistaken.

At least it's not me - never posted about my many free-energy devices/projects ... ;-)

Never posted - never posted - (ok maybe, not here!)     Are not 100+ xxx32 devices "harvesting" energy - as we speak/write - crediting YOU?

(recall - as your agent - I'm entitled to 10%)

We are working on a device that will be interfacing with with other devices. It is price sensitive which is driving force for our in house development. It will have limited power (probably batteries) We are looking at the TM4 series or the MSP series. I really need some direction as to a development kit.

May we note that esteemed vendor has, "been too busy or not seen fit" to respond - thus you are tossed to renegade outsiders.

Contacting the vendor's closest Sales Office seems reasonable - does it not?   To best engage - you may consider adding substantial (some) detail to that which you've listed.    Firm/I power 1.5KW brushless motors - from batteries - so your linking "batteries to low power" proves not a "universal."   

Interfacing w/other devices begs for (some) specifics - it is so broad/vague as to be (almost) useless.   For example - what kind of other devices, what speeds, are signals analog - what voltage levels etc?

It appears that (you) must (first) supply that requested "beginning direction" - prior to engaging the vendor's FAE!   They are as unlikely as we outsiders to grasp your full (yet unspecified) intent.

You note "price sensitive" as full justification for, "in house development."   But - does not, "Recent, focused, successful experience" and "ownership of specialized, expensive equipment" - w/projects close/overlapping yours - trump "in house?"    Especially if the project is outside your team's recent experience, equipment/test/development inventory, and core expertise.   In house - in firm's/my experience - too often proves, second (or even, God forbid, third) best in the race for, "Price Sensitive champion!"  

(on occasion - some developments require 50-100K+ (USD) worth of specialized equipment - should you not have that - your sensitivity to price (desire) STEERS HARD from "in house!")   (maybe to "our/other's" house...)

I agree - no convincing reason for inhouse development, at least for me. Usually, this has to do with patent issues or software IP. Anyway, this is not ours to decide ...

The case for "low-power / battery-powered" is also not clear. TI has MCUs specialized in such operations, the MSP430 series. However, I would place them in a "rarely on / mostly sleep-mode" drawer. This core is 16-bit proprietary, not related to ARM, but can be dealt with using CCS. The latest improvement is a MSP432, wich is a Cortex M4 core with MSP430 peripherals (to maintain some compatibility). However, this silicon is not really very mature. I would again suggest a TI FAE, to explain the advantages and disadvantages. And specify your performance requirements - both have limited clock frequencies (MSP430 mostly 24MHz, and MSP432 max. 48MHz).

For a higher-capacity battery, you can perhaps use a TM4C as well. But you need to investigate runtime requirements (performance), current requirements, battery capacity and lifetime.

And BTW, other vendors have low-power MCUs as well - I would say, some have a much larger portfolio in the lower-power/lower performance range (Cortex M0/Cortex M3). Don't obstruct too much possibilities from the start on.

cb1_mobile said:

May we note that esteemed vendor has, "been too busy or not seen fit" to respond - thus you are tossed to renegade outsiders

-- it seems obvious that I'm such a "renegade outsider" as well ...

f. m. said:

it seems obvious that I'm such a "renegade outsider" as well ...

And - if I may well note - a particularly "outstanding" renegade outsider/forum contributor - especially appreciated by so many - for so long here!   (and not so secret, elsewhere)

The above "offered up" - even w/out - and especially w/out - the obvious agreement between us.   (in this specific case)

Poster has (entirely) failed to justify, "in house" or lower power (enforced by battery operation).    Again - our battery drives a 1.5 KW BLDC Motor!    (somehow battery is NOT restricted to low power!)

And - bravo for (we two) alerting to the simple fact that, "One and ONLY One Vendor" may not - at all times - for all applications - prove best!     HOW can that possibly be missed by any serious, competent, capable, "in house" group?

And I've worked on/developed drives run from battery at 50kW (peak, about 1/3 of that continuous rating).

Really to give an answer you need to know not only power (and energy) restrictions but what kind of capability is required to determine perform the task. For instance does the tasks require PWM support?, A/Ds? if so what precision and accuracy? What communication capability? Any display? That would help narrow down the micros that might fit the bill (or even whether a micro was necessary), and for that matter whether the task is even possible (ain't going to run those 50kW off of a single CR2032).

Finally what does cost sensitive mean? Every project I've ever worked on has been 'cost sensitive'. Sometimes that means spending a few thousand on BOM items to reduce that cost in other components makes sense, sometimes it means moving from 1/2W resistors to 1/16W quad packs makes sense. Sometimes it even means that spending 10's of thousands on off the shelf equipment much more powerful than required makes sense since it reduces the development time more than sufficiently to cover that cost. Cost constraints are a systems issue.

Given any set of system constraints various designers are likely to come up with different approaches, sometimes quite wildly different.

Donny at the moment any suggestion given by us would be essentially dishonest. If there was a single best low power, low cost solution there would only be a single solution. If you can't give us some more information than take cb1's suggestion, talk to an FAE (preferable an vendor FAE so you are not constrained to a particular manufacturer and preferable several vendors so you get a wider view and not just one FAE/vendor's particular set of experiences). FAE's will typically have a process for signing NDAs if you need that, although you can present a lot more information than you given so far without disclosing anything.

Robert

Oh Robert - always the "complainer."    OK - TWO CR2032 "wing their way to your ice-encased (NOW brilliantly lit) little hamlet."

Be sure to "stand back" when you hit, "RUN!"   (cb1 sourced coin cells have (some) KICK!)

Now that your 50KW trumps my 1.5KW - look for friend f.m. to "top 100KW."    Indeed Battery Power may not (ALWAYS) signify LOW Power!

cb1_mobile said:

Now that your 50KW trumps my 1.5KW - look for friend f.m. to "top 100KW."

Sorry, bailing out here. Just dealt with 500W batteries - used as UPS to allow for a controlled shutdown of industrial PCs in an assembly line.

But cell phones, especially smartphones, are less extreme examples of high-power, battery-operated devices. Even a few thousand mAh are quite a contrast to a "once a week", CR2032 operated data collector device.

BTW, if you want to fret your customers, solder the batteries in ...

f. m. said:

... if you want to fret your customers, solder the batteries in ...

And - this reporter has INDEED done just that!   (w/(some) encouragement from client - but still - firm/I stand, "Guilty as Charged!")

On the more general, "Product Knowledge front" - as Batteries have assumed "Stage Center" - might those here suggest their, Optimal Battery?

Criteria may include: mAh, size, voltage, cost, & ease of circuit connection.    My crue had long favored "AA" size - with last place reserved for the over-priced, under-powered 9V.   Li-Ion now, "Rules the Land" while there IS a severe Size Penalty - depending upon application - the robustness of MORE POWER may "forgive" the sin of larger size!   (maybe)........(sometimes)...

cb1_mobile said:

this reporter has INDEED done just that!

Same here!

We designed the board counting on a supercap, as the goal was to power a very low consumption RTC only. For some reason the supercap didn't work, and we went for a little coin battery. Since there was no room (again) to use a proper holder, there goes another board with a soldered battery! Approved a month ago!

Funny story: I did curse three generations of a manufacturer from whom we used to sell products in the past, when I received one of his products for repairing only to find a soldered battery - it was inconceivable to me! And probably a few years from now, three generations of mine will be cursed as well...   :(

My comment about soldered batteries was more intended as a side blow against the iPhone, and it's producer and C*A-darling Apple ...

Soldering batteries into a device with a lifetime multiple times greater than batt. discharge time is clearly malicious - IMHO. Approximately equal times are justifiable - again IMHO.