BQ76952: High side Vs Low Side

Mohammed Suffiyan

Part Number: BQ76952

Hello Team,

I am using BQ76952 IC (when will this IC be in stock?) for my current BMS design. I have few questions regarding high side and low side switching. I have gone through the forum already for info regarding this but I am not convinced.

1. Why ICs are manufactured with high side switching despite the fact that low side switching is easy to implement?

2. What are the pros and cons of high and low side switching; and on what basis should we prefer one over the other?

It would be great if you assist to clearly understand this and make me better design.

Thank you!

over 3 years ago

0 Luis H. S. over 3 years ago

TI__Mastermind 42060 points

Hello Mohammed,

We don't really know when the IC will be in stock. We have a stock issue that we don't know when it will be solved.

1. Why ICs are manufactured with high side switching despite the fact that low side switching is easy to implement?
High-side switching may be preferred when using simple communication interfaces like I2C or SMBus. Low-side can break the communication path grounding when the FETs are off during a fault. So isolation may be required. The BQ769x2 family has integrated high-side drive.

2. What are the pros and cons of high and low side switching; and on what basis should we prefer one over the other?
This older e2e thread for an older part discusses and points to high-side vs. low-side discussions, which may be helpful: https://e2e.ti.com/support/power-management-group/power-management/f/power-management-forum/784837/bq76920-low-side-switching-or-high-side-switching-which-one-should-prefer-and-why

Best Regards,

Luis Hernandez Salomon

Power management

Power management forum

BQ76952: High side Vs Low Side