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bq40z50-R1: Manufacturer Access 0x0003 Hardware Version

Part Number: BQ40Z50-R1
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: BQ40Z50, BQ40Z50-R2

Gentlemen:

 

I received the following e-mail from our customer regarding the data location  listed below.

 

Checking the SBS commands section, it appears as though this is a read-only function which is programmed into the chip at manufacture and is not modifiable by the user.

 

Has there been a change to the chip that I have not been informed about?

 

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Our ATE checks the version and firmware of the BMS to ensure it hasn’t changed. In the first 40 we received, we have some reporting a mix of battery packs.

 

Did you receive something from TI about a change on the chip? We have some BMS reporting HW version ‘2’ and some ‘11’

 

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  • Hi George,

    There's no HW change in bq40z50-r1. My colleague will respond with the correct HW version for bq40z50-r1.
  • Hi George,

    I verified that there's no changes in the HW version else the FW wouldn't run. There is a bug in the FW Manufacturer Access 0x0003 Hardware Version read command in bq40z50-r1. It reads the device date code, instead of the hardware version.

    Please let your customer know that once the FW version is correct, the HW version is also correct. The FW would not execute on incorrect HW version.
  • Hi Damian,

    So, what does the customer need to do in order to read the HW version correctly?  Is this an error in the bq40z50 native code, or is it a problem reading the correct cell in the data flash?

  • The code run when you read Hardware Version is reading the wrong hardware register. Unfortunately there isn't another way to read the correct hardware register with bq40z50-R1.
  • Our customer is insisting that they have a method to ensure manufacturing stability of the chip hardware. Is there any other method to do this? For example, if the correct register cannot be read via the manufacturer access command, can it be read directly over the SMBus? Or is there another register that can be read that would give equivalent information?
  • Hi George,
    Unfortunately there is no other way to access that HW register in bq40z50-R1. It is fixed in bq40z50-R2 but I suspect they don't want to change FW at this point.
    There would not be a running change of the IC hardware so the HW version should never change. In the unlikely case that there was some major issue that required a hardware change then a PCN would be sent out to purchasers of the IC many months in advance to advise that a change might be coming.