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BQ79600-Q1: BQ79600 - BQ79606 support?

Part Number: BQ79600-Q1
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: BQ79616

I started a thread a few months back to ask questions about controlling a BQ79606 via a BQ79600. I was told in the thread that the BQ79600 didn't support to the BQ79606, despite the datasheet saying it supports BQ796xx parts.

Original thread:

https://e2e.ti.com/support/power-management/f/power-management-forum/977082/bq79600-q1-bq79600---bq79606---bq79606-init-procedure/3612998?tisearch=e2e-sitesearch&keymatch=%252520user%25253A231223#3612998

Today though, I came across the BQ79606 safety manual, which explicitly says that the BQ79600 is designed to talk with the BQ79606:

Given that I'm getting conflicting answers, would it be possible to ask the BQ product manager to comment directly on these questions below?

1) Does TI support BQ79600 support communicating with a stack of BQ79606's?

2) Can I just get the full story on what's going on here? It's a bit strange to get conflicting answers about the safety critical part whose job it is to prevent my vehicle from burning down. Eg, was 600<->606 formerly supported, but no longer for a specific reason?

3) How many parts do I need to order to get direct support?

4) Why are the BQ devboards so expensive? I've spent $1693 on BQ devboards, and I'm not seeing any reason these boards need to cost more than $20 each. They have $10 of parts at best

  • Hello Grant,

    Sorry for the confusion. I think that may be an error in the safety manual.

    1) No, we do not support the BQ79600 as the base device for a stack of BQ79606A's. The communication tones have changed and so not all features are supported which is why we do not recommend using it. We support the BQ79606A to be a base device of a stack of BQ79606A devices as described in its datasheet.

    2) BQ79606A is our previous generation device. The BQ79616 family is our current generation device. The BQ79600 was designed to support this current generation. I think the confusion stems from the wording we used for the BQ796xx family since it should specifically exclude the previous gen BQ79606A.

    3) Direct support, as in a TI sales representative? That depends on the total semiconductor content at your company. If you'd like, I can reach out to the sales organization and have them discuss direct support with you. If you are saying direct support, like with the group that develops the products, you're already talking with the applications team. We monitor these E2E forums directly.

    4) While I'm sure it is possible to manufacture a board with these devices for under $100, we have developed these boards to meet many international standards with automotive grade components and layouts to achieve good accuracy measurements. It really does cost us several hundred dollars to manufacture these boards.

    - Alex Scheuermann

  • It's the BQ79600 safety manual (https://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/slua984) that claims BQ79606 support. It's just under the heading `2 Product Overview` on page 2.

    I've seen other places where compatibility is claimed between the two parts, but I don't know the other spots off hand.