Writing Golden file at production for BQ34z100-G1

Kah Wei,

The bqProduction program has some limitations for the bq34z100-G1 device and the tools team will update the program later this year. the bqMTester board is currently required to use program the device using bqProduction. If you have a 1S through 4S pack, then you can connect the BAT+ pin to the appropriate voltage on the cell connector. If the pack is grater than 4S, then you will not connect BAT+ to the bqMtester board and you will connect it to a power supply with the appropriate pack voltage. You will still connect the BAT- and PACK- pins to the bqMtester board to calibrate the current. You will connect the bqMtester I2C port to the I2C port on the EV2300 and connect the I2C port on the bq34z100-G1 module to the External I2C Option port on the bqMtester. I attached a presentation that I gave at the 2014 Deep Dive that may help. It was written for the bq40z50, but the concepts still apply.

Tom

8032.Taking your fuel gauge from design to production.pdf

Hi Thomas,

The battery pack i am currently using is 2S1P configuration.Referring to the PDF file link above, i would like to ask whether UUT is refering to Prototyping board with BQ34z100-G1 in it? on the other hand, do you mean Batt+/Pack+, Batt- and pack- of the UUT connect to the bqmtester?when doing so, do i have to connect the battery pack as well?

In the meantime, Is it ok for me to program bq34z100-G1 using Bqstudio at the programming tab? is there a difference using bqstudio and bqProduction?

Kah Wei

Kah Wei,
You do not use the batteries when calibrating with the bqMtester. The board supplies the current and voltage. You will connect the BAT- contact from your module to the BATT- connector on the bqMtester, the other side of the sense resistor (PACK-) on your module to the PACK- connector on the bqMtester and the BAT+ (top of the stack contact) on you module to the appropriate contact on the bqMtester. e.g. If you have a 3S pack, then connect it to Cell 3+. If your pack has more than four series cells, then you will not connect the top of the stack contact to the bqMtester and you will need to use an external power supply to provide the voltage.
Tom

Thomas,

Thanks for the clarification.

I still do have other queries regarding the golden file creation. i followed slua334b while calibrating and in the final step, it stated to change the value of Update Status from 06 to 02 in .gg file first before creating .srec golden file. Hence whenever i flash this golden file using bqMtester, it still remain at update status of 02. However when i refer to slua665, below are the 8 recommend steps:

A good strategy for bq34z1xx production is an eight-step process flow:
Step 1. Write the data flash image to each device.
Step 2. Calibrate the voltage (optional for <= 5V applications).
Step 3. Update any individual flash locations, such as serial number, lot code, and date.
Step 4. Perform any desired board level tests and convert to HDQ communication if required.
Step 5. Connect the cells.
Step 6. Perform any desired pack level tests.
Step 7. Send 0x0021 to Manufacturer Access 0x00 command, to enable Impedance Track, Lifetime, and
Permanent Fail functions.
Step 8. Send 0x0020 to Seal the pack.

May i enquire how to perform step 7 and 8 using bqMtester? Will the Update status automatically change to 06 after several charging/discharging?

Kah Wei

Kah Wei,

The bqProduction program and bqMtester do not offer the commands to send the IT Enable and Seal commands. Those have to be sent by the host or bqStudio.

Tom

Hello Tom,

I'm coming into this thread because my questions were exactly the same as the previous user. At the moment I am still uncomfortable with the information received from the TI support team, and also the other posts I am reading. There exists a BQMTESTER (HPA169) and an ADVANCE BQMTESTER (HPA495). I was told by TI to purchased BQMTESTER (3 off) only to be then reading that for the BQ34Z100-G1 I should have purchased the ADVANCED BQMTESTER....Documentation does not seems to be updated as new products are being released, (even one a year would be something)..

I am still waiting for TI support team to confirm to me what I really need, I was promised a call from a TI engineer last week. 

You mentioned that the BQPRODUCTION software may have a problem connected with the BQ34Z100-G1 device which will be addressed later this year, but how does this impact on what needs to be done now?

Therefore,  in the meanwhile I would greatly appreciate some guidance on the following questions:-

1. Can I program the fuel gauge using the BQSTUDIO, I have done the learning cycle, and also received chemistry code from TI after they analysised our battery. I have tried to program using just the .SREC file, and it does seem to do the job. What is the difference between the SREC, BQFS and DFFS files, I have assumed that only one of these is necessary, although one of the files (DFFS) is significantly smaller than the others (7kb versus 180kb).

2. The learned cycle is showing 06, in your presentation it states that this should be manually changed to 02, please confirm that this is necessary for the BQ34Z100-G1, and why this is needed. It also asked to load the default SREC file....what is this, and where do I find it. Surely, loading the default settings and loading the battery chemistry should be done before the learning cycle, or isn't this important at that stage. 

3. What calibration do I need to do using the BQSTUDIO after loading the SREC, is it only the current, voltage and temperature? Our pack is 6S5P.

We currently have 80 pre-production units ready to program, they have the fuel gauge built into the protection board, and that has already been assembled into the battery pack. This is for compliance testing, so accuracy isn't so important at the time, but for production next month, we need to have this all buttoned down. 

I do understand what needs to be done with the BQTESTER now, but while waiting we moved forward further than we should have, so want to find an solution for the short term to get these 80 units into test.

Thank you

Bernard,

You can use either board with bqProduction to program and calibrate the bq34z100-G1. I use the Advanced bqMtester, because it offers a little more flexibility with current calibration and measuring cell voltages.The tools team has not updated the bqProduction program, but the updates were just enhancements. The program will work for you now.

1. The bqProduction program supports .srec files and it will allow you to program the full flash memory or just the data flash. The df.fs and bq.fs files can be used with a custom production platform, if you should choose to develop one. These files contain the I2C commands to program the flash memory. The bq.fs contains the full flash and the df.fs contains just the data flash.
2. We recommend programming the device with IT disabled (Update Status = 02) and enable it after the pack has been calibrated and the cells have been attached. The default srec file can be downloaded from the bq34z100-G1 website.
3. We recommend calibrating current, temperature and voltage for the best accuracy. You can get by with just programming the voltage and use the averaged method to set the calibration coefficients for current and temperature. With this method, you calibrate about 20 packs and take take their calibration coefficients, average them and use the averaged values in the golden file.

Please let me know if you have other questions.

Best regards,

Tom

 

Hello Tom,

Moved forward a little now, and have the HPA495 Rev A, however, very frustrated at the pace and engagement of the TI technical service "Asktexas". Considering it is now 7 weeks from my initial question, it takes too long, so I am reverting back to you in the hope it will help.

1. I have been through a few BQ34Z100G1 IC as some action cause the devise to become unresponsible. Have you seen this before? Is they are way to recover them. For example, when I program the DF file into the device, at the end it goes into sealed mode automatically. The problem is that you cannot go into calibration mode once sealed. The BQProduction comes up with an error 1500, saying it cannot enable calibration mode using 0x2D.

So I have been trying to see how to program the device without it going into sealed mode, and I just cannot find anything in the documentation. So I unchecked "Include the execute command at the end " from the DF golden image options. When I tried to program using this file, the device no longer acknowledged. !!! 

What caused these devise to become unresponsive so easily, not something I am used to!

2. The purpose of the BQ Production and HPA 495 is to automate the programming and calibration. However, with the device being sealed, and it not going into calibration mode, then it seem useless. So clearly I am missing something. What is it?

We are using 6S5P pack, I have already done a learning cycle, so the Learned status is 06. I have changed this manually back to 02, but still not sure why I need to do this.

I shouldn't be spending this much time on this,  I have used so many programming suites, and although they do take time to figure out, non have posed such a challenge.

What should I try next. 

Bernard

Bernard,
The gauge should not seal by programming the data flash file. Can you send the file that you are programming and I will check it?

You set the Update Status to 02 in the golden file to keep IT disabled until after the pack has been calibrated. IT can prevent some data flash updates as well.

Tom