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LTM4653 doesn't start (again)

Category: Hardware
Product Number: LTM4653
Software Version: -

Hey there, I have an issure with a LTM4653 as 52V to 12V power supply. I got a device back from a customer with the note "will not turn on". After some inspection of the board I recognized that the LTM4653 won't turn on, even if the voltage on the run pin exceeds 1.2V (52V in my case, or 1Meg pull up to Vin, controlled by an open collector for turning it off). So I inverted the level of the switch logic and the LTM4653 starts up correctly after turning on the device but won't turn on again after beeing turned off. I can only get it to work again, if I cut the power. See attached relevant piece of the schematic and screen shot from the osci, showing the behaviour. 12V output turn on with input power but once I cut the voltage to the run pin the device is somehow stuck. Any idea what happened? This is now the 3rd (out of approx 150) boards with this error and I'm somehow lost to what is happening.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

Does this happen when Run pin is directly connected to Vin as well?

  • When it's connected to Vin the module starts (as shown in the osci picture) but I can't turn the module off, so I don't know. But I changed the 1Meg pull up to 100k without any noticable improvement.

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember on Oct 19, 2022 2:14 AM in reply to ekoeck
    0



    It does turn off here since the output starts to go down when Vrun level is 0.
    Is your area of concern after trying to turn the umodule on again after the initial Vrun becomes 0?

  • In this picture I control Vrun via the power switch of my device. So yeah, the issue is, that it does not turn on again, once I turned it off although nothing else changed. Unsually it works fine (in 147/150 PCBs).

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember on Oct 19, 2022 2:23 AM in reply to ekoeck
    0

    Have you tried changing the IC? It might be a faulty IC since 147 boards are working properly.

  • I know it's faulty, since it's not working properly. I was rather interested in what happens or happened to the device so I can prevent it from happening to the other boards. And 2% failure rate is a rather bad quota for a >30€ uModule. Changing the LTM does resolve the malfunction but I can't send the customer a device back with a hand soldered BGA.

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember on Oct 19, 2022 2:45 AM in reply to ekoeck
    0

    Can you give more context then on how it was used? What are the parameters and testing condition? What was the kind of test when it failed?

  • It is used as a 52V-to-12V converter with 2-3A of load current. It sits in a 19" rack device in a server rack with aroud 35°C ambient temperature, has a heat sink and forced cooling with a fan. The customer just reported that they the device did not turn on anymore (after about 1 year of normal operation), no more data on that end. The other two failed devices did not work out of the box. What additional parameters or testing conditions do you want to know? On the same PCB are three more LTM4653 which work as 52V-48V converters and they never showed that particular issue.