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Output Switching Life
We are looking at the possibility of removing a reverse light flasher from our vehicle electrical system but have a question regarding the life of the High Side Digital Outputs.
Is there an expected lifespan of the Digital Outputs measured in Cycles or Switches?
The lights we would be controlling are 1.5Amp and would be Cycled at 1Hz.
Is there a concern with reducing the life of the digital output when used in this manner?
Thanks,
Customer support service by UserEcho
With high side switches, the important point is to stay within the specified operating characteristics of the output.
Repeated switching is not a concern, unless there is a problem with the installation.
To take an example from a different type of load, switching transients from a coil used without clamping diode can damage the HS switch, and this risk grows if the output is switched frequently.
In your application, a case that could possibly be an issue is if the DOUT is overloaded due to a short to ground, and this error is also ignored for too long. The output is designed to handle short to ground, but it is difficult to predict what will happen over time if you repeated re-activate an output that is shorted to ground.
The default behavior for an IQAN output that detect an error is to stay off until the command goes to zero, and then activates again. So with a 1 Hz pulsing of the DOUT you have an automatic re-activation function.