MPQ4241 output gets stuck

DC-DC Power Converters
1

Hi,

I am having an intermittent problem with a MPQ4241 on a custom board when charging a Google Pixel 10 Pro XL via PPS.

The problem is that the output sometimes appears to get “stuck” and no longer responds to an CC signals. The output stays at 9V even when the cable is completely disconnected. It appears to happen somewhat randomly, sometimes right after a connect and sometimes after be connected for 5 or 10 minutes. I have replicated it on multiple MPQ4241 chips.

The MPQ4241 does not report a fault and says it is still attached with a contracted power of 48W through APDO:

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Using a PD analyser (POWER-Z KM003C) it shows CC2 dropping to around 0.5V when the failure happens and no matter what it stays there until the power is reset even if the phone is unplugged.

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The CC lines from the MPQ4241 are connected directly to the type-C port with a 390pF cap to GND and a 2.2Ohm series resistor on each line.

Full register dump from the MPQ4241:

PDO_SET1 0 Byte 47
PDO_SET2 1 Byte 48
HOST_SET 2 Byte 168
PDO_I1 3 Byte 150
PDO_V2 4 Byte 90
PDO_V2_H 5 Byte 0
PDO_I2 6 Byte 150
PDO_V3 7 Byte 120
PDO_V3_H 8 Byte 0
PDO_I3 9 Byte 150
PDO_V4 10 Byte 150
PDO_V4_H 11 Byte 0
PDO_I4 12 Byte 150
PDO_V5 13 Byte 200
PDO_V5_H 14 Byte 110
PDO_I5 15 Byte 150
PDO_V6 16 Byte 33
PDO_V6_H 17 Byte 160
PDO_I6 18 Byte 60
PDO_V7 19 Byte 33
PDO_V7_H 20 Byte 210
PDO_I7 21 Byte 60
PD_CTL1 22 Byte 16
PD_CTL2 23 Byte 5
PWR_CTL1 24 Byte 201
PWR_CTL2 25 Byte 81
VOUT 26 Byte 2
VOUT_H 27 Byte 31
IOUT_LIM 28 Byte 72
CTL_SYS0 29 Byte 0
CTL_SYS1 30 Byte 1
CTL_SYS2 31 Byte 226
CTL_SYS3 32 Byte 30
CTL_SYS4 33 Byte 140
CTL_SYS5 34 Byte 35
CTL_SYS6 35 Byte 54
CTL_SYS7 36 Byte 136
CTL_SYS8 37 Byte 30
CTL_SYS9 38 Byte 8
CTL_SYS10 39 Byte 60
CTL_SYS11 40 Byte 238
CTL_SYS12 41 Byte 20
CTL_SYS13 42 Byte 8
CTL_SYS14 43 Byte 21
CTL_SYS15 44 Byte 144
CTL_SYS16 45 Byte 12
CTL_SYS17 46 Byte 18
CTL_SYS18 47 Byte 50
STATUS1 48 Byte 164
STATUS2 49 Byte 13
STATUS3 50 Byte 32
STATUS4 51 Byte 96
ID1 52 Byte 0
ID2 53 Byte 0
FW_REV 54 Byte 0
MAX_REQ_CUR 55 Byte 0
MFR_ID 56 Byte 9
DEV_ID 57 Byte 88
CLK_ON 59 Byte 0
CTL_SYS19 60 Byte 15

I have tried to provide as much information as possible but let me know if there is anything else you would like to know.

My next step is to try replicate the problem on the EVQ4241-LE-00A dev kit, but any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Josh

2

Update:

I have just replicated the problem on the EVQ4241-LE-00A dev kit, this time the PD analyser did receive an error code: “Data Count”

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3

Any updates on this?

We have designed a product around this chip, and the output staying at 9V with the cable disconnected could easily damage a 5V only device if plugged in while in this state. Keen to try any configuration changes you think might stop it from happening or other solutions.

Thanks

4

Hi Josh,

Apologizes for the delayed response, as we have many team members travelling right now. I’ll be looking into to replicating this issue in our labs and debugging this. I’ll let you know about any findings I get as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Champers

5

Hi Josh,

We are in the process of getting the EVB of this board to our labs. In the meantime, could you test something out? We suspect that the PD controller isn’t registering a disconnect on the CC line, and the CC line might be getting stuck at 0.5V even when your load is unplugged.

Try unplugging the cable from the EVB instead of from your phone to see if the stuck at 9V issue persists. If you have additional USB-C cables available, I would also like to know if you’re able to replicate the issue with different cables as well.

Thank you,

Champers

6

Hi Champers,

Thanks for looking into this.

In the previous testing unplugging the cable from the EVB did not free it from the “stuck” 9V output state.
I had replicated the issue on multiple different cables, some had e-markers some did not.

I do not think it is necessarily to do with the attached/unattach not being recognised. As the CC2 drop to a noisy looking 0.5v happens while the phone is still connected, and the MPQ4241 does not respond to any PD messages after this happens. Both with the cable & phone connected and disconnected.

The issue is very intermittent, last time I was testing it would happen almost every time the phone was connected, sometimes immediately on connection and other times after charging for a few minutes. I tried again to replicate it again today but could not.

Let me know if there is anything else you would like me to try in the meantime.

Thanks,
Josh

7

Has there been any progress on this issue?

8

Hey we just got the board in our labs, I’ll work on replicating the issue in the coming days and seeing what some potential solutions could be